American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- Aug. 8, 2007
...losive discovery on genetically engineered tobacco plant Environmental Science & Technology Tobacco may...tudy reports that a genetically engineered tobacco plant may be very good for the environment. It shows promise for cleaning up soil contaminated with TNT, ...Beyond batteries: Storing power in a sheet of paper
...nt of the device is made up of cellulose, the same plant cells used in newsprint, loose leaf, lunch bags, and nearly every other type of paper. Rensselaer researchers infused this paper with aligned carbon nanotubes, which give the device its black color. The nanotubes act as electrodes and allow the sto...Clones on task serve greater good, evolutionary study shows
...d different cloned offspring of the Arabadopsis, a plant of the mustard family commonly used to test geneti... of two Arabadopsis families. All the offspring of plant A can grow up in near-identical environments, with pretty much the same water, sunshine and soil. Bu...Which came first, the moth or the cactus?
...rthern Mexico, the senita moth depends on a single plant species -- the senita cactus -- both for its food and for a place to lay eggs. The senita cactus is equally dependent upon the moth, the only species that pollinates its flowers. Senita cacti and senita moths have a rare, mutually dependent relations...Circadian clock controls plant growth hormone
The plant growth hormone auxin is controlled by circadian rh...ed early experiments that showed how auxin affects plant growth. Most plants and animals have an internal clock that allows them to match their activities to...New system of wastewater treatment could reduce the size of treatment plants by half
...own as secondary decanting. The structure of every plant currently has four stages: pre-treatment, primary decanting, biological reactor and secondary decanting. A tertiary treatment can also be added whenever water is used for irrigating. An advantageous system Research carried out at the UGR coul...Tropical insects 'go the distance' to inform rainforest conservation
...-eating families and 175 species from four diverse plant groups across 28,950 square miles of contiguous lowland rain forest in Paupua, New Guinea. Cognato and Hulcr were key collaborators on the project because of their expertise related to the biology and ecology of the bark and ambrosia beetle family...Climate change and permafrost thaw alter greenhouse gas emissions in northern wetlands
...ouse gases to the atmosphere, as previously frozen plant and animal remains became susceptible to decay. ...sequesters more carbon away from the atmosphere in plant biomass. This is actually good news from a greenhouse gas perspective, Turetsky said. However, ...Proteaceae spread by continental drift and transoceanic dispersal
...ists have shown that the large southern hemisphere plant family Proteaceae lived on the super-continent Gon..., it is the first on a major and diverse Gondwanan plant family with complex distribution patterns. These results are not only relevant to botanists. Ornitho...Smithsonian scientists show differing patterns of rainforest biodiversity
... insects also showed limited specialization in the plant species they feed upon, in contrast to the common ...re less than a fifth of their species, even if the plant species on which they live are constant. The group of international researchers working in New Gu......ound $111 million for a conventional grain ethanol plant to $854 million for an advanced (Fischer Tropsch) ...s for economic evaluations. Differences in assumed plant size, biomass costs, method of project financing, and even the year in which the analyses are perfor...Experiment suggests limitations to carbon dioxide 'tree banking'
...toms that found their way to various components of plant systems -- wood, leaves, roots and underlying soil. Only a few of those components will store carbon over time, noted Oren and McCarthy. "Carbon that's in foliage is going to last a lot shorter time than carbon in the wood, because leaves quickly d......ologists say. The findings show that at least in plant evolution, sex with others may bemore trouble than its worth. The mustard-like plant Arabidopsis thaliana lost interest in sex and startedself-pollinating at least a million years ago, ...Lost forest yields several new species
.... The expedition may also yield a number of new plant species; survey botanists were unable to identify some 10 percent of the collected samples, which will be sent to specialists in the near future. Given the findings with the vertebrates, it is likely that some of the plants will represent new species...Story tips from the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, August 2007
...ing severe wear operation at the Sonoco paperboard plant in Newport, Tenn. The impellers in the plant are working at three times the life of regular impellers with an annual energy savings of 56 million......cide. On plots maintained with the cover crop, all plant residues were chopped and turned into soil before ...ting the next corn crop. Growers are encouraged to plant cover crops since there are many other potential benefits, including reduced nutrient leaching, wind...Anthrax bacterium's deadly secrets probed
...cillus subtilis, which lives in the soil, promotes plant growth and is used to produce industrial enzymes and vitamins, to the deadly Bacillus anthracis, which causes anthrax. The full complement of proteins produced by the Bacillus family was fed into the workflow. The number of secreted proteins predict...Biologist traces coconut's history through DNA
...ource of food, drink, and fuel. Every part of the plant is used, and recently coconut oil has been manufactured into bio-diesel in the Pacific, Olsen said. He added that more than 11 million hectares (one hectare is equal to 100 acres) are now planted in coconut in 86 tropical countries. ...Genetic analysis finds greater threat in frog-killing fungus
...ecade," said John Taylor, UC Berkeley professor of plant and microbial biology and principal investigator of the study. "That could make this pathogen a harder problem to defeat. As a resistant spore, the fungus could be transported by animals, including humans or birds, or lay dormant in an infected area ...UC experts detail new standard for cleaner transportation fuels
...s. Low-carbon biofuel providers (fuels from plant and animal sources, such as corn, switchgrass and food waste): Revenue from selling emissions credits will help these firms recoup investments made in innovation and learning. Passenger vehicle owners: The LCFS will bring a greater variety of...