The remarkable journey of a green turtle from Indonesia into Australian waters is helping conservationists to track the migratory route of this species to the Kimberley-Pilbara coast – one of the few relatively pristine coastal areas left on Earth. Ana, a female green turtle, was tagged in Indonesia in November as part of a turtle tracking project by WWF and Udayana University in Bali, Indon...

Home foundations and frames built of a lightweight composite material that may bend – but won’t break – in a hurricane and can simply float on the rising tide of a storm’s coastal surge? Sounds too Sci-Fi? Maybe like something from the distant future? Well, the technology is closer than you think. A professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is set for six m...

Men are red. Women are green. Michael J. Tarr, a Brown University scientist, and graduate student Adrian Nestor have discovered this color difference in an analysis of dozens of faces. They determined that men tend to have more reddish skin and greenish skin is more common for women. The finding has important implications in cognitive science research, such as the study of face perception.  B...

Landfill sites produce the greenhouse gases, methane and carbon dioxide, as putrescible waste decays. Growing plants and trees on top of a landfill, a process known as `Phytocapping`, could reduce the production and release of these gases, according to Australian scientists. Despite legislative pressures to reduce landfill use, in certain parts of the world it remains the most economical and simpl...

As if the drivers of minivans and utility vehicles needed any more encouragement to drive fast between jobs, US researchers have designed a new rear spoiler for bluff-backed vehicles that can reduce drag and lift significantly. Writing in the International Journal of Vehicle Design, the team describes how the new spoiler could improve fuel consumption as well as vehicle handling. Inchul Kim of Met...

Root-knot nematodes are extreme parasites. These microscopic, omnipresent worms cause major damage to horticultural and field crops in sub-tropical regions, resulting in significant financial losses to growers and gardeners. Until recently, fumigation of the soil with methyl bromide before planting was the primary method for controlling root-knot nematodes in valuable vegetable crops. Methyl bromi...

Take a close look at that cheap piece of scrap iron before you toss it in the trash. Wei-xian Zhang has a good use for it. Someday soon, much of the world might also. Zhang, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, recently concluded a five-year research project in which he and his colleagues at Tongji University in Shanghai used two million pounds of iron to detoxify pollutants in indu...