Showing 20 articles starting at article 481

< Previous 20 articles        Next 20 articles >

Categories: Biology: Botany, Energy: Technology

Return to the site home page

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Playing an essential foundational role in an ecosystem, plants contribute to the well-being of human health by helping create resources like food and medicine. Therefore, to better understand how plants can maintain resiliency in the face of challenges like climate change, researchers recently developed an innovative mathematical model that can provide fast and reliable predictions of how far wind can carry a plant's seeds.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Fruit and vegetables contain a variety of plant natural products such as flavonoids, which give fruits their colour and are said to have health-promoting properties. Most plant natural products occur in nature as glycosides, i.e. chemical compounds with sugars. In order for humans to absorb the healthy plant natural products, the sugar must be split off in the intestine. Microorganisms in the intestinal flora help to speed up the process. So-called C-glycosides, i.e. plant natural products with a carbon-based bond to a sugar, would even be practically indigestible without the intestinal microbes (e.g. nothofagin in rooibos tea).

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Planting flowers beside food crops on farms in India attracts bees, boosts pollination and improves crop yield and quality, researchers have found.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have unraveled the evolutionary journey of a unique type of photosynthesis that allows some bacteria to harness far-red light, a region beyond the visible spectrum. This discovery could pave the way for engineering plants with enhanced light absorption capabilities and has implications for our search for extraterrestrial life.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have revealed how lattice vibrations and spins talk to each other in a hybrid excitation known as an electromagnon. To achieve this, they used a unique combination of experiments on an X-ray free electron laser. Understanding this fundamental process at the atomic level opens the door to ultrafast control of magnetism with light.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed a way of joining up the head and tail of a protein, making it more stable and easier to get into cells.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The slash-and-burn agriculture practiced by many Indigenous societies across the world can actually have a positive impact on forests, according to a new study done in Belize. Researchers found that in areas of the rainforest in which Indigenous farmers using slash-and-burn techniques created intermediate-sized farm patches -- neither too small nor too large -- there were increases in forest plant diversity.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new kind of 'wire' for moving excitons could help enable a new class of devices, perhaps including room temperature quantum computers.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new form of wave devouring propulsion (WDP) could power ships and help to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the maritime industry.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The Fens of eastern England, a low-lying, extremely flat landscape dominated by agricultural fields, was once a vast woodland filled with huge yew trees, according to new research. Scientists have studied hundreds of tree trunks, dug up by Fenland farmers while ploughing their fields. The team found that most of the ancient wood came from yew trees that populated the area between four and five thousand years ago.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers create transistors combining silicon with biological silk, using common microprocessor manufacturing methods. The silk protein can be easily modified with other chemical and biological molecules to change its properties, leading to circuits that respond to biology and the environment.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Quinoa and many other extremely resilient plants are covered with strange balloon-like 'bladders' that for 127 years were believed to be responsible for protecting them from drought and salt. Research results reveal this not to be the case. These so-called bladder cells serve a completely different though important function. The finding makes it likely that even more resilient quinoa plants will now be able to be bred, which could lead to the much wider cultivation of this sustainable crop worldwide.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new software tool with enhanced genome-sequencing powers has been developed, increasing the speed and accuracy at which researchers can improve plants through breeding.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

LUCA, the 'last universal common ancestor' of all living organisms, lived 4.32 to at most 4.52 billion years ago. What LUCA looked like is unknown, but it must have been a cell with among others ribosomal proteins and an ATP synthase.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed a more energy efficient way of connecting our personal devices. New technology consumes less power than Bluetooth and can improve battery life of tech accessories, including earbuds and fitness trackers. Future applications could see us unlocking a door by touching its handle or shaking hands to exchange phone numbers.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Forest modeling shows that a site's productivity -- an indicator of how fast trees grow and how much biomass they accumulate -- is the main factor that determines which time period between timber harvests allows for maximum above-ground carbon sequestration.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Consumers don't necessarily pay attention to florists' arrangement design elements. And consumer love roses -- a lot.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research  paints an uncharacteristically upbeat picture for the planet. This is because more realistic ecological modelling suggests the world's plants may be able to take up more atmospheric CO2 from human activities than previously predicted.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A team of pioneering researchers has made a significant leap forward in the complex world of molecular chemistry. Their focus? Azaarenes, unique molecular puzzle pieces crucial to many everyday products, from eco-friendly agrochemicals to essential medicines. The team developed an innovative way to modify these molecules using light-powered enzymes -- a groundbreaking discovery that holds promise for new industrially relevant chemical reactions and sustainable energy solutions.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Energy researchers posit hydrogen fuel can potentially be a cost-competitive and environmentally friendly alternative to gasoline and diesel, and that supplying hydrogen for transportation in the greater Houston area can be profitable today.