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Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) in Japan along with collaborators at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) have succeeded in decoding the genome sequence for Hevea brasiliensis, the natural rubber tree native to Brazil. Published in Scientific Reports, the study reports a draft genome sequence that covers more than 93% of expressed genes, and pinpoints regions specific to the biosynthesis of rubber.

Natural rubber flows in latex ducts and protects plants from insects when the plant becomes injured. For humans, it is an important resource for many industrial applications because it has several useful properties that have not been reproducible in synthetic petroleum-based rubber. While some strains of rubber tree yield higher amounts of rubber than others, the reasons for this are still unknown. The team led by Minami Matsui at the RIKEN CSRS and Alexander Chong at USM set out to sequence and analyze the H. brasiliensis genome. Explains first author Nyok Sean Lau, "genomic information can reveal which genes contribute to the rubber tree's capacity to produce high amounts of latex. This in turn will help us develop rubber trees with higher yields."

Portugal acaba de hacer algo bastante sorprendente. De hecho, es histórico: algo que ninguna otra nación ha hecho nunca. Portugal surtió las necesidades de electricidad de todo el país, durante cuatro días consecutivos, usando solamente energía renovable. Usando una combinación de paneles solares, turbinas eólicas, biocombustibles, energía geotérmica y energía hidroeléctrica...

Chemists from the Universities of Basel and Zurich in Switzerland have come one step closer to generating energy from sunlight: for the first time, they were able to reproduce one of the crucial phases of natural photosynthesis with artificial molecules. Their results have been published by the journal Angewandte Chemie (international edition).

Green plants are able to temporarily store electric charges after the absorption of sunlight by using a so-called molecular charge accumulator. The two research teams were able to observe this process in artificial molecules that they created specifically for this experiment.

Una nueva forma de reciclar millones de toneladas de basura de plástico en combustible líquido ha sido ideada por los investigadores de la Universidad de California en Irvine y el Instituto de Shanghai de Química Orgánica (SIOC por sus siglas en inglés) en China. "Los plásticos sintéticos son una parte fundamental de la vida moderna, pero nuestro uso de ellos en gran volumen ha creado graves problemas ambientales", 

Hidroponía y nuevas técnicas agrícolas urbanas de alta tecnología, están aumentando los alimentos frescos en el centro de Manhattan y otros grandes centros metropolitanos a nivel mundial. Las personas están encontrando el sabor y las oportunidades de negocio de la agricultura urbana, que está creciendo también en las ciudades de Oriente Medio, como El Cairo y Egipto.