Research from The University of Osaka highlights a new model of a gyroscopic wave energy converter. The device was shown to be capable of absorbing up to half of incoming wave energy across a wide range of frequencies, meaning it could achieve the theoretical maximum efficiency. These results provide important design insights for more efficient and adaptable wave energy technologies.

DNA - the blueprint of life – can also act as a reaction vessel that guides chemical reactions. This is possible using interstrand crosslinking technology developed by researchers at Tohoku University.

When it comes to biodiversity, researchers and the public tend to focus on large-scale patterns. This overlooks a hidden but precious diversity: small, inconspicuous wasps, midges, flies, beetles and other insects that live in plants. These tiny creatures are actually very common, as shown by a team of researchers at the University of Göttingen and the Hungarian HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research. The researchers measured, dissected and searched for insects in over 23,000 shoots of grass. They found 255 species of insects in ten perennial grass species, which last year-round, but not a single one in five annual, short-lived grass species. The longer the shoots of the perennial grass species, the higher the diversity of insects found in them. Around a third of the insect species feed directly on the grass. The remaining species, mostly wasps, live parasitically on the insects that feed on plants. Almost two-thirds of insects specialize in grasses, half of them even in specific grass species. The conclusion is that areas in grassland should not be mown for several years: stable insect populations need undisturbed refuges with intact shoots of grass. The results were published in Basic and Applied Ecology.

First large-scale experiment shows fire whirls burn oil spills faster and cleaner than fire pools, proving their game-changing potential for ocean cleanups.

The National Science Foundation has awarded a six-year, nearly $2 million grant to The University of Texas at Arlington to provide scholarships for qualified undergraduate mathematics students.

Larry Steckel, Extension weed specialist and researcher in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, has been named a Fellow of the Weed Science Society of America.