Chemistry News - February 2009 Archives

Commercial yeasts upgraded with an enzyme for biofuel production (2/28/2009)

Waste sugar xylose fermented to ethanol through introduction of a single step ...> Full Article

Building a better protein (2/27/2009)

Rensselaer researchers use computers to find keys to stabilizing proteins ...> Full Article

Researchers shed light on how proteins find their shapes (2/26/2009)

The researchers bring together theoretical models and experimental data to explain protein folding ...> Full Article

Patience pays off with methanol for uranium bioremediation (2/25/2009)

Researchers take advantage of microbial communities to clean up uranium-contaminated ground water and sediment ...> Full Article

One of the most important problems in materials science solved (2/24/2009)

Together with three colleagues Professor Peter Oppeneer of Uppsala University has explained the hitherto unsolved mystery in materials science known as "the hidden order" -- how a new phase arises and why. This discovery can be of great importance to our understanding of how new material properties occur and can exploited in the future. The findings published in Nature Materials are of great importance to future energy supply. ...> Full Article

Evil-doers everywhere: Get a whiff of this (2/21/2009)

Tel Aviv University chemists explore sweat as the "fingerprint of the future." ...> Full Article

Cheaper materials could be key to low-cost solar cells (2/20/2009)

Availability of solar cell materials could limit large-scale deployment of photovoltaics ...> Full Article

Chemists offer new hydrogen purification method (2/19/2009)

One of the hydrogen economy's roadblocks to success is the hydrogen itself. Hydrogen needs to be purified before it can be used as fuel for fuel cells, but current methods are not very clean or efficient. Northwestern University researchers have developed a class of new porous materials, structured like honeycomb, that is very effective at separating hydrogen from complex gas mixtures. The materials exhibit the best selectivity in separating hydrogen from carbon dioxide and methane. ...> Full Article

Artificial cells, simple model for complex structure (2/18/2009)

A simple, chemical materials model may lead to a better understanding of the structure and organization of the cell according to a Penn State researcher. ...> Full Article

Groundbreaking study on complex movements of enzymes (2/17/2009)

A groundbreaking study has revealed in great detail how enzymes in the cell cooperate to make fat. ...> Full Article

Plugging in molecular wires (2/16/2009)

It's all in the wiring: Biocomponents at the heart of an artificial photosystem ...> Full Article

Enzyme cocktail converts cellulosic materials, water into hydrogen fuel (2/15/2009)

Tomorrow's fuel-cell vehicles may be powered by enzymes that consume cellulose from woodchips or grass and exhale hydrogen. Researchers at Virginia Tech, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Georgia have produced hydrogen gas pure enough to power a fuel cell by mixing 14 enzymes, one coenzyme, cellulosic materials from nonfood sources, and water heated to about 90 degrees. ...> Full Article

'Green' plastics could help reduce carbon footprint (2/14/2009)

Researchers working toward making biodegradable plastics from plants a reality ...> Full Article

Two-step chemical process turns raw biomass into biofuel (2/13/2009)

Taking a chemical approach, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a two-step method to convert the cellulose in raw biomass into a promising biofuel. The process, which is described in the Wednesday, Feb. 11 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, is unprecedented in its use of untreated, inedible biomass as the starting material. ...> Full Article

Carbon acts like rustoleum around hydrothermal vents (2/11/2009)

The cycling of iron throughout the oceans has been an area of intense research for the last two decades. Oceanographers have spent a lot of time studying what has been affectionately labeled the Geritol effect ever since discovering that the lack of iron is a reason why phytoplankton grow lackadaisically in some of the most nutrient-rich surface waters. Just like humans, sometimes the ocean needs a dose of iron to function more effectively. ...> Full Article

Researchers shake up scientific theory on motor protein (2/6/2009)

An international team of scientists led by the University of Leeds has shed new light on the little-understood motor protein called dynein, thought to be involved in progressive neurological disorders such as motor neuron disease. ...> Full Article

Fuel cells: Making clean energy a reality (2/5/2009)

Driving a car that emits nothing but pure water. Running a laptop for 30 hours straight on a single charge. These scenarios may not be as bizarre or as impossible as you think. ...> Full Article

Phytoplankton cell membranes challenge fundamentals of biochemistry (2/4/2009)

In a new paper published in Nature, Benjamin Van Mooy, a geochemist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and his colleagues report that microscopic plants growing in the Sargasso Sea have come up with a completely unexpected way of building their cells. ...> Full Article

Electricity from straw (2/4/2009)

Researchers have developed the first-ever biogas plant to run purely on waste instead of edible raw materials -- transforming waste into valuable material. The plant generates 30 percent more biogas than its predecessors. A fuel cell efficiently converts the gas into electricity. ...> Full Article

Scientists publish complete genetic blueprint of key biofuels crop (2/3/2009)

Scientists at the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute and several partner institutions have published, in the Jan. 29 edition of the journal Nature, the sequence and analysis of the complete genome of sorghum, a major food and fodder plant with high potential as a bioenergy crop. The genome data will aid scientists in optimizing sorghum and other crops not only for food and fodder use, but also for biofuels production. ...> Full Article

Success for first outdoor, large-scale algae-to-biofuel research project in Nevada (2/2/2009)

The first real-world, demonstration-scale project in Nevada for turning algae into biofuel has successfully completed the initial stage of research at the University of Nevada, Reno. The project is on track to show the process is an economical, commercially viable renewable energy source in Nevada. ...> Full Article

Technique put to use to test clean up of contaminated groundwater (2/1/2009)

Cleaning up the dangerous contaminants -- dry-cleaning fluids, solvents and petroleum hydrocarbons -- found in underground water presents one of the most urgent challenges facing environmental science. A report issued today by the US Environmental Protection Agency sheds light on a new way to monitor and improve the success of clean-up efforts using a technique developed at the University of Toronto. ...> Full Article

Researchers identify new function of protein in cellular respiration (2/1/2009)

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have found that the protein Stat3 plays a key role in regulating mitochondria, the energy-producing machines of cells. This discovery could one day lead to the development of new treatments for heart disease to boost energy in failing heart muscle or to master the abnormal metabolism of cancer. ...> Full Article