Forest soil stores water, carbon and nutrients for trees and also provides a habitat for living organisms. When managing forests, it is particularly important to work in a way that protects the soil and to correctly assess soil moisture for that purpose. A new study by the University of Göttingen in collaboration with the Czech Mendel University shows that previous methods of moisture measurement are inadequate. Satellite data can help to better understand the soil moisture dynamics of forest soils. This research has implications for best practice in forest management. The findings will help people adapt to a changing climate and to refine and inform prediction models. The results were published in the Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies.

Four members of the Texas A&M University faculty will receive $1.6 million in DARPA funds to create a system for rapidly accelerating the process that determines the quality and expected lifespan of 3D-printed components used by the military. This new approach to predicting lifespan will increase the speed at which parts are made and deployed in critical applications and accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing technologies in the form of more 3D printers at Department of Defense (DOD) bases. It will also provide millions of dollars in savings for the DOD.

Chinese researchers led by Prof. XIAO Jun at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a groundbreaking technology that sheds light on how the three-dimensional (3D) organization of plant genomes influences gene expression—especially in photosynthesis.