Tag: Nature

Whales play an important role in climate change. Just like the ‘rainforests of the sea’: coral reefs. Globally these are home to around a third of underwater organisms. A not-for-profit organisation in Papua New Guinea, site of a number of endangered reefs, was recently recognised for its work by the UN’s environmental programme. Using GPS and underwater audio equipment,...

Laughing reduces stress. A walk in the forest, meanwhile, is good for our mood. A report by the British agency, Forest Research, confirms that spending 30 minutes a week among trees has a noticeable effect on our wellbeing. Immune systems are strengthened, and mental health improved (heard about this blood test?) Over 200 million euro have been saved in...

Often the most cultivable land is found in gardens. In south LA, front yards are already being used to grow vegetables. Now, a startup from Colorado is focusing on backyards. Together with a turf expert, it has developed 45 ecological products for lawn care, all based on natural ingredients such as algae, molasses and iron. The company is also...

There are over 3 billion trees in the world. That makes roughly 422 per person. An American not-for-profit organisation has taken it upon itself to ensure that everyone can enjoy the advantages trees bring to communities. They analyzed 150,000 neighbourhoods and 486 municipalities, correlating tree population with various social and demographic data, to give a ‘Tree Equity Score’. The...

Algae are versatile. They absorb CO2 and are great in the kitchen. Now a team of Paris-based researchers used information from algae to help reverse blindness. Their test person was a man whose ocular cells were no longer sensitive to light. Through close examination of glowing algae the team was able to find a specific protein which reacts to...

Flowers all around are in bloom, and the pollen count is high. But pollen can help clean our oceans as well as other stretches of water. A scientific team from Singapore and South Korea has developed a new sponge made from pollen grain. First, they liberated the gel-like substance which was freeze-dried for higher porosity and stabilized through exposure...

Comprising 2% of the global population, they are something of a rarity. Red-haired people. In summer their skin may - just - take on a note of latte macchiato. This is due to pigment-producing skin cells - so-called melanocytes. In redheads these cells are missing a type of receptor which produces dark pigments. Now experiments conducted on mice at...

Only the tip of the iceberg is visible. The same goes for peat wildfires. Peat burns particularly well thanks to its high organic content, emitting one hundred times more CO2 than forest fires each year. Researchers have examined how the process of suppressing a blaze can be shortened under the earth, substantially reducing the millions or billions of liters...