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Scavenging energy waste to turn water into hydrogen fuel By News Releases (University of Wisconsin-Madison) Materials scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have designed a way to harvest small amounts of waste energy and harness them to turn water into usable hydrogen fuel.

New imaging technology brings trace chemicals into focus By News Releases (Arizona State University) Arizona State University scientist N.J. Tao and his colleagues at the Biodesign Institute have hit on a new, versatile method to significantly improve the detection of trace chemicals important in such areas as national security, human health and the environment. Tao's team was able to detect and identify tiny particles of the explosive trinitrotoluene or TNT -- each weighing less than a billionth of a gram -- on the ridges and canals of a fingerprint.

U of Minnesota researcher discovers how electricity moves through cells By News Releases (University of Minnesota) Researchers at the University of Minnesota have created a molecular image of a system that moves electrons between proteins in cells. The achievement is a breakthrough for biology and could provide insights to minimize energy loss in other systems, from nanoscale devices to moving electricity around the country.

UC Davis researchers demonstrate link between brain chemical, cognitive decline in schizophrenia By News Releases (University of California - Davis - Health System) In one of the first such studies involving human patients with schizophrenia, researchers at UC Davis have provided evidence that deficits in a brain chemical may be responsible for some of the debilitating cognitive deficits -- poor attention, memory and problem-solving abilities -- that accompany the delusions and hallucinations that are the hallmarks of the disorder.

Fifty years of the 'light fantastic:' Laser advances spark scientific progress By News Releases (American Chemical Society) Fifty years after the first laser sparked a technological revolution, the "light fantastic" continues to impact people's daily lives -- by playing DVDs, speeding Internet connections, and performing intricate surgery. As the golden anniversary of the announcement of the first laser approaches on July 7th, Chemical & Engineering News, ACS' weekly newsmagazine, takes a special look at the past, present, and exciting future of this amazing invention.

TU Delft improves production of chemicals from wood waste By News Releases (Delft University of Technology) Researchers from TU Delft in the Netherlands discovered that the bacterium Cupriavidus basilensis breaks down harmful by-products which are produced when sugars are released from wood. They also managed to incorporate the degradation process in bacteria which are in common industrial use. This breakthrough does away with the need to resort to costly and environmentally unfriendly methods for removing by-products, thereby boosting the appeal of waste wood as a sustainable resource for biochemicals and biofuels.

The smell of salt air, a mile high and 900 miles inland By News Releases (University of Washington) In a surprise with implications for air quality, researchers have found thatchemistry involving airborne chloride, thought to be restricted to seaspray, occurs at similar rates in air above Boulder, Colo., nearly 900 milesaway from any ocean.

The CSIC presents the Archive of Mourning concerning the terrorist attacks in Madrid By News Releases (CSIC, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) It is a project that has worked with hundreds of photographs, drawings, texts and banners, among other materials placed at makeshift altars set up in the train stations which were affected by the terrorist attacks. The objective for the researchers' project has been twofold: to create an ethnographic archive of the more than 70,000 objects collected and to offer an anthropological analysis so as to know what was behind the public response to the attacks.

Biochemist researching computer models of protein structure that help high school, college students By News Releases (Kansas State University) An award from the National Science Foundation will boost a Kansas State University professor's contribution to the study of proteins while also helping college and high school science teachers learn more about computational and structural biology.

National Jewish Health receives grant to learn how families cope with food allergy By News Releases (National Jewish Medical and Research Center) Families with food-allergic children face a life of constant vigilance and the looming fear of life-threatening allergic reactions. This fear can have a huge impact on an entire family's life, from heightened anxiety to severe limits on their daily activities. National Jewish Health researcher Mary Klinnert has received a $450,000 grant from the NIH to study how different families adapt to life with food allergies, and to discover what helps the best-adapted families cope well.