Chemistry: General Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography
Published

Improved wastewater treatment could lead to significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New research has shown that methane emissions from urban areas are underestimated by a factor of three to four and that untreated wastewater may be a contributing factor.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Closed loop for circular economy: New polymer recycling strategy ensures both high stability and complete recyclability      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Large amounts of plastic waste are incinerated or deposited in landfills. This degrades the environment and depletes valuable resources. In this light, recycling plastics such as polymers is promising. However, recycling diminishes their quality. Recently, researchers have proposed a 'closed-loop' recycling process based on polymer microparticles. It produces fully recyclable polymer films with high mechanical stability and fracture energy, which they retain upon recycling.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography
Published

New wood-based technology removes 80% of dye pollutants in wastewater      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have developed a new method that can easily purify contaminated water using a cellulose-based material. This discovery could have implications for countries with poor water treatment technologies and combat the widespread problem of toxic dye discharge from the textile industry.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Environmental: General Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Photosynthesis 'hack' could lead to new ways of generating renewable energy      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have 'hacked' the earliest stages of photosynthesis, the natural machine that powers the vast majority of life on Earth, and discovered new ways to extract energy from the process, a finding that could lead to new ways of generating clean fuel and renewable energy.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Microbiology Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
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Next epidemic could be spotted early in wastewater      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers behind the UK's first pilot public health surveillance system based on analysis of wastewater say that routine monitoring at sewage treatment works could provide a powerful early warning system for the next flu or norovirus epidemic, alerting hospitals to prepare and providing public health agencies with vital health information.

Biology: Zoology Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

New animal welfare scoring system could enable better-informed food and farming choices      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists have come up with a system of measuring animal welfare that enables reliable comparison across different types of pig farming.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

The devil is in the details: Re-imagining fertilizer precursor synthesis      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have improved the Faradaic efficiency of the nitrogen reduction reaction into ammonia by straightforward optimization of chemical process parameters. They found that trace water was the probable source of the high selectivity by facilitating incorporation of lithium oxide into the solid electrolyte interphase. These findings will also aid optimization of other analogous reactions, and thus help the chemicals industry optimize the sustainability of one of the most carbon-intensive reactions globally.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Space Space: Exploration Space: General Space: The Solar System
Published

Uracil found in Ryugu samples      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Samples from the asteroid Ryugu collected by the Hayabusa2 mission contain nitrogenous organic compounds, including the nucleobase uracil, which is a part of RNA.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Technology Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Physics: Optics
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Synthesis gas and battery power from sunlight energy      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Plants use photosynthesis to harvest energy from sunlight. Now researchers have applied this principle as the basis for developing new sustainable processes which in the future may produce syngas (synthetic gas) for the large-scale chemical industry and be able to charge batteries.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Physics: General Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Imaging the proton with neutrinos      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The interactions of the quarks and gluons that make up protons and neutrons are so strong that the structure of protons and neutrons is difficult to calculate from theory and must be instead measured experimentally. Neutrino experiments use targets that are nuclei made of many protons and neutrons bound together. This complicates interpreting those measurements to infer proton structure. By scattering neutrinos from the protons that are the nuclei of hydrogen atoms in the MINERvA detector, scientists have provided the first measurements of this structure with neutrinos using unbound protons.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Human and ocean health impacts of ocean plastics      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers from the fields of healthcare, ocean science, and social science have collaborated to quantify plastic's considerable risks to all life on Earth. The Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health report presents a comprehensive analysis showing plastics as a hazard at every stage of their life cycle.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Chemistry: Thermodynamics
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Molecular teamwork makes the organic dream work      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Molecular engineers have triggered a domino-like structural transition in an organic semiconductor. The energy- and time-saving phenomenon may enhance the performance of smartwatches, solar cells, and other organic electronics.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Energy: Nuclear Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Nitrate can release uranium into groundwater      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A team has experimentally confirmed that nitrate, a compound common in fertilizers and animal waste, can help transport naturally occurring uranium from the underground to groundwater. The new research backs a previous study showing that aquifers contaminated with high levels of nitrate -- including the High Plains Aquifer residing beneath Nebraska -- also contain uranium concentrations far exceeding a threshold set by the Environmental Protection Agency. Uranium concentrations above that EPA threshold have been shown to cause kidney damage in humans, especially when regularly consumed via drinking water.

Biology: Botany Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Trees Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Douglas-fir in Klamath Mountains are in 'decline spiral'      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Increases in mortality among Douglas-fir in the Klamath Mountains are the result of multiple factors that have the iconic tree in a 'decline spiral' in parts of the region.

Biology: General Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Recycling: Researchers separate cotton from polyester in blended fabric      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers found they could separate blended cotton and polyester fabric using enzymes -- nature's tools for speeding chemical reactions. Ultimately, they hope their findings will lead to a more efficient way to recycle the fabric's component materials, thereby reducing textile waste.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Engineering: Nanotechnology
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'Fishing' for biomarkers      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have devised a tiny, nano-sized sensor capable of detecting protein biomarkers in a sample at single-molecule precision. Fittingly coined as 'hook and bait,' a tiny protein binder fuses to a small hole created in the membrane of a cell -- known as a nanopore ­-- which allows ionic solution to flow through it. When the sensor recognizes a targeted molecule, the ionic flow changes. This change in flow serves as the signal from the sensor that the biomarker has been found.

Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Extinction Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Coffee plantations limit birds' diets      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study explores a record of birds' diets preserved in their feathers and radio tracking of their movements to find that birds eat far fewer invertebrates in coffee plantations than in forests, suggesting that the disturbance of their ecosystem significantly impacts the birds' dietary options.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
Published

Can synthetic polymers replace the body's natural proteins?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists developing new biomaterials often try to mimic the body's natural proteins, but a chemist shows that simpler polymers -- based on a handful of plastic building blocks -- also work well. Using AI, her team was able to design polymer mixtures that replicate simple protein functions within biological fluids. The random heteropolymers dissolve and stabilize proteins and can support cells' normal protein-making machinery. The technique could speed the design of materials for biomedical applications.