Scientists identify microbe that turns (CO2) and water directly to methane

September 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Melting permafrost in arctic regions, triggered by global warming, will release underground methane. Once released, methane would speed up global warming by trapping the earths heat radiation about 20 times more efficiently than the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide.

September 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists are worrying that rising global temperatures accompanied by melting permafrost in arctic regions will initiate the release of underground methane into the atmosphere. Once released, that methane gas would speed up global warming by trapping the Earth's heat radiation about 20 times more efficiently than does the better-known greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2).

August 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists at the University of Calgary (U of C) in Canada have found that methane emission by stressed crops could be a bigger problem in global warming than previously thought. According to a U of C study, when crops are exposed to environmental factors that are part of climate change - increased temperature, drought and ultraviolet-B radiation - some plants show enhanced methane emissions.

August 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have found that the warming of the northward-flowing West Spitsbergen current in the Arctic over the last thirty years has contributed to global warming by triggering the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from methane hydrate stored in the sediment beneath the seabed. Methane hydrate is an ice-like substance composed of water and methane, which is stable in conditions of high pressure and low temperature.

July 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, scientists have found for the first time that ethane and heavier hydrocarbons can be synthesized under the pressure-temperature conditions of the upper mantle of the Earth. The research was conducted by scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory, with colleagues from Russia and Sweden.

June 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research in China, scientists have determined that immobilized microbes can break down potentially harmful phthalates, thus proving useful in treating industrial waste water and preventing these materials from entering the environment. Phthalic Acid Esters (PAEs), commonly known as phthalates, are widely used as additives in polymer manufacture as plasticizers.

June 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of scientists has found a tiny frozen microbe trapped more than three kilometres under glacial ice in Greenland for over 120,000 years, which may hold clues as to what life forms might exist on other planets. The novel microbe was found by Dr Jennifer Loveland-Curtze and a team of scientists from Pennsylvania State University, US.

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.

May 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - University of Alberta researchers have developed a formula to reduce methane gas in cattle, which is a threat to the environment. By developing equations that balance starch, sugar, cellulose, ash, fat and other elements of feed, a Canada-wide team of scientists has given beef producers the tools to lessen the methane gas their cattle produce by as much as 25 per cent.

April 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, scientists in Japan have reported the development of a new type of ice that may provide a more efficient, environmentally-friendly method for putting out fires, including out-of control blazes that destroy homes and forests. Toshihisa Ueda and colleagues note in the new study that firefighters have used water and carbon dioxide (CO2) as fire extinguishing agents for decades.

April 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Researchers in the US have made a new electrical device that could improve fuel cell technology by turning carbon dioxide (CO2) into methane, a potential biofuel. According to a report in ABC News, the technique won't combat global warming directly, since both CO2 and methane are potent greenhouse gases, but it could help store alternative energies such as wind and solar more efficiently.

April 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research by an international team of scientists has determined that an expansion of wetlands and not a large-scale melting of frozen methane deposits is the likely cause of a spike in atmospheric methane gas that took place some 11,600 years ago. The international research team was led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC (University of California) San Diego.

April 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research of ice cores by scientists, it has been revealed that a vast, potential source of the potent greenhouse gas, methane, is more stable in a warming world than previously thought. The finding includes Australian contributions from CSIRO and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO).

March 31st, 2009 WASHINGTON - A tiny microbe that converts carbon dioxide and water to methane with a bit of solar or wind power, can be a new energy source, according to a team of Penn State engineers. Methane is preferred over hydrogen because a large portion of the US infrastructure is already set up to easily transport and deliver methane.

January 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of NASA scientists has found proof of the existence of methane gas on Mars, raising questions about the possibility of life on the red planet, the US space agency said Thursday. In an article published in the journal Science, researchers said they found seasonal variations in methane in the planet's atmosphere that could be evidence of geological or biological processes.