Sticky spheres ensnare pests
Carnivorous sundews ensnare insects with their sticky leaves, a phenomenon that fascinated Charles Darwin. Now, inspired by the tiny hairs and secretions of plants like sundews, a group in the Netherlands have developed their own adhesive spheres as physical pesticides. The tiny sticky orbs were sprayed onto plants to trap western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis), a globally important pest.
Business digest
The latest business digest for C&I Issue 6 2024 with all the latest mergers and acquisitions in the chemical industry.
Manifesto for wellbeing
If you discovered your country was losing up to £78bn a year, you would want to do something about it, right? Well, that is how much the UK loses to workplace sickness and ill-health each year.
Blue-green fixation
The discovery of how a critical enzyme works has shed new light on how cells control key processes in carbon fixation. It could help scientists to engineer climate-resilient crops capable of sucking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere more efficiently, while producing more food in the process.
Applied chemistry
Read the latest applied chemistry highlights for June 2024 by Nigel P Freestone | University of Northampton, UK.
Advanced materials
Read the latest Advanced Materials highlights in C&I Magazine Issue 6 2024 written by Arno Kraft, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK.
Optical sensors warn of beetle infestations
Optical sensors could help farmers better monitor beetle populations in oilseed rape fields. In a recent experiment in agricultural fields in the UK and Denmark, scientists found that optical sensors detected pollen beetles faster and with higher sensitivity than any of the other methods studied.
Pollinator-unfriendly flowers
Some annual flowers come in varieties that are unappealing to pollinators, while others are surprisingly popular, a new study shows. Worryingly, the most popular annual flowers are not a good choice for attracting and supporting pollinators, a US group has concluded.
Vaping risks: AI study warns of dangers
Irish researchers have used artificial intelligence to help identify multiple potentially harmful chemicals used in vaping devices. With growing numbers of teenagers and younger children using vapes, they say there is a real risk of a new wave of vaping-induced chronic diseases emerging in 15 to 20 years.
Beyond batteries: how edible electronics could change medicine
Imagine the possibilities if we could safely and routinely deploy batteries into the human body. Not just for monitoring and compliance but also for bringing some medical procedures out of the lab and into the home, Anthony King reports.