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Categories: Chemistry: Thermodynamics, Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published A big step toward 'green' ammonia and a 'greener' fertilizer
(via sciencedaily.com) Synthesizing ammonia, the key ingredient in fertilizer, is energy intensive and a significant contributor to greenhouse gas warming of the planet. Chemists designed and synthesized porous materials -- metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs -- that bind and release ammonia at more moderate pressures and temperatures than the standard Haber-Bosch process for making ammonia. The MOF doesn't bind to any of the reactants, making capture and release of ammonia less energy intensive and greener.
Published Converting temperature fluctuations into clean energy with novel nanoparticles and heating strategy
(via sciencedaily.com) Pyroelectric catalysis (pyro-catalysis) can convert environmental temperature fluctuations into clean chemical energy, like hydrogen. However, compared with the more common catalysis strategy, such as photocatalysis, pyro-catalysis is inefficient due to slow temperature changes in the ambient environment. Recently, a team has triggered a significantly faster and more efficient pyro-catalytic reaction using localized plasmonic heat sources to rapidly and efficiently heat up the pyro-catalytic material and allow it to cool down. The findings open up new avenues for efficient catalysis for biological applications, pollutant treatment and clean energy production.
Published Here today, gone tomorrow: How humans lost their body hair
(via sciencedaily.com) Orangutans, mice, and horses are covered with it, but humans aren't. Why we have significantly less body hair than most other mammals has long remained a mystery. But a first-of-its-kind comparison of genetic codes from 62 animals is beginning to tell the story of how people -- and other mammals -- lost their locks.
Published Enabling nanoscale thermoelectrics with a novel organometallic molecular junction
(via sciencedaily.com) Multinuclear organometallic junctions might be the key to realizing high-performance thermoelectric devices at the nanoscale. The unique electronic structure of organometallic ruthenium alkynyl complexes allowed the researchers to achieve unprecedented heat-to-electricity conversion performance in molecular junctions, paving the way to molecular-scale temperature sensors and thermal energy harvesters.
Published Cheap, sustainable hydrogen through solar power
(via sciencedaily.com) A new kind of solar panel has achieved 9% efficiency in converting water into hydrogen and oxygen--mimicking a crucial step in natural photosynthesis. Outdoors, it represents a major leap in the technology, nearly 10 times more efficient than solar water-splitting experiments of its kind.
Published Scientists develop a cool new method of refrigeration
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have developed a new kind of heating and cooling method that they have named the ionocaloric refrigeration cycle. They hope the technique will someday help phase out refrigerants that contribute to global warming and provide safe, efficient cooling and heating for homes.
Published The other paleo diet: Rare discovery of dinosaur remains preserved with its last meal
(via sciencedaily.com) Microraptor was an opportunistic predator, feeding on fish, birds, lizards -- and now small mammals. The discovery of a rare fossil reveals the creature was a generalist carnivore in the ancient ecosystem of dinosaurs.
Published A shield for 2D materials that adds vibrations to reduce vibration problems
(via sciencedaily.com) A new study demonstrates a new, counterintuitive way to protect atomically-thin electronics -- adding vibrations, to reduce vibrations. By squeezing a liquid-metal gallium droplet, graphene devices are painted with a protective coating of gallium-oxide that can cover millimeter-wide scales, making it potentially applicable for industrial large-scale fabrication. The new technique improves device performance as well as protecting 2D materials from thermal vibration in neighboring materials.
Published Mitigating corrosion by liquid tin could lead to better cooling in fusion reactors
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have clarified the chemical compatibility between high temperature liquid metal tin (Sn) and reduced activation ferritic martensitic, a candidate structural material for fusion reactors. This discovery has paved the way for the development of a liquid metal tin divertor, which is an advanced heat-removal component of fusion reactors. A device called a divertor is installed in the fusion reactors to maintain the purity of the plasma. For divertors, there has been demand for liquid metals that can withstand extremely large heat loads from high-temperature plasma.
Published Increasing forest cover in the Eifel region 11,000 years ago resulted in the local loss of megafauna
(via sciencedaily.com) Sediment cores obtained from Eifel maar sites provide insight into the presence of large Ice Age mammals in Central Europe over the past 60,000 years: Overkill hypothesis not confirmed. Herds of megafauna, such as mammoth and bison, have roamed the prehistoric plains in what is today's Central Europe for several tens of thousands of years. As woodland expanded at the end of the last Ice Age, the numbers of these animals declined and by roughly 11,000 years ago, they had completely vanished from this region. Thus, the growth of forests was the main factor that determined the extinction of such megafauna in Central Europe.
Published Chaos gives the quantum world a temperature
(via sciencedaily.com) Two seemingly different areas of physics are related in subtle ways: Quantum theory and thermodynamics. How can the laws of thermodynamics arise from the laws of quantum physics? This question has now been pursued with computer simulations, which showed that chaos plays a crucial role: Only where chaos prevails do the well-known rules of thermodynamics follow from quantum physics.
Published True giant wombat gives Diprotodon podium a wobble
(via sciencedaily.com) While the Diprotodon -- the extinct megafauna species that is distantly related to wombats but was the size of a small car -- is commonly (but incorrectly) thought of as Australia's 'giant wombat', researchers have shed light on a large species that does belong in the modern-day wombat family. The complete skull of this true fossil giant wombat, found in a Rockhampton cave in Queensland, Australia and estimated to be around 80,000 years old, has been described for the first time.
Published Gold-based passive heating for eyewear
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have developed a new transparent gold nanocoating that harnesses sunlight to heat the lenses of glasses, thereby preventing them from fogging in humid conditions. This coating could potentially also be applied to car windshields.
Published Smilodon's sabre teeth
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have tested the biting efficiency of Smilodon, an extinct species of carnivore close to the extant felines. Using high-precision 3D scans and simulation methods, the team has just revealed how these animals managed to bite despite the impressive length of their teeth.
Published Flameproofing lithium-ion batteries with salt
(via sciencedaily.com) A polymer-based electrolyte makes for batteries that keep working -- and don't catch fire -- when heated to over 140 degrees F.
Published Dinosaurs were on the up before asteroid downfall
(via sciencedaily.com) Dinosaurs dominated the world right up until a deadly asteroid hit the earth, leading to their mass extinction, some 66 million years ago, a landmark study reveals. Fresh insights into dinosaurs' ecosystems -- the habitats and food types that supported their lives -- suggests that their environments were robust and thriving, right up until that fateful day, at the end of the Cretaceous period.
Published Team recycles previously unrecyclable plastic
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have discovered a way to chemically recycle PVC into usable material, finding a way to use the phthalates in the plasticizers -- one of PVC's most noxious components -- as the mediator for the chemical reaction.
Published Fossil overturns more than a century of knowledge about the origin of modern birds
(via sciencedaily.com) Fossilized fragments of a skeleton, hidden within a rock the size of a grapefruit, have helped upend one of the longest-standing assumptions about the origins of modern birds.
Published Mammoth problem with extinction timeline
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Paleontologists say environmental DNA is not always helpful in identifying when animals like mammoths went extinct because genetic material found in sediment could have come from animals that died thousands of years earlier.
Published Researchers introduce an energy-efficient method to enhance thermal conductivity of polymer composites
(via sciencedaily.com) Thermally conductive polymer composites consist of fillers oriented in certain directions that form pathways for heat flow. However, conventional methods to control the orientation of these fillers are energy-intensive and require surface modifications that can deteriorate the quality and properties of these materials. Now, researchers have developed an energy-efficient method to control the orientation of the fillers without the need for surface modification, resulting in improvement in thermal conductivity.