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. Brazilians are world leaders in using biofuels for gasoline. About a quarter of their automobile fuel consumption comes from sugarcane, which significantly reduces carbon dioxide emissions that otherwise would be emitted from using gasoline. Now scientists from the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology have found that sugarcane has a double benefit. Expansion of the crop in areas previously occupied by other Brazilian crops cools the local climate. It does so by reflecting sunlight back into space and by lowering the temperature of the surrounding air as the plants "exhale" cooler water. The study is published in the 2nd issue of Nature Climate Change, posted on-line April 17. http://phys.org/news222264540.html Space & Earth Sun, 17 Apr 2011 13:09:29 EST news222264540 The exploitation and utilization of new energy sources are considered to be among today's major challenges. Solar energy plays a central role, and its direct conversion into chemical energy, for example hydrogen generation by water splitting, is one of its interesting variants. Titanium oxide-based photocatalysis is the presently most efficient, yet little understood conversion process. In cooperation with colleagues from Germany and abroad, scientists of the KIT Institute for Functional Interfaces (IFG) have studied the basic mechanisms of photochemistry by the example of titania and have presented new detailed findings. http://phys.org/news222006183.html Physics Thu, 14 Apr 2011 13:23:12 EST news222006183 The direct conversion of sunlight into electricity using photovoltaics is becoming an increasingly important technology for renewable energy generation as a replacement for fossil fuels, with applications from large-scale generation to roof-top solar panels and even mobile phones. But photovoltaics still accounts for only a marginal fraction of global energy supply. One of the main reasons for this is the relatively high cost of the base material — silicon — used in the most common type of solar cell. http://phys.org/news221996133.html Nanotechnology Thu, 14 Apr 2011 10:41:14 EST news221996133 Using minute graphite particles 1000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, mechanical engineers at Arizona State University hope to boost the efficiency -- and profitability -- of solar power plants. http://phys.org/news221194786.html Nanotechnology Tue, 05 Apr 2011 04:00:49 EST news221194786 A new polymer-based solar-thermal device is the first to generate power from both heat and visible sunlight – an advance that could shave the cost of heating a home by as much as 40 percent. http://phys.org/news221137595.html Technology Mon, 04 Apr 2011 12:06:56 EST news221137595 (PhysOrg.com) -- Experts at the University of Glasgow have discovered how plants know when to make their own sunscreen to protect themselves from the harmful rays of the sun. Scientists have speculated for decades that plants must have a 'photoreceptor' for UV-B wavelengths in sunlight, similar to those they use to detect other wavelengths which control other processes, such as triggering when they flower. http://phys.org/news220852067.html Biology Fri, 01 Apr 2011 05:20:01 EST news220852067 A study from Karolinska Institutet has shown that the body's ability to break down medicines may be closely related to exposure to sunlight, and thus may vary with the seasons. The findings offer a completely new model to explain individual differences in the effects of drugs, and how the surroundings can influence the body's ability to deal with toxins. http://phys.org/news218870084.html Medicine & Health Wed, 09 Mar 2011 05:40:01 EST news218870084 With most people unable to get enough vitamin D from sunlight or foods, scientists are suggesting that a new vitamin D-fortified food — bread made with high-vitamin D yeast — could fill that gap. Their study, confirming that the approach works in laboratory tests, appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. http://phys.org/news217682501.html Medicine & Health Wed, 23 Feb 2011 12:00:01 EST news217682501 (PhysOrg.com) -- The thinning ozone layer in the upper atmosphere may be a key factor in the collapse of frog populations worldwide, new research shows. http://phys.org/news217147011.html Biology Thu, 17 Feb 2011 06:37:29 EST news217147011 ]NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), best known for cutting-edge images of the sun, has made a discovery right here on Earth. http://phys.org/news216900037.html Space & Earth Mon, 14 Feb 2011 10:01:06 EST news216900037 (PhysOrg.com) -- An enigmatic protein system that uses sunlight and water to create fuel became a little less mysterious, thanks to scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, University of Michigan, and University of California -- Davis. http://phys.org/news216572246.html Chemistry Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:57:48 EST news216572246 Mysterious "night shining" or noctilucent clouds are beautiful to behold, and are usually seen during the summertime, appearing at sunset. They are thin, wavy ice clouds that form at very high altitudes and reflect sunlight long after the Sun has dropped below the horizon. Scientists don’t know exactly why they form, but continue to observe them – both from Earth and from space. These images were taken by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA’s Aura satellite. http://phys.org/news216565625.html Space & Earth Thu, 10 Feb 2011 13:07:16 EST news216565625 Using a common metal most famously found in self-cleaning ovens, Sossina Haile hopes to change our energy future. The metal is cerium oxide—or ceria—and it is the centerpiece of a promising new technology developed by Haile and her colleagues that concentrates solar energy and uses it to efficiently convert carbon dioxide and water into fuels. http://phys.org/news214640525.html Technology Wed, 19 Jan 2011 06:24:05 EST news214640525 Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have for the first time shown that reduced vitamin D absorption in patients with quiescent Crohn's disease (CD) may be the cause for their increased risk for vitamin D deficiency. The findings, which currently appear on-line in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, also showed that the only way to determine absorption efficiency is to perform a vitamin D bioavailability test. http://phys.org/news214573445.html Medicine & Health Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:10:14 EST news214573445 Researchers have developed a reactor that can rapidly produce fuel from sunlight, using carbon dioxide and water, plus a compound called ceric oxide. http://phys.org/news214074773.html Chemistry Wed, 12 Jan 2011 17:13:11 EST news214074773 High energy costs are one drawback of making clean water from waste effluents. According to an article in the journal Biomicrofluidics, which is published by the American Institute of Physics, a new system that combines two different technologies proposes to break down contaminants using the cheapest possible energy source, sunlight. Microfluidics – transporting water through tiny channels -- and photocatalysis -- using light to break down impurities – come together in the science of optofluidics. http://phys.org/news213966018.html Physics Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:00:35 EST news213966018 (PhysOrg.com) -- Whether it's the cold weather or a lack of outdoor space that prevents you from growing a vegetable garden, if you have a window, you can grow a garden by using a Windowfarm. Windowfarms, which are gardens that hang on the inside of windows, can grow dozens of plants per window. Recently, the Windowfarms project has unveiled two new garden kits for home use, in addition to the educational kits they already sell. http://phys.org/news211737839.html Biology Thu, 16 Dec 2010 16:04:19 EST news211737839 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new study by scientists in Los Angeles, California has found that bright city lights makes air pollution worse because the glare of the lights interferes with chemical reactions that clean the air of pollution during the night. http://phys.org/news211697343.html Space & Earth Thu, 16 Dec 2010 06:50:03 EST news211697343 (PhysOrg.com) -- Women in the north of the UK are more deprived of vitamin D from sunlight than their southern counterparts. http://phys.org/news209652583.html Medicine & Health Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:49:52 EST news209652583 Fresh insight into how biological clocks adjust to having less sunlight in the winter could help us better understand the impact of jet lag and shift work. http://phys.org/news209649593.html Biology Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:30:07 EST news209649593 Sunlight represents the cleanest, greenest and far and away most abundant of all energy sources, and yet its potential remains woefully under-utilized. High costs have been a major deterrant to the large-scale applications of silicon-based solar cells. Nanopillars – densely packed nanoscale arrays of optically active semiconductors – have shown potential for providing a next generation of relatively cheap and scalable solar cells, but have been hampered by efficiency issues. The nanopillar story, however, has taken a new twist and the future for these materials now looks brighter than ever. http://phys.org/news209148526.html Nanotechnology Tue, 16 Nov 2010 17:20:29 EST news209148526 A new analysis by MIT researchers could make it possible to design more efficient artificial systems that mimic the way plants harvest the energy of sunlight through photosynthesis. http://phys.org/news208174845.html Chemistry Fri, 05 Nov 2010 11:21:10 EST news208174845 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at MIT have revealed exactly how a molecule called fulvalene diruthenium, which was discovered in 1996, works to store and release heat on demand. This understanding, reported in a paper published on Oct. 20 in the journal Angewandte Chemie, should make it possible to find similar chemicals based on more abundant, less expensive materials than ruthenium, and this could form the basis of a rechargeable battery to store heat rather than electricity. http://phys.org/news207241816.html Chemistry Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:10:39 EST news207241816 What happens to sunscreens when they are exposed to sunlight? And how is the skin affected by the degradation products that form? This has been the subject of research at the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology that will be presented at the upcoming dermatologist conference in Gothenburg. http://phys.org/news206095759.html Medicine & Health Tue, 12 Oct 2010 10:00:01 EST news206095759 Photosynthesis is the process used by plants to convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into the energy-rich chemicals upon which all life-forms depend. The energy trapped in these compounds comes from sunlight, and photosynthetic organisms – plants, algae and certain types of bacteria – capture this energy in a usable form with the help of protein complexes called photosystems. Photosystems include antenna proteins that collect incident light, and green plants have two sorts of photosystems, which respond best to light of different wavelengths. http://phys.org/news205667562.html Biology Thu, 07 Oct 2010 10:53:01 EST news205667562 With winter now behind us and the longer days of summer looming comes the annual switch to daylight saving time. http://phys.org/news205143461.html Medicine & Health Fri, 01 Oct 2010 09:17:55 EST news205143461 Pity poor Mercury. The tiny planet endures endless assaults by intense sunlight, powerful solar wind and high-speed miniature meteoroids called micrometeoroids. The planet's flimsy covering, the exosphere, nearly blends in with the vacuum of space, making it too thin to offer protection. Because of this, it's tempting to think of Mercury's exosphere as just the battered remains of ancient atmosphere. http://phys.org/news202576521.html Space & Earth Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:15:59 EST news202576521 (PhysOrg.com) -- The asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is often depicted as a dull zone of dead rocks with an occasional wayward speedster smashing through on its way toward the sun. http://phys.org/news201956603.html Space & Earth Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:00:16 EST news201956603 (AP) -- Vodafone Essar Ltd. has unveiled a solar-powered mobile handset in India to better serve the nation's energy-starved rural masses. http://phys.org/news199466741.html Electronics Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:26:06 EST news199466741 Researchers from TU Delft in the Netherlands have shown how the energy yield of relatively cheap solar panels, made of amorphous silicon, can be considerably raised: from around 7 percent to 9 percent. http://phys.org/news197633126.html Technology Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:05:42 EST news197633126