Fukuoka, Japan (AFP) April 3, 2026
A Japanese water plant is harnessing the natural process of osmosis to generate renewable energy that could one day become a common power source. The possibility of generating power from osmosis - when water molecules pass from a less salty solution to a more salty one - has long been known. But actually generating energy from that h...

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 11, 2026
A research team has reported a simple new preparation strategy that sharply improves the low temperature performance of carbon based catalysts used to remove nitrogen oxides from industrial exhaust. The work focuses on ammonia selective catalytic reduction, a widely used process that converts nitrogen oxides into nitrogen and water, and de...

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Mar 09, 2026
Microplastics are now recognized as a growing threat to farmland as well as oceans and rivers, with new research highlighting how plastic particles in soil host intricate interactions between microbes and viruses that could alter ecosystem health and long term agricultural sustainability. These plastic fragments, typically smaller than fiv...

Paris, France (AFP) Mar 9, 2026
Attacks on water systems are uncommon in wartime, but they have appeared in the war in the Middle East with strikes on desalination plants - critical infrastructure for millions of people in the arid region. - Who was targeted? - Bahrain's interior ministry said Sunday that an Iranian drone attack damaged a water desalination plant, acc...

Los Ba?os, Philippines (AFP) Mar 8, 2026
A thin band of light from Cristian Lucanas's headlamp pierces the blackness of a Philippine rainforest as he digs through the underbrush before gently scooping up a cockroach with his bare hands. As the Southeast Asian country's lone expert on the oft-misunderstood insect - and discoverer of 15 species - friends have dubbed the s...