In Colombia only 30% of wastewaters are treated. Using solar photocatalysis, a chemical process in which the only source of energy is the sun, water quality could be improved. This method to eliminate organic compounds was used by UNal-Manizales Chemical Engineer Sandra Milena López Zamora, to search for the ideal material to help improve the photocatalytic properties of titanium dioxide (TiO2), very used in this type of procedures due to its high solar energy conversion efficiency.

A towering tropical tree may look perfectly healthy on the outside but be in danger of collapse from fungal decay on the inside. Fungal diseases are part of the natural cycle of birth and death in the forest. In a city prone to gusty storms, however, infected trees threaten people, vehicles, and structures. How can municipal authorities identify dangerous trees?

Scientists sometimes aggressively test the theories of their peers. Recently, Seth Finnegan preferred to put his own hypotheses to a stress test. Finnegan wants to examine how energy flows through Panama’s modern marine ecosystems to test ideas about the causes of diversification and extinction in marine ecosystems hundreds of millions of years ago.

The forests on the Caribbean and Pacific sides of the Panamanian isthmus are separated by a mere 60 kilometers but are strikingly different in plant species composition. This has much to do with rainfall — precipitation on the Cari-bbean slope averages 4 meters per year, more than twice what falls on the Pacific side. Tree species have evolved or adapted accordingly. While it’s intuitively clear why wet-side species cannot survive punishing dry seasons, it’s a bit of a mystery why most drought-tolerant trees don’t appear in wetter forests. New research by Smithsonian scientists suggests that plant pathogens play a role.