Some agricultural activities, such as irrigation, could be powered by renewable sources, a new study indicates. Farm machinery could also be renewably-powered, but the machinery would need to be adapted to use renewable electricity, instead of liquid fuel.

Recycling offers a promising means of supplying the rare earth elements neodymium and dysprosium, used in computing and low-carbon technologies, research suggests. If recycling infrastructure and technologies are prepared now to deal with the larger volumes of high-tech waste expected in the future, 7-9% of global demand for these critical elements could be met by recycling by the year 2030.

‘Dye-sensitised solar cells’ (DSSCs) are an alternative to traditional silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells. They have a number of advantages over traditional PV solar cells, including greater flexibility and lower manufacturing cost, but they are less efficient at turning sunlight into electricity. Taking inspiration from nature, new research has doubled their efficiency using pine tree-shaped nanotubes.

A new study provides clues as to which innovative low-carbon technologies will successfully get onto the market quickly. The historical analysis of 16 energy technologies — from steam engines to wind power — found that the average length of a product’s ‘formative phase’ is 22 years. This important period of innovation in a technology’s development is shorter for products which do not need extensive new infrastructure or changes to user behaviour. The findings could help policymakers identify new technologies that can be deployed more rapidly to meet short-term environmental targets.

A new review of the potential uses of visual soil evaluation (VSE) shows how this tool can be used to indicate risks of erosion, compaction, greenhouse gas emission or storage and surface-water run-off. Assessing soils in this way is not only useful for agriculture, but has implications for the wider environment, due to the vital role that soil plays in the provision of ecosystem services, for example as a habitat for biodiversity and as a carbon sink.

A new study explores how to weigh up the costs and benefits of technologies that extract phosphorus from livestock waste for re-use as fertiliser. Findings from a US case study suggest that recycling phosphorus in this way can cut both water pollution levels and the costs of cleaning up the mineral. However, the technologies’ long-term economic feasibility depends on the yield, quality, and market value of the recovered phosphorus.

In a freewheeling discussion with ETCIO, Miao Song, Global CIO & Global VP of MARS group emphasized this different Covid-19 challenge which is new for CIOs to tackle and difficult too.

Mashreq bank's preparation for digitization has only helped the bank improve its profits during Coronavirus pandemic while most of its competitors continue to struggle

In an interview with ETCIO, Miao Song, Global CIO & Global VP of MARS, talks about the IT & Digital odyssey of the company in tackling the Covid-19 crisis.

TONIK Financial, Asean’s first licensed digital-only bank, is leveraging cloud to mitigate the risks of Covid-19.

Two papers published by an assistant professor at the University of California, Riverside and several collaborators explain why the universe has enough energy to become transparent.

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Researchers have examined two cases of managed realignment in the UK, whereby coastal areas are deliberately flooded to recreate protective salt marshes. They demonstrated that a sequential decision support system (DSS) can be combined with an ecosystem services approach to provide a robust economic valuation of managed realignment’s benefits. For the case studies analysed, the benefits of managed realignment were found to outweigh costs in the long-term.

Bee pollination improves the shape, weight and shelf-life of strawberries, contributing a staggering €1.05 billion to the European strawberry market per year, new research suggests. By blocking bees from a set of plants, the researchers demonstrated the substantial effects of bee pollination on the quality of the fruit.

Nudges can foster greener public behaviour but they also raise some moral questions, concludes a recent analysis of behaviour-change schemes. How businesses' behaviour is influenced by consumer concerns for the environment is less clear - and may only result in 'greenwash' - the researchers suggest.

To increase energy efficiency, many countries are encouraging their citizens to make individual energy-saving changes, such as changing the type of light bulbs they use. This study investigated the relationship between understanding of environmental issues and effective energy-saving behaviour and shows that informed citizens are key to successful policy.

Consumers are willing to pay more for food that has been produced via sustainable processes and with a reduced environmental impact. A large-scale US survey, that questioned strawberry consumers on aspects of sustainable food production, suggests that food producers could benefit from increased premiums if product ecolabels were to advertise specific environmental virtues.

A circular economy (CE) is one in which materials retain their value and are reused, minimising waste. Cities and councils could act as CE trailblazers by embedding this approach whenever possible into their public purchase of products, services and works. This study explored different approaches to circular public procurement (CPP), and identified possible opportunities to promote CE via appropriate procurement policy and criteria.

Agri-environmental measures (AEM) are designed to encourage farmers to protect and enhance the environment on their farmland by paying them for the provision of environmental services. This study suggests that AEM would be more effective if payments were targeted to areas under the greatest environmental pressures, such as intensive agricultural regions — to gain maximum environmental benefits.

Gendered expectations in marriage are not just bad for women, they are also bad for men, according to a new study by University of Connecticut (UConn) sociologists.

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For older adults, having more or closer family members in one's social network decreases his or her likelihood of death, but having a larger or closer group of friends does not, finds a new study that will be presented at the 111th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA).

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Our beliefs about how farm animals are raised can shape our meat-eating experience, according to a new study led by Lisa Feldman Barrett, University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University.

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An increasing number of US adults are using marijuana, as fewer people perceive the drug as harmful, according to a survey of over 500000 US adults conducted between 2002 and 2014 published in The Lancet Psychiatry. As marijuana has become increasingly potent over the past decade, the authors say that the findings suggest the need for improved education and prevention messages regarding the risks of marijuana.

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Preliminary findings from a mass participation study have indicated a link between weather conditions - specifically rain and lack of sunshine - and chronic pain.

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A new study -- the first to look at social media's effect on memory -- suggests posting personal experiences on social media makes those events much easier to recall.

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In the country, autonomous mobility will probably mean robotic tractors rather than robotic cars, and if tractor maker Escorts has its way, they could get here sooner than thought.

In a freewheeling discussion with ETCIO, Miao Song, Global CIO & Global VP of MARS group emphasized this different Covid-19 challenge which is new for CIOs to tackle and difficult too.

Mashreq bank's preparation for digitization has only helped the bank improve its profits during Coronavirus pandemic while most of its competitors continue to struggle

In an interview with ETCIO, Miao Song, Global CIO & Global VP of MARS, talks about the IT & Digital odyssey of the company in tackling the Covid-19 crisis.

CIOs should focus their energy on the resolution of issues that arise as almost 100% of their workforce work remotely and building resistance towards the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The future of cybersecurity will revolve around Business Continuity (Backup), Remote Collaboration, Internet, Security & Cloud.

Make your audio meetings are more inclusive, easier to participate in and easier to manage. With HD quality voice, noise suppression and voice separation, our new BT MeetMe with Dolby Voice service takes audio conferencing to a different level. And because this is an IP call, it complements your Unified Communications strategy. Integrating with Cisco WebEx and Microsoft Lync, so that you can use it with what you have already invested in and save money on access costs.

Many workplaces have developed mobility policies to reduce the number of staff commuting to work using single occupant vehicles (SOVs). A new study from Belgium reveals how companies can influence their employees' choice of transport to work and looks at the best ways to promote alternative means of commuting.

A new UK study suggests that there are associations between obesity, physical activity, and levels of CO2 emissions from transport. These associations seem mostly to reflect the fact that obese people tend to travel longer distances by motorised forms of travel. They may also partly reflect less ‘active travel’ by bicycle or walking by obese people.

Information on travel behaviour can provide insight into the most effective and sustainable ways to manage traffic congestion and its environmental impacts. A new German study focuses on service-related traffic and shows that employees of different types of companies have distinctly different travel behaviour.

Travelling by coach or train has a lower impact on the climate than travelling by air or car, but using a small diesel car to carry several passengers can have similarly low impacts per person, new research suggests. Air travel is the worst form of transport, in terms of global warming impact, the researchers found, but the average percentage occupancy of a mode of transport significantly affects the impact per passenger.

The promotion of diesel-fuelled cars in Europe may not have had the beneficial environmental effects that were expected, research suggests. It has been assumed that they help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the transport sector, but studies show that their fuel efficiency is lower than previously believed, while their black carbon and nitrogen oxides emissions are higher. The consequent reduction in global warming effects from diesel cars may therefore be negligible, perhaps even negative.

Car use could be reduced through careful urban planning, according to the results of a new German study. By combining data on driving behaviour and high-resolution satellite imagery, the researchers show how patterns of land and car use are connected.

Two shared electric car schemes, in Berlin and Paris, have been examined by a recent study. Although both schemes are progressive, Berlin's takes an 'inter-modal' approach to encouraging sustainable mobility, because it integrates electric cars into the wider public transport system. The scheme in Paris, however, focuses on cars as the main form of transport.

Transport policies that produce physically segregated cycle lanes on main roads, combined with low-speed local streets, will boost numbers of cyclists and provide the best financial return on investment, new research suggests. Using Auckland, New Zealand as a case study the researchers showed that the economic benefits of this policy can outweigh the costs by more than 20 times.

Bike share programmes appear to have successfully reduced private car use in Brisbane, Melbourne, Washington DC, Minnesota and London, suggests recent research. In London, however, high demand for vans to transport bicycles between docking stations may have increased overall motor vehicle use in the city.

Airports are associated with air and noise pollution and may, therefore, reduce the quality of life of local people. This study assessed the link between aircraft noise and subjective wellbeing, using data from 17 English airports. The authors conclude that living under flight paths has a negative effect on people’s overall wellbeing, equivalent to around half of the effect of being a smoker for some indicators.

The measures available to reduce the noise and vibration produced by trains have been outlined in a recent study. The researchers say the most appropriate mitigation should be determined on a case-by-case basis and life-cycle assessments can help analyse the economic costs and carbon footprint of different methods.

Hybrid and electric vehicles emit lower levels of carbon dioxide and air pollutants than conventional petrol and diesel vehicles, yet their market uptake in the EU remains limited. New research provides an assessment of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) — which combines purchase and operating expenses — of different vehicle types. By comparing historical data on hybrid, petrol and diesel vehicles in three countries (Japan, the UK and the USA), researchers found a strong link between TCO and market share of those vehicles. They also identified a number of ways in which policymakers may promote the adoption of cleaner vehicles through the provision of financial incentives.

Droughts and temperature rises caused by climate change may already be increasing the die-off of forests, according to a new study. To combat this threat researchers have called for greater knowledge on the status of the forests and the ways in which climate change could have an impact on forest ecosystems.

Benefits gained from the use of logging residues as a fuel depend more on the type of fossil fuel they replace than on the distance the residues have to travel, according to new research. Residues that replace coal produce the greatest reductions in CO2 emissions.

International trade in wood and wood products affects forest stocks around the world. A recent study examines the relationship between changes in forest cover and international timber trade at global level. If finds that some wealthier nations with low population density can maintain forest areas while exporting wood; but other, usually poorer, nations, are losing forests through domestic and global demand for wood.