Technology News

Sofie Björklund has been studying PFAS substances in her doctoral project in collaboration with Umeå Energi. Credit: Mattias Pettersson PFAS, often called “forever chemicals,” present in municipal solid waste can survive the high temperatures of waste incineration and continue to spread into the environment via residues from waste-to-energy plants. A new doctoral thesis from Sofie … Read more

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The university sector in Aotearoa New Zealand is at a tipping point due to chronic underfunding, shifting enrollments and increasing costs from inflation. In response, the government has established two working groups to assess the health of the sector and provide recommendations for the future. Meanwhile, universities find themselves increasingly beholden … Read more

Illustration of the preferential binding of heavy hydrogen (blue) to light hydrogen (white) at the metal centre, activated by the binding of a water molecule (oxygen red, hydrogen white). Credit: Leipzig University The lightest of all elements, hydrogen, is in great demand due to its promising role as a sustainable resource in the energy transition. … Read more

Broadband light curve of WD1032+011 generated by integrating each individual spectroscopic observation. Credit: French et al., 2024. Using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), astronomers have performed spectrophotometric observations of an eclipsing white dwarf–brown dwarf binary known as WD1032+011. Results of their observational campaign, published September 10 on the preprint server arXiv, yield important information regarding … Read more

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain California is home to eight species of rattlesnakes. The reptiles can be seen on hiking trails, rural roads and even in your backyard, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. The California Poison Control System said it receives hundreds of reports of rattlesnake bites every year, especially during … Read more

Wildfires have consumed millions of hectares of land in recent weeks in Brazil. Brazil is burning. From the Amazon rainforest to the Pantanal wetlands, flames have consumed millions of hectares of forest and farmland in recent weeks. Nearly two-thirds of Latin America’s biggest country is under smoke. While fueled by extreme drought, which the government … Read more

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution is one of the greatest environmental health challenges that we face today. Various studies have shown that in addition to the lungs, it affects essential organs like the heart and brain, and that those who suffer most from its consequences are the … Read more

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Part of many people’s pandemic experience included working from home. Even after lockdowns, videoconferencing remains a big part of life as people continue to work remotely, connect with families and friends online, and attend virtual events hosted on videoconferencing platforms. Spending hours on video calls, however, can be exhausting and manifest … Read more

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A paper, titled “How local governments avoid floodplain development through consistent implementation of routine municipal ordinances, plans, and programs,” published in Oxford Open Climate Change uncovers evidence suggesting that, contrary to expectations, most U.S. cities are not doing too badly in avoiding development in areas prone to flooding, and those that … Read more

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are continuing to fall behind their peers with the gap widening despite the introduction of SEND legislation. This is according to a new study by Durham University which analyzed data on 2.5 million Year 6 pupils across four school years from 2014–2019. The … Read more