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Categories: Chemistry: Organic Chemistry, Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published 90% of Floridians believe climate change is happening



The latest 'Florida Climate Resilience Survey' found that 90% of Floridians believe that climate change is happening. Belief in human-caused climate change has surged among Florida Independents while slipping among Republicans in the state since last fall. But despite these changes, the survey found enduring support among Floridians for increased government action to address the consequences of a warming planet. The survey found 68% of all respondents want state government to do more and 69% want the federal government to do more to address climate change.
Published Eco-friendly and affordable battery for low-income countries



A battery made from zinc and lignin that can be used over 8000 times. This has been developed with a vision to provide a cheap and sustainable battery solution for countries where access to electricity is limited.
Published How to make ubiquitous plastics biodegradable



Polystyrene is made from styrene building blocks and is the most widely used plastic in terms of volume, for example in packaging. Unlike PET, which can now be produced and recycled using biotechnological methods, the production of polystyrene has so far been a purely chemical process. The plastic can't be broken down by biotechnological means, either. Researchers are looking for ways to rectify this: An international team decoded a bacterial enzyme that plays a key role in styrene degradation. This paves the way for biotechnological application.
Published 2023 was the hottest summer in two thousand years



Researchers have found that 2023 was the hottest summer in the Northern Hemisphere in the past two thousand years, almost four degrees warmer than the coldest summer during the same period.
Published New 'forever chemical' cleanup strategy discovered



A method has been discovered to treat water heavily contaminated with unhealthful forever chemicals, known by chemists as PFAS or poly- and per-fluoroalkyl substances. It involves treating heavily contaminated water with ultraviolet (UV) light, sulfite, and a process called electrochemical oxidation. It breaks up strong fluorine-to-carbon bonds in the PFAS compounds and other concentrated organic compounds in heavily polluted water. The reaction also occurs at room temperature without a need for additional heat or high pressure. This method is expected to be useful in cleanups of PFAS pollution from decades of fire suppressant foam use at military facilities.
Published Take cover! Survey shows tornado warnings widely misunderstood



A study showed that about half of those surveyed in the mid-South could not accurately identify a tornado warning.
Published Improved wildfire smoke model identifies areas for public health intervention



The Canadian wildfires of June 2023 exposed a large portion of the Northeastern United States to unprecedented levels of smoke. A new model that combines wildfire smoke forecasts and data from ground-based sensors may help public health officials plan targeted interventions in areas most at risk for the negative health effects of unexpected smoke events and air pollution, according to scientists.
Published 2D all-organic perovskites: potential use in 2D electronics



Perovskites are among the most researched topics in materials science. Recently, a research team has solved an age-old challenge to synthesize all-organic two-dimensional perovskites, extending the field into the exciting realm of 2D materials. This breakthrough opens up a new field of 2D all-organic perovskites, which holds promise for both fundamental science and potential applications.
Published Getting dirty to clean up the chemical industry's environmental impact



The global chemical industry is a major fossil fuel consumer and climate change contributor; however, new research has identified how the sector could clean up its green credentials by getting dirty.
Published An epigenome editing toolkit to dissect the mechanisms of gene regulation



A recent study led to the development of a powerful epigenetic editing technology. The system unlocks the ability to precisely program chromatin modifications at any specific position in the genome, to understand their causal role in transcription regulation. This innovative approach will help to investigate the role of chromatin modifications in many biological processes, and to program desired gene activity responses, which may prove useful in disease settings.
Published Chemists produce new-to-nature enzyme containing boron



Chemists created an enzyme with boronic acid at its reactive center. This approach can produce more selective reactions with boron, and allows the use of directed evolution to improve its catalytic power.
Published Why is breaking down plant material for biofuels so slow?



Tracking individual enzymes during the breakdown of cellulose for biofuel production has revealed how several roadblocks slow this process when using plant material that might otherwise go to waste. The research may lead to new ways to improve the breakdown process and make the non-edible parts of plants and other plant waste, such as forestry residue, a more competitive source of biofuels.
Published 'Better than graphene' material development may improve implantable technology



Move over, graphene. There's a new, improved two-dimensional material in the lab. Borophene, the atomically thin version of boron first synthesized in 2015, is more conductive, thinner, lighter, stronger and more flexible than graphene, the 2D version of carbon. Now, researchers have made the material potentially more useful by imparting chirality -- or handedness -- on it, which could make for advanced sensors and implantable medical devices.
Published Caterbot? Robatapillar? It crawls with ease through loops and bends



Engineers created a catapillar-shaped robot that splits into segments and reassembles, hauls cargo, and crawls through twisting courses.
Published Turbid waters keep the coast healthy



To preserve the important intertidal areas and salt marshes off our coasts for the future, we need more turbid water. That is one of the striking conclusions from a new study.
Published High-pressure spectroscopy: Why 3,000 bars are needed to take a comprehensive look at a protein



Why 3,000 bars are needed to take a comprehensive look at a protein: Researchers present a new high-pressure spectroscopy method to unravel the properties of proteins' native structures.
Published AI to make crop production more sustainable



Drones monitoring fields for weeds and robots targeting and treating crop diseases may sound like science fiction but is actually happening already, at least on some experimental farms. Researchers are working on driving forward the smart digitalization of agriculture and have now published a list of the research questions that will need to be tackled as a priority in the future.
Published Sister cities can help communities better navigate the climate crisis



Anthropologists suggest in a new study that establishing networks of 'sister cities' dedicated to addressing the impact of natural disasters can mitigate the devastation wrought by climate change.
Published Climate change amplifies severity of combined wind-rain extremes over the UK and Ireland



Climate change will cause an increase in extreme winter storms combining strong winds and heavy rainfall over the UK and Ireland, new research has shown.
Published Wildfires in wet African forests have doubled in recent decades



Climate change and human activities like deforestation are causing more fires in central and west Africa's wet, tropical forests, according to the first-ever comprehensive survey there. The fires have long been overlooked.