(Ruhr-University Bochum) Researchers have developed a new mechanism to protect enzymes from oxygen as biocatalysts in fuel cells. The enzymes, known as hydrogenases, are just as efficient as precious metal catalysts, but unstable when they come into contact with oxygen. They are therefore not yet suitable for technological applications. The new protective mechanism is based on oxygen-consuming enzymes that draw their energy from sugar.
Environment
(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) ICESat-2 scientists to investigate icy mysteriessoon after NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, launches on Sept. 15 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, it will start collecting a terabyte of data a day to monitor the height of Earth's surface below.
(University of California - San Diego) A new study led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego and the Coral Reef Research Foundation (CRRF) in Palau describes a novel approach for predicting warm temperature-induced stress on corals from the sea surface through a deeper expanse ranging from 30-150 meters (100-500 feet) known as the mesophotic zone.
(Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies) Fog can act as a vector for microbes, transferring them long distances and introducing them into new environments. So reports an analysis of the microbiology of coastal fog, recently published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.
(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) New NASA-funded research has discovered that Arctic permafrost's expected gradual thawing and the associated release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere may actually be sped up by instances of a relatively little known process called abrupt thawing. Abrupt thawing takes place under a certain type of Arctic lake, known as a thermokarst lake that forms as permafrost thaws.
(Field Museum) A new study of the tools used to create Easter Island's giant statues hints at a society in which people collaborated and shared information.
(University of Washington) A team led by the University of Washington has created an environmentally friendly way to remove color from dyes in water in a matter of seconds.
(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) A stalled weather pattern led to persistent showers and thunderstorms moving up the eastern seaboard during the week of July 22, resulting in significant rainfall amounts and numerous flood warnings. NASA utilized satellite data to analyze and tally the rainfall from the storms.
(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) The Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite provided a rainfall and cloud analysis on powerful Typhoon Jongdari as it moves toward Japan. Jongdari follows another powerful typhoon that made landfall in Japan earlier this year.
(European Research Council) Why is the world so green? What can we eat to prevent dementia? Are our eyes really the windows to our personalities? 403 talented early career researchers have been awarded European Research Council grants to answer such questions. Scientists will benefit from EUR603 million in total to create their own research teams and conduct pioneering projects. The grants are part of the 'excellent science' pillar of the EU's current Research and Innovation programme, Horizon 2020.
(American Society of Agronomy) One of the essential nutrients for vigorous crop production is nitrogen. Yet most routine tests done in commercial soil testing labs do not measure available nitrogen in the soil. Soil scientists at The Ohio State University and Cornell University think they have found a solution.
(Duke University) An international team of researchers has developed a comprehensive set of criteria to help the International Seabed Authority (ISA) protect local biodiversity from deep-sea mining activities. These guidelines should help identify areas of particular environmental importance where no mining should occur. The new ecological framework is a set of 18 quantitative metrics to assess whether the number, shapes, sizes and locations of proposed zones will be sufficient to protect threatened habitats and species.
(Pensoft Publishers) Six new species of unique land snails whose shells are covered with what look like scales are described from the biodiversity hotspot of Malaysian Borneo in the open-access journal ZooKeys. The snails were discovered by a Malaysian-Dutch team of scientists, thanks to a set of modern tools, high-magnification scanning electron microscope and 3D modeling. All species are named after their original localities to highlight the need for conservation efforts in the particular areas.
Atop Mount Lico in northern Mozambique is a site that few have had the pleasure of seeing – a hidden rainforest, protected by a steep circle of rock. Though the mountain was known to locals, the forest itself remained a secret until six years ago, when Professor Julian Bayliss spotted it on satellite imagery. It…
The broad legalisation of marijuana in California might be a big win for trade, tax, and lovers of a toke, but it could be a serious threat to one bushy-tailed little predator. Populations of Humboldt martens (Martes americana humboldtensis) have already been struck down thanks to years of shrinking habitat. But it’s taken the…
Last year, 39 million acres of forest cover was lost from the world’s tropics. The good news is that this figure is a little lower than the record amounts of canopy destroyed in 2016. But that’s pretty much the only silver lining here. A less generous interpretation of the data suggests there’s no sign of…