Superweed resists another class of herbicides
Reading Time: < 1 minuteIN a new study from the University of Illinois, scientists document waterhemp’s resistance to yet another class of herbicides, known as Group 15s. The study provides the first documentation of a non-grass plant to be resistant to Group 15 herbicides. There are many herbicides on the market, but they all fall into one of 16 […]
Health effects from waste incinerators
Reading Time: < 1 minuteRESEARCHERS from Imperial College London have found no link between exposure to emissions from municipal waste incinerators (MWIs) and infant deaths or reduced foetal growth. However, they show living closer to the incinerators themselves is associated with a very small increase in the risk of some birth defects, compared to the general population. But whether […]
Family farmers contribute to Zero Hunger, healthier diets
Reading Time: < 1 minuteROME: Family farmers, who are on the frontline of global efforts to fight undernourishment and other forms of malnutrition and to promote healthy eating, require stronger support amid rising hunger and obesity around the world, the President of the UN General Assembly, Maria Fernanda Espinosa, said in Rome recently. In a world where one third […]
Turning fish waste into bioplastics
Reading Time: 2 minutesWHILE most of us know that fish contains a high protein content, it is however difficult to imagine that protein in fish waste could be a “starter fodder” to produce bioplastics. The idea of deriving plastics from fish protein first begins with unravelling the protein’s structure. Dr Ku Marsilla Ku Ishak, a lecturer from Polymer […]
Arsenic-breathing life discovered
Reading Time: < 1 minuteARSENIC is a deadly poison for most living things, but new research shows that microorganisms are breathing arsenic in a large area of the Pacific Ocean. A University of Washington team has discovered that an ancient survival strategy is still being used in low-oxygen parts of the marine environment. “Thinking of arsenic as not just […]
Pasta-shaped bacteria found in Mars
Reading Time: < 1 minuteUNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS at Urbana-Champaign researchers are one step closer to understanding how life could potentially survive on Mars. The researcher team found that the bacterium called Sulfurihydrogenibium yellowstonense or Sulfuri controls the formation of ancient rock on Earth that looks like pasta and thrives in harsh environments that are similar to what is found […]
Synthetic biologists hack bacterial sensors
Reading Time: < 1 minuteRICE University synthetic biologists have hacked bacterial sensing with a plug-and-play system that could be used to mix-and-match tens of thousands of sensory inputs and genetic outputs. The technology has wide-ranging implications for medical diagnostics, the study of deadly pathogens, environmental monitoring and more. Rice bioengineer Jeff Tabor and colleagues conducted thousands of experiments to […]
Clean and effective electronic waste recycling
Reading Time: < 1 minuteAS the number of electronics devices increases around the world, finding effective methods of recycling electronic waste (e-waste) is a growing concern. About 50 million tons of e-waste is generated each year and only 20% of that is recycled. Most of the remaining 80% ends up in a landfill where it can become an environmental […]
Hopping bacteria
Reading Time: < 1 minuteCURRENT biological models assume that many bacteria spread in a run-and-tumble pattern of diffusion, based on behavior in liquid laboratory cultures. But new research from Princeton University shows the tiny organisms actually use a hopping motion to move among tight spots in natural surroundings like the human intestine. The observations led to a new model […]
Plastic gets a do-over
Reading Time: 4 minutesA TEAM of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has designed a recyclable plastic that, like a Lego playset, can be disassembled into its constituent parts at the molecular level, and then reassembled into a different shape, texture, and color again and again without loss of performance […]