As the North Pole, the Arctic Ocean, and the surrounding Arctic land warm rapidly, scientists are racing to understand the warming's effects on Arctic ecosystems. With shrinking sea ice, more light reaches the surface of ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 16, 2021
43
408
Headlines proclaiming COVID lockdowns drastically reduced pollution were mostly referring to nitrogen dioxide, NO2, a reactive gas emitted from burning fuel. There had been less understanding of how lockdowns affected PM2.5, ...
Environment
Jun 23, 2021
0
12
Nitrogen, an element that is essential for all living cells, makes up about 78 percent of Earth's atmosphere. However, most organisms cannot make use of this nitrogen until it is converted into ammonia. Until humans invented ...
Materials Science
May 27, 2021
0
136
The prospects for life on a given planet depend not only on where it forms but also how, according to Rice University scientists.
Earth Sciences
May 10, 2021
0
131
Where did Earth's nitrogen come from? Rice University scientists show one primordial source of the indispensable building block for life was close to home.
Astronomy
Jan 21, 2021
2
243
Although violent and unpredictable, stellar flares emitted by a planet's host star do not necessarily prevent life from forming, according to a new Northwestern University study.
Astronomy
Dec 21, 2020
19
768
Ammonia (NH3) is one of the most commonly produced chemicals worldwide, because of its use as an important ingredient in a broad range of industrial manufacturing processes. For instance, it is pivotal in the production of ...
Materials Science
Jul 15, 2020
1
120
It sounds like a riddle: What do you get if you take two small diamonds, put a small magnetic crystal between them and squeeze them together very slowly?
Condensed Matter
May 19, 2020
0
3087
Plant scientists have long known that crop yield is proportional to the dose of nitrogen fertilizer, but the increased use of fertilizers is costly and harmful to the environment. Until now, the underlying mechanisms by which ...
Biotechnology
May 11, 2020
0
839
Most of the world's fertilizer is produced in large manufacturing plants, which require huge amounts of energy to generate the high temperatures and pressures needed to combine nitrogen and hydrogen into ammonia.
Biochemistry
May 5, 2020
2
189
