Nitrogen fertilisers are incredibly efficient, but they make climate change a lot worse
Nov 19, 2019 02:29 am UTC| Insights & Views Science
Nitrous oxide (N₂O) (more commonly known as laughing gas) is a powerful contributor to global warming. It is 265 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide and depletes our ozone...
Our land is burning, and western science does not have all the answers
Nov 19, 2019 02:16 am UTC| Insights & Views Science
Last weeks catastrophic fires on Australias east coast and warnings of more soon to come will become all too common as climate change gathers pace. And as the challenges of modern hazard reduction become clear, there is...
Nov 04, 2019 11:45 am UTC| Insights & Views Science
British-born scientist M. Stanley Whittingham, of Binghamton University, was one of three scientists who won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work developing lithium-ion batteries. L-R: John Goodenough;...
Advances in anti-ageing research: how chemistry could hold the key to better health
Oct 29, 2019 19:37 pm UTC| Insights & Views Science Health
Given the opportunity to live much longer lives, many of us might feel less than thrilled at the prospect. After all, you might think, who would want to live an extra 20 years dealing with arthritis, dementia or heart...
Dark energy: new experiment may solve one of the universe's greatest mysteries
Oct 29, 2019 19:32 pm UTC| Insights & Views Science
As an astronomer, there is no better feeling than achieving first light with a new instrument or telescope. It is the culmination of years of preparations and construction of new hardware, which for the first time collects...
Predicting research results can mean better science and better advice
Oct 26, 2019 08:14 am UTC| Insights & Views Science
We ask experts for advice all the time. A company might ask an economist for advice on how to motivate its employees. A government might ask what the effect of a policy reform will be. To give the advice, experts often...
Oct 18, 2019 10:06 am UTC| Science
Asteroids are the most common space objects that fly by Earth almost daily. Some of them were detected too close to the time of their close approach, but there has never been an impact that took place in modern history....
Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility
Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the coming budget
Biden administration tells employers to stop shackling workers with ‘noncompete agreements’
IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects