http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Biofuels will serve the interests of large industrial groups rather than helping to cut carbon emissions and ward off climate change, according to research to be published in the International Journal of Environment and Health this month. http://phys.org/news269249683.html Space & Earth Fri, 12 Oct 2012 08:35:03 EST news269249683 More efficient use of the food production chain and a decrease in the amount of food losses will dramatically help maintaining the planet's natural resources and improve people's lives. Researchers in Aalto University, Finland, have proved a valid estimation, for the first time, for how many people could be fed with reducing food losses. The world's population is an estimated seven billion people. An additional one billion can be fed from our current resources, if the food losses could be halved. This can be achieved if the lowest loss percentage achieved in any region could be reached globally. http://phys.org/news269087488.html Space & Earth Wed, 10 Oct 2012 11:31:34 EST news269087488 Organic catalysts are a breakthrough in the quest for inexpensive and efficient materials for environmentally friendly production of energy in fuel cells. A new study by physicists at Umeå University in Sweden, published in ACS Nano, provides better knowledge about key processes in producing these catalysts. http://phys.org/news268663172.html Chemistry Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:39:55 EST news268663172 Norwegian titanium companies have been granted funding to develop a brand-new production technology, which may mark the beginning of a revolution in industry worth billions. http://phys.org/news266219001.html Technology Fri, 07 Sep 2012 06:43:31 EST news266219001 The corn industry produces almost 4,000 products from every bushel. Oil refineries produce fuels and ingredients for an estimated 6,000 products with a thoroughness that actually squeezes 44 gallons of products from every 42-gallon barrel of crude. http://phys.org/news264862089.html Biology Wed, 22 Aug 2012 13:48:19 EST news264862089 Chemical engineering conventionally divides the process from raw materials to finished product into unit operations. EU-funded researchers developed software tools to evaluate integration of two or more units for optimisation of chemical synthesis in a broad range of applications. http://phys.org/news264067885.html Chemistry Mon, 13 Aug 2012 09:11:33 EST news264067885 Cities consume energy and raw materials, produce waste and pollutants, and overload their transportation systems. Fraunhofer researchers have now combined forces in the innovation network German for "Morgenstadt" (or "City of the Future"), in order to engineer innovative urban technologies and systems. http://phys.org/news261310790.html Technology Thu, 12 Jul 2012 11:19:59 EST news261310790 (Phys.org) -- Adam Block of the UA's Mount Lemmon SkyCenter brings us a rare view of the clouds wafting through our Milky Way in this Astronomy Picture of the Day. http://phys.org/news260452891.html Space & Earth Mon, 02 Jul 2012 13:01:37 EST news260452891 Until now most adhesives have been manufactured from petroleum-based materials. However, they can also be obtained from renewable raw materials -- for example from proteins, natural rubber, starch, or cellulose. Fraunhofer researchers are working on new formulas for industrial applications. http://phys.org/news260452794.html Chemistry Mon, 02 Jul 2012 13:00:00 EST news260452794 Scientists are reporting development of a new, higher-yield, two-step, less costly process that may ease supply problems and zigzagging prices for the raw material essential for making the mainstay drug for malaria. That disease sickens 300-500 million people annually and kills more than 1 million. The report on the process, which uses readily available substances and could be easily implemented by drug companies, appears in ACS' journal Organic Process Research & Development. http://phys.org/news256993161.html Chemistry Wed, 23 May 2012 12:10:01 EST news256993161 Danjiangkou reservoir is located in the northwest of Hubei province and southwest of Henan province at the headwaters area of the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project. In October, 2004, Scientists from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, conducted a survey around the margin of the reservoir that will later be submerged upon completing a new section of the dam, and found 367 lithic artifacts with handaxes and picks from 43 open-air sites, distributed upon different terraces along the Hanshui River and its tributary Danjiang River. The finding of handaxes and picks offers new materials to discuss the diffusion and cultural communication of early hominids, researchers reported in the latest issue of Acta Anthropologica Sinica 2012 (2). http://phys.org/news256549263.html Other Sciences Fri, 18 May 2012 08:42:44 EST news256549263 It provides the raw material for liquorice candy, calms the stomach and alleviates diseases of the airways: liquorice root. Chosen as the "Medicinal plant 2012", the root has been treasured in traditional healing since ancient times. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin have now discovered that liquorice root also contains substances with an anti-diabetic effect. These amorfrutins not only reduce blood sugar, they are also anti-inflammatory and are very well tolerated. Thus, they may be suitable for use in the treatment of complex metabolic disorders. http://phys.org/news253877417.html Chemistry Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:30:23 EST news253877417 All that glitters is gold under a new thermochemical process developed by Colombian engineers for color-tinting the precious metal to make it look like sapphires, rubies or emeralds. http://phys.org/news253081584.html Chemistry Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:26:46 EST news253081584 New biotechnological and chemical methods will facilitate efficient production of chemicals, materials and fuels from renewable natural resources. The Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence (CoE) in White Biotechnology – Green Chemistry Research focuses on the research and development of microbial cells, or cell factories, for producing new useful compounds from sugars in plant biomass. These compounds can be used, for example, for manufacturing bioplastics or in medical applications. http://phys.org/news251109574.html Chemistry Fri, 16 Mar 2012 09:50:02 EST news251109574 Miner Rio Tinto will use driverless trains to deliver its iron ore to ports in Western Australia in what it said Monday will be the world's first automated, long-distance, heavy-haul rail network. http://phys.org/news248936897.html Technology Mon, 20 Feb 2012 05:08:27 EST news248936897 Within a few years, people in remote villages in the developing world may be able to make their own solar panels, at low cost, using otherwise worthless agricultural waste as their raw material. http://phys.org/news247472592.html Nanotechnology Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:00:01 EST news247472592 Finnish papermaker UPM said Wednesday it plans to build the world's first industrial-scale plant to refine a byproduct of wood pulp into biodiesel. http://phys.org/news247333673.html Technology Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:00:04 EST news247333673 More than 192 million tonnes of fruit and vegetable waste is produced in Europe every year. The continued use of oil as a raw material is a serious obstacle in the way of sustainable industrial development, since it is harmful for the environment, jeopardises supply security, and contributes to the exhausting of non-renewable raw materials. By contrast, the production of chemical and industrial products from renewable raw materials is starting to emerge. In this context, Tecnalia will be developing new products of biotechnological origin using the products not used in the processing of fruit and vegetables as raw materials, since they constitute renewable matter with a high potential as a raw material for industry. http://phys.org/news245585985.html Chemistry Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:20:04 EST news245585985 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new image of the Omega Nebula, captured by ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), is one of the sharpest of this object ever taken from the ground. It shows the dusty, rose-coloured central parts of this famous stellar nursery and reveals extraordinary detail in the cosmic landscape of gas clouds, dust and newborn stars. http://phys.org/news244880893.html Space & Earth Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:31:21 EST news244880893 (PhysOrg.com) -- Bacteria are able to build camouflaged homes for themselves inside healthy cells - and cause disease - by manipulating a natural cellular process. http://phys.org/news243611955.html Biology Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:59:25 EST news243611955 (PhysOrg.com) -- A method developed at Aalto University in Finland makes it possible to use microbes to produce butanol suitable for biofuel and other industrial chemicals from wood biomass. Butanol is particularly suited as a transport fuel because it is not water soluble and has higher energy content than ethanol. http://phys.org/news243502944.html Chemistry Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:42:37 EST news243502944 Motorists may be driving on the world's first "green" tires within the next few years, as partnerships between tire companies and biotechnology firms make it possible to produce key raw materials for tires from sugar rather than petroleum or rubber trees. Those new bio-based tires — already available as prototypes— are the topic of an article in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society. http://phys.org/news243081479.html Chemistry Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:38:06 EST news243081479 Thailand's worst floods in decades may gradually be subsiding but ripples will be felt by companies and consumers for months to come, analysts say, underlining the fragility of the global supply chain. http://phys.org/news240823097.html Technology Fri, 18 Nov 2011 07:20:07 EST news240823097 Following the release of a Commission report on critical raw materials in 2010, scientists at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) highlighted in a new report that five metals, essential for manufacturing low-carbon technologies, show a high risk of shortage. Reasons for this lie in Europe's dependency on imports, increasing global demand, supply concentration and geopolitical issues. The report recommends actions to prevent shortages and thus allow a smooth implementation of the Commission's Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan, aimed at accelerating the development and deployment of low carbon technologies. http://phys.org/news240151279.html Technology Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:41:27 EST news240151279 Nanoparticles such as carbon nanotubes (CNT), which are found in an ever-increasing number of products, are ending up more and more frequently in our surroundings. If and how they affect aquatic ecosystems are questions which are still unanswered. An Empa study shows that while CNTs do not have toxic effects on green algae they do inhibit its growth by depriving the plant of light and space. http://phys.org/news239616292.html Nanotechnology Fri, 04 Nov 2011 09:40:03 EST news239616292 Archaeology has long associated advanced blade production with the Upper Palaeolithic period, about 30,000-40,000 years ago, linked with the emergence of Homo Sapiens and cultural features such as cave art. Now researchers at Tel Aviv University have uncovered evidence which shows that "modern" blade production was also an element of Amudian industry during the late Lower Paleolithic period, 200,000-400,000 years ago as part of the Acheulo-Yabrudian cultural complex, a geographically limited group of hominins who lived in modern-day Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. http://phys.org/news238068181.html Other Sciences Mon, 17 Oct 2011 11:03:10 EST news238068181 (PhysOrg.com) -- The space between the stars in the Milky Way and all other galaxies is full of dust and gas, the raw materials from which stars and planets are made. http://phys.org/news237056383.html Space & Earth Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:00:03 EST news237056383 New research reveals that, like their giant cousins, rocky planets are more likely to be found orbiting high metallicity stars. Furthermore, these planets are more plentiful around low mass stars. This could have important implications for the search for life outside of Earth. http://phys.org/news236586038.html Space & Earth Fri, 30 Sep 2011 07:20:47 EST news236586038 Vats of blue-green algae could one day replace oil wells in producing raw materials for the chemical industry, a UC Davis chemist predicts. http://phys.org/news235213311.html Chemistry Wed, 14 Sep 2011 10:03:53 EST news235213311 Using barley as the raw material for ethanol production results in an additional product – dried grains for animal feed. But the presence of a fungal pathogen sometimes found in barley can result in a lethal toxin, called mycotoxin, in the animal feed. Now, Virginia Tech and Agricultural Research Service, USDA researchers have shown that newly developed transgenic yeast used during fermentation will help modify the mycotoxin in the animal feed product to a less toxic form. The research is published online in the September issue of Biotechnology for Biofuels. http://phys.org/news235062674.html Biology Mon, 12 Sep 2011 16:12:03 EST news235062674