Science

A new insight into global photosynthesis, the chemical process governing how ocean and land plants absorb and release carbon dioxide, has been revealed in research that will assist scientists to more accurately assess future climate change.

In a paper published today in Nature, a team of US, Dutch and Australian scientists have estimated that the global rate of photosynthesis, the chemical process governing the way ocean and land plants absorb and release CO2, occurs 25% faster than previously thought — via redwolf.newsvine.com

The sneaky science of cloaking just keeps getting richer. Physicists and engineers had already demonstrated rudimentary invisibility cloaks that can hide objects from light, sound, and water waves. Now, they’ve devised an anti-magnet cloak that can shield an object from a constant magnetic field without disturbing that field. If realized, such a cloak could have medical applications, researchers say.

This will take cloaking technology another step forward, says John Pendry, a theorist at Imperial College London and co-inventor of the original cloaking idea, who was not involved in the present work — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Physicists have reported that sub-atomic particles called neutrinos can travel faster than light, a finding that, if verified, would blast a hole in Einstein’s theory of relativity.

In experiments conducted between the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland and a laboratory in Italy, the tiny particles were clocked at 300,006 kilometres per second, about six kps faster than the speed of light, the researchers said.

This result comes as a complete surprise, said physicist Antonio Ereditato, spokesman for the experiment, known as OPERA. We wanted to measure the speed of neutrinos, but we didn’t expect to find anything special — via redwolf.newsvine.com

A gold mining company is about to try a new extraction process developed by Australian scientists.

The method will be tested at a gold deposit owned by Minotaur Exploration Limited in the Gawler Craton near Tarcoola in South Australia.

At present, the only commercial way to extract gold has been by using the toxic chemical, cyanide.

Tony Belperio, of Minotaur, says the method developed by the CSIRO uses non-toxic chemicals — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Hydrogen — a potential clean energy source — can be sustainably generated using just seawater, river water and bacteria, according to new research.

Hydrogen is a potentially valuable energy source but production costs and environmental concerns about using fossil fuels to production costs and environmental concerns about using fossil fuels to produce the gas have limited its application so far.

Previous studies have shown hydrogen gas can be produced by harnessing the by-products of microbial organic matter metabolism in a device called a microbial electrolysis cell.

But the process requires an additional input of electricity to make it work effectively.

Now, according to a study published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, hydrogen can be produced in a single device by integrating a water-based power supply into the system — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Mark Dadds says some children literally cannot see the love in their mother’s eyes. Professor Dadds, a parenting expert from the University of New South Wales, has just published results of his work in the British Journal of Psychiatry and the Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology that suggest the ability to make eye contact is vital in learning how to love other people.

For the past five years, he has been working with children referred to his Sydney clinic for sustained rages, continual aggression, calculated violence and, occasionally, cruelty to animals.

These are children with some of the worst behavioural problems, who score highly for callous, unemotional traits. In his studies in both Sydney and London, it was these children who did not meet their mother’s gaze, even when told they were loved.

People marvel at the resilience of children who overcome appalling family backgrounds to make good lives. We understand when childhood trauma sends a child off the rails. But we also have to accept that even good parents can have mean children — how else to explain families where only one child seems to be callous and unemotional, while the siblings are not? — via redwolf.newsvine.com