A new artificial enzyme has shown it can chew through lignin, the tough polymer that helps woody plants hold their shape. Lignin also stores tremendous potential for renewable energy and materials.
Materials Science
May 31, 2022
3
903
A new analysis of seismic data from NASA's Mars InSight mission has revealed a couple of surprises.
Planetary Sciences
Aug 11, 2022
12
7879
The sun has gone quiet. Almost too quiet. A few weeks ago it was teeming with sunspots, as you would expect since we are supposed to be in the middle of solar maximum-the time in the sun's 11-year cycle when it is the most ...
Space Exploration
Jul 21, 2014
19
0
For hundreds of thousands of years, early humans in the East African Rift Valley could expect certain things of their environment. Freshwater lakes in the region ensured a reliable source of water, and large grazing herbivores ...
Archaeology
Oct 21, 2020
4
403
A team of researchers from Stanford University and the University of Leuven in Belgium has further elucidated an intriguing process that could be an important step toward a methanol fuel economy with abundant methane as the ...
Materials Science
Jul 16, 2021
1
180
(Phys.org)—A team of researchers from Belgium and the U.S. has identified the active site of an iron-containing catalyst that has raised hopes for designing a practically useful catalyst that might make converting methane ...
What were the first life forms like? In a new perspective article, scientists describe a strategy for answering this question by studying the earliest evolution of electron transport chains, a universal metabolic strategy ...
Evolution
Aug 14, 2023
0
1055
Efficiently releasing stored chemical energy harnessed from renewable sources remains one of the great scientific challenges facing the catalysis research community. Meanwhile, Mother Nature performs this transformation with ...
Materials Science
Jun 3, 2016
4
1173
The high cost of platinum catalysts used in hydrogen fuel cells limits the commercialization of fuel cell electric vehicles. Scientists are studying alternative catalysts to increase cost-effectiveness and maintain efficiency ...
Materials Science
May 21, 2020
1
1914
(PhysOrg.com) -- College students who use Facebook spend less time studying and have lower grade point averages than students who have not signed up for the social networking website, according to a pilot study at one university.
Social Sciences
Apr 13, 2009
4
2
