Can technology-enabled urban farms be a winner for S’pore?
Reading Time: 4 minutesSINGAPORE needs to deepen its interests in food production, not just consumption, with strategic partners like Australia. One approach to this is redirecting some of its tech, digital strategies and sharing of IP to scaling up smart food zones based on technology-enabled farming (TEF). Agricultural technology – or agtech – has become a billion-dollar industry. […]
UPM launches ultra-compact electric vehicle
Reading Time: 2 minutesBY AZMAN ZAKARIA SERDANG: Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) through its Faculty of Engineering has embarked on an innovative transportation system using electric vehicles, MyCOMS, the first of its kind in Malaysia, for use by staff and students in its ongoing efforts to promote green technology in its campus. The project was realised through the sponsorship […]
Research on jackfruit diseases gets underway
Reading Time: 2 minutesBy Dr Daljit Singh LANCHANG: The problem of browning of jackfruits or rust coloured specs or streaks appearing on the flesh of the fruits has inevitably caused a decline in jackfruit harvest yields in the country. This is because buyers refused to buy diseased fruits, causing the demand for jackfruits to be less favourable. The […]
Paris Climate Change Pact
Reading Time: 4 minutesWorld science community reacts to US withdrawal from agreement BY RYAN BUSHEY President Trump recently declared he was unilaterally withdrawing the United States from the landmark Paris Climate Change Agreement, defying the vast majority of the scientific and business community. The pledge— which includes 195 countries that have agreed to implement plans for reducing greenhouse […]
Why are there different types of calendars?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteBY SCIENCE BRIDGE ACADEMY There are many different kind of calendars being actively used around the world and are basically of three types – solar, lunar and lunisolar/solilunar calendars. As the name suggests, a solar calendar is concerned with the Sun, or, more precisely, it is based on the Earth’s rotation around the Sun. Lunar […]
How does addiction work?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThe word “addiction” is derived from a Latin term for “enslaved by” or “bound to.” Anyone who has struggled to overcome an addiction understands why. Addiction exerts a long and powerful influence on the brain that manifests in three distinct ways: craving for the object of addiction, loss of control over its use, and continuing […]
Cancer-killing power of plants
Reading Time: 2 minutesFour species of Phyllanthus, herbs commonly found throughout the tropics and subtropics, pose great potential as nontoxic breast cancer treatments. While their therapeutic properties have been reported, a team from the University of Malaya recently investigated specifically how the plants’ extracts combat breast cancer. Phyllanthus is a large family of flowering plants with hundreds of […]
Impact of global warming on mosquito-borne diseases
Reading Time: 2 minutesAS TEMPERATURES rise with climate change, mosquito season extends past the summer months in many parts of the world. The question has been how this lengthened season influences the risk of being infected with mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika. Now, in a paper published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Stanford researchers modelled […]
How do solar panels work?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteTHE sun is the ultimate source of all life on earth. It is also an infinitely renewable and 100% pollution free energy source. Therefore, it is not surprising that we should look to solar energy as a great potential energy source. How do we harness energy from the sun? One way is through the use of solar panels. […]
Why do animals remember differently?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteWE often say that someone with a strong memory has a memory “like and elephant”, while someone who is forgetful might have a memory “like a goldfish”. But can we really compare our memories to that of animals? A recent study showed that animals don’t have much recollection of specific events at all, but instead, they store away information about what […]