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Modern-Day Alchemy: Transforming Sugar Into Hydrocarbons To Power Future Cars

Lead Image: Genetically engineered bacteria can convert glucose into a fatty acid, which can then be transformed into hydrocarbons called olefins. To grow such bacteria, scientists add the microbes to flasks filled with nutrients (the yellow broth) and shake them in an incubator to encourage oxygen flow, as pictured here. Credit: Douglas Levere / University at Buffalo In a new study, genetically engineered E. coli eat glucose, then help turn it into molecules found in gasoline It sounds like modern-day alchemy: Transforming sugar into hydrocarbons found in gasoline. But that’s exactly what scientists have done. In a study in Nature…

Gaining More Through Private Labeling

From pharmaceuticals and cleaning products to groceries, private labeling is a common practice. As a product maker, several benefits of private labeling include greater earnings and less competition, making it a promising opportunity. “Generic” items are not what they appear to be: private labels contend against branded items at a lower price point and are sometimes supplied in bulk. Shop keepers and manufacturers benefit from private labeling through positive ROI, a widespread kind of retailing. What Is Private Labeling? Certain businesses or people will want their items sold under your brand name without acknowledgment if you plan on being a…

Could There Be Alien Life Next Door? Looking for Habitable Planets Around Alpha Centauri

Artist’s illustration of a Super-Earth planet. Credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/Tim Pyle Could life survive around the nearest stars? In collaboration with the Breakthrough Initiative, Saber Astronautics, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Professor Peter Tuthill is leading TOLIMAN, a project to discover if the nearest stars have planets that could support life. A mission to discover new planets potentially capable of sustaining life around Earth’s nearest neighbor, Alpha Centauri, was announced on November 17, 2021. The proposed telescope project will look for planets in the ‘Goldilocks’ zone around the star system just four light-years away, where temperatures could allow for liquid surface…

After 20 Years of Trying, Scientists Succeed in Doping a 1D Atomic Chain of Cuprates

An illustration depicts an unexpectedly strong attraction between electrons in neighboring lattice sites within a 1D chain of copper oxide, or cuprate – a material that conducts electrical current with no loss at relatively high temperatures. A study led by Stanford, SLAC and Clemson discovered this unusually strong “nearest-neighbor” attraction in a 1D cuprate chain that had been “doped” to increase the density of its free electrons. They said the unexpected strength of the attractions may result from interactions with natural vibrations in the material’s atomic lattice, which may play a role in cuprate superconductivity. Credit: SCI-HUA The chemically controlled…

Dramatic Video of Mars Helicopter’s Challenging Flight Captured by NASA’s Perseverance Rover

Lead Image: NASA Mars Helicopter Ingenuity illustration. Credit: NASA/JPL Recently downlinked imagery of a September flight has allowed the rover imaging team to put together a video of rotorcraft performing to near-perfection. Video footage from NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s 13th flight on September 4 provides the most detailed look yet of the rotorcraft in action. Ingenuity is currently prepping for its 16th flight, scheduled to take place no earlier than Saturday, November 20, but the 160.5-second Flight 13 stands out as one of Ingenuity’s most complicated. It involved flying into varied terrain within the “Séítah”…