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    Lightweight Catalyst for Artificial Photosynthesis

    August 5, 2017, Categories  Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Lightweight Catalyst for Artificial Photosynthesis - Carbonitride aerogels mediate the photocatalytic conversion of water

    Carbon Nitride Aerogels for the Photoredox Conversion of Water. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2017; DOI: 10.1002/anie.201705926 © Wiley-VCH

    Carbonitride aerogels mediate the photocatalytic conversion of water. Nanochemistry meets macrostructures: Chinese scientists report the synthesis of a macroscopic aerogel from carbonitride nanomaterials which is an excellent catalyst for the water-splitting reaction under visible-light irradiation. The study published in the journal Angewandte Chemie adds new opportunities to the material properties of melamine-derived carbonitrides.

    Melamine can be polymerized with formaldehyde to give a highly durable and light resin, but it can also condensed to form nanostructures of carbonitride materials...

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    First observation of the hyperfine splitting in antihydrogen

    August 5, 2017, Categories  Physics, Astronomy/Space

    Antimatter research laboratory. Credit: Professor Niels Madsern

    Antimatter research laboratory. Credit: Professor Niels Madsern

     
    Swansea University scientists at CERN have again made a landmark finding, taking them one step closer to answering the question of why matter exists and illuminating the mysteries of the Big Bang and the birth of the Universe. The physicists from the University’s College of Science, working with an international collaborative team at CERN, describe the first observation of spectral line shapes in antihydrogen, the antimatter equivalent of hydrogen.
     
    Professor Mike Charlton said: “The existence of antimatter is well established in physics, and it is buried deep in the heart of some of the most successful theories ever developed...
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    Twilight Observations Reveal Huge Storm on Neptune

    August 5, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Images of Neptune taken during twilight observing revealed an extremely large bright storm system near Neptune's equator (labeled 'cloud complex' in the upper figure), a region where astronomers have never seen a bright cloud. The center of the storm complex is ~9,000 km across, about 3/4 the size of Earth, or 1/3 of Neptune's radius. The storm brightened considerably between June 26 and July 2, as noted in the logarithmic scale of the images taken on July 2. Credit: N. Molter/I. De Pater, UC Berkeley & C. Alvarez, W. M. Keck Observatory

    Images of Neptune taken during twilight observing revealed an extremely large bright storm system near Neptune’s equator (labeled ‘cloud complex’ in the upper figure), a region where astronomers have never seen a bright cloud. The center of the storm complex is ~9,000 km across, about 3/4 the size of Earth, or 1/3 of Neptune’s radius. The storm brightened considerably between June 26 and July 2, as noted in the logarithmic scale of the images taken on July 2.
    Credit: N. Molter/I. De Pater, UC Berkeley & C. Alvarez, W. M. Keck Observatory

    Striking images of a storm system nearly the size of Earth have astronomers doing a double-take after pinpointing its location near Neptune’s equator, a region where no bright cloud has been seen before...

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    Protein-rich Diet may help Soothe Inflamed Gut

    August 4, 2017, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

      Mice fed tryptophan develop immune cells that foster a tolerant gut. Credit: © designer491 / FotoliaMice fed tryptophan develop immune cells that foster a tolerant gut.

    Mice fed Tryptophan develop Immune cells that foster a tolerant gut. Immune cells patrol the gut to ensure that harmful microbes hidden in the food we eat don’t sneak into the body. Cells that are capable of triggering inflammation are balanced by cells that promote tolerance, protecting the body without damaging sensitive tissues. When the balance tilts too far toward inflammation, inflammatory bowel disease can result.

    Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that a kind of tolerance-promoting immune cell appears in mice that carry a specific bacterium in their guts...

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