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Categories: Chemistry: Biochemistry, Environmental: Ecosystems
Published Methane emissions from landfill could be turned into sustainable jet fuel in plasma chemistry leap
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have developed a chemical process using plasma that could create sustainable jet fuel from methane gas emitted from landfills, potentially creating a low-carbon aviation industry.
Published Biodegradable 'living plastic' houses bacterial spores that help it break down
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new type of bioplastic could help reduce the plastic industry's environmental footprint. Researchers have developed a biodegradable form of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) filled with bacterial spores that, when exposed to nutrients present in compost, germinate and break down the material at the end of its life cycle.
Published Discovery of mechanism plants use to change seed oil could impact industrial, food oils
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have discovered a new mechanism of oil biosynthesis and found a way to genetically engineer a type of test plant to more efficiently produce different kinds of seed oil that it otherwise wouldn't make. While the engineering is proof-of-concept, this discovery could lead to improved production of valuable oils used in food and by a range of industries. The modified plant overcame metabolic bottlenecks and produced significant amounts of an oil similar to castor oil that it doesn't naturally produce.
Published Trotting robots reveal emergence of animal gait transitions
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A four-legged robot trained with machine learning has learned to avoid falls by spontaneously switching between walking, trotting, and pronking -- a milestone for roboticists as well as biologists interested in animal locomotion.
Published Research on RNA editing illuminates possible lifesaving treatments for genetic diseases
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The research explores how CRISPR can be used to edit RNA.
Published How can forests be reforested in a climate-friendly way?
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Europe's forests have already been severely affected by climate change. Thousands of hectares of trees have already died due to drought and bark beetles. Scientists have now investigated which trees can be used for reforestation. Their findings: only a few tree species are fit for the future, such as English oak in the UK. However, mixed forests are important for the survival of forests, otherwise the forest ecosystem as a whole could be weakened.
Published When does a conductor not conduct?
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study uncovers a switchable, atomically-thin metal-organic material that could be used in future low-energy electronic technologies. The study shows that electron interactions in this material create an unusual electrically-insulating phase in which electrons are 'frozen'. By reducing the population of electrons, the authors are able to unfreeze the remaining electrons, allowing for controlled transitions between insulating and electrically-conductive phases: the key to the on-off binary operations of classical computing.
Published From disorder to order: Flocking birds and 'spinning' particles
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have demonstrated that ferromagnetism, an ordered state of atoms, can be induced by increasing particle motility and that repulsive forces between atoms are sufficient to maintain it. The discovery not only extends the concept of active matter to quantum systems but also contributes to the development of novel technologies that rely on the magnetic properties of particles, such as magnetic memory and quantum computing.
Published Imaging technique shows new details of peptide structures
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers outline how they used a chemical probe to light up interlocking peptides. Their technique will help scientists differentiate synthetic peptides from toxic types found in Alzheimer's disease.
Published Getting dynamic information from static snapshots
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have created TopicVelo, a powerful new method of using the static snapshots from scRNA-seq to study how cells and genes change over time. This will help researchers better study how embryos develop, cells differentiate, cancers form, and the immune system reacts.
Published Anthropologist documents how women and shepherds historically reduced wildfire risk in Central Italy
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Fire management lessons from the past could help to improve resilience as the Mediterranean faces increased fire risk from climate change. How traditional land management practices once greatly reduced fuel for wildfires, and how these practices were forgotten, in part due to historical politics of classism and sexism.
Published Professor resolves two decades of oxide semiconductor challenges
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Successful development of high-performance amorphous P-type oxide semiconductor using tellurium-selenium composite oxide.
Published More efficient molecular motor widens potential applications
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Light-driven molecular motors were first developed nearly 25 years ago. However, making these motors do actual work proved to be a challenge. In a new paper, scientists describe improvements that bring real-life applications closer.
Published Robotic nerve 'cuffs' could help treat a range of neurological conditions
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have developed tiny, flexible devices that can wrap around individual nerve fibers without damaging them. The researchers combined flexible electronics and soft robotics techniques to develop the devices, which could be used for the diagnosis and treatment of a range of disorders, including epilepsy and chronic pain, or the control of prosthetic limbs.
Published Climate change could become the main driver of biodiversity decline by mid-century
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Global biodiversity has declined between 2% and 11% during the 20th century due to land-use change alone, according to a large multi-model study. Projections show climate change could become the main driver of biodiversity decline by the mid-21st century.
Published A shortcut for drug discovery
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source For most human proteins, there are no small molecules known to bind them chemically (so called 'ligands'). Ligands frequently represent important starting points for drug development but this knowledge gap critically hampers the development of novel medicines. Researchers at CeMM, in a collaboration with Pfizer, have now leveraged and scaled a method to measure the binding activity of hundreds of small molecules against thousands of human proteins. This large-scale study revealed tens of thousands of ligand-protein interactions that can now be explored for the development of chemical tools and therapeutics. Moreover, powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence, it allows unbiased predictions of how small molecules interact with all proteins present in living human cells. These groundbreaking results have been published in the journal Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.adk5864), and all generated data and models are freely available for the scientific community.
Published Estimating emissions potential of decommissioned gas wells from shale samples
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Extracting natural gas from shale formations can provide an abundant, lower-carbon footprint fossil fuel, but also creates concerns over increased methane emissions. Researchers have now developed a new tool that can estimate the emission potential of shale wells after they are no longer active.
Published Nanomaterial that mimics proteins could be basis for new neurodegenerative disease treatments
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A newly developed nanomaterial that mimics the behavior of proteins could be an effective tool for treating Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. The nanomaterial alters the interaction between two key proteins in brain cells -- with a potentially powerful therapeutic effect.
Published The longer spilled oil lingers in freshwater, the more persistent compounds it produces
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Oil is an important natural resource for many industries, but it can lead to serious environmental damage when accidentally spilled. While large oil spills are highly publicized, every year there are many smaller-scale spills into lakes, rivers and oceans. The longer that oil remains in freshwater, the more chemical changes it undergoes, creating products that can persist in the environment.
Published Warming Arctic reduces dust levels in parts of the planet
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Dust can have a huge impact on local air quality, food security, energy supply and public health. Previous studies have found that dust levels are decreasing across India, particularly northern India, the Persian Gulf Coast and much of the Middle East, but the reason has remained unclear. Researchers found that the decrease in dust can be attributed to the Arctic warming much faster than the rest of the planet, a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification. This process destabilizes the jet stream and changes storm tracks and wind patterns over the major sources of dust in West and South Asia.