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Michael Adams is a member of UGA's Bioenergy Systems Research Institute, Georgia Power professor of biotechnology and distinguished research professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. (Phys.org) —Excess carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere created by the widespread burning of fossil fuels is the major driving force of global climate change, and researchers the world over are looking for new ways to generate power that leaves a smaller carbon footprint. Now, researchers at the University of Georgia have found a way to transform the carbon dioxide trapped in the atmosphere into useful industrial products. Their discovery may soon lead to the creation of biofuels made directly from the carbon dioxide in the air that is responsible for trapping the sun's rays and raising global temperatures .
New discovery may allow scientists to make fuel from CO2 in the atmosphere
Norman Lockyer
Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer , FRS (17 May 1836 – 16 August 1920), known simply as Norman Lockyer , was an English scientist and astronomer. Along with the French scientist Pierre Janssen he is credited with discovering the gas helium . Lockyer also is remembered for being the founder and first editor of the influential journal Nature . [ edit ] Biography Lockyer was born in Rugby , Warwickshire . After a conventional schooling supplemented by travel in Switzerland and France, he worked for some years as a civil servant in the British War office .
A comet headed for Mars: The hits keep coming
A PAIR of middle-aged tourists (see previous post ) are not the only thing headed for Mars. Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) is also on its way. Discovered on January 3rd, some calculations of its orbit, according to Phil Plait, the rather good “Bad Astronomer” , have it passing 37,000km above the surface of the planet in October 2014—roughly the height at which communication satellites orbit Earth, and a remarkably close shave by cosmic standards. An official NASA website puts the most likely “close-approach” distance between the comet and Mars at something more like 100,000km.
Einstein's theory is proved - and it is bad news if you own a penthouse - Science - News
Einstein's theory of relativity states that time and space are not as constant as everyday life would suggest. He suggested that the only true constant, the speed of light, meant that time can run faster or slower depending on how high you are, and how fast you are travelling. Now scientists have demonstrated the true nature of Einstein's theory for the first time with an incredibly accurate atomic clock that is able to keep time to within one second in about 3.7 billion years – roughly the same length of time that life has existed on Earth. James Chin-Wen Chou and his colleagues from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, found that when they monitored two such clocks positioned just a foot apart in height above sea level, they found that time really does run more quickly the higher you are – just as Einstein predicted.
Lab mice can't help us in the fight against cancer - Comment - Voices
This particular gruesome research provides scientists with a direct view of the path of cancer cells as they move around the body. In November 2012 the headlines read: “Tiny window in living mice shows cancer spread.” Rewind four years to 2008 and the headlines go: “Window into mouse's chest reveals how cancer spreads.” You could rewind for over ten years and find reports of near-identical research.
Click HERE to view graphic Discovering the so-called "Higgs boson" particle would be one of the greatest achievements in science, rivalling the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953 and the Apollo Moon landings of the 1960s and 1970s. It can explain why some particles have mass, but why others, such as photons of light, do not. Although the discovery is consistent with such a particle – first postulated half a century ago by the retired British physicist Peter Higgs – scientists at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern) in Geneva stopped short of saying this was definitely what they had found. Yet such is the degree of exactitude to which they work, they were still able to calculate that the new particle is very near to the "five-sigma" level of significance – meaning that there is less than a one in a million chance that their results are a statistical fluke.
Eureka! Cern announces discovery of Higgs boson 'God particle' - Science - News
Plants they hear? | Treader Science
Ceux qui, comme moi, aiment Franquin, ont probablement le souvenir de cette planche savoureuse où Gaston Lagaffe, pensant que les plantes sont sensibles à la musique et désireux d'accroître le bien-être d'un pied de lierre, veut lui jouer un petit air. Mais aux premières notes affreuses émises par le tristement célèbre gaffophone , la plante tente de s'échapper par la fenêtre ouverte... Ce que dit le gag, c'est que le son de cet instrument générateur de catastrophes doit vraiment être horrible si "même un végétal" ne le supporte pas. Encore faut-il que les plantes ne soient pas sourdes comme leurs pots et qu'elles puissent percevoir les vibrations sonores. La notion de communication dans le monde végétal a longtemps été tenue pour marginale (voire inexistante) quand elle n'a pas été raillée.
Peak External Photocurrent Quantum Efficiency Exceeding 100% via MEG in a Quantum Dot Solar Cell
Multiple exciton generation (MEG) is a process that can occur in semiconductor nanocrystals, or quantum dots (QDs), whereby absorption of a photon bearing at least twice the bandgap energy produces two or more electron-hole pairs. Here, we report on photocurrent enhancement arising from MEG in lead selenide (PbSe) QD-based solar cells, as manifested by an external quantum efficiency (the spectrally resolved ratio of collected charge carriers to incident photons) that peaked at 114 ± 1% in the best device measured. The associated internal quantum efficiency (corrected for reflection and absorption losses) was 130%. We compare our results with transient absorption measurements of MEG in isolated PbSe QDs and find reasonable agreement.
Reinventing Fire
Digging up and burning the deposits of ancient sunlight stored eons ago in primeval swamps has transformed human existence and made industrial and urban civilization possible. However, those roughly four cubic miles of fossil fuels every year are no longer the only, best, or even cheapest way to sustain and expand the global economy—whether or not we count fossil fuels’ hidden costs. Those “external” costs, paid not at the fuel pump or electric meter but in our taxes, wealth, and health, are not counted in the Reinventing Fire analysis, but are disturbingly large. Tens of billions of taxpayer dollars each year subsidize America’s fossil fuels, and even more flow to the systems that burn those fuels, distorting market choices by making the fuels look far cheaper than they really are. But the biggest hidden costs are economic and military.
A newly unveiled company with some high-profile backers — including filmmaker James Cameron and Google co-founder Larry Page — has announced plans to mine near-Earth asteroids for resources such as precious metals and water. Planetary Resources, Inc. intends to sell these materials, generating a healthy profit for itself. But it also aims to advance humanity's exploration and exploitation of space, with resource extraction serving as an anchor industry that helps our species spread throughout the solar system. "If you look at space resources, the logical next step is to go to the near-Earth asteroids ," Planetary Resources co-founder and co-chairman Eric Anderson told SPACE.com.
