Tag Archives: oxygen

CU-Boulder team develops new water splitting technique that could produce hydrogen

By Guest PostAugust 3, 2013Sciencealan weimer, biological engineering, boulder, brian evanko, charles musgrave, christopher muhich, contraction, holy grail, hydrogen, hydrogen molecules, janna martinek, kayla weston, metal oxides, mirror system, new, oxygen, oxygen atoms, produce hydrogen, solar thermal reactor, solar thermal system, sunlight, sustainable hydrogen economy, thermal expansion, university of colorado, water splitting technique, xinhua liang

A University of Colorado Boulder team has developed a radically new technique that uses the power of sunlight to efficiently split water into its components of hydrogen and oxygen, paving the way for the broad use of hydrogen as a clean, green fuel.

The CU-Boulder team has devised a solar-thermal system in which sunlight could be concentrated by a vast array of mirrors onto a single point atop a central tower up to several hundred feet tall. The tower would gather heat generated by the mirror system to roughly 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,350 Celsius), then deliver it into a reactor containing chemical compounds known as metal oxides, said CU-Boulder Professor Alan Weimer, research group leader. (more…)

Life underground

By Guest PostJune 14, 2013Environmentactive bacteria, beneath, bioinformatician, carbon, deep biosphere, ecosystem, Environment, fungi, genetic material, heavy pressure, jennifer biddle, life underground, messenger rna, metatranscriptome, microbes, microscopic organisms, million year old, mrna, nucleus containing cells, nutrient sources, ocean, ocean drilling program, oxygen, seafloor, sediment, teresa messmore, university of delaware, virginia edgcomb, volcano, whoi, william orsi

Active microbes discovered far beneath seafloor in ancient ocean sediment

Microbes are living more than 500 feet beneath the seafloor in 5 million-year-old sediment, according to new findings by researchers at the University of Delaware and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

Genetic material in mud from the bottom of the ocean — called the deep biosphere —revealed an ecosystem of active bacteria, fungi and other microscopic organisms at depths deeper than a skyscraper is high. The findings were published in Nature on June 12. (more…)

Foundations of Carbon-Based Life Leave Little Room for Error

By Guest PostApril 2, 2013Sciencealpha particles, carbon, carbon 12, carbon based life, dean lee, deutsche forschungsgemeinschaft, electron volts, elementary particles, elements, evgeny epelbaum, helium 4 nuclei, hermann krebs, hoyle state, juelich supercomputer centre, kev, light quark mass, north Carolina, numerical lattice, oxygen, quarks, room for error, specific energy, state university, timo laehde, ulf g

Life as we know it is based upon the elements of carbon and oxygen. Now a team of physicists, including one from North Carolina State University, is looking at the conditions necessary to the formation of those two elements in the universe. They’ve found that when it comes to supporting life, the universe leaves very little margin for error.

Both carbon and oxygen are produced when helium burns inside of giant red stars. Carbon-12, an essential element we’re all made of, can only form when three alpha particles, or helium-4 nuclei, combine in a very specific way. The key to formation is an excited state of carbon-12 known as the Hoyle state, and it has a very specific energy – measured at 379 keV (or 379,000 electron volts) above the energy of three alpha particles. Oxygen is produced by the combination of another alpha particle and carbon. (more…)

NASA Rover Finds Conditions Once Suited for Ancient Life on Mars

By Guest PostMarch 12, 2013Scienceancient life, ancient wet environment, bedrock, calcium sulfate, carbon, chemical energy source, chemical ingredients, chemin, chlorinated forms, condition, david blake, gale crater, hydrogen, instruments, john grotzinger, john klein, life, living microbes, mars, mars exploration program, methane, michael meyer, micro-organisms, mildly alkaline, mudstone, nasa rover, neutral, nitrogen, oxygen, paul mahaffy, phosphorus, powder, presence, red planet, rocknest, sam, soil, stream bed, sulfur, yellowknife bay

PASADENA, Calif. –– An analysis of a rock sample collected by NASA’s Curiosity rover shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes.

Scientists identified sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon — some of the key chemical ingredients for life — in the powder Curiosity drilled out of a sedimentary rock near an ancient stream bed in Gale Crater on the Red Planet last month.

“A fundamental question for this mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “From what we know now, the answer is yes.” (more…)

Lungs of the Planet Reveal Their True Sensitivity to Global Warming

By Guest PostFebruary 16, 2013Environmentamazon forest, atmosphere, burning fossil fuels, carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide concentration, carbon dioxide fertilization, chris jones, climate, climate warming, concentration, deforestation, global warming, lungs, oxygen, peter cox, planet, sensitive biological systems, sensitivity, tropical ecosystems, tropical rainforests, university of exeter, variation

Tropical rainforests are often called the “lungs of the planet” because they generally draw in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen.

But the amount of carbon dioxide that rainforests absorb, or produce, varies hugely with year-to-year variations in the climate.

In a paper published online (Feb 6 2013) by the journal Nature, a team of climate scientists from the University of Exeter, the Met Office-Hadley Centre and the NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, has shown that these variations reveal how vulnerable the rainforest is to climate change. (more…)

UA Scientists Help Discover Most Abundant Ocean Virus

By Guest PostFebruary 14, 2013Scienceabundant ocean virus, biogeochemical cycle, bonnie hurwitz, carbon, carbon cycle, carbon dioxide, cellular biology, DNA, global cycle, human genome researcher, j craig venter, marine, marine bacterium sar11, matthew sullivan, methods, molecular, most abundant organism, old fashioned research, oregon state university, oxygen, pelagiphages, phage research lab, planet, sar11 bacteria, stephen giovannoni, tucson, university of arizona, viral diversity, viral infection

Researchers have discovered four previously unknown viruses that infect the Earth’s most abundant organism, the marine bacterium SAR11. Because of their huge numbers, these tiny players have critical roles in the global cycle of carbon and other nutrients.

The greatest battle in Earth’s history has been going on for hundreds of millions of years, isn’t over yet, and until now no one knew it existed, scientists reported today in the journal Nature.

In one corner is the Earth’s most abundant organism: SAR11, an ocean-living bacterium that survives where most other cells would die and plays a major role in the planet’s carbon cycle. It had been theorized that SAR11 was so small and widespread that it must be invulnerable to attack. (more…)

A Material that Most Liquids Won’t Wet

By Guest PostJanuary 25, 2013Scienceair conditioners, air force, air repels, alcohols, anish tuteja, arun kota, blood, bounce off, breathable garments, carbon, chlorofluorocarbons, clays, custards, electric charge, electrospinning, fine particles, fluorine, interaction force, joseph mabry, liquid, liquid resisting, liquid solution, nanoscale coating, nanoscale cubes, non newtonian category, oils, organic acids, organic bases, oxygen, paints, pdms, polydimethylsiloxane, printer inks, refrigerators, rocket propulsion division, rubbery plastic particles, shampoos, shuaijun pan, silicon, solid, solid surface, solvents, stain resistant clothes, sulfuric acids, superomniphobic surface, surface tension, technique, toxic hydrochloric, university of michigan, van der waals, viscosity, waterproof paints

ANN ARBOR — A nanoscale coating that’s at least 95 percent air repels the broadest range of liquids of any material in its class, causing them to bounce off the treated surface, according to the University of Michigan engineering researchers who developed it.

In addition to super stain-resistant clothes, the coating could lead to breathable garments to protect soldiers and scientists from chemicals, and advanced waterproof paints that dramatically reduce drag on ships. (more…)

Geothermal Energy Keeps Turkeys Comfortable and Saves Farmers’ Money; Prototype Designed by MU Engineer

By Guest PostJanuary 3, 2013Environmentair, air quality, americans, ammonia contamination, amphibians, carbon dioxide, commercial livestock operation, cook, deep drilling, doghouse, fossil fuel, geothermal energy system, geothermal unit, greenhouse gas, habitat, humidity, migratory birds, oxygen, performance data, prototype facility, thanksgiving, turkey farms, turkeys, turkeys toasty, university of missouri, wildlife, yun sheng xu

COLUMBIA, Mo. — While Americans prepare to cook millions of turkeys for Thanksgiving, a geothermal energy system developed by a University of Missouri engineer will be keeping live turkeys toasty during the chilly autumn weather. In a prototype facility, designed by a University of Missouri engineer, environmentally and economically friendly geothermal energy is keeping turkeys comfortable during both cold and hot weather. The system is designed to reduce utility costs while improving the air quality for the birds.

“This is our first prototype of a geothermal system in a commercial livestock operation,” said Yun-Sheng Xu, associate research professor in civil and environmental engineering. “Our first set of performance data suggests that farmers could cut their heating costs in half at current propane prices. Currently, two units are installed at the test farm. Other farmers could begin installing units on their turkey farms as soon as next year, for use by next winter.” (more…)