Tapping secrets of Aussie spider’s unique silk
(University of Melbourne) The basket-web spider, which is found only in Australia, has revealed it not only weaves a unique lobster pot web but that its silk has elasticity and a gluing substance, that creates a high degree of robustness.
During COVID, scientists turn to computers to understand C4 photosynthesis
When COVID closed down their lab, a team of researchers turned to computational approaches to understand what makes some plants better adapted to transform light and carbon dioxide into yield through photosynthesis. Most plants use C3 photosynthesis, which is more common but not as efficient as C4. The researchers uncovered clues as to how C4 crops are able to express key enzymes in specialized cells that increase photosynthetic efficiency.
Unprecedented energy use since 1950 has transformed humanity’s geologic footprint
(University of Colorado at Boulder) A new study makes clear the extraordinary speed and scale of increases in energy use, economic productivity and global population that have pushed the Earth towards a new geological epoch, known as the Anthropocene.
Australian carp virus plan ‘dead in the water’
Plans to release a virus to reduce numbers of invasive Common Carp in Australia are unlikely to work and should be dropped, researchers say.
BHP bosses defend company’s decision to stay in gas and oil ‘for the medium term’
BHP management has batted away shareholder criticism of the miner’s intention to continue investing in gas despite claiming it will dramatically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade. Speaking at BHP’s Australian annual meeting on Wednesday evening, chairman…
Act now on wildfires, global climate change, human health, study says
Immediate actions are needed to limit the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change that helps fuel wildfires, a new study says.
Ancient microbial life used arsenic to thrive in a world without oxygen
Today, most life on Earth is supported by oxygen. But ancient microbial mats existed for a billion years before oxygen was present in the atmosphere. So what did life use instead?
Australian valley a ‘natural laboratory’ to test carbon sequestration theory
(University of Sydney) An idea to enhance natural carbon capture from olivine weathering has never been tested at scale. University of Sydney geoscientists have proposed the Tweed Valley as a laboratory and gained some interesting initial results.
Geologists solve puzzle that could predict valuable rare earth element deposits
Pioneering new research has helped geologists solve a long-standing puzzle that could help pinpoint new, untapped concentrations of some the most valuable rare earth deposits.
Past tropical forest changes drove megafauna and hominin extinctions
Researchers have discovered that Southeast Asia, today renowned for its lush rainforests, was at various points in the past covered by sweeping grasslands. The expansion and reduction of these grasslands had drastic effects on local megafauna, variously supporting success and inducing extinction.
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