All Articles Tagged As: microbes

New artificial enzyme safer for nature (10/25/2009)

Breakthrough for man-made enzymes.Perilous and polluting industrial processes can be made safer with enzymes. But only a short range of enzymes have been available for the chemical industry. Recently a group of researchers at University of Copenhagen succeeded in producing an artificial enzyme that points the way to enzymes tailor-made for any application. News of this is published in the European journal ChemBioChem under the title "Cyclodextrin Aldehydes are Oxidase Mimics." ...> Full Article

Methane-eating microbes can use iron and manganese oxides to 'breathe' (7/11/2009)

Iron and manganese compounds, in addition to sulfate, may play an important role in converting methane to carbon dioxide and eventually carbonates in the Earth's oceans, according to a team of researchers looking at anaerobic sediments. These same compounds may have been key to methane reduction in the early, oxygenless days of the planet's atmosphere. ...> Full Article

The microbial hydrocarbon diet (6/13/2009)

Bioremediation of industrial sites and petrochemical spillages often involves finding microbes that can gorge themselves on the toxic chemicals. This leaves behind a non-toxic residue or mineralized material. Writing in the International Journal of Environment and Pollution, researchers in China describe studies of a new microbe that can digest hydrocarbons. ...> Full Article

Pliable proteins keep photosynthesis on the light path (5/12/2009)

A large, international collaboration between Arizona State University, the University of California San Diego and the University of British Columbia, has come up with a surprising twist to photosynthesis by swapping a key metal necessary for turning sunlight into chemical energy. ...> Full Article

Microbes turn electricity directly to methane without hydrogen generation (3/31/2009)

A tiny microbe can take electricity and directly convert carbon dioxide and water to methane, producing a portable energy source with a potentially neutral carbon footprint, according to a team of Penn State engineers. ...> Full Article

Harnessing microbes to boost plant production (12/20/2008)

Farmers, home gardeners, golf course managers and others now have access to a new microbial fertilizer that dramatically increases plant size and yield, thanks to a licensing agreement between Michigan State University and Bio Soil Enhancers Inc. C.A. Reddy, MSU professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, and Lalithakumari Janarthanam, visiting research associate in the same department, isolated beneficial bacteria, fungi and other soil microbes. The scientists then combined selected groups of organisms and identified a formulation that significantly increased plant growth and productivity. ...> Full Article

Deep biosphere research points to new methods for recovering petroleum (10/5/2008)

Researchers are using a novel approach that integrates physical organic chemistry with organic geochemistry and biogeochemistry to uncover the source of deep earth organic compounds like oil. ...> Full Article

Oil-eating microbes give clue to ancient energy source (9/11/2008)

Microbes that break down oil and petroleum are more diverse than we thought, suggesting hydrocarbons were used as an energy source early in Earth's history ...> Full Article

Researcher uses grant to study little-known but largely useful microbes (7/21/2008)

Researcher spends his days trying to understand how interactions on a microscopic scale could change how we think of energy production, climate change and even soil contamination. ...> Full Article

Are microbes the answer to the energy crisis? (6/5/2008)

The answer to the looming fuel crisis in the 21st century may be found by thinking small, microscopic in fact. Microscopic organisms from bacteria and cyanobacteria, to fungi to microalgae, are biological factories that are proving to efficient sources of inexpensive, environmentally friendly biofuels that can serve as alternatives to oil. ...> Full Article

Microbes could boost world energy supply (5/1/2008)

Scientists expect to begin trials next month to find out whether microbes can unlock the vast amount of energy trapped in the world's unrecoverable heavy oil deposits ...> Full Article

New Source for Biofuels Discovered by Researchers (4/24/2008)

A newly created microbe produces cellulose that can be turned into ethanol and other biofuels ...> Full Article

Gut reaction: Cow stomach holds key to turning corn into biofuel (4/9/2008)

An enzyme from a microbe that lives inside a cow's stomach is the key to turning corn plants into fuel ...> Full Article

Scientists launch first comprehensive database of human oral microbiome (3/30/2008)

Scientists know more today than ever before about the microbes that inhabit our mouths. They know so much, in fact, that gathering all of the relevant bits of information into one place when designing experiments can be a job in itself. Now, grantees of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), part of the National Institutes of Health, and their international colleagues intend to solve this problem with the launch of the first comprehensive database of the oral microbiome, or the approximately 600 distinct microorganisms currently known to live in the mouth. ...> Full Article

Paired microbes eliminate methane using sulfur pathway (1/20/2008)

Anaerobic microbes in the Earth's oceans consume 90 percent of the methane produced by methane hydrates - methane trapped in ice - preventing large amounts of methane from reaching the atmosphere. Researchers now have evidence that the two microbes that accomplish this feat do not simply reverse the way methane-producing microbes work, but use a sulfur compound instead. ...> Full Article

New fund aims to make clean biofuel a reality (1/17/2008)

If we wanted to create the ideal environmentally friendly energy source, it would be a fuel that is easy and economical to produce, and one that does not pollute the air when burned. That is exactly what researchers at ASU intend to develop in a new program that uses bacteria and sunlight to generate hydrogen, a clean fuel that produces no greenhouse gases. ...> Full Article

Toward A Rosetta Stone For Microbes' Secret Language (1/1/2008)

Scientists are on the verge of decoding the special chemical language that bacteria use to "talk" to each other, British researchers report. That achievement could lead to new treatments for antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including so-called superbugs that infect more than 90,000 people in the United States each year, they note. ...> Full Article

Scientists Find Good News About Methane Bubbling Up From the Ocean Floor (12/24/2007)

Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is emitted in great quantities as bubbles from seeps on the ocean floor near Santa Barbara. About half of these bubbles dissolve into the ocean, but the fate of this dissolved methane remains uncertain. Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara have discovered that only one percent of this dissolved methane escapes into the air -- good news for the Earth's atmosphere. ...> Full Article

Hungry microbes share out the carbon in the roots of plants (10/23/2007)

Sugars made by plants are rapidly used by microbes living in their roots, according to new research at the University of York, creating a short cut in the carbon cycle that is vital to life on earth. ...> Full Article