Silicon is used in construction, microchips and more – 'green' methods could help extract it from sugarcane waste

Oct 19, 2022 08:44 am UTC| Science

In some parts of South Africas Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, sugarcane fields stretch as far as the eye can see. The crop is more than just a treat for those with a sweet tooth: in 2017 the countrys sugar...

Genetically engineered bacteria make living materials for self-repairing walls and cleaning up pollution

Oct 13, 2022 11:58 am UTC| Science

With just an incubator and some broth, researchers can grow reusable filters made of bacteria to clean up polluted water, detect chemicals in the environment and protect surfaces from rust and mold. I am a synthetic...

DNA is often used in solving crimes. But how does DNA profiling actually work?

Oct 13, 2022 11:53 am UTC| Science

DNA profiling is frequently in the news. Public interest is sparked when DNA is used to identify a suspect or human remains, or resolves a cold case that seems all but forgotten. Very occasionally, it is in the media...

NASA successfully shifted an asteroid's orbit – DART spacecraft crashed into and moved Dimorphos

Oct 13, 2022 11:52 am UTC| Science

This video, sped up 10 times the actual speed, shows a series of images taken one second apart by the DART spacecraft as it approached Didymos and the smaller Dimorphos before colliding with Dimorphos. The last few images...

These stunning satellite images look like abstract art – and they reveal much about our planet

Oct 13, 2022 11:46 am UTC| Science

Theres something to be said for a job that pays you to stroll over the Scottish Highlands, scoot around a Greek Island, or go on an expedition to Antarctica all in the name of geoscience, the study of the Earth. But...

NASA's asteroid deflection mission was more successful than expected. An expert explains how

Oct 13, 2022 11:45 am UTC| Science

On September 26, after a nine-month journey through the Solar System, NASAs Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission impacted an asteroid called Dimorphos. NASA scored a bullseye, with DART roughly the size of a...

Nobel-winning quantum weirdness undergirds an emerging high-tech industry, promising better ways of encrypting communications and imaging your body

Oct 11, 2022 04:32 am UTC| Insights & Views Science

Unhackable communications devices, high-precision GPS and high-resolution medical imaging all have something in common. These technologies some under development and some already on the market all rely on the...