Purdue University researchers have developed tough, flexible, biodegradable films from cellulose, the main component of plant cell walls. The films could be used for products such as food packaging, agricultural groundcovers, ...
Polymers
Jun 8, 2016
0
28
If you're made of carbon, precious few things are as important to life as death.
Biochemistry
Jun 8, 2016
0
17
Plants use many strategies to disperse their seeds, but among the most fascinating are exploding seed pods. Scientists had assumed that the energy to power these explosions was generated through the seed pods deforming as ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 3, 2016
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28
A weedy plant found on the roadside in northern Australia has stems ripe for biofuel production.
Biotechnology
May 30, 2016
0
233
Researchers at UC San Francisco and Stanford University have performed the first comprehensive survey of the central genes and proteins essential to bacterial life. The study, which combined a new variant of CRISPR gene-editing ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 27, 2016
0
18
As doctors globally are warned that overconsumption of antibiotics has led to resistance to the drug – medical researchers are equally focussed on finding alternatives to treatments for bacterial infections, particularly ...
Biochemistry
May 24, 2016
0
12
Scientists have mapped changes in composition of plant cell walls over space and time, providing new insights into the development and growth of all plants.
Biotechnology
May 19, 2016
0
9
Plant cell walls are comprised of many complex polymers that require multiple different enzymes to fully break down, such as cellulase to digest cellulose and xylanase to digest xylan. For decades scientists thought only ...
Biotechnology
Mar 10, 2016
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44
Few will have missed the warnings about the increasing threat from antibiotic resistance and the dire predictions of a looming "post-antibiotic apocalypse". And we're right to worry: bugs that are resistant to commonly used ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 8, 2016
0
5
Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have shown for the first time that an enzyme can be tweaked to reduce lignin in plants. Their technique could help lower ...
Biotechnology
Feb 24, 2016
0
50
