In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Earth Sciences, a team of researchers conducted a comprehensive study of wildfires during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) in the Nanyang and Fushun Basins. The study indicates that a “low wildfire activity” prevailed during the main body of the PETM in most regions in the Northern Hemisphere, resulting from extreme warming, high precipitation, and the resultant changes in vegetation types. During the PETM recovery phase, it gradually evolved into a “high wildfire state”, and the resulting black carbon burial might have significantly contributed to the sequestration of massive light carbon. It provides a novel perspective to address current wildfire threats and to predict wildfire activities and their driving mechanisms in the context of future global warming.

Self-driving cars which eliminate traffic jams, getting a healthcare diagnosis instantly without leaving your home, or feeling the touch of loved ones based across the continent may sound like the stuff of science fiction.

But new research, led by the University of Bristol and published today in the journal Nature Electronics, could make all this and more a step closer to reality thanks to a radical breakthrough in semiconductor technology.

Washington State University scientists are using microwave technology to extend the shelf life of hummus while eliminating the need for chemical preservatives, as demonstrated in a recent paper. They also experimented with making hummus with lentils instead of the more traditional chickpeas and measured the loss of vitamin C during the microwave process.

Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a scalable, non-viral technology that efficiently delivers genetic material into human immune cells. The platform, called Nanostraw Electro-actuated Transfection (NExT), uses tiny hollow nanostructures and electrical pulses to insert a wide variety of biomolecules — proteins, mRNA and gene-editing tools — into immune cells with high efficiency and minimal disruption.