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Ants: master manipulators for biodiversity, or sweet treats

Symbiotic ants manipulate aphid reproduction rates to achieve a specific mix of green and red aphids, maintaining the inferior green aphids which produce the ants' favorite snack. [caption id="attachment_14333" align="alignnone" width="953"] The top three aphids…

MIT Volcanic Cement 0

Cities of the future may be built with…

Study finds adding volcanic ash reduces the overall energy required to manufacture concrete. [caption id="attachment_14330" align="alignnone" width="639"] MIT engineers working with scientists in Kuwait have found that volcanic rocks, when pulverized into a fine ash,…

Kubik on Space Station node full image 2

Kubik on Space Station

[caption id="attachment_14325" align="alignnone" width="700"] Credit: NASA[/caption] A miniaturised laboratory inside the orbital laboratory that is ESA’s Columbus module, this 40 cm cube has been one of its quiet scientific triumphs. Kubik – from the Russian…

bioplastics3

Bio-renewable process could help ‘green’ plastic

[caption id="attachment_14316" align="alignnone" width="628"] A crystal of furandicarboxylic acid, or FDCA, a plastic precursor created with biomass instead of petroleum. IMAGE BY ALI HUSSAIN MOTAGAMWALA AND JAMES RUNDE[/caption] When John Wesley Hyatt patented the first…