News by Subject Policy & Ethics

Studying the effects of contraceptive medications on feral cat populations is difficult, but relying on standard laboratory settings is unrealistic. That's why a group of University of Illinois researchers created a unique study environment designed to bridge the gap between the lab and the real world. In short, it's a cat wonderland in which resident cats help to advance science.

To offset CO2 emissions, China is reforesting. If a mixture of tree species instead of monocultures were planted, much more carbon could be stored. An international team including UZH researchers has shown that species-rich forest ecosystems take up more CO2 from the atmosphere and store more carbon in biomass and soil, making them more effective against climate change.

Trees growing in temperate forests in the eastern US show strong adaptation or acclimation to local climate. So reports a new study that analyzed more than 23,000 tree cores to investigate how adult trees respond to changes in climatic conditions. Results were published this week in the journal Ecosphere.

A new large-data study of bivalves and gastropods in the Atlantic Ocean suggests laziness might be a fruitful strategy for survival of individuals, species and even communities of species.

Light may be the missing ingredient in making usable quantum silicon computer chips, according to an international study featuring a University of Queensland researcher. The team has engineered a silicon chip that can guide single particles of light - photons -- along optical tracks, encoding and processing quantum-bits of information known as 'qubits'.