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Category: Engineering

1 Oct

Trees get overheated in a warmer rainforest

by TMR Desk
Education, Environment
The ability of rainforests to store carbon can decrease in pace with climate change. This is due to photosynthesis rates in the leaves of rainforest species falling at higher temperatures and the trees' natural cooling systems failing during droughts. Increased heat threatens especially the species that store most carbon. This has been shown in a new thesis from the University of Gothenburg. Some species of trees are able to handle rising heat in the tropics by sucking up large quantities of water to their leaves and transpiring through wide-opened pores in their leaves. These are mainly fast-growing trees that establish themselves early as a rainforest grows up. The same cannot be said for the trees that make up the canopy of...
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26 Sep

Reduced power consumption in semiconductor devices

by TMR Desk
Education, Engineering
Stepping stones are placed to help travelers to cross streams. As long as there are stepping stones that connect the both sides of the water, one can easily get across with just a few steps. Using the same principal, a research team at POSTECH has developed technology that cuts the power consumption in semiconductor devices in half by placing stepping stones. A research team led by Professor Junwoo Son and Dr. Minguk Cho (Department of Materials Science and Engineering) at POSTECH has succeeded in maximizing the switching efficiency of oxide semiconductor devices by inserting platinum nanoparticles. The findings from the study were recently published in the international journal Nature Communications. The oxide material with the metal-insulator phase transition, in which the phase of...
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26 Sep

Construction workers at risk of unintentionally exposing families to multiple toxic metals

by TMR Desk
Engineering
A range of work and home-related factors, such as not having a work locker or a place to launder work clothes, can impact the level of toxic metal concentrations that workers track from their worksites to their home. Take-home exposures -- toxic contaminants that are unintentionally brought from the workplace into the home, exposing children and other family members -- are a documented public health hazard, but the majority of research and interventions have focused on take-home exposure to lead. Much less is known about take-home exposures to other harmful metals. Now, a new study led by a Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researcher provides evidence that construction workers, in particular, are at high risk of inadvertently tracking a host...
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22 Sep

NASA’s Perseverance rover investigates geologically rich Mars terrain

by TMR Desk
Engineering
NASA's Perseverance rover is well into its second science campaign, collecting rock-core samples from features within an area long considered by scientists to be a top prospect for finding signs of ancient microbial life on Mars. The rover has collected four samples from an ancient river delta in the Red Planet's Jezero Crater since July 7, bringing the total count of scientifically compelling rock samples to 12. "We picked the Jezero Crater for Perseverance to explore because we thought it had the best chance of providing scientifically excellent samples -- and now we know we sent the rover to the right location," said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's associate administrator for science in Washington. "These first two science campaigns have yielded an amazing...
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14 Sep

New method to promote biofilm formation and increase efficiency of biocatalysis

by TMR Desk
Education
Birmingham scientists have revealed a new method to increase efficiency in biocatalysis, in a paper published today in Materials Horizons. Biocatalysis uses enzymes, cells or microbes to catalyse chemical reactions, and is used in settings such as the food and chemical industries to make products that are not accessible by chemical synthesis. It can produce pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, or food ingredients on an industrial scale. However a major challenge in biocatalysis is that the most commonly used microbes, such as probiotics and non-pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli, are not necessarily good at forming biofilms, the growth promoting ecosystems that form a protective micro-environment around communities of microbes and increase their resilience and so boost productivity. This problem is normally solved by genetic engineering, but researchers...
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14 Sep

Investing in new water filtration membranes is worth it

by TMR Desk
Engineering
New analysis shows antifouling membranes reduce costs, energy over their lifetimes High-performing water filtration systems -- necessary for reducing water scarcity -- can also reduce cost and energy consumption, a new Northwestern University-led analysis finds. In the new study, researchers performed a high-level analysis of membrane filtration systems to evaluate cost, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with desalination and wastewater treatment. The researchers specifically examined antifouling membranes, a high-performance filtration system that resists the accumulation of contaminants. Although foul-resistant membranes may cost more money when purchased, they cost less over their lifetimes than cheaper, non-foul-resistant membranes, which require frequent cleaning and need to be replaced more often. In fact, the researchers found that municipal wastewater facilities could spend 43% more on...
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13 Sep

Surprise finding suggests ‘water worlds’ are more common than we thought

by TMR Desk
Education
Analysis finds evidence for many exoplanets made of water and rock around small stars Water is the one thing all life on Earth needs, and the cycle of rain to river to ocean to rain is an essential part of what keeps our planet's climate stable and hospitable. When scientists talk about where to search for signs of life throughout the galaxy, planets with water are always at the top of the list. A new study suggests that many more planets may have large amounts of water than previously thought -- as much as half water and half rock. The catch? All that water is probably embedded in the rock, rather than flowing as oceans or rivers on the surface. "It was a...
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13 Sep

Scientists develop greener, more efficient method for producing next-generation antibiotics

by TMR Desk
Education, Engineering
An international team of researchers has developed a method for altering one class of antibiotics, using microscopic organisms that produce these compounds naturally. The findings, published July 25 in Nature Chemistry, could lead to more efficient production of antibiotics that are effective against drug-resistant bacteria. The team started with a microorganism that is genetically programmed to produce the antibiotic erythromycin. Scientists from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Germany's Goethe University wondered if the system could be genetically altered to assemble the antibiotic with one additional fluorine atom, which can often improve pharmaceutical properties. "We had been analyzing fatty acid synthesis for several years when we identified a part of a mouse protein that we believed could be used for directed biosynthesis...
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12 Sep

Floating ‘artificial leaves’ ride the wave of clean fuel production

by TMR Desk
Education, Engineering
Researchers have developed floating 'artificial leaves' that generate clean fuels from sunlight and water, and could eventually operate on a large scale at sea. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, designed ultra-thin, flexible devices, which take their inspiration from photosynthesis -- the process by which plants convert sunlight into food. Since the low-cost, autonomous devices are light enough to float, they could be used to generate a sustainable alternative to petrol without taking up space on land. Outdoor tests of the lightweight leaves on the River Cam -- near iconic Cambridge sites including the Bridge of Sighs, the Wren Library and King's College Chapel -- showed that they can convert sunlight into fuels as efficiently as plant leaves. This is the first...
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11 Sep

Mars model provides method for landing humans on Red Planet

by TMR Desk
Education
A mathematical model developed by space medicine experts from The Australian National University (ANU) could be used to predict whether an astronaut can safely travel to Mars and fulfil their mission duties upon stepping foot on the Red Planet. The ANU team simulated the impact of prolonged exposure to zero gravity on the cardiovascular system to determine whether the human body can tolerate Mars' gravitational forces -- which aren't as strong as on Earth -- without fainting or suffering a medical emergency when stepping out of a spacecraft. The model could be used to assess the impact of short and long duration space flight on the body and could serve as another important piece of the puzzle in helping land humans on...
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