Melanin-like compounds can be precisely designed and arranged to colour materials using a mechanism similar to that found in a peacock’s feathers. Chemist Michinari Kohri of Chiba University in Japan reviewed the latest research on these ‘melanin-mimetic…
Mitigating Climate Change: It Starts With Better Ocean…
BY Ayesha Renyard Glaciar Perito Moreno, El Calafate, Argentina For many years, the ocean helped us mitigate the early effects of human emissions by absorbing greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide and heat, from the atmosphere.…
Could lab-grown plant tissue ease the environmental toll…
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (MIT News) -- It takes a lot to make a wooden table. Grow a tree, cut it down, transport it, mill it … you get the point. It’s a decades-long process. Luis Fernando Velásquez-García…
Genesis of blue lightning into the stratosphere detected…
ESA—Dark clouds, the smell of rain on a hot sidewalk, the flashes of intense light followed by a loud crackling and then a low, rolling thunder – who doesn’t love a good summer thunderstorm. We’ve…
Micropillar compression for finding heat-tolerant alloys
Accurate measurements of crystalline deformation should help engineer stronger components for more energy-efficient turbines. Metals containing niobium silicide are promising materials that can withstand high temperatures and improve efficiency of gas turbines in power plants…