clhs sciblog

At this years General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology the findings of bacterial producing energy were announced.  This discovery has been going on since the 1980′s when Derek Lovley’s lab group isolated Geobacter metallireducens in sand sediment from the Potomac River.  These bacteria’s produce electricity solely off hydrogen gas and carbon dioxide. This is so amazing because never before has an electric current been produced without an organic carbon source. The significance of Geobacter metallireducens is that they are bioremediation, bioenergy potential, novel electron transfer capabilities, and have the ability to transfer electrons outside the cell.

Even though this may not interest some people, this is really cool.  They have been examining this sediment for over 20 years and they finally found it successful.  Science is continually expanding and little things lead to bigger things. It’s great the way all types of science fields build on each other.

For more information click here.

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Scientists at Harvard University have artificially created self-assembling microscopic flowers made out of crystals. The flowers are formed in a liquid solution that has chemicals of varying pH levels. By manipulating the pH levels (and in turn the chemical gradients), the scientists are actually able to control the shape and form that the crystals will take. Other factors that affect these self-assembling crystals are the temperature and the exposure to air.

I thought that this was a pretty cool article. It’s amazing to think that people are able to so precisely control how crystals will form in a solution. I would love to watch these crystals meld together to form a beautiful flower field. It leads me to wonder if we will ever be able to replicate this experiment on a larger scale.

Here is the link to the original article.

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When I heard that tea has benefits for cows, as well as people, I was simply amused. But if we think about it, it does make sense. We eat beef and if we can make cows healthier then we can get healthier by having beef more often. In the article, it tells us that researchers suggested that if a bottles tea created a more concentrated cuppa, the wasted leaves can serve as a nutritious feed additive. For the past years, we have been wasting the benefits of recycling tea leaves as a inexpensive, high-proteined additive for sheep and cattle feed. Sri Lankan researchers think that the leaves could improve cattle health which potentially improving the quality of meat and dairy products.

A team of researchers showed that making more concentrated tea has a influence on tannis, saponins and phenols. Abdul Chaudhry says, “So the bottled drink can always be diluted. but the residues will have more concentrated quantities of chemical compounds. Potentially those chemical compounds have quite beneficial impacts on rumen fermentation in cows.”

I think we should try to make animals healthier since we eat them often. It’s not a lot more work than before since we can recycle tea leaves. We should thank God that we are exploring more and more for human beings’ benefits.

For more information, please click here.

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Yes I know, I’m sure this isn’t a question that everyone typically asks themselves. But it indeed should be one that should cross your mind at one point in time. Malaria is no joking matter. In fact, in the year 2010, over 200  million people were affected by it and over 600 thousand people simply perished. “How on earth could this possibly happen, lives are evidently at risk!” Is a thought that could cross your mind. Obviously, anyone could be at risk in receiving malaria. It is caused by a parasite known as “plasodium,” which is carried by all sorts of horrific mosquitoes. The goal of the mosquito, is to infect the red blood cell of your typical human being, thus resulting in malaria. (Or even any other diseases for that matter that we are unaware of.)

However, today there is a way to find out whether or not you may be infected with malaria early on. Nicholas Smith, along with some of his other fellow colleagues of the Oskaka University have conveyed that in the haem and hemozoin in plasma samples, have appeared to have contained malarial infection. These two chemicals, are spread among the blood stream, and then steadily rupture within. “By looking for the parasite by-product which spreads through the serum, instead of the parasite itself, we are effectively sampling a much greater volume and could provide a more robust and automated detection method,” claims Mr. Nicholas Smith himself.

Malaria sounds quite frightening, from an outside perspective. But it sounds even more horrific when we closely examine the effects of it from the inside. Thankfully, with all the information that researchers have obtained, now their goal is to create some type of vaccine in order to cure this horrendous disease, and make it cease from existence in general! My hope is that in ten years from now, we can solve this issue and learn to cure even more hazardous diseases that take lives on a daily basis as well.

Well golly gee, I know how much revelry you would find in reading this! Here’s a fine and dandy link for you to CLICK on!

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The natural magnets were founded by a man named Charles Aubourg who is a geologist at a University of Pau. Loadstone is a common and super magnetic mineral. This mineral has a constant magnetic field.   The Loadstone mineral is a compass in and of its self. If you just suspend the rock with a string and wait… it will align itself with the earths magnetic field.

To test certain rocks they would heat them. The samples were heated to as high as 130 degrees Celsius. Throughout the tests some had strong magnetic fields. But they came to the conclusion that different samples of rocks need different heats to create a strong magnetic field.

When trying to determine the magnetism of an object you tell by the electrons, they move about outside of the nuclei. When the electrons become unpaired they “run” around randomly. Which results in a weak magnetic.

To find out more… Click Here

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As the years go by, the world has created thousands of different ways to make technology thinner, smaller, and faster. Such as, if you were to play a game made for an older computer, the newer computer would process it so fast that you wouldn’t even be able to play it.

Scientists have come up with yet another way to make technology smaller. The technology that was used to create transistors can now be reformed into a way to create more advanced electronics. Chemists at Ohio State created a one atom thick sheet of germanium. This tiny sheet is able to conduct more than ten times faster than silicon and five times faster then the older versions of germanium.

Scientists have attempted to create this before, but this is the only time it has actually been successful in a way that they could examine and test it.

This material made into computer chips could lead the way to everything being faster and more high-powered.

Still interested? Read more here.

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Indeed it is very much true, stress can eventually kill you. Well, perhaps not kill you; but you could give yourself a blood clot. Research from Rice University, Baylor College, and the Pugent Blood Sound Center, have conveyed to us how the microscopic stresses in our flow which lead to the heart and brain, can shockingly change which will lead to a treacherous blood clot. The first type of clot which made itself known was called “VWF.” VWF, transforms itself into such a shape, that it can cause a clot for our within a human. Researchers say that it is similar to a “shear” force, which may seem similar to arthritis. “I had thought that the condition might last for such a short time that it would be immeasurable. No one expected to find that this condition would persist for hours. This has profound clinical implications,” said Dr. Joel Moake, a blood platelet expert.

Its very interesting to see how stress could be the reason for a person’s death. Honestly, I’m constantly stressed, so the fact that my fragile life could be taken from me from something as traumatizing as a blood clot strikes me with great fear. I personally hope to not experience such a fate unless it is the will of the Lord. Surely there is a cure for blood clots, or at least some type of medication to prevent this. I’m intrigued to know how many Americans in the U.S. die each year of a simple blood clot. Most people wake up everyday feeling stressed already, and they aren’t even out of their bed yet. They most likely don’t even realize that they are putting themselves at risk. How pitiful.

Don’t you just love hearing about stress! I had a feeling, click HERE!

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What are diodes? Diodes are electronic components that serve a variety of purposes in electrical and electronic devices.  Diodes are used in everything from small power supplies to very large ones.  Without diodes, we could not have all the electronic appliances that we use and enjoy everyday.  An example of appliances that use diodes are LED lights.  LED lights are simply diodes constructed of two metal posts placed very near each other.  The silicon emitting diodes have only been able to produce red visible spectrum.  It is said that silicon diodes giving off red light are already big, but, the manufacturing of diodes with multiple colors of light is considered an absolute originality.  The size of these diodes give them the longest lasting stability than ever before.  The silicon LED’s can be made in large amounts but with a cheap cost.  These silicon LED’s also don’t contain any heavy metals which means they are not toxic.

With these LED’s researchers are able to obtain silicon inexpensively and abundantly because of its availability on earth.  They will become more popular with other companies as well as this research group that discovered the silicon LED’s.  It is amazing to see what researchers are now capable of doing with the extreme technology we are reaching.  It will be interesting to see what else will be invented in our world and all the abilities people have that are doing the discoveries.

To read more on this topic, click here.

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