Studying photosynthesis, from outer space

Plants convert energy from sunlight into chemical energy during a process called photosynthesis. This energy is passed on to humans and animals that eat the plants, and thus photosynthesis is the primary source of energy ...

Atmospheric oxygenation three billion years ago

Oxygen appeared in the atmosphere up to 700 million years earlier than we previously thought, according to research published today in the journal Nature, raising new questions about the evolution of early life.

Methane-eating microbes found in Illinois aquifer

Methane-consuming microbes live deep underground in pristine aquifers, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and the Environmental Protection Agency. This type of organism, which ...

Breakthrough: Sensors monitor cells at work

Transport proteins are responsible for moving materials such as nutrients and metabolic products through a cell's outer membrane, which seals and protects all living cells, to the cell's interior. These transported molecules ...

Ocean nutrients a key component of future change, say scientists

(Phys.org) —Variations in nutrient availability in the world's oceans could be a vital component of future environmental change, according to a multi-author review paper involving the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton ...

'Pharmaceutical' approach boosts oil production from algae

Taking an approach similar to that used for discovering new therapeutic drugs, chemists at the University of California, Davis, have found several compounds that can boost oil production by green microscopic algae, a potential ...

page 15 from 36