Behind the Paper
The real stories behind the latest research papers, from conception to publication, the highs and the lows
Human impacts on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon distribution in Chinese intertidal zones
Intertidal zone is a transitional boundary between terrestrial and marine environments, while gathers intense human activities. Our study elucidates that profiles of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in intertidal zones can be used to index regional development status.
Historic floods reveal hidden value of nature for flood defense
We show that flood defenses combining ‘green’ and ‘grey’ features are more beneficial than considered earlier. Beyond wave reduction, ‘green’ salt marshes can lower flood impacts simply by limiting breach size when ‘grey’ engineered structures fail and do so even more effective under sea-level rise
Beyond 'business-as-usual': using news media and satellites to connect drug trafficking to forest loss
Illicit activity- intentionally hidden behavior- is often left out of quantitative analyses of land changes like forest loss. Creative data approaches-like using news media as a proxy for drug trafficking- can overcome challenges and enable causal analysis.
Leveraging the small to make a big impact in agriculture
Nanotechnology offers many potential, high impact solutions to advance agriculture sustainably, but at what cost? A sustainable solution will enhance performance with minimal environmental impact. Which nano-enabled agriculture solutions offer the greatest benefit at the lowest environmental cost?
A triple-win solution to biowaste, fossil-based plastic and carbon utilisaiton
We evaluate the high potential of PEF produced from industrial carbon dioxide emissions and non-food derived biomass which is an alternative to its counterpart PET.
Flooding disrupts emergency response
In this blog I reflect on what led to the article we recently published in Nature Sustainability. Through this reflection, I highlight two crucial ingredients for this study.
Back to the future with regional climate modelling
Almost a century ago, against the backdrop of the Great Depression, North America's Great Plains were devastated by drought, dust and record heat—known as the Dust Bowl decade. We set out to understand more about the Dust Bowl heatwaves and to achieve this, we sought help from people world-wide.
