Research in the International Journal of Materials and Product Technology describes a metal-free dye-fixing process that could help make natural plant dyes more practical for high-performance textiles, addressing a longstanding obstacle to their wider use in sustainable clothing.
Seed dispersal through wind, water or animals is a crucial process for forest renewal and biodiversity preservation. In the Atlantic Forest, a new study showed that the amount of forest in the landscape surrounding an area and the amount of rain are the main factors responsible for ensuring seed richness and diversity. In practical terms, the research revealed that a small patch of forest with adjacent green areas is more capable of regenerating itself than a huge but isolated fragment amid a deforested landscape.
Wildfires are burning in North America and Europe. Deadly heat waves have parked over cities and the world's oceans are the hottest ever recorded for this time of year. A strengthening El Niño is forecast to be off-the-charts, spiking global temperatures and warping weather all over.
The power of social influence could be key to changing attitudes and behaviors around climate change, according to a new study by researchers at the Center for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST). The team examined the role of social influence in accelerating climate action, outlining how celebrities, athletes, health care workers, religious leaders, hairdressers, small business owners, family, friends, neighbors and colleagues all have the ability to influence climate action.
The last time you had a cold sore, you might have fretted about how long it would hang around. Perhaps you avoided reflective surfaces. It's unlikely you worried about dying from it.
Vegetable oils serve as critical feedstocks for biofuels and bioproducts by providing energy-dense hydrocarbon molecules. Some plants have evolved divergent enzyme sets to produce high-value unusual fatty acids with novel chain lengths or functional groups.
The value of basic science in insect biology is no more evident than when a crisis arises involving a devastating insect pest like the New World screwworm, says University of Illinois entomology professor May Berenbaum. In a 2016 essay in the journal Science, Berenbaum wrote about the successful—if temporary—eradication of the pest in many parts of the world. Here she answers common questions about the screwworm's return.
Economics shapes many aspects of our daily lives, from the prices we pay to the policies governments adopt. Yet many of the ideas taught as universal principles of economics emerged from a narrow historical context and have rarely been examined through a decolonial lens.
People who experience greater hardship throughout their lives may become more susceptible to conspiracy theories when those experiences lead them to see the world as fundamentally unfair, according to new research.
A trove of recent articles bemoan the collapse in recreational reading among younger Americans, with COVID-related reading declines, artificial intelligence and social media often described as causes.
