Why do some melodies feel instantly right, balanced, memorable and satisfying, even if you have never heard them before? New research from the University of Waterloo suggests that more than creativity is at play.
Permits revoked, lawsuits filed, the threat of state takeovers. Deadly flooding in Indonesia has prompted unprecedented government action against companies accused of environmental destruction that worsened the disaster.
Vast stretches of a once-verdant acacia forest south of Sudan's capital Khartoum have been reduced to little more than fields of stumps as nearly three years of conflict have fueled deforestation.
A scientific review carried out by a team in the English and German Philology Department at the UCO explores the pedagogical dimension of bilingual university programs in Europe. The implementation of bilingual education is part of an educational trend committed to internationalization that took off in the 2000s and extended to the university level. At the global level, the promotion of languages as tools for international academic communication has become essential, with English, in particular, becoming a lingua franca in both the global scientific community and in higher education.
An animatronic dire wolf looks around then tilts its head to greet you in the lobby. An animated megalodon shark circles its prey in a conference room made of floor-to-ceiling screens before striking and "breaking" the glass.
La Trobe University researchers have developed a new way to measure and report the environmental performance of farms in a move that could pave the way for future "sustainability ratings" on consumer food and fiber products. Published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution, the measurement, developed across 50 mixed grazing and cropping farms in south-eastern Australia, addresses one of the biggest challenges facing agriculture: the rising demand for accurate, farm-level data on biodiversity, ecosystem services and environmental sustainability.
As the effects of climate change intensify, it has become standard practice for major corporations to pledge their support for environmental sustainability. This is as it should be, because genuine corporate engagement is essential to the success of our collective response—and it makes good business sense.
How will a warming Arctic affect plant growth on Svalbard? Researchers encased plant plots in a thick layer of ice during the winter and used little greenhouses to heat up those plots in the summer. The surprise? The plants that got the harshest treatment did just fine.
When it comes to biodiversity, researchers and the public tend to focus on large-scale patterns. This overlooks a hidden but precious diversity: small, inconspicuous wasps, midges, flies, beetles and other insects that live in plants. These tiny creatures are actually very common, as shown by a team of researchers at the University of Göttingen and the Hungarian HUN-REN Center for Ecological Research.
