Ethylene is one of the most important and widely used organic chemicals. A research group has designed a thin-layer artificial biofilm with embedded cyanobacterial cell factories which were specifically engineered for photosynthetic production of ‘green’ ethylene. The fabricated biofilms have sustained ethylene production for up to 40 days. Photosynthetic microorganisms, such as cyanobacteria and algae,…

Despite the many potential applications of seawater batteries (SWBs), the limited performance of available materials has hindered their commercialization. To tackle this issue, scientists have developed a novel co-doped carbon material for the anode of SWBs. Their straightforward synthesis route and the high performance of the developed anode material will pave the way for the…

Using sophisticated microscopy and computational analysis, researchers have now validated the merit of a water purification technology that uses electricity to remove and inactivate an assortment of waterborne viruses. They said the yet-to-be-implemented water purification strategy could add another level of safety against pathogens that cause gastrointestinal ailments and other infections in humans. «There is…

A team of engineers and chemists has taken a major step forward in the development of microbial fuel cells — a technology that utilizes natural bacteria to extract electrons from organic matter in wastewater to generate electrical currents. «Living energy-recovery systems utilizing bacteria found in wastewater offer a one-two punch for environmental sustainability efforts,» said co-corresponding author Yu…

Nanoengineers have developed a new and potentially more effective way to deliver messenger RNA (mRNA) into cells. Their approach involves packing mRNA inside nanoparticles that mimic the flu virus — a naturally efficient vehicle for delivering genetic material such as RNA inside cells. The new mRNA delivery nanoparticles are described in a paper published recently…

Path-setting findings demonstrate for the first time a novel regime for confining heat in stellarators. The demonstration could advance the twisty design as a blueprint for future fusion power plants. Physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) working with Japanese researchers, made the observation on the Large Helical Device…

Chemists developed a new way to synthesize himastatin, a natural compound that has shown potential as an antibiotic. A new strategy for producing a natural compound could also be used to generate variants with even stronger antimicrobial activity. Using their new synthesis, the researchers were able not only to produce himastatin but also to generate…

Scientists show evidence that nitrogen acquired during Earth’s formation came from both the inner and outer regions of the protoplanetary disk. The study has implications for signs of potential habitability of exoplanets. The isotopic signatures of nitrogen in iron meteorites reveal that Earth likely gathered its nitrogen not only from the region beyond Jupiter’s orbit…

In a series of experiments with laboratory-cultured bacteria, scientists have found evidence that there is a second role for the widely used gene-cutting system CRISPR-Cas9 — as a genetic dimmer switch for CRISPR-Cas9 genes. A summary of the findings was published Jan. 8 in Cell. First identified in the genome of gut bacteria in 1987,…

Enzymes are capable of degrading synthetic polyisoprene. The specific conditions for that have now been created and exploited. Polyisoprene is the principal component of natural rubber and of many types of rubber also used in car tires, for example. Up until now, it has only been possible to degrade polyisoprene, with a composition similar to…