articles

Forget mousetraps -- today's scientists will get the cheese if they manage to build a better battery.

An international team led by Texas A&M University chemist Sarbajit Banerjee is one step closer, thanks to new research published today (June 28) in the journal Nature Communications that has the potential to create more efficient batteries by shedding light on the cause of one of their biggest problems -- a "traffic jam" of ions that slows down their charging and discharging process.

All batteries have three main components: two electrodes and an intervening electrolyte. Lithium ion batteries work under the so-called rocking-chair model. Imagine discharging and charging a battery as similar to the back-and-forth motion of a rocking chair. As the chair rocks one way, using its stored energy, lithium ions flow out of one electrode through the electrolyte and into the other electrode. Then as the chair rocks the other way, charging the battery after a day's use, the reverse happens, emptying the second electrode of lithium ions.

El calentamiento global futuro no sólo dependerá de la cantidad de emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero de origen humano, sino que dependerá también de la sensibilidad del sistema climático y la respuesta a los mecanismos de retroalimentación. Al reconstruir el calentamiento global pasado y el ciclo del carbono en la Tierra hace 56 millones de años, los investigadores del Instituto Niels Bohr, entre otros, han utilizado modelos de computadora para calcular la perspectiva potencial de calentamiento global futuro, que podría ser aún más caliente de lo que se pensaba anteriormente. Los resultados se publican en la revista científica Geophysical Research Letters.

Pipelines carrying crude oil to ports in British Columbia may spell bad news for salmon, according to a new University of Guelph-led study.

Exposure to an oil sands product - diluted bitumen - impairs the swimming ability and changes the heart structures of young salmon.

The research will be published in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, and is available online now.

It's a timely finding, says U of G post-doctoral researcher and lead author Sarah Alderman.

The National Energy Board (NEB) recently approved the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project; the federal government is expected to make a final decision by December.

Cuando los volcanes inactivos están a punto de entrar en erupción, muestran algunas características predictivas: La actividad sísmica dentro del volcán comienza a aumentar, el gas escapa a través de la rejilla de ventilación, o el suelo que le rodea comienza a deformarse. Sin embargo, hasta ahora, no ha habido una manera de predecir las erupciones de los volcanes inquietos debido a la constante actividad sísmica y las emisiones de gas y vapor. Diana Roman, vulcanóloga de Carnegie, trabajando con un equipo de científicos de Penn State, la Universidad de Oxford, la Universidad de Islandia e INETER*...

Crop yields in Africa will nosedive ten years from now unless we can develop varieties that can better deal with climate change. Unfortunately, we’re not breeding those hardier varieties fast enough.

That’s the sobering conclusion of a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change by researchers from the University of Leeds. As temperatures rise, crop yields fall. This is particularly true for staple crops like corn, bananas and beans raised in hot tropical areas.