SAN DIEGO, March 13, 2016 -- Farm-grown fish are an important source of food with significant and worldwide societal and economic benefits, but the fish that come from these recirculating systems can have unpleasant tastes and odors. To clean contaminated water for farmed fish, drinking and other uses, scientists are now turning to an unlikely source -- the mucilage or inner "guts" of cacti.
Tech
SAN DIEGO, March 13, 2016 -- It's a common forensic TV show trope: A crime is committed, there are no suspects, and then detectives find a faint lipstick mark. The sample is put in an evidence bag and sent to the lab. Then boom, they analyze it in minutes and get a lead. In real life, forensic analyses are not nearly as fast or straightforward. But scientists now report progress on the technical front. They have developed an improved method for lifting lipstick samples from surfaces and have found that gas chromatography is an ideal way to analyze them.
Hydrogen is the lightest and most plentiful element on Earth and in our universe. So it shouldn't be a big surprise that scientists are pursuing hydrogen as a clean, carbon-free, virtually limitless energy source for cars and for a range of other uses, from portable generators to telecommunications towers--with water as the only byproduct of combustion.
Berkeley -- In a breakthrough for energy-efficient computing, engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have shown for the first time that magnetic chips can operate with the lowest fundamental level of energy dissipation possible under the laws of thermodynamics.
The findings, to be published Friday, March 11, 2016 in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances, mean that dramatic reductions in power consumption are possible -- as much as one-millionth the amount of energy per operation used by transistors in modern computers.
Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a highly sensitive biosensor based on a differential immuno-capture technology that can detect sub-populations of white blood cells. As part of a small, disposable biochip, the microfluidic biosensor can count CD4+/CD8+ T cells quickly and accurately for AIDS diagnosis in the field. This is a follow-up of the work earlier published by the group in Science Translational Medicine.
There is a positive connection between taxation of a state's citizens and how well the state's institutions works. The reason is that any ruler who wants to collect taxes must build a well-functioning bureaucracy and give the taxed something in return, in the shape of welfare reforms and some influence over how the taxes are handled. This is shown in a new dissertation from University of Gothenburg.
If the price of oil decreases, carbon dioxide emissions increase. This is what two Spanish scientists claim after comparing the relationship between air pollution and economic development by using the real oil prices in Spain between 1874 and 2011 as an indicator. The scientists suggest a need to design new energy taxes.
A recent Finnish study showed that individualised and family-based lifestyle counselling helps 6-8-year-old children increase their physical activity levels and improve their diet quality during a two-year follow-up. The results of the study conducted at the University of Eastern Finland were recently published in Preventive Medicine.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (http://www.ucr.edu) -- When plant matter burns, it releases a complex mixture of gases and aerosols into the atmosphere. In forests subject to air pollution, these emissions may be more toxic than in areas of good air quality, according to a new study by the University of California, Riverside and the U.S.
Gun-related deaths in the U.S. could be reduced by more than 80 percent if three laws implemented in some states were extended nationally, an analysis led by Boston University researchers shows. In a study published in The Lancet, a research team analyzing state-level data from 2010 on gun-related deaths and 25 state-specific gun laws identified three laws that were most strongly associated with reductions in overall gun-related mortality.
Dirt is easy to take for granted if you're not a farmer or gardener. But increasingly, governments are looking to soil as part of the solution to curbing climate change. Widespread changes to agricultural practices could help sock away carbon emissions, but will farms make the shift? The cover story of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, digs into the matter.
As one of the most abundant organic compounds on the planet, methanol occurs naturally in the environment as plants release it as they grow and decompose. It is also found in the ocean, where it is a welcome food source for ravenous microbes that feast on it for energy and growth. While scientists have long known methanol exists in the ocean, and that certain microbes love to snack on it, they' ve been stymied by one key question: where does it come from?
Brown fat is well known for protecting the body from cold temperatures, and now researchers have discovered that this cell type in humans shows circadian rhythms in its consumption of glucose--an energy fuel for heat production. These rhythms, which rise just before waking, may have evolved as a thermal defense mechanism to prepare our ancestors for hunting and gathering in the coldest morning hours. The research appears March 10 in Cell Metabolism.
New scanning technology which will give a much clearer picture of lung disease has taken a major step forward thanks to scientists at The University of Nottingham.
The experts at the Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre have developed a process using specially treated krypton gas as an inhalable contrast agent to make the spaces inside the lungs show up on an Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. It's hoped the new process will eventually allow doctors to virtually see inside the lungs of patients.
New research that sheds unprecedented light on the behaviour of blasts produced by landmines and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) could aid the development of enhanced protection for UK soldiers on military, peace-keeping and humanitarian missions.