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emmarrogers

Biodegradation of polyethylene by the marine fungus Parengyodontium album - ScienceDirect - 1 views

www.sciencedirect.com/...S0048969724029668

HSR HSR-2025 behavior biology environmental potential research idea botany

shared by emmarrogers on 04 Jun 24 - No Cached
Sean Nash liked it
  • UV light
    • emmarrogers
      emmarrogers on 04 Jun 24
       
      If we were to use X or Gamma rays, would that speed up the process?
  • Graphical abstract
    • emmarrogers
      emmarrogers on 04 Jun 24
       
      Why does it need the 9 day incubation period? Could we lower that
    • emmarrogers
      emmarrogers on 04 Jun 24
       
      So, could we just do this with a plastic bottle?
  • degradation
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  • Other important plastic types afloat in the sea are polypropylene (PP) and to a lesser degree polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
    • emmarrogers
      emmarrogers on 04 Jun 24
       
      Does/ Could this fungi degrade these as well
  • Zalerion maritimum (Paço et al., 2017), Alternaria alternata FB1 (Gao et al., 2022) and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa (Vaksmaa et al., 2023a), while Cladosporium halotolerans 6UPA1 was shown to degrade PUR (Zhang et al., 2022).
  • Sean Nash on 05 Jun 24
     
    Strange.... when I go to this article, I can see your highlights, but I cannot see your comments. Usually, when I can see those, I can comment back right there as opposed to saving it myself. Grrrr...
  • Sean Nash on 05 Jun 24
     
    Super interesting topic (I saw this one last week). The work with isotopes they did here is well beyond feasibility for us, but that doesn't mean there isn't something here that could be done. You'd have to work through the set up of marine environments (tanks) and acquisition of these fungal strains. I'm betting the one they recently recovered from biofilm on plastic trash in the ocean would be super difficult to get our hands on, but they do mention several others that have previously been found to degrade plastics. perhaps those are more easily obtained. (?) Degredation fo plastic by microbes is EXACTLY what the cheater-guy did in lasy year's winning ISEF project, but like this article says, most of this work has been done with bacteria, not eukaryotic organisms like fungi. I also thing the area of biofilms is super interesting. The analysis (beyond weighing the plastic pre/post) is rather instrumental and that might be difficult depending upon our ability to find someone to help us analyze instrumentally. I like the idea, but feasibility is unknown at the moment. You might want to keep reading down this area. It is certainly interesting and important. Keep an eye on feasibility as you go forward.
Sean Nash

Common plastics could passively cool and heat buildings with the seasons | ScienceDaily - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...240627172053.htm

HSR HSR-2025 materials heat climatechange science engineering physics chemistry potential research idea

shared by Sean Nash on 02 Jul 24 - No Cached
  • Researchers at Princeton and UCLA have developed a passive mechanism to cool buildings in the summer and warm them in the winter.
  • coatings engineered from common materials can achieve energy savings and thermal comfort that goes beyond what traditional building envelopes can achieve
  • "With the increase in global temperatures, maintaining habitable buildings has become a global challenge,"
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  • "In recent years there has been massive interest in cool roof coatings that reflect sunlight. But cooling walls and windows is a much more subtle and complex challenge."
  • "By coating walls and windows with materials that only radiate or absorb heat in the atmospheric window, we can reduce broadband heat gain from the ground in the summer, and loss in the winter, while maintaining the cooling effect of the sky. We believe that this idea is unprecedented, and beyond what traditional roof and wall envelopes can achieve."
  • The findings' impact is significant for two important reasons. First, the researchers show in the article that many common and low-cost building materials radiate heat in the narrowband and block broadband heat. Material such as polyvinyl fluoride, already used as siding material, could be adapted for the purpose, as could even more common plastics.
    • Sean Nash
      Sean Nash on 02 Jul 24
       
      Smells like feasibility....
  • "We were really excited when we found that materials like Polypropylene, which we sourced from household plastics, selectively radiate or absorb heat in the atmospheric window." Raman noted. "These materials border on the mundane, but the same scalability that makes them common also means that we could see them thermoregulating buildings in the near future."
  • The second reason for optimism is that the potential energy impacts at the building scale are substantial. The researchers noted that seasonal energy savings with their mechanism are comparable to the benefits of painting dark roofs white. This could be useful as air conditioning cost and heat related casualties continue to soar worldwide. Mandal and Raman plan to continue this research further.
  • "The mechanism we proposed is completely passive, which makes it a sustainable way to cool and heat buildings with the seasons and yield untapped energy savings."
  • Journal Reference: Jyotirmoy Mandal, Jyothis Anand, Sagar Mandal, John Brewer, Arvind Ramachandran, Aaswath P. Raman. Radiative cooling and thermoregulation in the earth’s glow. Cell Reports Physical Science, 2024; 102065 DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102065
  • Sean Nash on 02 Jul 24
     
    Don't know if you're following changes in climate, but... this might be an area for some engineering. What are the other problems involved with this field of study? Interesting to anyone?
Sean Nash

Study suggests 'biodegradable' teabags don't readily deteriorate in the environment and... - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...240528115039.htm

biodegradable teabags manufacturing ecology environment polylactic acid plastic cellulose soil potential research idea engineering biology chemistry environmental science HSR-2025 HSR

shared by Sean Nash on 01 Jun 24 - No Cached
  • The research looked at commonly available teabags made using three different compositions of polylactic acid (PLA), which is derived from sources such as corn starch or sugar cane.
  • The teabags were buried in soil for seven months, and a range of techniques were then used to assess whether -- and to what extent -- they had deteriorated.
  • The study also examined the impacts of the discs cut from the teabags on a species of earthworm, Eisenia fetida, which has a critical role in soil nutrient turnover as it consumes organic matter.
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  • Researchers found that being exposed to three different concentrations of teabag discs -- equivalent to the mass of half, one and two teabags -- resulted in up to 15% greater mortality, while some concentrations of PLA had a detrimental effect on earthworm reproduction.
  • It used analytical techniques such as size exclusion chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance, and scanning electron microscopy allowing scientists to examine not just how the teabags had changed visibly but also structurally.
    • Sean Nash
      Sean Nash on 01 Jun 24
       
      This sort of work could be done by visual analysis alone with a rubric of sorts, but once data is derived, reaching out to a local lab might provide access to some of these tools for a tighter analysis and an even more convincing project,
  • we've shown that when it is not properly disposed of, for example after seven months in the soil, its molecular structure remains intact
  • But it is with immense frustration that I see alternative and substitute materials entering the market without clear guidance on how their benefits might be realised. Even if consumers understand how to dispose of these products only around half of households in the UK currently have access to the necessary waste streams for the type of composting required.
  • It is essential we learn from the mistakes we made with plastic materials by testing and labelling these novel materials in relation to the prevailing waste management infrastructure.
    • Sean Nash
      Sean Nash on 01 Jun 24
       
      Again, when you find a call for more research (aka: "learning" in this case) it is a good sign that you have found an area ripe for more work to be done.
  • "In this study PLA-based teabags did not fully deteriorate, and it seems that composting worms may be harmed by them. The lack of clear labelling can lead to consumers disposing of teabags in their compost, where any limit to complete degradation of the material raises the potential for plastics to enter the soil when compost is added to the garden, with potential impacts on garden wildlife and uptake by food plants."
Sean Nash

Simple new process stores CO2 in concrete without compromising strength - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...240626173558.htm

HSR HSR-2025 concrete materials science engineering physics chemistry potential research idea

shared by Sean Nash on 02 Jul 24 - No Cached
  • By using a carbonated -- rather than a still -- water-based solution during the concrete manufacturing process, a Northwestern University-led team of engineers has discovered a new way to store carbon dioxide (CO2) in the ubiquitous construction material.
  • Not only could the new process help sequester CO2 from the ever-warming atmosphere, it also results in concrete with uncompromised strength and durability.
  • "The cement and concrete industries significantly contribute to human-caused CO2 emissions,"
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  • instead of injecting CO2 while mixing all the ingredients together, they first injected CO2 gas into water mixed with a small amount of cement powder. After mixing this carbonated suspension with the rest of the cement and aggregates, they achieved a concrete that actually absorbed CO2 during its manufacturing
  • After analyzing their carbonated concrete, Rotta Loria and his colleagues found its strength rivaled the durability of regular concrete.
  • based on our experiments, we show the strength might actually be even higher. We still need to test this further
    • Sean Nash
      Sean Nash on 02 Jul 24
       
      It is a good sign when you read: "We still need to test this further!"
  • It could be used in beams, slabs, columns, foundations -- everything we currently use concrete for."
  • "The findings of this research underline that although carbonation of cement-based materials is a well-known reaction, there is still room to further optimize the CO2 uptake through better understanding of the mechanisms tied to materials processing,"
  • Journal Reference: Xiaoxu Fu, Alexandre Guerini, Davide Zampini, Alessandro F. Rotta Loria. Storing CO2 while strengthening concrete by carbonating its cement in suspension. Communications Materials, 2024; 5 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s43246-024-00546-9
  • Sean Nash on 02 Jul 24
     
    Know anyone who works with concrete that might let you experiment? I had a student back in the day who did this. They incorporated plastic polymer beads into standard concrete molds for strength testing.
Sean Nash

A new breakthrough in understanding regeneration in a marine worm | ScienceDaily - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...240702135526.htm

shared by Sean Nash on 03 Jul 24 - No Cached
  • The sea worm Platynereis dumerilii is only a few centimetres long but has a remarkable ability: in just a few days, it can regenerate entire parts of its body after an injury or amputation.
    • Sean Nash
      Sean Nash on 03 Jul 24
       
      Trevor Davids used the California blackworm, Lumbriculus variegatus, to examine the effects of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on regeneration rate. Lumbroculus is a freshwater worm and easy to care for.
  • a research team led by a CNRS scientist1 has observed that gut cells play a role in the regeneration of the intestine as well as other tissues such as muscle and epidermis
  • Even more surprising, the team found that this ability of gut cells to regenerate other tissue varies according to their location: the closer they are to the posterior end of the worm, the greater the variety of cell types they can rebuild
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • This was tracked using different markers in particular by fluorescent beads ingested by the worms.
    • Sean Nash
      Sean Nash on 03 Jul 24
       
      This is similar to what Grant Reed was trying to do with painted lady butterflies. He wanted to see the effects of ingesting plastic nanoparticles on their development and regeneration. The smart selection of fluorescent nanoparticles (which we purchased and still have) would allow the tracking of the particles using specialized microscopy.
  • Annelids, or 'segmented worms', which have only been studied in the last 20 years, are an ideal model for the study of regeneration, a process that is widespread in animals but still mysterious for scientists.
  • The research team will continue this work to determine whether cell types, other than gut cells, can play a role in regenerating a variety of cell types.
  • Journal Reference: Loïc Bideau, Zoé Velasquillo-Ramirez, Loeiza Baduel, Marianne Basso, Pascale Gilardi-Hebenstreit, Vanessa Ribes, Michel Vervoort, Eve Gazave. Variations in cell plasticity and proliferation underlie distinct modes of regeneration along the antero-posterior axis in the annelid Platynereis. Development, 2024; 151 (20) DOI: 10.1242/dev.202452
  • Sean Nash on 03 Jul 24
     
    There are elements of this study that connect to what Trevor Davids & Grant Reed were doing last year... but with a different model organism.
Kylie John

Drought-induced injury is associated with hormonal alteration in Kentucky bluegrass - PMC - 0 views

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...PMC6768267

HSR-2025 HSR botany hormones lawngrass

shared by Kylie John on 20 Sep 24 - No Cached
  • Mature KBG (cv. ‘Wildhorse’) plugs (10 cm diameter, 5 cm deep)
  • The grass was transplanted into pots (15 cm diameter, 15 cm deep, with 8 holes on the bottom) filled with either top soil and sand mixture (2:1, v/v). A piece of plastic screen was placed in the bottom of the pot to prevent soil from leaching.
  • at optimum conditions (mean±SD) at 22 ± 0.8/16 ± 0.6°C (day/night), 70%±8% relative humidity, PAR at 400 ± 9 µmol m−2 s−1 and 12-h photoperiod. Nitrogen was applied at 2 g m−2 (from 28–8-18 complete fertilizer with micronutrients) at transplanting and then 1 g m−2 biweekly on all treatments until the end of the trial.
  • ...22 more annotations...
  • trimmed at 7 cm and irrigated two times a week to field capacity.
  • Six weeks after transplanting
  • For drought stress treatment, the amount of irrigation water was determined based on evapotranspiration (ET) loss by weighing the pots every other day and the irrigation was provided to compensate 30% to 50% ET loss. ET was determined by weighing the pots.
  • VWC was reduced from 34.6% to 27.9% between day 0 and day 7, from 27.9% to 23.4% between day 7 and day 14, from 23.4%% to 14.5% between day 14 to day 21, and from 14.5% to 5.1% between day 21 and day 28.
  • Leaf chlorophyll was extracted with acetone and measured using a spectrophotometer
  • Leaf photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance were measured using a portable photosynthetic system
  • turf quality started to decline at day 7 due to drought stress.
  • Drought stress reduced turf quality rating by 14.8% relative to the control at the end of drought stress (28 d).
  • The electrolyte leakage increased gradually from day 7 through day 21 due to drought stress.
  • Drought stress increased electrolyte leakage by 35.6% at day 14, 95.7% at day 21, and 105.4% at day 28 when compared to the control.
  • chlorophyll began to decline after day 7 due to drought stress
  • educed chlorophyll content by 39.0% relative to the control.
  • photosynthetic rate due to drought stress was observed as early as day 7
  • Stomatal conductance decline was first observed at day 4 of drought stress
  • day 28 when drought stress reduced stomatal conductance by 84.4%
  • The ZR level declined gradually from day 14 through day 28 due to drought stress. Drought stress reduced ZR by 28.5% at day 14, 35.1% at day 21, and 59.1% at day 28 relative to the control.
  • 1 week after ZR did. At the end of drought stress (day 28), drought stress reduced iPA by 50.4% relative to the control.
  • Drought stress reduced leaf IAA by 14.3% and 26.7% at day 21 and day 28, respectively, when compared to the control.
  • The ABA started to accumulate after day 4 of drought stress and the difference between drought stress and the control was observed as early as 7 d of drought stress
  • The ABA content gradually increased from day 7 through day 28. Drought stress increased leaf ABA by 23.6% at day 7, 30.7% at day 14, 87.6% at day 21, and 108.5% at day 28 relative to the control.
  • drought stress did not impact leaf GA4 content
  • We found that ABA/CK increased sharply from day 14 through day 28 due to increase in ABA and decline in CK (ZR + iPA) during the same period. At the end of trial (day 28), drought stress induced an increase in leaf ABA/CK ratio by 3.4-fold relative to the control.
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