A link between folk research, good local knowledge and scientific methods is important for understanding and being able to quickly adapt to changing environmental conditions on Svalbard, shows a new study in which UiT researchers have contributed. Arctic communities, such as Svalbard, are particularly vulnerable to climate change. In the stud...

 Scientists have solved the mysterious absence of star-shaped dunes from Earth's geological history for the first time, dating one back thousands of years.The study by Aberystwyth University, Birkbeck and UCL academics is the first to date how long it took a star dune to form and examine its internal structure.Star dunes are massive sand dunes...

 Former University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa sailor Cole Brauer has become the first American woman to sail solo nonstop around the world.The native of East Hampton, New York, finished second out of 16 competitors in the Global Solo Challenge, a race that started and ended in A Coruña, Spain. The marathon 30,000 mile journey took 130 days, and she c...

 A world-first study has uncovered evidence of how German soldiers used the blast which kickstarted the Battle of the Somme to their advantage as a new defensive position.The mine explosion at Hawthorn Ridge was a pivotal moment of the First World War, that marked the opening of the Battle of Somme on July 1, 1916. It remains one of the best-k...

 It is well known that climate-induced sea level rise is a major threat. What is less well know is the threat of sinking land. And in many of the most populated coastal areas, the land is sinking even faster than the sea is rising.Parts of Tokyo for instance sank by 4 metres during the 20th century, with 2 metres or more of sinking reported in...

We face the enormous challenge of safeguarding the well-being of our earth and the plants, animals and people that live there for the future. The VU conducts multidisciplinary research for this purpose. The aim is a sustainable balance between economic, ecological and social interests for our and future generations. This also means that we have to ...

 If there were no strong nuclear force binding atomic particles together, matter as we know it would not exist. However, there are still several unresolved questions in the study of this fundamental interaction.William & Mary's Cristiano Fanelli, assistant professor of data science, is harnessing the power of machine learning and artificia...

 Two KTH students have completed a master's thesis comparing the carbon footprint of electric hydrofoil ferries to that of traditional diesel ferries. The study shows that the hydrofoil ferries emit 97.5% less carbon dioxide during their life cycle than diesel-powered ones.Felix Glaunsinger and Dennis Olsson, who both graduated from KTH this s...

 A Southern Cross University manual for postharvest processing of small-scale fishery products is now available in eight languages.If you've ever seen a sea cucumber lying on the shallow ocean floor, you'd quickly recognise the marine animal's elongated body and leathery skin.What you may not know is many fishing communities have been harvesti...

 A Network of Technological Tools Could Detect Wildfires EarlierTypically, the primary indicator of a burgeoning wildfire in California is a plume of hazy, gray smoke wafting through the air, seen by satellites or cameras. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CalFire, is alerted, and mitigation and containment efforts ...

 New research is challenging the scientific status quo on the limits of the nuclear chart in hot stellar environments where temperatures reach billions of degrees Celsius.The nuclear chart is a way to map out different kinds of atomic nuclei based on their number of protons and neutrons, and the "drip lines" can be viewed as the boundaries or ...

 Vanderbilt researchers report that when people who are having their brains scanned by fMRI perform a task, like wiggling their fingers, certain signals increase in white matter throughout the brain, which has long been thought to play a lesser role the more the brain's more energetic gray matter.The human brain is made up of two kinds of matt...

 Despite being one of the highest value areas of crime globally, with links to organised and violent crime, wildlife crime is falling down the list of policing priorities due to lack of data, resource, and expertise, according to research led by Nottingham Trent University (NTU).The study, commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welf...

 A world-first system developed by UTS is being used by Westpac Little Ripper Lifesaver to identify sharks, raise alarms and provide greater protection for swimmers and surfers.SharkSpotter, which uses artificial intelligence to protect swimmers and surfers in the ocean, has been credited with saving two lives in its first year of operation. N...

 An international research team led by Takuma Izumi, an assistant professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, has observed in high resolution (approximately 1 light year) the active galactic nucleus of the Circinus Galaxy - one of the closest major galaxies to the Milky Way. The observation was made possible by the Atacama Lar...

Little satellites. Big science. In the coming year or more, scientists at CU Boulder are scheduled to launch four CubeSats into space. These petite spacecraft are no bigger than a toaster oven but will collect scientific data that far outstrip their size. They include Climatology of Anthropogenic and Natural VLF wave Activity in Space (CANVAS) led ...

The migratory monarch butterfly might not be as endangered as previously thought, according to a new study published today in Current Biology. Humans may have artificially inflated the monarch population by making changes to the habitat of Eastern and North America. The numbers we see now may reflect an expanded population from precolonial sizes. "...

 The Pleodendron costaricense is an ancient tree on the verge of extinction. Only nine specimens are known to exist. Found in Costa Rica, in the mountains near the Pacific Ocean and in the Osa Peninsula, the tree is referred to by botanists as a "living fossil" because of its historic lineage.Tony Durst, a professor emeritus with the Departmen...

 Study of crossbred butterflies suggests multiple genes involved.When animals of two different species mate, their hybrid offspring can be unhealthy or sterile. Often, only one sex is affected.Sexual differences in fertility follow a pattern known as Haldane's Rule, which states that hybrids are afflicted more when they inherit two different s...

 The discovery of phosphorus in a molecular cloud at the edge of the Milky Way galaxy challenges current views of how the element originates and extends the galactic habitable zone.Astronomers at the University of Arizona have discovered excephosphorus, a critical ingredient for life as we know it, in an unexpected location: the outskirts of t...