In the UK, researchers from Lancaster University have analyzed global and regional food supplies to reveal the flows of calories, protein and vital micro-nutrients from production through to human consumption, in a study published in Elementa, Science of the Anthropocene. Combining data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with food nutrient data, and […]
In Illinois, named for the mythical god with two faces, Janus membranes — double-sided membranes that serve as gatekeepers between two substances — have emerged as a material with potential industrial uses. Creating two distinct “faces” on these delicate surfaces, however, is a process fraught with challenges. By applying a common high-tech manufacturing technique in […]
In India, ICRISAT researchers have found that sorghum could be used in existing sugarcane mills to produce ethanol and co-generated power without having to make any adaptations, allowing farmers and mills to switch to the more water efficient crop. Field trials with 10,000 farmers in Telegana using in-field crushing supplied juice to ethanol distilleries and […]
In the UK, scientists have designed a type of translator that allows different types of bacteria to ‘talk’ to each other. The findings, from scientists at Imperial College London, allow bacteria that don’t usually live together – such as those that normally live on the skin, and those that live in the sea, to communicate. […]
In Washington, D.C., an international research team, including scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), discovered and characterized a new family of cytochrome P450 enzymes that is critical to improving the conversion of lignin into valuable products such as nylon, plastics, and chemicals. The study outlines how the international team […]
In Illinois, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Chicago are finding new computational ways to describe bacterial cognition, a concept that emerged in the 1940s. These methods enable scientists to quantitatively measure how bacteria collect information, store that information and use it to interact […]
In New Mexico, researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory and partner institutions provided the first published report of algae using raw plants as a carbon energy source. The research shows that a freshwater production strain of microalgae, Auxenochlorella protothecoides, is capable of directly degrading and utilizing non-food plant substrates, such as switchgrass, for improved cell […]
In Mexico, researchers from the Center for Scientific Research of Yucatán are leading an international team looking at the Cocoyol palm fruit as a potential feedstock for solid biofuel but also at the possibility of developing advanced composite materials with high strength and low density using the fruit. A number of biomimicry tests have been […]
In Colorado, Nanette Boyle, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at Colorado School of Mines, has been awarded funding through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Early Career Research Program. Boyle will receive $750,000 over five years to develop predictive metabolic models for algae – work that could help speed up the commercialization of strains […]
In Sweden, researchers from Luleå University of Technology (LTU), IIASA, and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden found that increased biofuel production will not affect the production of wood products and that increased biofuel targets will introduce fringe feedstocks to the fuel mix. An opportunity that the forest industry, including sawmills and pulp mills, provides is […]
