news 2017

Assessing old bridges using modern standards is no mean feat. Studies conducted by TU Wien show that many bridges are actually significantly more stable than might be expected, often rendering costly restoration work unnecessary. Deciding which bridges need to be restored in the near future and which are still in good condition can have extremely expensive repercussions.

In the beginning, planet Earth was a very inhospitable place with no oxygen and only single-celled bacteria as inhabitants. According to a new study, the oxygen content in the air began to increase about 2.4 billion years ago, at the same time as the global glaciation and when all continents were gathered in a single huge landmass, or supercontinent.

ANN ARBOR?Charitable lenders who belong to a team provide significantly more loans than those on their own, according to new studies led by economists and computer scientists at the University of Michigan. The researchers say the findings have implications for charitable giving as well. The project team, which also include researchers from the National University of Singapore and Kidaptive, studied the behavior of more than 60,000 members of the online lending community Kiva.