Setting the stage for fuel-efficient fertilizer

Ammonia, the primary ingredient in nitrogen-based fertilizers, has helped feed the world since World War I. But making ammonia at an industrial scale takes a lot of energy, and it accounts for more than one percent of the ...

Just how resilient are biofilms?

Biofilms hold promise for generating electricity and removing contamination from groundwater, but they also threaten many industrial processes and human health. As the environment changes in which these biofilms thrive, it ...

The influence of microbes on soil respiration

Millions of microbes living in the soil could influence how soils respond to temperature changes. They also influence the amount of carbon dioxide soils give off or respire. Yet scientists rarely consider these microbes when ...

Scientists discover approach to activate inert gases

Inert gases like argon typically do not form chemical bonds except under extreme conditions, such as the icy cold of outer space. As shared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an international team of ...

Determining traits from genes

Advanced technologies allow scientists to decipher information about genes faster and more accurately than ever before. But bridging the gap between the genome and how it will be expressed has proven challenging. Scientists ...

Nanoporous material nets contaminant from water

Barely visible material that looks like tiny grains of sand may hold the key to removing an invisible health threat that has contaminated water supplies across the country. Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory ...

Self-healing cement could transform geothermal industry

A self-healing cement developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory can outperform conventional concrete, offering a potentially pollution-preventing technology for the growing geothermal industry.

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