ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

Improving strength, stretchiness and adhesion in hydrogels for wound healing

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 01:39 PM PDT

Scientists use the adhesive capabilities of mussels as a model for simultaneously optimizing the strength, stretchiness and adhesion of GelMA hydrogels, a feat not obtained in previous attempts.

Improved water splitting method: A green energy innovation

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 01:39 PM PDT

Hydrogen is a promising clean energy source with great potential to replace greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels. While total water (H2O) splitting is the easiest way to obtain hydrogen (H2), this reaction is slow and not yet commercially feasible. Now, scientists have developed a novel electrocatalyst that significantly improves hydrogen production from water splitting in an energy and cost-efficient way.

Hidden in the seeds: Bacteria found to survive the harsh interior of passion fruit seeds

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 01:39 PM PDT

Plant endophytic microorganisms, especially those growing inside seeds, can survive antimicrobial compounds and have attracted attention for their potential biocatalytic activity. Recently, researchers successfully isolated several strains of endophytic bacteria that survive in high concentrations of antimicrobial resveratrol and piceatannol inside passion fruit seeds and get transmitted to next-generation seedlings. One of the bacteria could convert resveratrol and piceatannol to their respective derivatives. These findings will significantly advance endophyte and biocatalyst research.

How people respond to wildfire smoke

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 12:29 PM PDT

Interviews with Northern California residents reveal that social norms and social support are essential for understanding protective health behaviors during wildfire smoke events -- information that could be leveraged to improve public health outcomes.

Record number of ancient elephant bone tools discovered

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 11:47 AM PDT

Humans living about 400,000 years ago produced an unprecedented diversity of elephant bone tools, including pointed tools for carving meat and wedge-shaped tools for cracking open large femurs and other long bones.

Learning from a 'living fossil'

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 11:03 AM PDT

As we live and breathe, ancient-looking fish known as bowfin are guarding genetic secrets that that can help unravel humanity's evolutionary history and better understand its health.

Tracking genetically modified animals

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 11:02 AM PDT

Researchers have discovered a new way to track genetically modified animals using the artificial transgenes they leave behind in the environment. The discovery provides a powerful new tool to locate and manage genetically modified animals that have escaped or been released into the wild.

Beavers are well established and moving through the Oregon Coast Range

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 11:02 AM PDT

Beavers are often translocated to restore populations in areas, reduce their conflicts with humans and to take advantage of their ability to improve ecosystems. However, few studies have accessed the impacts of dispersing beavers, making it difficult to determine best practices for translocations.

Turning thermal energy into electricity

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 11:02 AM PDT

With the addition of sensors and enhanced communication tools, providing lightweight, portable power has become even more challenging. New research demonstrated a new approach to turning thermal energy into electricity that could provide compact and efficient power.

Hobit turns immune cells into killers

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 09:32 AM PDT

Against infections, tumors and inflammations, immune cells are locally positioned as rapid reaction forces in the organs of the body. On site, they specialize and take on various tasks.

Upcycled manure may ignite new sustainable fertilizing trend

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 09:32 AM PDT

Judiciously decomposing organic matter from 700 degrees Fahrenheit to 1,200 degrees F, without oxygen -- a process known as pyrolysis -- and retaining nutrients from dairy lagoons can transform manure into a manageable, ecologically friendly biochar fertilizer, according to new research.

Location and intensity of global threats to biodiversity

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 08:33 AM PDT

Using a novel modelling approach, new research reveals the location and intensity of key threats to biodiversity on land and identifies priority areas across the world to help inform conservation decision making at national and local levels.

Researchers identify new biomarkers to detect consumption of emerging illicit drug

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 08:33 AM PDT

A team of researchers has come up with a new solution to boost the surveillance of designer drug abuse. The team has identified three new urinary biomarkers that could be used to detect consumption of ADB-BUTINACA, an emerging synthetic cannabinoid which is a type of new psychoactive substance. The innovative approach used to identify the biomarkers can be applied to other existing and new synthetic cannabinoids.

Eating walnuts daily lowered 'bad' cholesterol and may reduce cardiovascular disease risk

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 05:18 AM PDT

Healthy older adults who ate a handful of walnuts (about ½ cup) a day for two years modestly lowered their level of low-density lipoprotein or LDL cholesterol levels. Consuming walnuts daily also reduced the number of LDL particles, a predictor of cardiovascular disease risk. The study explored the effects of a walnut-enriched diet on overall cholesterol in elderly individuals from diverse geographical locations and spanning two years.

Synthetic biology enables microbes to build muscle

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 05:17 AM PDT

Would you wear clothing made of muscle fibers? Use them to tie your shoes or even wear them as a belt? It may sound a bit odd, but if those fibers could endure more energy before breaking than cotton, silk, nylon, or even the material used in bullet-proof vests, then why not?

Light-to-moderate coffee drinking associated with health benefits

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 04:56 AM PDT

Up to three cups of coffee per day is associated with a lower risk of stroke and fatal heart disease, according to new research.

New class of habitable exoplanets represent a big step forward in the search for life

Posted: 25 Aug 2021 06:12 PM PDT

A new class of exoplanet very different to our own, but which could support life, has been identified by astronomers, which could greatly accelerate the search for life outside our Solar System.