Groundwater could speed the loss of Antarctic ice
Australian research has uncovered groundwater beneath the Antarctic ice which may increase glacial loss and the rising of ocean levels. Antarctica preserves Earth’s largest ice sheet, and scientists have been warning for decades…
Could we use solar power to purify drinking water?
There has been significant recent research into the possibility of desalination using photo-thermal evaporators powered only by sunlight. The problem has been achieving an efficiency high enough to make such devices practical. Scientists…
Australia’s new leader in botanical science
Australia has a new scientific institute that brings together an astoundingly broad sweep of botanic research organisations and collections, services and facilities. The Australian Institute of Botanical Science is positioned to become a…
Solar panels that sweat…
Engineers across the world are searching for way to improve the efficiency of solar panels. As new materials and designs are tested, any efficiency improvement – even a few percent – is announced…
The Sahara will be fertile in 10,000 years
Fossils in the bone-dry Sahara Desert reveal that the sand dunes are located in what was previously a moist, fertile region. Scientists used to believe that the Sahara switched between dry and moist…
