Article Reviews
The article titled “Phosphorus for Earth’s earliest life may have been forged by lightning” talks about how the phosphorus that kick-started life as we know it billions of years ago, may have come from lightning here on earth and not from meteorites. Phosphorus was and still is a crucial element that connects all life. It is present in both DNA and RNA. Scientists thought that the phosphorus used to create the first strands of DNA and RNA came from a mineral called schreibersite. This mineral is typically found in meteorites but analysis from recent lightning strikes suggests that the phosphorus could have been made on earth. When lighting strikes the ground, it can form a glass-like substance called fulgurite. Fulgurite contains small amounts of schreibersite. After a significant lightning strike in Illinois, scientists analyzed the composition of the fulgurite produced and calculated that 0.4 percent of the total material produced by the lightning was schreibersite. Using this new found knowledge, scientists looked back at the weather patterns of earth from 4.5 to 3.5 billion years ago. They believe that there could have been enough lighting strikes on earth to have produced enough fulgurite which could have contained enough phosphorus to aid in the beginning of life. This information is also very significant because if our planet was able to produce life based on its own supply of lightning storms, it gives hope to future earth-like planets. This means that instead of hoping a bunch of meteorites that contain a lot of phosphorus hit a specific planet, there's a chance enough lighting can create the same environment.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/phosphorus-earth-earliest-life-forged-lightning-chemistry
This article titled “Zinc-air batteries are typically single-use. A new design could change that.” It talks about a potentially revolutionary new battery that can be almost infinitely recharged, and is much safer and cheaper to use. To first understand this new technology we have to understand how a typical zinc-air battery works. A zinc-air battery contains a zinc anode and a porous cathode separated by an electrolyte. This electrolyte is a high pH substance that contains ingredients like potassium hydroxide. Oxygen from the air enters the cathode and reacts with the water in the electrolyte to form hydroxide. Hydroxide formed at the cathode surface travels to the anode and reacts with the zinc. This reaction between the hydroxide and zinc is what creates the electricity. An issue with this type of battery is that the reaction is not easily reversed. This makes it difficult to recharge the battery which contributes to waste in the environment. The electrolyte used in typical zinc-air batteries also degrades the cathode and anode. To solve these issues a researcher decided to switch out the electrolyte for an electrolyte that contains water-repellent ions. These ions stick to the cathode which prevents water from the electrolyte from reacting with incoming oxygen at the cathode surface. This means that zinc ions from the anode can travel to the cathode and react directly with oxygen from the air. This enables the battery to be recharged. In one experiment researchers were able to recharge this new type of zinc-air battery 320 times over the span of 160 hours. In the future these new types of batteries could be used in electric cars and could potentially power cities.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/zinc-air-batteries-single-use-new-design-rechargeable
In this article titled “Plastic drinking water pipes exposed to high heat can leak hazardous chemicals” talks about a worrying trend that has been happening over the past decade in California. Increased levels of carcinogens have been present after large wildfires. After 2 separate fires, one in 2017 and the other in 2018, California's Water Management facilities found unsafe levels of benzene and other volatile organic compounds present. Scientists suspected that it was the plastic drinking water pipes that had been exposed to extreme heat that was the source of these dangerous chemicals. After an experiment that exposed common plastic pipes to temperatures ranging from 200° C to 400° C found that out of the 11 types of pipes 10 of them released varying amounts of benzene and volatile organic compounds. In some cases more than a hundred different chemicals were released. After this startling evidence scientists concluded that the underground water pipes we're being exposed to extreme heat from the fires, breaking down and releasing these harmful chemicals. Benzene exposure can cause serious health problems including skin and throat irritation, dizziness and after long-term exposure even leukaemia. The only foreseeable solution would be to switch these plastic pipes to heat resistant metal pipes. This would cost a great deal of money and be extremely bothersome to residents. For now experts recommend households test their drinking water after forest fires occur to ensure that they are not ingesting harmful substances.
In this article titled “A new iron-based catalyst converts carbon dioxide into jet fuel” it talks about a potentially revolutionary new catalyst that converts the CO2 in the atmosphere into usable jet fuel. Unlike cars, commercial airplanes cannot carry batteries that would be big enough to power them for an entire flight, so electrical powered planes are currently out of the question. The air travel industry however, has a significant carbon footprint. The air travel industry currently makes up 12% of all transportation-related CO2 emissions. This is why creating a more sustainable, environmentally friendly way to fuel airplanes is an extremely valuable discussion. Catalysts typically use expensive materials, but this new type of catalyst uses inexpensive ingredients such as iron. The way it works is the catalyst helps the carbon in CO2 separate from the oxygen molecules and link with hydrogen in the atmosphere, this forms the hydrocarbon molecule that makes up jet fuel. The leftover oxygen atoms from the CO2 joins with the hydrogen atoms and creates water. There was a very exciting experiment done by a chemist at the University of Oxford. They used a small reaction chamber set at 300° Celsius and pressurized to 10 times the air pressure at sea level. After 20 hours the catalyst converted 38% of the carbon dioxide present into new chemical products. About 48% of those products were jet fuel hydrocarbons. The other by-products were things like ethylene and propylene which can be used to make plastic. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/new-iron-based-catalyst-converts-carbon-dioxide-into-jet-fuel
Article Reviews
This article titled “50 years ago, scientists caught their first glimpse of amino acids from outer space” talks about a very exciting event that happened 1969 in Victoria, Australia. Researchers found evidence of amino acids in a meteorite that fell in Victoria, Australia on September 28th, 1969. The reason this was so exciting was because it suggests that the building blocks used to create proteins can and have been produced outside of Earth. Amino acids are so important because they are the main ingredient in DNA, RNA and so many other compounds. Twelve years later, in 1971 researchers found that the Australian meteorite contained primarily glycine. Since then, there have been other instances where amino acids and other chemical precursors have been found in rocks that come from space. A recent discovery found compounds called nucleobases and different types of sugar in meteorites. In addition they have seen glycine in the atmosphere of comet 67P. These findings show promise that there could be life elsewhere in the universe.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/50-years-ago-scientists-first-glimpse-amino-acids-outer-space
This article titled “A new portable device can reveal a chili pepper’s heat” talks about a small portable device called the Chilica-pod which can be plugged into any smartphone and read the exact amount of capsaicin present in any sample of pepper. Capsaicin is one of the chemical compounds that make peppers taste hot. The more capsaicin a pepper has, the hotter it will taste. The device is said to be extremely accurate and can detect micromoles of capsaicin. The way it works is a drop of liquid from a pepper is collected and mixed with ethanol to form a solution, this solution is placed onto the sensor. The sensor is made up of stacks of graphene sheets, the capsaicin that is present in the solution triggers the movement of electrons in the graphene. The more capsaicin present in the solution, the more the electrons will move making more electrical current. The pod registers the electrical current generated by the solution and once you plug it into a smartphone, the information is then analyzed in an app. The small device can detect capsaicin levels as low as 0.37 micromoles per litre of solution. One advantage of using this device is it does not use the system of Scoville heat units. The Scoville heat unit is a debated way of measuring heat and is determined by a group of human taste testers. This method allows for a lot of discretion between taste testers and it is not very accurate. Using the Chilica-pod will hopefully generate accurate readings of heat and be used by avid hot pepper eaters or even farmers that need to test their crops. There was one criticism by a plant geneticist and chilli breeder saying that; capsaicin is just one of at least 24 compounds that give peppers its heat. The scientist was hoping in the future that maybe the device could read all 24 of the compounds to truly have an accurate understanding of how hot the peppers would be.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/portable-device-chili-pepper-heat-capsaicin
This article titled “heating deltamethrin may help it kill pesticide-resistant mosquitoes” talks about an interesting phenomenon that has been observed where deltamethrin, a common insecticide used around the world to help stop the spread of mosquito borne diseases, was seen to be about 10 times more deadly when heated up. There are mosquito species all around the world that are showing resistance to deltamethrin and other similar compounds. Researchers all around the world are trying to find new compounds to help reduce the spread of mosquito borne diseases such as malaria. Malaria kills over 400,000 people each year and so the search for new insecticides is never ending. There are two ways used to heat the deltamethrin. The first is to heat it to 150° C in an oil bath for 5 minutes or by putting it in a 700- watt microwave for 5 minutes. After essentially vaporizing the chemical, the actual structure of the crystals change. In the original spray, the crystals have a very random pattern and look like a bunch of layered flakes on top of each other. The melted deltamethrin crystals look like a starburst pattern when cooled to room temperatures. The chemical bonds between the melted deltamethrin molecules are not as strong as the original structure is. This means when a mosquito lands on a dusting of the melted crystals it's much easier for the deltamethrin molecules to be absorbed mostly through the insect's feet. Researchers used two different types of mosquito species to test the new and original forms of the deltamethrin. The first is the A. quadrimaculatus species of mosquito that spreads malaria. The other is the A. aegypti species of mosquito which can transmit life-threatening diseases such as Zika and Dengue. The new version of deltamethrin knocked out about half of exposed A. quadrimaculatus mosquitoes within 24 minutes but when the same amount of mosquitoes were exposed to the original spray, it took nearly five hours for around half of them to be knocked out. When it came to the A. aegypti mosquito it took only 21 minutes for the new deltamethrin spray to knock out about half of the sample while it took over 3 hours for the original spray to knock out the same amount. This is still very early days for the new and improved deltamethrin. The two types of mosquitoes used in the experiments are not native to Africa or any part of Asia.In the future, it would be valuable to test the 6 major malaria spreading mosquito species in South Asia. It is also unknown if the increased toxicity of deltamethrin is safe for humans or wildlife. The experiments also did not include mosquito species that are already resistant to deltamethrin. In conclusion there is still a long way to go before this new form of deltamethrin can be used.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/heat-deltamethrin-pesticide-resistant-mosquitoes-insecticide
This article titled “Smoke for Australian fires rose higher into the ozone layer than ever before” talks about the recent wildfire season that happened in Australia from 2019- 2020. The fires produced so much smoke that it was rising and reaching new heights in the atmosphere. The fires were burning from December 29 to January 4. They produced what is called a pyrocumulonimbus cloud. These pyrocumulonimbus clouds produced fire-fuelled thunderstorms. These thunderstorms launched 300,000 to 900000 metric tons of smoke into the atmosphere. This was more than any recorded fire. One particular jet of smoke rose to a record breaking altitude and demonstrated some interesting behavior in relation to the wind. It was seen spinning and wrapping around itself in a spiral motion. This behavior has never been observed before. At its peak, the smoke cloud was roughly a thousand kilometres in width. This made it one of the largest wildfire smoke plumes that satellites have ever seen in the stratosphere. Researchers all the way in Washington were observing the pyrocumulonimbus cloud using satellites and weather balloons. The most shocking thing was in less than two months the plume rose from 16 km off the ground to 31km. The dark particles from the smoke absorbs sunlight and heated up the clouds, making it rise even higher. Clouds rising through the stratosphere brought with it large amounts of water and carbon monoxide. These high concentrations of gases in the stratosphere were several hundred percent higher than normal concentrations. The danger with this is the ozone-rich air that normally occupies the stratosphere gets pushed out of the way. The sun warmed smoke also triggers chemical reactions that destroy the ozone molecules. It is still unclear whether this huge pyrocumulunimbus cloud had any lasting effects on the world stratosphere. As devastating as this event was, it did allow scientists all around the world to observe the effects that large amounts of smoke have on the atmosphere. This is especially interesting because it validated a lot of the predictions scientists had made in regards to nuclear bombs and their effect on the atmosphere.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/smoke-australian-fires-rose-higher-ozone-layer-than-ever-before
Article Reviews
This article titled ¨Can we make opioids less addicting?¨ explores the million-dollar question that is; can we make effective pain relievers while also not having it be addictive? Opioids are the most powerful painkillers that are used today but unfortunately they are incredibly addicting. Tens of thousands of people all around the world die from opioid overdose each year. Opioids come from the white liquid in opium poppies. Drugs like morphine, oxycodone and heroin are also derived from opium poppies. There have been many attempts over the past century to try and come up with a new equally effective painkiller that is less addicting, but none have succeeded. In almost all cases, the new drug that once looked so promising actually created an even bigger problem and many more people became addicted. The way opioids work is they mimic pain-relieving chemicals called endorphins that your bodily body naturally produces. An opioid gets into your bloodstream and goes to your nervous system binding to opioid receptors in your brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves. When it binds to these opioid receptors it stops the brain from telling your body that you're feeling pain. This is why opioids are such an effective pain reliever but not why it's so addicting. Opioids cause your brain to release dopamine. This is a type of neurotransmitter that is linked to the feeling of being rewarded. Dopamine makes us feel happy and is monitored by another type of neurotransmitter called GABA. GABA stands for gamma aminobutyric acid. In addition to blocking pain, opioids also block GABA from being released. This means that your body can produce as much dopamine as it wants without being regulated. This is why it is so addicting. The bottom line is there is no solution or adequate replacement for prescription opioids as of yet. Researchers have been trying to develop a type of vaccine that could stop the body from becoming addicted to the opioids but it's still early days.
https://scitechdaily.com/can-we-make-opioids-less-addictive-video/
This article titled ¨Rapid covid-19 testing from a suitcase¨ it talks about a promising new way to test people for covid-19 all out of a small compact suitcase. The test would only take 15 minutes to complete and holds 94% accuracy. A similar device was used in Guinea in 2015 during the Ebola outbreak. Researchers were hoping that this new device would go to countries that had limited resources and limited laboratory equipment. The main focus so far has been to implement this device in countries in Africa that do not meet proper research laboratory standards and don’t have the medical equipment necessary to carry out large scale testing. It also would eliminate the days of waiting that most people have to experience when doing traditional coronavirus tests. The suitcase includes a diagnostic device, solar power supply, various regions, rubber gloves and RNA extracts. The test can be done almost anywhere, so it has the advantage of being mobile. For the test you need a saliva sample or nasal swab and all the reagents can be used at room temperature. There are already several countries that have implemented this device including; Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda. There's still some development needed to be done but if the evidence is as promising as the initial data suggests, you might be seeing a lot more of this little suitcase.
https://scitechdaily.com/rapid-covid-19-testing-from-a-suitcase/
This article titled ¨Scientists invent new method for producing synthetic DNA¨ talks about a new technique that produces one of the building blocks necessary for DNA sequencing in a more efficient manner. DNA is chemically synthesized all the time. It is an extremely important ingredient that has many uses that include; laboratories, hospitals and even in identifying covid-19. Phosphoramidite are building blocks needed to produce DNA but they are extremely unstable and break quickly. A group of research scientists have developed a new patented way to quickly and efficiently manufacture phosphoramidite. The DNA sequences that are being produced are called oligonucleotides. These are used for disease identification, the manufacturing of certain types of drugs and other medical and biotechnical applications. This means there is a very high demand for oligonucleotides. The best way to produce it is to have an efficient, automated way of producing these sequences. The oligonucleotides rely on the very unstable Phosphoramidite which needs to be stored at -20 ° Celsius. Because the equipment used to synthesize DNA cannot be cooled down to that temperature, a lot of the compound goes to waste when being produced. It also normally takes up to 12 hours to manually synthesize phosphoramidite. The new method of producing phosphoramidite starts by using nucleosides and flushing them through solid resin. In short this method avoids the degradation of the phosphoramidite and can be produced on demand which means it does not have to be stored and subsequently damaged while in storage.
https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-invent-new-method-for-producing-synthetic-dna/
In this article titled ¨Handheld MasSpec pen reveals Meat and Fish fraud in seconds¨ talks about a small Pen like device that can identify the source of a sample of meat in seconds. Meat and Fish fraud is a global problem. It costs consumers billions of dollars each year on top of making customers very unhappy. In some instances beef was being replaced with horse meat or cheaper fish was being sold as a premium fillets. Consumers began to question the reliability of the labels on the meat they were buying. There is a current molecular test to identify meat samples but it has to be performed at an off-site lab and you take hours to days to complete. There was a similar device made in the past that was compact and could be used on-site. There were two problems though, it destroyed the meat sample in the process or it would require some preparation before it could be sampled. This was not good enough. The new MasSpec device extracts small amounts of material from the samples surface and analyzes them on a mass spectrometer. The whole process takes around 15 seconds and does not harm the meat samples. Researchers tested this MasSpec pen against several different types of meat and it had a 100% accuracy at identifying the proteins. It also took 720 times faster than the current method. Researchers say they plan to expand this device to be able to identify more meat products.
https://scitechdaily.com/handheld-masspec-pen-reveals-meat-and-fish-fraud-in-seconds/
Article Reviews
This article titled ¨Citrus derivative makes transparent wood 100% renewable¨ talks about a new way of making transparent wood. Transparent wood is produced for many different applications including construction and interior design. Transparent wood can even hold thermal energy. The way you make wood transparent is to strip the wood of its lignin. The lignin is what gives wood its opaque look and what absorbs most of the light that hits the wood. Once all the lignin has been stripped from the wood it is very fragile and can break easily. Traditionally researchers have used a fossil-based polymer to coat the wood and give it its strength back. Scientists wanted to find a more environmentally friendly, sustainable solvent that can be applied to the wood that does not rely on fossil fuels. What they found was something called limonene acrylate, a monomer made from limonene. Limonene can be extracted from citrus waste like orange peels. This means research labs can work alongside orange juice factories and repurpose the orange waste and use it to make transparent wood. The limonene acrylate restores almost all transparency with little haze. It adds a lot of strength and even elasticity to the wood. Green chemistry is something everyone should keep in mind and there can be improvements done in every aspect of science to keep the earth happy.
https://scitechdaily.com/citrus-derivative-makes-transparent-wood-100-renewable/
This article titled ¨Nanoscale nutrients can protect plants from fungal diseases¨ talks about a revolutionary way of protecting plants. In the agricultural world, fungal diseases are one of your biggest enemies. Every crop that is grown is threatened by fungal diseases. Each year one third of the global harvest is destroyed by pathogenic fungus. Currently, farmers fumigate the soil with toxic chemicals that damage the land and kill any beneficial microbes in the earth. They also use fungicides but these are only effective short-term. The fungal diseases quickly evolved to be resistant to the fungicides. The nanoscale nutrients that this article talks about is a new way of strengthening crops with nutrients to help them fight against the pathogenic fungi. Researchers created nano sized packages filled with essential nutrients that boost the plants immune system. This boost triggers enzyme production that helps fight against fungal diseases. This method also does not introduce any synthetic chemicals. Researchers also discovered that plants may use a root-to-shoot-to-root method of delivering nutrients. This means that any nutrients absorbed from the roots go up to the shoots and then circle back down to the roots. This means that the nanoparticles of nutrients can be applied directly to the leaves and will eventually be absorbed by the roots. This avoids delivering nutrients through the soil which is very ineffective; the chemicals break down in the soil or evaporate into the atmosphere. Researchers carried out tests on eggplant and tomato plants using metallic nanoparticles sprayed onto the leaves and shoots of young plants. The nanoparticle treated plants had elevated levels of nutrients and produced higher yields compared to plants given regular dissolved nutrients. According to the article these nano-nutrients are so effective because of their perfect size. They are thousands of times larger than dissolved nutrients particles that are typically given to plants. Because of their large surface area they dissolve more quickly than something that had larger molecules. They're also not too big that they don't dissolve all at once. These nano-nutrients gradually release over the course of a couple weeks, this gives the plant a longer period of time that it is protected. In addition to being able to customize the size of these particles, you can also decide what shape you want. Researchers found that thin copper oxide sheets were better than spherical copper nanoparticles at preventing a certain type of fungi in soybean plants. They were more effective because it released quicker and was stuck to the surface of the leaves better. As promising as this may sound there's still a long way to go before it can be used in large-scale agriculture. Though no trace amounts of the nanonutrients were found on the actual produce, it is still unknown what the effects are on the environment.
This article titled ¨A new technique could make some plastic trash compostable at home¨ talks about an enzyme that can eat biodegradable plastic. Some researchers have been adding enzymes to biodegradable plastic to try and make the breaking down process more efficient. What some people don't understand is just because something is called biodegradable does not mean it can be composted. You can still find biodegradable plastic among compost because it does not break down properly. In landfills, biodegradable plastics do not break down because the conditions are not right. his means that the biodegradable plastic breaks down no faster than normal plastics. Using biodegradable plastic with polymer eating enzymes in it should accelerate the decomposition process. After some hurdles, a research group at Berkeley Laboratories created a perfect combination of ingredients. The ends of the plastic molecular chains are grabbed by the enzymes and eaten. They break up each individual chain link preventing microplastics from forming. Normally having enzymes in plastic makes them expensive and changes the physical properties of the plastic but this improved enzyme additive makes up as little as 0.02% of the entire plastic's weight. This means it does not change the strength and flexibility of the plastic. Unfortunately this technology does not work on all types of plastic because molecular structure is varied but it's a promising start.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/plastic-compost-new-enzyme-technique-biodegradable
The article titled ¨Lightning may be an important source of air cleaning chemicals¨ talks about how lightning has been observed to produce air cleaning chemicals. After several observations done by storm chasing airplanes it was revealed that lightning can produce what are called air cleaning chemicals also called oxidants. Oxidants help clean the air by reaction with contaminants like methane and allowing them to be more easily rained out of Earth's atmosphere. Lightning produces nitric oxide which can lead to the formation of oxidants such as hydroxyl radicals. In 2012 NASA observed storm clouds over Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas. They observed that large amounts of hydroxyl radicals and another oxidant called hydroperoxyl radicals were being produced by the storm. After analyzing the air composition the combined concentration of the hydroxyl radicals and hydroperoxyl radicals reached up to thousands of parts per trillion. This is the highest concentration of hydroxyl radicals to be observed in the atmosphere. The normal levels are only a few parts per trillion. At any given time there are around 1,800 lightning storms going on in the world. Researchers estimated that lightning could account for 2% to 16% of atmospheric hydroxyl radicals. This is extremely important information due to the rising levels of lightning storms occurring due to global warming. Understanding how lightning storms affect the atmosphere is extremely important for the future.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/lightning-storm-chemicals-air-clean-atmosphere-pollution
Article Review
In this article entitled “Volcanic ash threatens Pompeii's buried murals” it talks about the concerning state of Pompeii's ancient murals. The city of Pompeii was buried under volcanic ash and rocks for more than fifteen hundred years before it was first discovered and excavation began. Researchers originally thought that the volcanic debris would preserve the remaining ruins. New research suggests that a type of material called pyroclasts can cause damage to the ruins when under certain conditions. When exposed to water pyroclasts leach fluoride ions. These charged ion particles can combine with other ions to form a salty crust on Pompeii's art. As the salt dissolves and recrystallizes it can alter the pigment in the art and create cracks. Researchers needed to prove that it was the pyroclasts that were responsible for the salt buildup. Because fluoride ions are very rare in the atmosphere they had to prove that they came from the volcanic spew. They tested volcanic ash and rocks and exposed them to water. When exposed to water fluoride ions began to be released. They found that the ion concentration from the volcanic ash could be enough to be responsible for the damage on Pompeii’s art. Researchers say that as long as the paintings and murals are safely buried underground and stay dry there should be no need for concern. Unfortunately groundwater and rainfall are always a factor. In the case of salt damage it's extremely important to start treating paintings as soon as possible once they are excavated. Researchers needed a way to test the paintings for fluoride ions on site. A research team developed a portable laser instrument that helps detect fluoride ions. It breaks down small amounts of limestone found on the painting surface which releases calcium. The calcium interacts with fluorine to create calcium fluoride which emits a distinguishable wavelength of light. If the light is detected that means that fluoride is present on the painting. Researchers say that the best way to approach the situation is simply by leaving the paintings underground.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/volcanic-ash-threatens-pompeiis-buried-murals/
In this article titled “Even tiny phytoplankton have microbiomes” it talks about the symbiotic relationship algae have with bacteria that live on their surface. According to this article half of the world's photosynthesis takes place in single-celled organisms called phytoplankton which float at the top of the ocean. Phytoplankton also form the base of the ocean's food chain. It was discovered that these tiny little algae have even smaller bacteria embedded in their exterior. Scientists refer to this as the phycosphere. The phycosphere and phytoplankton share a very intimate relationship. The two organisms exchange vital chemicals that help each other survive. This article provides an image of the algae species Coscinodiscus diatom which are 90 micrometres across. This is one tenth of the width of a ballpoint pen. In the image the one phytoplankton looks relatively huge compared to the tiny blue dots surrounding it. These tiny blue dots are each an individual bacteria cell. It's hard to imagine how small this really is. In addition to simply being a very interesting discovery, researchers want to focus on whether the phycosphere has an influence on algae blooms. The phytoplankton species that are responsible for these algae blooms seem to be aided or contracted by different bacteria that live around them. So the phycosphere might have a role in the formation of algae blooms.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/gallery/even-tiny-phytoplankton-have-microbiomes/
In this article titled ¨Eating turkeys does not really make you sleepy¨ it talks about how turkey might not be the only culprit for making you feel sleepy after a Thanksgiving dinner. It was widely believed that the reason people get drowsy after eating a turkey dinner was because of an amino acid called L-tryptophan which is present in turkey meat. It is true that turkey contains high levels of L-tryptophan but in reality it's no more than any other meat you may consume. If you really wanted to get sleepy on turkey you would need to eat it on an empty stomach and not ingest anything that had any other type of amino acids or protein in it. Because turkey is not the only thing you typically eat at a Thanksgiving dinner, researchers looked at the other things that are consumed in large amounts during a holiday dinner. It's common to consume dishes rich in carbohydrates. Research shows that in both animals and humans carbohydrate-rich meals trigger the pancreas to release insulin which helps break down and use sugar. Something else insulin does is stimulate the muscles to take in large of something called neutral branched-chain amino acids, this does not include tryptophan. Because the muscles are absorbing the neutral branched-chain amino acids there is more L-tryptophan than branched-chain amino acids present in the blood. This higher ratio of L-tryptophan eventually reaches the cerebral spinal fluid and the brain. The L-tryptophan is converted into serotonin in the brain and eventually metabolized by the pineal gland into melatonin. This is what's commonly referred to as in nature's sleeping pill and is responsible for making you feel drowsy. So in reality it's the turkey combined with large amounts of carbohydrates that might be responsible for making you drowsy. It is also common for people to consume large amounts of alcohol during Thanksgiving which is known to make you drowsy as well.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/eating-turkey-sleepy-thanksgiving/
In this article titled ¨A butterfly's brilliant blue wings lead to less toxic paint¨ talks about something called structural colour that is present in morpho butterfly wings. What structural colour is is a material that has a very unique texture to it. The physical shape of a surface can act like prisms and reflect light to create a stunning color. Morpho butterflies have intricate nanoscale protein structures that are layered on top of each other that create prisms that create a beautiful cerulean colour. Researchers hope to use structural colour to make paints without the use of dyes and pigments. Certain pigments used today can be harmful to our health and also the environment. The way pigments and dyes work is by absorbing all wavelengths of light except for the colour that we see, which is being reflected back into our eyes. A dye that is used to make things red has been linked to cancer and some countries have even banned this pigment. There are many things in nature that use structural colour, including a plant in Africa that have berries called marble berries which have a metallic blue hue to them. A research group at CalTech uses something called self-assembling block copolymers. In short, these long chains of molecules can arrange themselves in a specific pattern and structure to reflect a certain light. When the structural colorant is added to a solution and applied to a surface they rearrange themselves to create the desired colour. Shorter copolymer chains refract shorter wavelengths of light like blue and green, while longer chains refract longer wavelengths of light such as red and orange. One good thing about the self-assembling copolymers is they self-assemble under everyday conditions. This new type of colour is in powder form and could be added into paint for cars, nail polish or wall paint. Because of the unique properties of this colorant, there are a lot of chemical additives that will no longer be needed when creating paint such as a stabilizer and surfactant. This results in safer paint. There's still much testing to be done before these types of paint can be used in everyday life. It is still needed to be confirmed if the colorants are actually safer and more environmentally friendly than traditional dyes and pigments. As of yet they are more expensive than traditional paint.
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