Pulses of laser light can make molecules react in ways that are impossible using classical test-tube chemistry. Molecules vibrate, and each molecule has its own “tone,” its own “melody.” It’s a question of finding the right key, and that is something that a “smart” laser beam can do. It can find its way to the right tone. In a new issue of the prestigious journal Nature it is shown how such a laser can be used to control photosynthesis molecules that gather light. This is the first time this fea

New product approved to prevent bleeding deaths

A razor nick during a much-too-close-shave ten years ago may result in hundreds of thousands of lives saved in the future. Scientist Frank Hursey was working with absorptive materials back in the late 80’s when he cut himself shaving. He picked up a volcanic mineral he’d been studying and decided to try it on his bleeding wound. The product worked so well as a coagulant that Hursey set to work doing further testing.

After three

A new and economical technology for the separation and capture of carbon dioxide from industrial processes could lead to a significant reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions to the atmosphere. Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory are developing a new high-temperature polymer membrane to separate and capture carbon dioxide, preventing its escape into the atmosphere. This work is part of the DOE Carbon Sequestration Program’s mission to reduce the amount of c

Scientists at the University of Leicester’s Space Research Centre are recreating the hostile environment found on Mars in their laboratory, with a device known as the Martian Environment Simulator (MES). The machine reproduces the temperature, air pressure and unbreathable atmosphere known to exist on Mars. The MES is currently being used to test equipment on the Beagle 2 lander, part of the European Space Agency’s Mars Express Spacecraft and due to arrive on Mars during Christmas 2003. The chance o

An Australian research team has solved one of the world’s big industrial waste headaches – what to do with spent pot lining (SPL) from aluminium smelters.
In a major advance for sustainable mineral production, the “Alcoa Portland SPL Process” developed jointly by Portland Aluminium, Alcoa, Ausmelt and CSIRO renders the hazardous waste harmless and at the same time produces two commercial by-products.

Aluminium smelters worldwide produce about half a million tones a year of the tox

A tiny methane-producing microbe has revealed the existence of a new amino acid, researchers report. Two studies published in the current issue of the journal Science describe pyrrolysine, a nonstandard amino acid encoded in the RNA of bacteria-like members of the group Archaea. The findings suggest that the genetic code may be more adaptable than previously believed.

When scientists first began to unravel the genetic code more than four decades ago, they determined that the four DNA bases