Scientists at the University of York are part of an international research team that has made a significant step forward in understanding the processes naturally occurring enzymes use to degrade microbe-resistant biomass, a key aim in the development of biofuels.
The research is part of ongoing study of a recently discovered family of enzymes produced by fungi and bacteria, which are able to break down tough cellulose-based materials such as plant stems.
WASHINGTON, March 1, 2016 -- The sensation may be all too familiar - the intense, sharp pain in your foot caused by an unassuming LEGO® brick. Why does this tiny chunk of plastic cause so much pain? To answer this question, Reactions examines why we feel pain in the first place, as well as the material chemistry of LEGO® bricks. You may want to put on some slippers before stepping into this video: https://youtu.be/7HpE7oA-Fw8.
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 1, 2016 - Our solar system contains one massive object -- the sun -- and many smaller planets and asteroids. Now researchers from Duke University in Durham, N.C. have proposed a new explanation for the size diversity, which is found throughout the universe and is called hierarchy. The researchers report their finding in the Journal of Applied Physics, from AIP Publishing.
About a quarter of the carbon dioxide we release each year into the atmosphere ends up in the ocean, but how it happens is still not fully understood. The Sentinel-3A satellite is poised to play an important role in shedding new light on this exchange.
Perovskite has a rhombohedral structure (or hexagonal) with formula ABO3, while belonging to the space group of R3c (number #161). They are popular in applications of functional devices, exhibiting the superconducting, piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties. BiAlO3 was also employed in improving the structural and electrical properties of BNT-based ceramics, due to the large polarization in the Perovskite structure. Furthermore, such material has been added into the PbTiO3, PbZrO3 and BaTiO3-based ceramics to improve their electrical properties.
Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) was once commonly used as a cleaning agent and remains an important compound in chemical industry. CCl4 is responsible for that sickly sweet smell associated with dry cleaning solvents from decades ago. It's a known air toxin and it eats away at the ozone layer--the gas accounts for about 10-15 percent of the ozone-depleting chemicals in the atmosphere today. As a result, production across the globe has been banned for many years for uses that result in CCl4 escaping to the atmosphere.
Acoustic-gravity waves are very long sound waves that cut through the deep ocean at the speed of sound. These lightning-quick currents can sweep up water, nutrients, salts, and any other particles in their wake, at any water depth. They are typically triggered by violent events in the ocean, including underwater earthquakes, explosions, landslides, and even meteorites, and they carry information about these events around the world in a matter of minutes.
Fluoroscopy makes guiding a catheter through a blood vessel possible. However, fluoroscopy, a form of real-time moving X-ray, also exposes the patient to radiation. Now, a University of Missouri School of Medicine researcher has evaluated technology that may be used to replace fluoroscopy, eliminating the need for X-ray during cardiac ablation procedures.
Grasslands across North America will face higher summer temperatures and widespread drought by the end of the century, according to a new study.
But those negative effects in vegetation growth will be largely offset, the research predicts, by an earlier start to the spring growing season and warmer winter temperatures.
Led by ecologists Andrew Richardson and Koen Hufkens of Harvard University, a team of researchers developed a detailed model that enables predictions of how grasslands from Canada to Mexico will react to climate change.
Understanding nanoscale heat flow is critical in the design of integrated electronic devices and in the development of materials for thermal insulation and thermoelectric energy recovery. While several techniques are currently available to observe heat transport over macroscopic distances, there is a need for new methods capable of revealing the dynamics of heat flow with nanometer resolution.
DURHAM, N.C. -- Most Americans are willing to pay more taxes to support biodiversity conservation in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a national survey conducted by researchers at Duke University and the University of Virginia.
The survey polled respondents in more than 1,500 households about their willingness to help pay for a proposed expansion of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the northern gulf near the Texas-Louisiana border.
Grasslands across North America will face higher summer temperatures and widespread drought by the end of the century, according to a new Harvard study on the effects of climate change.
But those negative effects will be largely offset, the study predicts, by an earlier start to the spring growing season and warmer winter temperatures
Researchers at the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, the University of Vienna, and the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona have achieved a new milestone in quantum physics: they were able to entangle three particles of light in a high-dimensional quantum property related to the 'twist' of their wavefront structure. The results from their experiment appear in the journal Nature Photonics.
The world can emit even less greenhouse gases than previously estimated if global warming is to be kept under control, a new study co-authored by a University of Exeter mathematician has found.
Research, published this week in the journal Nature Climate Change and carried out by a team of researchers which includes Professor Pierre Friedlingstein, Chair of Mathematical Modelling of Climate Systems in the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, lends further urgency to the need to address climate change.
Platinum is one of the costly metals used as catalysts in new technologies employed for industrial chemical processes, renewable energy sources, pollution control and many other purposes. In particular, it is used for fuel cells, devices that turn chemical energy directly into electrical energy, without combustion. Research has shown that the greatest efficiency is achieved when the catalyst is available in the form of nanoparticles (smaller than 10-9 m).