Tomorrow’s fuel-cell vehicles may be powered by enzymes that consume cellulose from woodchips or grass and exhale hydrogen.
Researchers at Virginia Tech, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and the University of Georgia have produced hydrogen gas pure enough to power a fuel cell by mixing 14 enzymes, one coenzyme, cellulosic materials from nonfood sources, and water [...]
An increasing proportion of the Danish vehicle fleet consists of diesel vehicles. In urban areas diesel vehicles are causing air pollution (from carbon particles, nitrogen oxides (NOX)) and unburned hydrocarbons). As the European legislation tightens the rules for emissions, it will become more difficult and expensive to meet the requirements for particulate filters and DeNOx [...]
A team of scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Delaware and Yeshiva University, has developed a new catalyst that could make ethanol-powered fuel cells feasible. The highly efficient catalyst performs two crucial, and previously unreachable steps needed to oxidize ethanol and produce [...]
The material of wind energy converters must withstand intense forces. Are rotor blades damaged? A new robot inspects wind energy converters more precisely than a human ever could. It detects the minutest damage – even below the surface.
It appears reliably and appears alone. Nimbly and quickly, it pulls itself up a rope meter for meter [...]
Researchers from the University of Granada and the University of Barcelona have shown that treatment with maslinic acid, a triterpenoid compound isolated from olive-skin pomace, results in a significant inhibition of cell proliferation and causes apoptotic death in colon-cancer cells. Maslinic acid is a novel natural compound and it is able to induce apoptosis or [...]
NASA and the National Science Foundation have successfully launched and demonstrated a newly designed super pressure balloon prototype that may enable a new era of high-altitude scientific research. The super-pressure balloon ultimately will carry large scientific experiments to the brink of space for 100 days or more.
This seven-million-cubic-foot super-pressure balloon is the largest single-cell, super-pressure, [...]
Dartmouth engineering professor and entrepreneur Victor Petrenko—along with his colleagues at Dartmouth and at Ice Engineering LLC in Lebanon, N.H.—have invented a way to cheaply and effectively keep ice off power lines.
The new proprietary technology is called a variable resistance cable (VRC) de-icing system. With only minor cable modifications plus some off-the-shelf electronics, the system [...]
Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon forests has flipped from a decreasing to an increasing trend, according to new annual figures recently released by the country’s space agency INPE.
Commenting on the figures, Brazilian environment minister Carlos Minc confirmed that the government will on Monday announce forest related carbon emission reduction targets, which will link halting deforestation to [...]
Chemists at ETH Zurich and the Technical University of Munich provide prion researchers with a new tool to elucidate the role played by specific anchor molecules. These complicated anchor compounds are suspected of promoting infections with BSE or Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease.
Several years ago mad cow disease was the number one topic in the media. Discussion of [...]
MIT engineers have developed carbon nanotubes into sensors for cancer drugs and other DNA-damaging agents inside living cells.
The sensors, made of carbon nanotubes wrapped in DNA, can detect chemotherapy drugs such as cisplatin as well as environmental toxins and free radicals that damage DNA.
“We’ve made a sensor that can be placed in living cells, healthy [...]
