
"Magic sand" might help us understand the physics of granular matter
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Tokyo, Japan - Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have studied the properties of mixtures of silicone-coated "magic sand", a popular kid's toy, and normal sand. Silicone-coated sand particles were found to interact with each other only, and not with other sand particles. The team discovered that adding silicone-coated sand beyond a certain threshold leads to an abrupt change in clustering and rigidity, a simple, useful way to potentially tune the flow of granular materials for industry.
Could cactus pear become a major crop like soybeans and corn in the near future, and help provide a biofuel source, as well as a sustainable food and forage crop? According to a recently published study, researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno believe the plant, with its high heat tolerance and low water use, may be able to provide fuel and food in places that previously haven't been able to grow sustainable crops.
Assessments of ecosystem services should take greater account of species diversity, scientists from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) are calling for. Large-scale assessments, however, only address some of these services, such as water filtration and carbon storage. In contrast, ecosystem services directly linked to species hardly play a role. The researchers point out that this wastes many opportunities for effective nature and species conservation.
Findings reveal that demographics such as race and population density, as well as health indices such as cancer rates and food insecurity, show strong correlations with water quality across Virginia.
A combined treatment of irradiation and essential oil vapors could effectively destroy insects, bacteria and mold in stored grains. The team of INRS Professor Monique Lacroix has demonstrated the effect of this process on insects affecting rice. The study was published in the Radiation Physics and Chemistry journal.
Satellite imagery shows that the area covered by kelp forests off the coast of Northern California has dropped by more than 95 percent, with just a few small, isolated patches of bull kelp remaining. Species-rich kelp forests have been replaced by 'urchin barrens,' where purple sea urchins cover a seafloor devoid of kelp and other algae. A new study documents this dramatic shift in the coastal ecosystem and analyzes the events that caused it.
More Antarctic meltwater is surfacing than was previously known, modifying the climate, preventing sea ice from forming and boosting marine productivity- according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA). For the first time, researchers have been able to obtain full-depth glacial meltwater observations in winter, using instruments attached to the heads of seals living near the Pine Island Glacier, in the remote Amundsen Sea in the west of Antarctica.
Shark scientists at Georgia Aquarium, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, and Dalhousie University are challenging the status quo in shark and ray mating research in a new study that looks at biological drivers of multiple paternity in these animals.
Many species might be left vulnerable in the face of climate change, unable to adapt their physiologies to respond to rapid global warming. According to a team of international researchers, species evolve heat tolerance more slowly than cold tolerance, and the level of heat they can adapt to has limits.
New study examines importance and unique characteristics of US female farmers