Category Environment/Geology

Rod-like cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) approximately 120 nanometers long and 6.5 nanometers in diameter under the microscope.
Credit: Empa

Empa researchers have succeeded in developing an environmentally-friendly ink for 3D printing based on cellulose nanocrystals (CNC). This technology can be used to fabricate microstructures with outstanding mechanical properties, which have promising potential uses in implants and other biomedical applications. In order to produce 3D microstructured materials for automobile components, for instance, Empa researchers have been using a 3D printing method called “Direct Ink Writing” for the past year (DIW)...

Exploiting biased reptation for continuous flow preparative DNA fractionation in a versatile microfluidic platform. Microsystems & Nanoengineering, 2017; 3: 17001 DOI: 10.1038/micronano.2017.1

University of Twente researchers in The Netherlands developed a glass microchip for ultrafast separation and purification of DNA fragments. The chip, moreover, is easy to produce and cheap. The new chip is capable of fractionating DNA fragments within just a few minutes, while conventional approaches take hours. The chip does this in high resolution and also purifies the fragments; it removes the other salts in the DNA sample. Tiny amounts of DNA, like in medical diagnostics or in forensics, will be sufficient...

This study adds to previous evidence that air pollution causes oxidative stress, which can damage lipids, proteins, and DNA. Credit: © Pink Badger / Fotolia

Children and teens exposed to high levels of traffic-related air pollution have evidence of telomere shortening, reports a study in the May Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Young people with asthma also have evidence of telomere shortening, according to the preliminary research by John R. Balmes, MD, of University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues. “Our results suggest that telomere length may have potential for use as a biomarker of DNA damage due to environmental exposures and/or chronic inflammation.”

The study included 14 children and adolescents living in Fresno, Calif...

A waste material from the paper and pulp industry soon could be made into anything from tennis rackets to cars, according to new findings by Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists.
Credit: Graphic courtesy of Texas A&M AgriLife Research

Scientists have discovered how to make high quality carbon fiber from lignin. About 50 million tons of lignin – or structural part of a plant – piles up each year as waste from the US paper and pulping industry. Additional lignin could come from biorefineries that use plants to produce ethanol, yielding another 100 million to 200 million tons of lignin waste each year. Yet only about 2% of the lignin waste is currently recycled into new products. “Lignin is considered as one of the most abundant biopolymers in the world,” he said...