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Em 2026: 114 notícias
Desde 1995: 427 notícias
Key enzyme for production of second-generation ethanol discovered in Brazilian Amazon
Publicado em 15 de maio de 2018
Second-generation ethanol (also called cellulosic ethanol) open perspectives for optimizing alcohol production. Since 2G ethanol is obtained from from sugarcane straw and bagasse, it basically makes it possible converting waste into energy.
Holder of the world's best biomass and boasting the installed industrial capacity, the requisite specialized engineers and the right yeast, Brazil performs advanced research in the field. The country could project a 50% leap in its alcohol production were [...]
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Climate geoengineering research should include developing countries
Publicado em 09 maio 2018Placing giant mirrors in orbit to reflect sunlight before it reaches Earth and launching millions of tons of sulfur into the stratosphere to simulate the effects of a major volcanic eruption are among the mind-boggling climate geoengineering projects that are starting to be considered as ways to mitigate the global warming caused by greenhouse gases. The impact of this kind of initiative on global ecosystems remains highly uncertain. According to a "Comment" published in the journal Nature, [...]ver notícia -
Leafcutter ants' success due to more than crop selection
Publicado em 09 maio 2018HOUSTON -- (May 9, 2018) -- A complex genetic analysis has biologists re-evaluating some long-held beliefs about the way societies evolved following the invention of agriculture -- by six-legged farmers. Like humans, leafcutter ants grow crops, and like humans, farming allows the ants to produce enough food to support millions of individuals who work at specialized jobs. But while people invented agriculture at the dawn of civilization about 10,000 years ago, leafcutters began cultivating [...]ver notícia -
An innovation that opens horizons for greenhouse gases' remote monitoring
Publicado em 08 maio 2018Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers, among the most frequently used research tools to identify and analyze chemicals, are too large to be used in the field to detect compounds. Several attempts have been made to develop miniaturized FTIR spectrometers for integration into drones to monitor greenhouse gases remotely, for example, or for integration into smartphones and other devices. However, current miniaturized devices are costly to produce and therefore cannot be widely [...]ver notícia -
Hematene joins parade of new 2D materials
Publicado em 07 maio 2018HOUSTON - (May 7, 2018) - In the wake of its recent discovery of a flat form of gallium, an international team led by scientists from Rice University has created another two-dimensional material that the researchers said could be a game changer for solar fuel generation. Rice materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan and colleagues extracted 3-atom-thick hematene from common iron ore. The research was introduced in a paper today in Nature Nanotechnology. Hematene may be an efficient photocatalyst, [...]ver notícia -
Scientists hark back to Pleistocene to trace prioritary areas for conservation
Publicado em 04 maio 2018Identifying priority areas for action is a major challenge in biodiversity conservation projects. A group of researchers have chosen an approach based on past scenarios to try to understand the history of climate conditions in the regions analyzed. "The regions that have suffered least from climate change in the last 21,000 years are those in which the fewest local extinctions have occurred. These regions stand out for their higher species richness ratios, genetic diversity among species and [...]ver notícia -
Scientists calculate radiation dose in bone from victim of Hiroshima bombing
Publicado em 27 abril 2018The bombing of the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States in 1945 was the first and only use of nuclear weapons against civilian targets. A series of studies began in its aftermath to measure the impact of the fallout, in terms of both the radiation dose to which the victims were exposed and the effects of this exposure on DNA and health in general. Continuing research that started in the 1980s under the leadership of physicist Sérgio Mascarenhas , Full Professor at the [...]ver notícia -
Zika virus eliminates advanced human tumor in central nervous system of rodents
Publicado em 26 abril 2018A Brazilian study published April 26 in the journal Cancer Research shows for the first time in vivo that Zika virus can be used as a tool to treat aggressive human central nervous system (CNS) tumors. After injecting small amounts of the pathogen into the brains of mice with an advanced stage of the disease, the scientists observed a significant reduction in tumor mass and an increase in survival. In some cases, the tumor was completely eliminated, even where the disease had metastasized to [...]ver notícia -
Novel technique achieves 32-fold increase in nanometric bactericide's activity
Publicado em 25 abril 2018In recent decades, various research groups in the field of materials science have invested time and resources to answer the following question: is it possible to develop new techniques capable of producing silver particles on a nanometric scale (i.e., one billionth of a meter), thus enhancing the optical, catalytic and bactericidal properties of silver? A group of Brazilian investigators has taken a step forward in this contest. In a research carried out within the Center for Development of [...]ver notícia -
Blowfly uses saliva to keep cool
Publicado em 19 abril 2018On warm days the Oriental latrine blowfly ( Chrysomya megacephala) keeps cool by moving a droplet of saliva repeatedly in and out of its buccal apparatus, or mouth, and then swallowing it. Researchers at the University of São Paulo's São Carlos Physics Institute (IFSC-USP) in Brazil, in collaboration with colleagues at São Paulo State University's Bioscience Institute in Rio Claro (IBRC-UNESP), have found that the saliva droplet cools through evaporation during this "tidal" movement. [...]ver notícia