Greenhouse gas 'feedback loop' discovered in freshwater lakes

A new study of chemical reactions that occur when organic matter decomposes in freshwater lakes has revealed that the debris from trees suppresses production of methane—while debris from plants found in reed beds actually ...

Scientists discover plant hormone that boosts growth by 30%

Scientists from NUS and the Singapore Center for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE) have uncovered one of nature's most potent tools in an arsenal to combat today's agricultural challenges: agro-microbials—or ...

Orange peels could be made into biodegradable plastic

Plastic waste is one of the worst forms of trash because it takes so long to degrade, thus overflowing our landfills and polluting our oceans and waterways. But what if we could make plastic from a recycled, natural, biodegradable ...

Dutch vegetarian butcher takes on the 'Frankenburger'

Never mind last month's revolutionary test-tube beef burger grown from meat stem cells. The Dutch are way ahead with a "vegetarian butcher" who transforms plants into "meat". Dubbed the "Frankenburger", the lab-grown beef ...

Bacteria -- energy producers of the future? (w/ video)

All of us use water and in the process, a lot of it goes to waste. Whether it goes down drains, sewers or toilets, much of it ends up at a wastewater treatment plant where it undergoes rigorous cleaning before it flows back ...

After the age of dinosaurs came the age of ant farmers

A group of South American ants has farmed fungi since shortly after the dinosaurs died out, according to an international research team including Smithsonian scientists. The genes of the ant farmers and their fungal crops ...

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