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Categories: Chemistry: Organic Chemistry, Ecology: Sea Life
Published New material puts eco-friendly methanol conversion within reach



Researchers have developed innovative, eco-friendly quantum materials that can drive the transformation of methanol into ethylene glycol. This discovery opens up new possibilities for using eco-friendly materials in photocatalysis, paving the way for sustainable chemical production.
Published Custom-made molecules designed to be invisible while absorbing near-infrared light



Researchers used theoretical calculations assessing electron orbital symmetry to synthesize new molecule designed to be both transparent and colorless while absorbing near-infrared light. This compound demonstrates the first systematic approach to producing such materials and have applications in advanced electronics. This compound also shows semiconducting properties.
Published Golden ball mills as green catalysts



A gold-coated milling vessel for ball mills proved to be a real marvel: without any solvents or environmentally harmful chemicals, the team was able to use it to convert alcohols into aldehydes. The catalytic reaction takes place at the gold surface and is mechanically driven. The vessel can be reused multiple times. 'This opens up new prospects for the use of gold in catalysis and shows how traditional materials can contribute to solving modern environmental problems in an innovative way,' says Borchardt.
Published Previously uncharacterized parasite uncovered in fish worldwide



Using genome reconstruction, scientists unveiled a once 'invisible' fish parasite present in many marine fish world-wide that belongs to the apicomplexans, one of the most important groups of parasites at a clinical level. However, it had gone unnoticed in previous studies. The parasite is geographically and taxonomically widespread in fish species around the planet, with implications for commercial fishing and oceanic food webs.
Published Molecular sponge for the electronics of the future



An international research team has succeeded in developing a new type of material in the rather young research field of covalent organic frameworks. The new two-dimensional polymer is characterized by the fact that its properties can be controlled in a targeted and reversible manner. This has brought the researchers a step closer to the goal of realizing switchable quantum states.
Published Ancient polar sea reptile fossil is oldest ever found in Southern Hemisphere



An international team of scientists has identified the oldest fossil of a sea-going reptile from the Southern Hemisphere -- a nothosaur vertebra found on New Zealand's South Island. 246 million years ago, at the beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs, New Zealand was located on the southern polar coast of a vast super-ocean called Panthalassa. 'The nothosaur found in New Zealand is over 40 million years older than the previously oldest known sauropterygian fossils from the Southern Hemisphere.
Published Reduction of esters by a novel photocatalyst



A ubiquitous compound, called ester can be broken down to produce desirable alcohols and other chemicals for use across industries including pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, but the process can be costly, both financially and in terms of the environment. Researchers developed a novel photocatalyst 'N-BAP.' When irradiated with blue light, the photocatalyst reduces esters in the presence of oxalate, a negatively charged molecule found widely in nature, resulting in the desired alcohols.
Published Is magnesium the sleeping potion that enables sandhoppers to survive cold winters?



A new study has shown for the first time that when sandhoppers want to enter a period of deep sleep each winter they have the means through which to increase the magnesium levels in their bodies -- in some instances more than doubling them. Essentially acting as a natural narcotic, the magnesium puts the sandhopper into a torpid state and this enforced rest means that the creatures can stay hidden in burrows up to 30cm beneath the beach surface, to some extent buffered from wintry conditions.
Published Self-assembling and disassembling swarm molecular robots via DNA molecular controller



Researchers have succeeded in developing a DNA-based molecular controller. Crucially, this controller enables the autonomous assembly and disassembly of molecular robots, as opposed to manually directing it.
Published Sharks have depleted functional diversity compared to the last 66 million years



New research has found that sharks retained high levels of functional diversity for most of the last 66 million years, before steadily declining over the last 10 million years to its lowest value in the present day.
Published A conservation market could incentivize global ocean protection



Thirty-by-thirty: protect 30% of the planet by 2030. While conservation is popular in principle, the costs of actually enacting it often stall even the most earnest efforts. Researchers have now proposed a market-based approach to achieving the 30x30 targets in the ocean.
Published Scientists preserve DNA in an amber-like polymer



With their 'T-REX' method, researchers developed a glassy, amber-like polymer that can be used for long-term storage of DNA, such as entire human genomes or digital files such as photos.
Published Scientists unravel drivers of the global zinc cycle in our oceans, with implications for a changing climate



The understanding of the global zinc cycle in our oceans has important implications in the context of warming oceans. A warmer climate increases erosion, leading to more dust in the atmosphere and consequently more dust being deposited into the oceans. More dust means more scavenging of zinc particles, leading to less zinc being available to sustain phytoplankton and other marine life, thereby diminishing the oceans' ability to absorb carbon.
Published Marine heatwaves devastate red gorgonians in the Medes Islands



The increase in the frequency and intensity of marine heatwaves in recent decades is one of the effects of global climate change. A study shows that the extreme heatwave of 2022 caused an 'unprecedented' increase in mortality of the red gorgonian Paramuricea clavata, affecting 70% of the colonies located in the Montgr Natural Park, the Medes Islands and the Baix Ter. According to the researchers, these results are 'alarming and threaten the viability' of this species of great value for the biodiversity of benthic ecosystems, since it is considered to be an inhabitant-forming species.
Published Dolphins with elevated mercury levels in Florida and Georgia



Scientists found elevated mercury levels in dolphins in the U.S. Southeast. The highest levels were found in dolphins in Florida's St. Joseph and Choctawhatchee Bays. Researchers study dolphins because they are considered a sentinel species for oceans and human health. Like us, they are high up in the food chain, live long lives, and share certain physiological traits. Some of their diet is most vulnerable to mercury pollution and is also eaten by people.
Published Pacific coast gray whales have gotten 13% shorter in the past 20-30 years, Oregon State study finds



Gray whales that spend their summers feeding in the shallow waters off the Pacific Northwest coast have undergone a significant decline in body length since around the year 2000, a new study found.
Published What the geologic record reveals about how oceans were oxygenated 2.3 billion years ago



Geochemists used thallium isotopes to track the rise and fall of free oxygen on Earth between 2.5 and 2.2 billion years ago, the process that enabled life as we know it.
Published 'Synthetic' cell shown to follow chemical directions and change shape, a vital biological function



In a feat aimed at understanding how cells move and creating new ways to shuttle drugs through the body, scientists say they have built a minimal synthetic cell that follows an external chemical cue and demonstrates a governing principle of biology called 'symmetry breaking.'
Published A 'liquid battery' advance



A team aims to improve options for renewable energy storage through work on an emerging technology -- liquids for hydrogen storage.
Published No bones about it: 100-million-year-old bones reveal new species of pterosaur



New research has identified 100-million-year-old fossilized bones discovered in western Queensland as belonging to a newly identified species of pterosaur, which was a formidable flying reptile that lived among the dinosaurs.