Glass sponges have properties for the design of ships, planes and skyscrapers

Published in the journal Nature the first-ever simulation of the deep-sea Venus flower sponge and how it responds to and influences the flow of nearby water.

The Indus basin: Untapped potential for long-term energy storage

Hydropower has massive potential as a source of clean electricity, and the Indus basin can be a key player in fulfilling long-term energy storage demands across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. IIASA researchers explored the role the Indus…

Bonding’s next top model — Projecting bond properties with machine learning

Tokyo, Japan – Designing materials that have the necessary properties to fulfill specific functions is a challenge faced by researchers working in areas from catalysis to solar cells. To speed up development processes, modeling approaches can be used to predict…

Learning aids: Skoltech method helps train computer vision algorithms on limited data

Researchers from Skoltech have found a way to help computer vision algorithms process satellite images of the Earth more accurately even with very limited data for training. This will make various remote sensing tasks easier for machines and ultimately the…

Data privacy — are you sure you want a cookie?

Data privacy is an important topic in the digitalised economy. Recent policy changes have aimed to strengthen users’ control over their own data. Yet new research from Copenhagen Business School finds designers of cookie banners can affect users’ privacy choices…

Revealing the values in mathematics education through a variety of cultural lenses

Mathematics educators, mathematicians, teachers, and students come together to discuss the values that are espoused and developed through mathematics education today in different cultures

World’s first 3D-printed steel footbridge unveiled by robot in Amsterdam

The bridge, which is over four years in the making and is led by Dutch company MX3D, will be a ‘living laboratory’ in Amsterdam’s city centre. Using its vast network of installed sensors, Imperial College London researchers will measure, monitor…

Direct flights save lives! New airline routes can increase kidney sharing by more than 7%

INFORMS Journal Management Science Study Key Takeaways: Lack of direct airline routes limit the flexibility of organ transplantation policies. A new airline route can increase the number of kidneys shared between different regions by more than 7% while also decreasing…

Phasecraft reveals a more efficient method for modelling electrons in materials

UK quantum software startup Phasecraft, spun out of UCL and University of Bristol, releases peer-reviewed research that shows significant improvement beyond previous techniques for simulating fermions on quantum computers

Danish invention to make computer servers worldwide more climate friendly

An elegant new algorithm developed by Danish researchers can significantly reduce the resource consumption of the world’s computer servers. Computer servers are as taxing on the climate as global air traffic combined, thereby making the green transition in IT an…

Using computation to improve words: Novel tool could improve serious illness conversations

Conversations between seriously ill people, their families and palliative care specialists lead to better quality-of-life. Understanding what happens during these conversations – and particularly how they vary by cultural, clinical, and situational contexts – is essential to guide healthcare communication…

Machine learning for solar energy is supercomputer kryptonite

Scientists have found a way to predict the band gap of photovoltaics materials in milliseconds with a conventional PC, potentially leaving the world’s most powerful and expensive processing machines gathering dust

Ben-Gurion U. scientists invent an artificial nose for continuous bacterial monitoring

BEER-SHEVA, Israel, June 21, 2021 – A team of scientists at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) have invented an artificial nose that is capable of continuous bacterial monitoring, which has never been previously achieved and could be useful in…

When testing Einstein’s theory of general relativity, small modeling errors add up fast

Small modeling errors may accumulate faster than previously expected when physicists combine multiple gravitational wave events (such as colliding black holes) to test Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity, suggest researchers at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.…

New models predict fewer lightning-caused ignitions but bigger wildfires by mid century

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Human-caused wildfire ignitions in Central Oregon are expected to remain steady over the next four decades and lightning-caused ignitions are expected to decline, but the average size of a blaze from either cause is expected to rise,…

Greenhouse gas data deep dive reaches new level of ‘reasonable and true’

URBANA, Ill. – For the most accurate accounting of a product’s environmental impact, scientists look at the product’s entire life cycle, from cradle to grave. It’s a grand calculation known as a life cycle assessment (LCA), and greenhouse gas emissions…

Predicting the spread of invasive carp using river water flows

University of Missouri engineers are partnering with the US Geological Survey to better understand how to stop invasive carp from damaging both the economy and the environment

New AI model helps understand virus spread from animals to humans

A new model that applies artificial intelligence to carbohydrates improves the understanding of the infection process and could help predict which viruses are likely to spread from animals to humans. This is reported in a recent study led by researchers…

Predicting the evolution of a pandemic

The inclusion of biological uncertainty and the latest case data can significantly improve the prediction accuracy of standard epidemiological models of virus transmission, new research led by KAUST and the Kuwait College of Science and Technology (KCST) has shown. Modern…