http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. A discovery by scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) could contribute to the development of systems that use domestic or agricultural waste to generate clean electricity. http://www.physorg.com/news180028197.html Biology Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:40:01 EST news180028197 (PhysOrg.com) -- A technique developed by a Californian company, Simbol Mining, will enable the valuable mineral lithium, widely used in high-density batteries, to be reclaimed from the hot waste water produced by a geothermal power plant in California. http://www.physorg.com/news179999592.html Technology Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:55:05 EST news179999592 Vermicomposting, the practice of using earthworms to turn waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer, can be an economical, organic waste management practice. During vermicomposting, earthworms and microorganisms stabilize organic waste in an aerobic, moist environment. The resulting product, called vermicompost (VC), or worm castings, provides commercial and amateur growers an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional substrate additives for producing many varieties of container-grown plants. A research team recently experimented with pine bark amended with vermicompost derived from pig manure to see if this organic alternative can produce healthy hibiscus. http://www.physorg.com/news179683263.html Space & Earth Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:10:02 EST news179683263 Waste management is increasingly gaining the recognition that it deserves as a major contributor to mitigating climate change. But with at least four different methods of accounting for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions currently in play, it is vitally important to ensure that all stakeholders are counting emissions accurately and transparently. A study released this week in a special issue of the journal Waste Management & Research published by SAGE describes methods currently used to quantify GHG emissions in waste management, and proposes a new framework that enables stakeholders to use consistently and transparently core emission data, which can then be implemented in any accounting procedure. http://www.physorg.com/news178813071.html Space & Earth Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:20:02 EST news178813071 Food waste contributes to excess consumption of freshwater and fossil fuels which, along with methane and carbon dioxide emissions from decomposing food, impacts global climate change. In a new paper published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE, Kevin Hall and colleagues at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases calculate the energy content of nationwide food waste from the difference between the US food supply and the food eaten by the population. The latter was estimated using a validated mathematical model of human metabolism relating body weight to the amount of food eaten. http://www.physorg.com/news178349112.html Space & Earth Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:50:05 EST news178349112 Like surfers on monster waves, electrons can ride waves of plasma to very high energies in a very short distance. Scientists have proven that plasma acceleration works. Now they're developing it as a way to dramatically shrink the size and cost of particle accelerators for science, medicine, industry, and myriad other uses. http://www.physorg.com/news177786729.html Physics Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:13:04 EST news177786729 (PhysOrg.com) -- In everything from computer processor chips to car engines to electric powerplants, the need to get rid of excess heat creates a major source of inefficiency. But new research points the way to a technology that might make it possible to harvest much of that wasted heat and turn it into usable electricity. http://www.physorg.com/news177761180.html Physics Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:07:11 EST news177761180 A "catastrophic accumulation" of dozens of millions of tonnes of "e-waste" from computers, cellphones and television sets is fuelling a global pile of hazardous waste, an international body warned Friday. http://www.physorg.com/news177336945.html Space & Earth Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:16:09 EST news177336945 (PhysOrg.com) -- Americans love their consumer electronics, but what happens to all the gadgets when their useful life is over? Despite being one of the largest generators of "e-waste" in the world, the U.S. has no federal policies on recycling electronic waste or handling hazardous materials from technological trash. http://www.physorg.com/news177095650.html Space & Earth Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:15:07 EST news177095650 Carbon is usually typecast as a villain in terms of the environment but researchers at the University of Warwick have devised a novel way to miniaturise a technology that will make carbon a key material in some extremely green heating products for our homes and in air conditioning equipment for our cars. http://www.physorg.com/news177076423.html Technology Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:10:02 EST news177076423 Research scientists at Nova Scotia Agricultural College have been working steadily to find effective organic methods to control weeds in cultivated blueberry crops. One resulting study, published in a recent issue of the ASHS journal HortScience, reported on the efficacy of three organic mulches used on highbush blueberry (HBB) produced under organic production practices. The research team determined that the major factor influencing weed suppression by compost mulches (for certain weed species) was likely mulch thickness and bulk density, which provide a barrier to weed growth and prevents light penetration to the soil surface. http://www.physorg.com/news176565121.html Biology Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:00:02 EST news176565121 The Environmental Restoration Project at Sandia National Laboratories reports the successful construction of an alternative evapotranspirative cover at the Mixed Waste Landfill (MWL) in September. The 2.6-acre site is located in Technical Area 3 in the west-central part of Kirtland Air Force Base. http://www.physorg.com/news176464927.html Space & Earth Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:30:02 EST news176464927 The Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Science Foundation are funding research that may result in a military turbine aircraft that for the first time ever will produce its own electricity from exhaust heat generated from thermo electricity. http://www.physorg.com/news174742196.html Technology Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:30:47 EST news174742196 (PhysOrg.com) -- Defense company Qinetiq has been awarded a contract to supply the US army with a system that generates electricity from garbage. http://www.physorg.com/news174547043.html Technology Mon, 12 Oct 2009 06:18:15 EST news174547043 (PhysOrg.com) -- Harvard science historian and physicist Peter Galison is using part of his Radcliffe year to explore the intersections of forbidden wilderness and nuclear wasteland. http://www.physorg.com/news174292345.html Space & Earth Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:20:01 EST news174292345 (AP) -- Frustrated by inaction in Congress, a growing number of states are trying to reduce the rising tide of junked TVs, computers and other electronics that have become one of the nation's fastest-growing waste streams. http://www.physorg.com/news173615983.html Technology Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:50:01 EST news173615983 Converting the trash that fills the world's landfills into biofuel may be the answer to both the growing energy crisis and to tackling carbon emissions, claim scientists in Singapore and Switzerland. New research published in Global Change Biology: Bioenergy, reveals how replacing gasoline with biofuel from processed waste could cut global carbon emissions by 80%. http://www.physorg.com/news173440496.html Technology Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:20:01 EST news173440496 Three years after a ship dumped toxic waste in Ivory Coast, residents of a village off the main city of Abidjan are still traumatised by untimely deaths they say are linked to poisoning. http://www.physorg.com/news172591777.html Space & Earth Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:19:11 EST news172591777 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at North Carolina State University are working to demonstrate that trees can be used to degrade or capture fuels that leak into soil and ground water. Through a process called phytoremediation - literally a `green` technology - plants and trees remove pollutants from the environment or render them harmless. http://www.physorg.com/news172428745.html Space & Earth Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:30:01 EST news172428745 Processes and policies governing the reuse and recycling of electronic products need to be standardized worldwide to stem and reverse the growing problem of illegal and harmful e-waste processing practices in developing countries, according to experts behind the world's first international e-waste academy. http://www.physorg.com/news172237477.html Space & Earth Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:00:03 EST news172237477 An innovative process for turning waste biomass - such as dead trees, agricultural waste and lumber byproducts - into a liquid fuel to power conventional engines has been licensed by the University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc. to Tolero Energy, LLC, a private biofuels company based in Sacramento, Calif. The technology represents a leap forward for the biofuels industry: the ultra-low-sulfur biofuel does not require additional refinement or processing before blending with biodiesel and petroleum diesel. http://www.physorg.com/news172233257.html Technology Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:50:06 EST news172233257 Peat has been a major component of substrates used in container plant production since the 1960s. Highly porous with the capacity to hold water, peat makes an ideal rooting and growing medium for potted plants. But harvesting peat (and draining valuable peatlands in the process) releases the carbon stored in peat into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. And because peat plays an important role in wetland ecosystems -peat bogs improve groundwater quality and are unique habitats for wild plants and animals -the use of peat has been challenged and peat mining is increasingly regulated. http://www.physorg.com/news171655520.html Space & Earth Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:40:01 EST news171655520 Using bacteria and inositol phosphate, a chemical analogue of a cheap waste material from plants, researchers at Birmingham University have recovered uranium from the polluted waters from uranium mines. The same technology can also be used to clean up nuclear waste. Professor Lynne Macaskie, this week (7-10 September), presented the group's work to the Society for General Microbiology's meeting at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. http://www.physorg.com/news171518278.html Biology Mon, 07 Sep 2009 05:10:02 EST news171518278 Angola will begin planting sugar cane for the first time in more than 30 years this month as the oil-rich country takes its first step toward biofuels. http://www.physorg.com/news171047751.html Technology Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:50:04 EST news171047751 Cancer remains a deadly threat despite the best efforts of science. New hopes were raised a few years ago with the discovery that the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells could be thwarted by blocking the action of proteasomes. Biochemists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM, Germany) have illuminated a reaction pathway that does just that, in collaboration with researchers from Nereus Pharmaceuticals, based in San Diego, California. In the current issue of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, they report insights that could potentially lead to the development of custom-tailored anti-cancer drugs. http://www.physorg.com/news169808643.html Chemistry Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:07:10 EST news169808643 (PhysOrg.com) -- Concrete accounts for about 5% of all human-related CO2 emissions. The fact that we use so much cement in building could mean that the issue becomes even more pronounced in the future. But what if there was a way to make concrete that was more environmentally friendly? A team of researchers in Texas things there might be -- by adding rice to concrete. http://www.physorg.com/news167405443.html Chemistry Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:31:08 EST news167405443 (AP) -- The bathroom lines at the already crowded space shuttle and space station complex got a lot longer Sunday because of a flooded toilet. One of two commodes aboard the international space station malfunctioned, right in the middle of complicated robotic work being conducted by the two crews. The pump separator apparently flooded. http://www.physorg.com/news167236343.html Space & Earth Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:50:01 EST news167236343 (PhysOrg.com) -- By now, nearly everyone knows that it is important to recycle. It helps the environment. Even my six-year-old knows that. But what if it doesn't? While it seems pretty straightforward, in most cases, there are times when recycling can harm more than it helps. This is especially true when plastics are involved. http://www.physorg.com/news166802008.html Space & Earth Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:54:05 EST news166802008 They've been dubbed "grassoline" - second generation biofuels made from inedible plant material, including fast-growing weeds, agricultural waste, sawdust, etc. - and numerous scientific studies have shown them to be prime candidates for replacing gasoline to meet our transportation needs. However, before we can begin to roll down the highways on sustainable, carbon-neutral grassoline, numerous barriers must be overcome, starting with finding ways to break lignocellulosic biomass down into fermentable sugars. http://www.physorg.com/news166471491.html Biology Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:05:22 EST news166471491 The withdrawal of Nevada's Yucca Mountain as a potential nuclear waste repository has reopened the debate over how and where to dispose of spent nuclear fuel and high-level nuclear waste. http://www.physorg.com/news166367921.html Other Sciences Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:19:36 EST news166367921