An international collaboration of European research teams has just published an important study which directly attributes changes in mountain vegetation to climate change across the European continent.

US Department of Energy researchers from the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) reported in a recent paper that they have engineered the first bacterial strain that can digest the biomass of non-food crops and synthesize the sugars into all three forms of transportation fuel - gasoline, diesel and jet biofuels.

A "Brinicle" ... what the heck is that?

Yup - that's exactly what we said when we saw this article from Nature news ... 'Brinicle' ice finger of death....

In the Antarctic, as new sea ice forms on the ocean surface it leaves behind brine that is so salty and dense, it rapidly sinks towards the sea floor. As this salty slurry sinks, it instantly freezes the water surrounding it - forming a salt icicle, or a brinicle - which freezes everything in its spidery path, including starfish and sea urchins.

Numerous studies are beginning to suggest that excessive exposure to white light emitting diodes (LEDs), especially at night, may have adverse effects on our brain’s circadian rhythms. Specifically, these perturbations to our biological clocks can disrupt sleep patterns and reduce the production of hormones such as melatonin, an antioxidant compound that protects DNA from damage, by as much as 25% according to model-based calculations headed by Mark Rea, director of the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.

In search of going greener with battery technology, collaborating principle investigators Igor Luzinov and Gleb Yushin, of their respective Schools of Materials Science and Engineering at Clemson University and Georgia Tech, have identified a new polymer known as alginate that is capable of boosting battery capacity and performance. The material works as a more efficient binder of silicon or graphitic nanoparticles in the production of battery electrodes – cathodes and anodes. Furthermore, alginate, which is produced by and extracted from rapidly growing brown algae, offers a non-toxic and environmentally friendly alternative to current battery technologies. The findings are published in a recent report in Science.

Sunbathers may soon be closer to hitting the beach or pool without having to lather up with sunblock thanks to a team of researchers led by Dr. Paul Long at King’s College London who recently discovered how natural sunscreen compounds are made by coral. The goal of the research is to understand the genetic and biochemical basis on how natural sunscreens are made with the vision of developing non-topical commercial sun protection products, potentially in the form of tablets. This would eliminate the oily mess that’s made using topical lotions and also reduce the struggle to apply to hard-to-reach places like one’s back. The discovery could also prompt efforts to bioengineer crop plants to be more UV-tolerant, especially in sunlight-intense areas of the world.

According to a recent study published in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology, scientists from the University of New York at Albany have shown that paper currency worldwide contains traces of bisphenol A (BPA), an industrial and commercial toxin.

The harmful effects of BPA are the result of the compound’s ability to disrupt endocrine signaling, specifically by binding to the estrogen receptor. Numerous studies since the 1930s when BPA was first demonstrated to mimic endogenous hormones have shown that the toxin has adverse developmental effects when exposed pre-natally and is potentially carcinogenic to many organs. Therefore, smelling your money likely results in exposing yourself to undue amounts of BPA and puts you at risk for a variety of health problems.

Coming to a grocery store near you: transgenic salmon? That’s been on AquaBounty Technologies' wishlist since the company genetically engineered a salmon for human consumption more than 15 year ago.

A formal application for the so-called AquAdvantage (AA) salmon was first submitted in 1995 to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an investigative new animal drug. AA salmon contain a transgene that encodes for a Chinook salmon growth hormone which results in faster fish growth and consequently increases food production. However, the FDA approval process to market the genetically engineered salmon has been log-jammed over safety and efficacy issues.

The next time you decide to take a plunge into a swimming pool you might want to think about whats in the water you're about to be bathed in. Aside from saliva, urine, and other bodily discharges, Maria Jose Cardador and Mercedes Gallego, researchers from Department of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Córdoba in Córdoba, Spain, recently published a study that for the first time quantified the exposure of humans to potentially harmful haloacetic acids (HAA). The paper appears in a recent issue of the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Here's another reason to hold your breath while driving through a tunnel: you could be saving yourself from inhaling erionite, a natural rock mineral fiber present in road gravel that, like asbestos, can accumulate in lung tissue over time and cause malignant mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a rare cancer that affects the protective lining of internal bodily organs, most commonly the lungs due to asbestos exposure. Currently, the World Health Organization estimates that 125 million people are occupationally exposed to asbestos and over 107,000 deaths each year are attributed to asbestos-related mesothelioma.