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For the first time, researchers have successfully measured in detail the flow of solar energy, in and between different parts of a photosynthetic organism. The result is a first step in research that could ultimately contribute to the development of technologies that use solar energy far more efficiently than what is currently possible.

For about 80 years, researchers have known that photochemical reactions inside an organism do not occur in the same place as where it absorbs sunlight. What has not been known, however, is how and along what routes the solar energy is transported into the photosynthetic organism -- until now.

"Not even the best solar cells that we as humans are capable of producing can be compared to what nature performs in the first stages of energy conversion. That is why new knowledge about photosynthesis will become useful for the development of future solar technologies", says Donatas Zigmantas, Faculty of Science at Lund University, Sweden.

A new study has found for the first time that ocean warming is the primary cause of retreat of glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula. The Peninsula is one of the largest current contributors to sea-level rise and this new finding will enable researchers to make better predictions of ice loss from this region.

The research, by scientists at Swansea University and British Antarctic Survey, is published in the journal Science this week (15 July). The study reports that glaciers flowing to the coast on the western side of the Peninsula show a distinct spatial correlation with ocean temperature patterns, with those in the south retreating rapidly but those in the north showing little change. Some 90% of the 674 glaciers in this region have retreated since records began in the 1940s.

Los osos negros americanos pueden ser capaces de reconocer las cosas que conocen en la vida real, tales como comida o los seres humanos…cuando ven una fotografía de la misma cosa. Esta es una de las conclusiones de un estudio dirigido por Zoe Johnson-Ulrich y Jennifer Vonk de la Universidad de Oakland en los EE.UU., que involucró a un oso negro llamado Migwan y una pantalla de ordenador

Las marismas de Florida son un desierto pantanoso del tamaño de Delaware. En algunos lugares a lo largo de la carretera en el sur de la Florida, parecen hierba alta de la sierra en el horizonte, una pradera salpicada con algunos cipreses retorcidos. El cielo es de un azul muy claro.

Los incendios subterráneos están presentes desde hace más de un siglo por debajo de la cuenca carbonífera más grande de la India, pero en las últimas décadas la minería a cielo abierto ha traído las llamas a la superficie con consecuencias devastadoras para la población local.