Borrowing from nature is an age-old theme in science. Form and function go hand-in-hand in the natural world and the structures created by plants and animals are only rarely improved on by humans.
Materials Science
Mar 20, 2017
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406
A Duke University study of coal ash ponds near 21 power plants in five Southeastern U.S. states has found evidence that nearby surface waters and groundwater are consistently and lastingly contaminated by the unlined ponds.
Environment
Jun 10, 2016
16
1327
Boiling water, with its commotion of bubbles that rise from a surface as water comes to a boil, is central to most electric power plants, heating and cooling systems, and desalination plants. Now, for the first time, researchers ...
General Physics
Oct 27, 2015
3
68
In the age of tablet computers and smart phones, it's easy to feel inundated and overloaded by information. But on a cellular level, this bombardment is business as usual, and a team of University of Washington researchers ...
Biotechnology
Jun 18, 2015
1
67
In one of the most comprehensive laboratory studies of its kind, Rice University scientists traced the uptake and accumulation of quantum dot nanoparticles from water to plant roots, plant leaves and leaf-eating caterpillars.
Bio & Medicine
Dec 16, 2014
0
0
(Phys.org) —FOM researchers have discovered that objects floating on surface waves behave differently than expected. If a small number of floating objects is present on a water surface, these will drift to the locations ...
General Physics
May 14, 2014
2
29
Auxin, a small molecule, is a plant hormone discovered by Charles Darwin about 100 years ago. Over the years that followed it became understood to be the most important and versatile plant hormone controlling nearly all aspects ...
Biotechnology
Mar 13, 2014
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0
By literally looking below the surface and digging up the dirt, Cornell researchers have discovered that a burgeoning deer population forever alters the progression of a forest's natural future by creating environmental havoc ...
Ecology
Mar 8, 2014
23
0
(Phys.org) —Ecologists are another step closer to understanding a natural phenomenon that enables desert plants to access water and nutrients they desperately need – even in the driest circumstances.
Biotechnology
Nov 4, 2013
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0
If one wants to better understand how plants grow, one must analyse the chemistry of life in its molecular detail. Michael Hothorn from the Friedrich-Miescher-Laboratory of the Max Planck Society in Tübingen and his team ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 8, 2013
0
0
