Now, an enzyme that cleans up pollution from RDX

October 10th, 2009 LONDON - Scientists at the University of York, UK, have uncovered the structure of an unusual enzyme that can be used to reverse the contamination of land by explosives. The discovery, by scientists in the York Structural Biology Laboratory and the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, will support the development of plants that can help tackle pollution caused by royal demolition explosive, also known as RDX.

October 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new mobile air research laboratory will help a team of researchers led by a Michigan State University professor better understand the damaging health effects of air pollution and why certain airborne particles - emitted from plants and vehicles - induce disease and illness. Jack Harkema, a University Distinguished Professor of pathobiology and diagnostic investigation in the College of Veterinary Medicine, will deploy the new 53-foot, 36,000-pound center - dubbed "AirCARE 2" - throughout southern Michigan, including metropolitan Detroit.

October 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - McGill University researchers in Canada have shown that different patterns of training and learning lead to different types of memory formation. Describing a study they conducted in the Journal of Neuroscience, they say that its significance lies in the fact that it identifies the molecular differences between spaced training (distributed over time) and massed training (at very short intervals), shedding light on brain function and guiding learning and training principles.

August 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has determined that unseen and odorless, microscopic particles of air pollution wafting overseas and across continents kill some 380,000 people each year. According to a report in Discovery News, Junfeng Liu of Princeton University and a team of researchers carried out the study.

July 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has come up with the strongest evidence yet that noise pollution negatively influences the nesting habits of birds. The study also indicates that at least a few species opt for noisy areas over quiet ones, perhaps because of their vocalisation pitches, a reduction in nest predators and less competition from other song birds that prefer quiet environments.

July 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Soon, technology that is used to make office inkjet printers may be used to develop paper-based biosensors that can detect certain harmful toxins that can cause food poisoning or be used as bioterrorism agents. In a research, John Brennan and his research team at McMaster University, working with the Sentinel Bioactive Paper Network, describe a method for printing a toxin-detecting biosensor on paper using a FujiFilm Dimatix Materials Printer.

July 11th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists from University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have identified an enzyme that plays a crucial role in the process of aging. Lead researcher Dr.

June 30th, 2009 LONDON - Pedestrians and cyclists in urban areas of the UK are being transformed into mobile pollution sensors, as part of a Government-backed scheme to monitor air quality. According to a report by Sky News, researchers, led by a team at Imperial College London, will trial three new types of sensors on people, vehicles and traffic islands to measure traffic emissions and noise pollution.

June 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The risk of toxic effects of pesticides on kids extends much longer into childhood than expected, reveals a new study at the University of California, Berkeley. Newborns' levels of an enzyme called paraoxonase 1 (PON1), critical to the detoxification of organophosphate pesticides, average one-third or less than those of the babies' mothers.

June 18th, 2009 LONDON - Two new structures, belonging to the oldest branch of the human immune system, have revealed how it fights invading microbes while avoiding problems of the body attacking itself. Both structures involve a central component of an enzyme important to the complement system of the immune response.

June 16th, 2009 Washington, June 16 (ANI): A scientist of Indian origin has designed a tool that takes into consideration all feasible solutions for decreasing non-point source pollution for the amount of money available. The scientist in question is Indrajeet Chaubey, an associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering, Purdue University.

June 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new study, scientists have identified a new microbe that can gorge themselves on toxic chemicals in petrochemical spillages at industrial sites, by digesting hydrocarbons. As part of the study, Hong-Qi Wang and Yan-Jun Chen College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, working with Bo-Ya Qin of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, have investigated the activity of enzymes from the bacterium Bacillus cereus DQ01, which can digest the hydrocarbon n-hexadecane.

June 6th, 2009 LONDON - Defying all previous studies, researchers have found that fatty foods, and not the fat made in the body, activate the hunger hormone ghrelin to optimise nutrient metabolism and promote the storage of body fat. The study, led by Dr.

June 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - An international team of researchers has discovered an enzyme that plays a crucial role in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The researchers hope that the new finding could potentially lead to therapies to help those affected by ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, collectively referred to as IBD.

March 19th, 2009 LONDON - Scientists in the UK have developed robotic fish that would released into the sea for the first time to detect water pollution. According to a report in the Telegraph, the carp-shaped robots will be let loose in the port of Gijon in northern Spain as part of a three-year research project.