Planes maybe powered with plant soon

A study published in the journal Energy and Environmental science shows the approach of researchers towards streamlining biomass processing for the production of aviation fuels.

Jet fuels are known to be very costly, asides that the emission of gases that contribute to the detriment of our environment is still a fresh wound in our hearts. But this may soon be a thing of the past as biofuels maybe a low-cost and environment friendly alternative. As said by scientist who have developed a new technology to transform lignocellulosic biomass into an aviation fuel surrogate.

Researchers also noted the most important challenge in the biofuel industry to be the inability to get more advanced biofuels into the transportation pool (large amount of the biofuel are gotten from corn ethanol and vegetable oil-based biodesel.

Through catalytic chemistry, a technology has been designed to transform lignocellulosic biomass into a jet fuel surrogate. This was pioneered by a multi-university team led by George Huber, professor of chemical and biological engineering at the university of Wisconsin-Madison.

Lignocellulosic biomass was clearly defined as an abundant natural resource that includes inedible portions of food crops as well as grasses, trees and other ‘’woody’’ biomass. Transportation fuels and commodity chemicals can be produced from processed lignocellulose.

Presenting a comprehensive approach by the research team shows how a biomass can be processed for the production of aviation fuels. This will be achieved by the production of furfural and levulinic acid (sugars commonly present in lignocellulosic biomass). When these two compounds are transformed, it leads to a mixture of chemicals that are indistinguishable from the primary components of petroleum.

We are patiently waiting for that.

The biggest Dinosaur unearthed

A team of paleontologists from the museum of paleontology Egidio Feruglio, Argentina   , led by Dr. Jose Luis Carballido and Dr. Diego Pol, unearthed the fossils of the biggest dinosaur ever. The fossil was tripped over by a local farm worker in the desert near La Flecha.

Argentinosaurus which previously holds the record of being the biggest giant animal known, that walked on earth is now being ripped off of its title, with this new discovery, as this current giant herbivore surpasses the weight of Argentinosaurus by 7 tonnes. This was revealed to the BBC new by the researchers.

Its thigh bones are 40m (130ft) long and 20m (65ft) tall, weighing 77 tonnes. It also stated that it was as heavy as 14 African elephants.

Based on the age of the rocks in which its bones were found, this giant did live in the forest of Patagonia between 95 and 100 million years ago. All the bones (about 150 bones) unearthed were in remarkable condition.

Caution should be taken, in noting this giant herbivore as the biggest that walked on earth, as there is a high probability that there are more giants yet to be unearthed. This view is also supported by a dinosaur expert from London’s natural history museum, Dr. Paul Barrette.

New species of Plant that feed on Metals discovered

New species of plant called Rinorea niccolifera have been discovered (by scientist from the University of the Philippines, Los Banos), to be a new plant species with an unusual lifestyle, it belongs to the family Violaceae. It eats Nickel for a living, as it accumulate up to 18,000 ppm of the metal in its leaves without itself being poisoned. The new species was discovered on the western part of Luzon Island in the Philippines, an area known for soils rich in heavy metals. It is a hyper accumulator, as it can be grown and harvested in order to recover commercially valuable metals in plant shoots from metal-rich sites.

Corn and Sugar cane serving as Fuel for Cars

Research shows that sugary and starchy parts of crops such as sugar cane, corn or wheat can be converted into Bioethanol. Bioethanol can be used to blend with petrol. Actually this is not a new innovation to the developed world as countries such as United States of America and Brazil produce a large quantity of Bioethanol produced from Corn and Sugar Cane respectively. To use Bioethanol as fuel, it has to be mixed with petrol (10% bioethanol with 90% petrol). Bioethanol is a renewable fuel.Ethanol produced from sugar cane in Brazil has been found to produce at least 50 percent less greenhouse gas emissions compared with their fossil fuel equivalent, although the calculation of greenhouse gases is a controversial area of science. But on the detrimental part, bioethanol cannot be used as fuel on its own. It also has a lower energy density than fossil fuel equivalent, so motorist are able to drive few distance on a litre of bioethanol compared with a litre of normal car fuel.

Human embryonic stem cells cloned

A scientist removes the nucleus from a human egg using a pipette. This is the first step to making personalized embryonic stem cells.

Another breakthrough in science, after more than a decade of false starts, National Geographic reports that, Oregon Health and Science University researchers announced they had  cloned human embryos and collected stem cells from them. They also grew the cells into specialized skin and heart cells, a first step toward using them in transplant medicine. The key to the team's success turned out to be the addition of caffeine to the cloning process. Now researchers will seek to discover whether these cells or similar "induced" stem cells, made without embryos, will have the most medical use.