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New research from Michigan State University has shown for the first time that activated carbon – a substance widely used in water purification – can help eliminate the health risks associated with soils, sediments and surface water polluted by highly toxic dioxins.

Stephen Boyd, a University Distinguished Professor in the MSU Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences, led the study, which is published online in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. The research looked specifically at soil and freshwater ecosystems that had been contaminated mainly through the industrial manufacture of pesticides and other chemicals.

A new, low-cost attachment to telescopes allows previously unachievable precision in ground-based observations of exoplanets -- planets beyond our solar system. With the new attachment, ground-based telescopes can produce measurements of light intensity that rival the highest quality photometric observations from space. Penn State astronomers, in close collaboration with the nanofabrication labs at RPC Photonics in Rochester, New York, created custom “beam-shaping” diffusers -- carefully structured micro-optic devices that spread incoming light across an image -- that are capable of minimizing distortions from the Earth’s atmosphere that can reduce the precision of ground-based observations. A paper describing the effectiveness of the diffusers appears online on October 5, 2017, in the Astrophysical Journal.

Ubicado en las colinas de cultivo de manzana de Massachusetts occidental, está el bosque de Harvard, una reserva arbolada de 3,700 acres que recibe a niños de escuela en viajes de campo, excursionistas de un día y por más de un cuarto de siglo, un experimento científico muy inusual.

New research shows that equatorial waves — pulses of warm ocean water that play a role in regulating Earth’s climate — are driven by the same dynamics as the exotic materials known as topological insulators.

Los aislantes topológicos, materiales que aislan en el interior pero conducen la electricidad a lo largo de sus bordes exteriores, han creado un gran ruido en la física de la materia condensada. Ahora un nuevo estudio en la revista “Science” demuestra que el mismo comportamiento topológico que gobierna estos materiales exóticos también impulsa las ondas ecuatoriales, pulsos de agua cálida del océano que juegan un papel importante en la regulación del clima de la Tierra, incluyendo el fenómeno de El Niño y sus efectos en Sudamérica