"I have a friend who is a brewer at the local microbrewery. He ranted to me once that the major brewery here (Efes Pilsen) adds formaldehyde to their beer, hence the nasty hangovers."
The researchers, led by Associate Professor Ana Maria Cuervo, blocked the ageing process in mice livers by stopping the build-up of harmful proteins inside the organ's cells. As people age their cells become less efficient at getting rid of damaged protein resulting in a build-up of toxic material that is especially pronounced in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative disorders. The researchers say the findings suggest that therapies for boosting protein clearance might help stave off some of the declines in function that accompanies old age.
A new type of reflective coating can make solar panels far more efficient, soaking up nearly all available sunlight from nearly any angle, U.S. researchers said on Monday. Current solar panels -- which convert energy from the sun into electricity -- absorb only about two-thirds of available sunlight. But surfaces treated with a coating developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, can harvest 96.2 percent of sunlight.
The process of making lime generates CO2, but adding the lime to seawater absorbs almost twice as much CO2. The overall process is therefore 'carbon negative'.
In an industrial park in Philadelphia sits a new machine that can change almost anything into oil.
Really.
"This is a solution to three of the biggest problems facing mankind," says Brian Appel, chairman and CEO of Changing World Technologies, the company that built this pilot plant and has just completed its first industrial-size installation in Missouri. "This process can deal with the world's waste. It can supplement our dwindling supplies of oil. And it can slow down global warming."
A blue-ribbon scientific panel has waved a yellow flag in front of a rapidly expanding number of products containing nanomaterials, cautioning that the tiny substances might be able to penetrate cells and interfere with biological processes.
The warning is contained in a report from the Council of Canadian Academies that will be released publicly today. It is one of the most authoritative to date in this country about the risks of engineered nanomaterials, which companies are adding to products ranging from sunscreens to diesel fuels.
In a new investigation of 952 name-brand sunscreens, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that 4 out of 5 sunscreen products offer inadequate protection from the sun, or contain ingredients with significant safety concerns. Leading brands were the worst offenders: None of market leader Coppertone's 41 sunscreen products met EWG's criteria for safety and effectiveness, and only 1 of 103 products from Banana Boat and Neutrogena, the second- and third-largest manufacturers, are recommended by EWG.
PBDEs are fire retardants used in soft polyurethane foam in furniture and in textiles and carpets as well as in hard plastic computers, home appliances and dashboards.
Research on PBDEs in laboratory animals link exposure to thyroid hormone disruption, permanent learning and memory impairment, decreased sperm count, fetal malformations, behavioral changes, hearing deficits and possibly cancer.
Researchers led by Roberto Danovaro at the University of Pisa in Italy added controlled amounts of three brands of sunscreen to seawater surrounding coral reefs in Mexico, Indonesia, Thailand and Egypt.
Even small doses provoked large discharges of coral mucous -- a clear sign of environmental stress -- within 18 to 48 hours. Within 96 hours complete bleaching of corals had occurred.
For over 40 years, bisphenol A labored in relative obscurity as the feedstock for a wide range of commercial plastics and synthetic resins. Growing demand for polycarbonates—for products ranging from baby bottles to compact discs—drives the rapidly expanding multibillion-dollar market for bisphenol A, one of the highest-volume chemicals in commercial production [see related essay (published online 17 July 2007); doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050200]. Bisphenol A molecules, which are joined by unstable bonds to form polycarbonates and resins, leach from containers exposed to heat or highly acidic or basic compounds. Although bisphenol A's estrogenic activity was first reported in 1936, scientific interest in the chemical has recently increased along with evidence of its effects. And as the media increasingly cover these findings, the chemical industry has stepped up its attacks on those studying endocrine disruption.
Aerogel holds 15 entries in the Guinness Book of Records, more than any other material. Sometimes called “frozen smoke”, aerogel is made by the supercritical drying of liquid gels of alumina, chromia, tin oxide, or carbon. It’s 99.8 percent empty space...
Have you ever wondered what's in that teeny ingredient list on your eye shadow? Or whether there's any difference between a drugstore compact and the $50 one from Bloomingdale's? Stephen McNeil, an assistant professor of chemistry at U British Colombia...
A Purdue University archaeologist discovered an intact ancient iron ore mine in South America that shows how civilizations before the Inca Empire were mining this valuable ore.
