“Life’s information-storage system is being adapted to handle massive amounts of information,” reports Scientific American, reports Scientific American, calling it “an alternative to hard drives” and noting that DNA “is already routinely sequenced (read), synthesized (written to) and accurately copied with ease. “DNA is also incredibly stable, as has been demonstrated by the complete genome sequencing of a fossil horse that…
Tag: chemical
Startup Aims To Turn Solar and Wind Power Into Carbon-Neutral Gasoline
“Last month, Rob McGinnis fired up a new machine that runs combustion in reverse, using electricity to weld carbon dioxide and water into liquid fuels,” writes Slashdot reader sciencehabit: McGinnis, a chemical engineer and entrepreneur, has launched a new start-up called Prometheus, in hopes that he will be able to synthesize fuels more cheaply than energy giants can drill for oil,…
Zombie ants
Meet the parasitic fungi that take control of living insects. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/zombie-ants…
Atmosphere of mid-size planet revealed by Hubble and Spitzer
Two NASA space telescopes have teamed up to identify, for the first time, the detailed chemical “fingerprint” of a planet between the sizes of Earth and Neptune. No planets like this can be found in our own solar system, but they are common around other stars. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-07-atmosphere-mid-size-planet-revealed-hubble.html…
Methane vanishing on Mars: Researchers propose new mechanism as an explanation
The processes behind the release and consumption of methane on Mars have been discussed since methane was measured for the first time for approximately 15 years ago. Now, an interdisciplinary research group from Aarhus University has proposed a previously overlooked physical-chemical process that can explain methane’s consumption. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-07-methane-mars-mechanism-explanation.html…
Cockroaches May Soon Be Unstoppable — Thanks To Fast-Evolving Insecticide Resistance
sciencehabit shares a report: The day that squeamish humans — and exterminators — have long feared may have come at last: Cockroaches are becoming invincible. Or at least German cockroaches (Blattella germanica) are, according to a new study. Researchers have found that these creatures, which have long been a prevalent urban pest, are becoming increasingly resistant to almost every kind of…
Earth to Mars in 100 days: The power of nuclear rockets
The solar system is a really big place, and it takes forever to travel from world to world with traditional chemical rockets. But one technique developed back in the 1960s might provide a way to shorten our travel times dramatically: nuclear rockets. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-07-earth-mars-days-power-nuclear.html…
Astronomers conduct chemical investigation of globular cluster NGC 6723
By analyzing high-resolution spectra for 11 red giant branch (RGB) stars, astronomers have conducted a chemical investigation of the globular cluster NGC 6723. Results of the study, presented in a paper published June 24 on arXiv.org, offer more insights on the chemical enrichment of NGC 6723 and could be important to better understand chemical composition of globular clusters in general. Source:…
German Scientists Say Spinach Should Be Banned In Sports
Thelasko quotes a surprising CNN story about spinach: A study released by Freie Universitat Berlin suggests that ecdysterone, a chemical found in the leafy green vegetable, has a similar effect to steroids and should be added to the list of substances banned in sport, CNN affiliate RTL reported. The researchers ran a study involving 46 athletes who trained three times per…
The ‘Lost City’ of Atlantis Massif Could Reveal How Life Survives on Dark, Alien Water Worlds
Simple chemical reactions on hydrothermal vents could power life on dark worlds like Saturn’s world, Enceladus. Source: https://www.livescience.com/65824-lost-city-of-microbes-on-atlantis-massif.html