Living bacteria can bond sand and other loose grains together into a solid material by forming calcium carbonate, the mineral that makes up limestone

The process is seen as a promising, less energy-intensive alternative to cement. Previously, it has primarily been used to stabilise soils, moulded tiles, and in research. 

An ETH Zurich researcher has now shown that bacteria and digital manufacturing can also be used to build free-form architectural elements.

Mark Windham, University of Tennessee professor emeritus, was awarded the Gold Honor Medal by the American Rose Society, the highest honor the society can bestow.

A University of Tennessee professor of soil science is among the nine newest Fellows of the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA). Jie Zhuang, a professor in the Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science within the UT Institute of Agriculture, will formally receive the honor November 3, during CANVAS 2026, an international meeting of multiple scientific communities involved in crop, agronomic, environmental and soil science research. 

Colorado State University researchers have developed an air quality monitoring device that can be paired with systems that track wildlife location and physiological data to learn how smoke impacts wildlife health and behavior.

Nanotechnology using plant-based fibers could be the answer to detecting and cleaning up pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals before they become harmful on the farm and in the environment.

A University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture research project led by Mi Li, associate professor in the Center for Renewable Carbon and the School of Natural Resources, received $300,000 for two years from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative nanotechnology program to create these prototype materials. The project also includes researchers from the University of Memphis and Auburn University.

Led by Professor Margaret Crumlish from Stirling’s world-renowned Institute of Aquaculture, the study will bring together experts from a diverse range of fields to develop practical alternatives to antibiotic use.

Kyoto, Japan -- Monitoring biological indicators plays a crucial role in forest management, which requires finding a delicate balance between timber use and biodiversity conservation. Across forests and across species, responses to forestry operations that alter habitat conditions vary, so repeatable surveys of biological indicators like ground-dwelling beetles can capture forest spatial variation and changes over time.

While ground dwelling beetles help scientists understand conditions on the forest floor, indicators that reflect conditions in the canopy have been more evasive. But a team of researchers at Kyoto University thought that Platycerus might fit this role: a genus of stag beetles that inhabits broadleaf forests, munching on the dead wood of trees as larvae and new leaf buds as adults. The research team chose to investigate whether these beetles might complement their ground-dwelling counterparts in the biological monitoring of broadleaf forests.

In the forests of Hida, Japan, the scientists conducted a survey called a female-attracted flight Interception trap -- F-FIT -- a "honey trap" that uses female Platycerus stag beetles to attract males. F-FIT was introduced only recently to address the limitations of conventional Platycerus surveys, which depend on an observer's skill and may risk damaging breeding sites. With this new survey, the team recorded captures of male Platycerus takakuwai, a species typical to Japan.