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Researchers Discover Switch That Regulates Plant Photosynthesis, Could Boost Biofuel Production

A team of Michigan State University researchers has discovered a switch that regulates plant photosynthesis – the process that lets plants store solar energy and use it to grow and produce food.

17 Apr 2015

Armadas of Icebergs May Not Be the Cause of Cooling in the North Atlantic

Armadas of icebergs were probably not the cause of abrupt episodes of cooling in the North Atlantic over the past 440,000 years, according to new research published today in Nature.

17 Apr 2015

Nontoxic, Potentially Recyclable Reservoir Stimulation Fluid for Cleaner Geothermal Energy

More American homes could be powered by the earth's natural underground heat with a new, nontoxic and potentially recyclable liquid that is expected to use half as much water as other fluids used to tap into otherwise unreachable geothermal hot spots.

17 Apr 2015

New Way to Make Bio-Based Plastics Using Plant Oils

Researchers have developed a new way to use plant oils like olive and linseed oil to create polyurethane, a plastic material used in everything from foam insulation panels to tires, hoses and sealants.

17 Apr 2015

Researcher Develops Models of Marine Microbes to Understand Global Climate Change

Dip a beaker into any portion of the world’s oceans, and you’re likely to pull up a swirling mix of planktonic inhabitants. The oceans are teeming with more than 5,000 species of phytoplankton — microscopic plants in a kaleidoscope of shapes and sizes. Together, phytoplankton anchor the ocean’s food chain, supplying nutrients to everything from single-celled organisms on up to fish and whales.

16 Apr 2015

Full Absorption Concept Design for Efficient Electromagnetic Energy Harvesting

For our modern, technologically-advanced society, in which technology has become the solution to a myriad of challenges, energy is critical not only for growth but also, more importantly, survival. The sun is an abundant and practically infinite source of energy, so researchers around the world are racing to create novel approaches to "harvest" clean energy from the sun or transfer that energy to other sources.

16 Apr 2015

New Powerful DNA Dataset for Efficient Production of Biofuels

Scientists focused on producing biofuels more efficiently have a new powerful dataset to help them study the DNA of microbes that fuel bioconversion and other processes.

16 Apr 2015

Rapid Climate Change Affected Marine Ecosystems Tens of Thousands of Years Ago

In common parlance, the phrase "global climate change" is often used to describe how present-day climate is changing in response to human activities. But climate has also varied naturally and sometimes quite rapidly in the past, with implications for the ocean and its ecosystems.

16 Apr 2015

Deep Borehole Concept Holds Promise for Disposing High Level Nuclear Waste

Scientists at the University of Sheffield calculate that all of the UK's high level nuclear waste from spent fuel reprocessing could be disposed of in just six boreholes 5km deep, fitting within a site no larger than a football pitch.

16 Apr 2015

BPA Can Alter Turtle's Reproductive System

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical that is used in a variety of consumer products, such as food storage products and resins that line plastic food and beverage containers. Often, aquatic environments such as rivers and streams become reservoirs for BPA, and fish and turtle habitats are affected. Now, a collaboration of researchers from the University of Missouri, Westminster College, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Saint Louis Zoo have determined that BPA--which mimics estrogen--can alter a turtle's reproductive system and disrupts sexual differentiation. Scientists are concerned findings could indicate harmful effects on environmental and human health.

16 Apr 2015

Huge Reservoir of Methane Discovered in Deep Fram Strait of the Arctic Ocean

Methane, a highly effective greenhouse gas, is usually produced by decomposition of organic material, a complex process involving bacteria and microbes.

15 Apr 2015

Insecticides Pose Alarming Threats to Biodiversity of Global Agricultural Surface Waters

A study performed at the Institute for Environmental Science of the University of Koblenz-Landau evaluated for the first time comprehensive global insecticide contamination data for agricultural surface waters using the legally-accepted regulatory threshold levels (RTLs) as defined during the official pesticide authorisation procedures.

15 Apr 2015

Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Entering the Atmosphere Underpins Greenhouse Effect

Burying the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, a byproduct of burning fossil fuels, has been mooted as one geoengineering approach to ameliorating climate change. To be effective, trapping the gas in geological deposits would be the for the very long term, thousands of years.

15 Apr 2015

Air-Conditioning Achieves Maximum Efficiency When in Direct Proximity to Passengers

How can a pleasant vehicle climate be achieved efficiently? Researchers at the Technische Universität München (TUM) pursued this question in the context of the research project Visio.M funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) with a total of 7.1 million euro.

15 Apr 2015

Exposure to PCB-153 Chemical Pollutant Increases Risk of Cancer in Males

An international research project which counts with the participation of the University of Granada has demonstrated that the exposure to a chemical pollutant called PCB-153 is positively associated to the risk of suffering from cancer in males.

15 Apr 2015