Showing 20 articles starting at article 761
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Categories: Biology: Botany, Environmental: Water
Published Researchers decipher enzyme scissors of intestinal microbes
(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).
Published Greener solution powers new method for lithium-ion battery recycling
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Used lithium-ion batteries from cell phones, laptops and a growing number of electric vehicles are piling up, but options for recycling them remain limited mostly to burning or chemically dissolving shredded batteries. Researchers have improved on approaches that dissolve the battery in a liquid solution in order to reduce the amount of hazardous chemicals used in the process. This simple, efficient and environmentally-friendly solution overcomes the main obstacles presented by previous approaches.
Published A single Bitcoin transaction could cost as much water as a backyard swimming pool
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Cryptocurrency mining uses a significant amount of water amid the global water crisis, and its water demand may grow further. Researchers provides the first comprehensive estimate of Bitcoin's water use. He warns that its sheer scale could impact drinking water if it continues to operate without constraints, especially in countries that are already battling water scarcity, including the U.S.
Published Flower power on Indian farms helps bees and boosts livelihoods
(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.
Published A spectrum of possibilities: Insights into the evolution of far-red light photosynthesis
(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.
Published Scientists harness flower 'super power' to pave the way for new drug treatments
(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.
Published Antarctic glacier retreating rapidly
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists are warning that apparently stable glaciers in the Antarctic can 'switch very rapidly' and lose large quantities of ice as a result of warmer oceans. Their finding comes after glaciologists used satellites to track the Cadman Glacier, which drains into Beascochea Bay, on the west Antarctic peninsula.
Published Slash-and-burn agriculture can increase forest biodiversity, researchers find
(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.
Published Giant sea salt aerosols play major role in Hawai'i's coastal clouds, rain
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study from atmospheric scientists revealed that the coastline can produce up to five times the concentration of giant sea salt aerosols compared to the open ocean and that coastal clouds may contain more of these particles than clouds over the open ocean -- affecting cloud formation and rain around the Hawaiian Islands.
Published Recycled phosphorus fertilizer reduces nutrient leaching, maintains yield
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A promising new form of ammonium phosphate fertilizer has been field-tested. The fertilizer, struvite, offers a triple win for sustainability and crop production, as it recycles nutrients from wastewater streams, reduces leaching of phosphorus and nitrogen in agricultural soils, and maintains or improves soybean yield compared to conventional phosphorus fertilizers.
Published Promising salt for heat storage
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Salt batteries can store summer heat to be used in winter, but which salt works best for the purpose?
Published Future floods: Global warming intensifies heavy rain -- even more than expected
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The intensity and frequency of extreme rainfall increases exponentially with global warming, a new study finds. The analysis shows that state-of-the-art climate models significantly underestimate how much extreme rainfall increases under global warming -- meaning that extreme rainfall could increase quicker than climate models suggest.
Published The Fens of eastern England once held vast woodlands
(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.
Published Separating out signals recorded at the seafloor
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Research shows that variations in pyrite sulfur isotopes may not represent the global processes that have made them such popular targets of analysis and interpretation. A new microanalysis approach helps to separate out signals that reveal the relative influence of microbes and that of local climate.
Published 'Dolomite Problem': 200-year-old geology mystery resolved
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source For 200 years, scientists have failed to grow a common mineral in the laboratory under the conditions believed to have formed it naturally. Now, researchers have finally pulled it off, thanks to a new theory developed from atomic simulations. Their success resolves a long-standing geology mystery called the 'Dolomite Problem.' Dolomite -- a key mineral in the Dolomite mountains in Italy, Niagara Falls, the White Cliffs of Dover and Utah's Hoodoos -- is very abundant in rocks older than 100 million years, but nearly absent in younger formations. The lessons learned from the Dolomite Problem can help engineers manufacture higher-quality materials for semiconductors, solar panels, batteries and other tech.
Published Predicting the fate of shallow coastal ecosystems for the year 2100
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study of shallow-water ecosystems estimates that, by 2100, climate change and coastal land usage could result in significant shrinkage of coral habitats, tidal marshes, and mangroves, while macroalgal beds remain stable and seagrass meadows potentially expand.
Published Researchers puncture 100-year-old theory of odd little 'water balloons'
(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.
Published A stronger core for better plant breeding
(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.
Published Looking for 'LUCA' and the timing of cellular evolution
(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.
Published Deep-sea mining and warming trigger stress in a midwater jellies
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The deep sea is home to one of the largest animal communities on earth which is increasingly exposed to environmental pressures. However, our knowledge of its inhabitants and their response to human-induced stressors is still limited. A new study now provides first insights into the stress response of a pelagic deep-sea jellyfish to ocean warming and sediment plumes caused by deep-sea mining.