In Northern Ireland, scientists from the Biomolecular Diagnostics and Engineering Group at the University of Ulster and children from St John the Baptist Primary School are involved in a novel research project to investigate the potential of sunflowers as a fuel source. Children at the school planted sunflower seeds in small pots in their classrooms […]
In Canada, Whitecourt Alberta has successfully harvested its first crop of waste-irrigated willow and poplar trees. The trees, planted two years ago, have been part of a biomass study regarding how fast-growing trees naturally break down effluent. According to Peter Yackulik, the town’s project manager, “the irrigated trees were 30-percent larger than the ones that […]
In California, Sapphire Energy announced that Nucleic Acids Research Journal has published its white paper, “An exogenous chloroplast genome for complex sequence manipulation in algae.” Chloroplast genomes present a unique opportunity for the field of synthetic biology. In a single, relatively small molecule, they encode the most important genes of photosynthesis, nature’s principle method for […]
In Iowa, an Iowa State University research team is collaborating with scientists at the Samuel Roberts Nobel Foundation and also with scientists in Japan to develop an international partnership to help make strides in the technologies needed towards a low-carbon society. The research will look at the chemistry of basic processes in plants and how […]
In Indonesia, new research from Center for International Forestry Research says the reduced emissions from burning palm oil biodiesel are far outweighed by the clearing of peatland forests to grow the crop. Looking at oil palms, soybeans and jatropha in 12 sites around the world, the research found that for palm oil in particular, the […]
In Malaysia, after 10 years of research and collaboration with experts from Japan, researchers at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak have begun producing biofuel from palm ‘sago’ (stem pith) waste. The plant will be opened to the public as an exhibition this month. The project will be expanded next year as pilot trials begin for biodiesel production […]
In California, scientists with the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have made a key discovery that would possibly allow for capturing atmospheric nitrogen for fertilizer. The discovery used an intense beam of X-rays from the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource to identify a hidden atom at the heart of the enzyme called nitrogenase, which plays a critical […]
In California, scientists with the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have made a key discovery that would possibly allow for capturing atmospheric nitrogen for fertilizer. The discovery used an intense beam of X-rays from the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource to identify a hidden atom at the heart of the enzyme called nitrogenase, which plays a critical […]
In Minnesota. Nuseed, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nufarm Limited, announced the acquisition of Seeds 2000 Inc, based in Breckenridge, Minnesota, USA. Seeds 2000 is a seed research, production, sales and marketing company focused primarily on the development of elite oil and confection sunflower hybrids that benefit both the farmer and end-use food customer. Nuseed is […]
In California, researchers with the Joint BioEnergy Institute have engineered the first strains of Escherichia coli bacteria that can digest switchgrass biomass and synthesize its sugars into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. What’s more, the microbes are able to do this without any help from enzyme additives. The E. coli were further engineered with three […]
