Tech

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Adding a pretreatment step would allow producers to get more ethanol from switchgrass harvested in the fall, according to a Purdue University study.

Michael Ladisch, a distinguished professor of agricultural and biological engineering, and Youngmi Kim, a research scientist, compared switchgrass based on growing location, harvest time and whether it was given a pretreatment step. They found that location wasn't important, but the other two factors could significantly increase the amount of ethanol obtained from the feedstock.

Researchers have found a method to overcome the chemical intractability of cellulose, thus allowing it to be converted efficiently into bioethanol. That means there is greater potential of waste plant matter to replace oil as a fuel source.

They identified the molecular mechanism behind an enzyme found in fungi which can degrade the cellulose chains of plant cell walls to release shorter sugars for biofuels.

Thanks to advances in experimental design, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have achieved a record-low probability of error in quantum information processing with a single quantum bit (qubit)—the first published error rate small enough to meet theoretical requirements for building viable quantum computers.

It's not often that someone can claim that going from a positive to a negative is a step forward, but that's the case for a team of scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and private industry. In a recent paper,* the group significantly extended the reach of their novel microfluidic system for analyzing the chemical components of complex samples. The new work shows how the system, meant to analyze real-world, crude mixtures such as dirt or whole blood, can work for negatively charged components as well as it has in the past for positively charged ones.

Solar power is not all sunshine. It has a dark side—particularly in developing countries, according to a new study by a University of Tennessee, Knoxville, engineering professor.

A study by Chris Cherry, assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering, found that solar power heavily reliant on lead batteries has the potential to release more than 2.4 million tons of lead pollution in China and India.

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have made a new approach to the problem of safely storing hydrogen for use in cars; molecular scale "veins" of iron permeating grains of magnesium like a network of capillaries. The iron veins may transform magnesium from a promising candidate for hydrogen storage into a real-world winner.

One of the most efficient means of transporting freight is by ship. However, many of the ships sailing today are powered by ageing diesel motors fitted with neither exhaust cleaning equipment nor or modern control systems. Three years ago the University of Birmingham initiated an ambitious trial, converting an old canal barge to use hydrogen fuel. The old diesel motor, drive system and fuel tank were removed and replaced with a high efficiency electric motor, a battery pack for short-term energy supply and a fuel cell with a hydrogen storage system to charge the batteries.

An article in the current issue of Global Change Biology Bioenergy examines the carbon sequestration potential of Miscanthus plantations on commercial farms.

Scientists today reported development of new tests to help curb deaths, emergency room visits and other problems from a new genre of designer drugs sold legally in stores and online that mimic the effects of cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana.

The reports focus on drugs sold as "bath salts," "plant food," "incense" and other products with colorful names, such as "Ivory Wave," "Red Dove" and "legal marijuana." They provide users with a high, but many have not yet been made illegal and are undetectable with current drug tests.

Scientists from the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville have determined that an inexpensive semiconductor material can be tweaked to generate hydrogen from water using sunlight.

The researchers say their findings are a triumph for computational sciences, one that could potentially have profound implications for the future of solar energy.

Hydrogen will be a great fuel because it can easily be converted to electricity in a fuel cell and because it is carbon free. The downside of hydrogen is that, because it is a gas, it can only be stored in high pressure or cryogenic tanks.

In a vehicle with a tank full of hydrogen, "if you got into a wreck, you'd have a problem," said Travis Williams, assistant professor of chemistry at the USC Dornsife College, part of a team of USC scientists that is developing a robust, efficient method of using hydrogen as a fuel source.

Studies by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists indicate that organic farmers who need to periodically amend their soils with compost after planting can still control weeds--and hold down costs--by using fabric ground covers. This will be welcome news to organic farmers who till composted manure into their crop fields after planting.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30—To serve remote areas of the world, doctors, nurses and field workers need equipment that is portable, versatile, and relatively inexpensive. Now researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) have built a compact, light-weight, dual-mode microscope that uses holograms instead of lenses. The team describes the new device in a paper published today in the Optical Society's (OSA) open-access journal Biomedical Optics Express.

A current research project of the Austrian Science Fund FWF focuses on the motion safety and efficiency of robots. The objective of the research is to improve the control of robot movements with the help of new mathematical approaches. For this purpose, the primary focus lies on the identification of situations in which a collision may occur and the planning of an optimal motion path.

While Hurricane Irene had officials along the East Coast preparing for mass evacuations, scientists at the Stroud Water Research Center and the University of Delaware were grabbing their best data collection tools and heading straight for the storm's path.

It was a rare opportunity for the scientists to learn more about climate change and water quality, as Irene threatened to be the biggest hurricane to hit the Northeastern United States since 1985.