New Atlas

Science Audio available

Alarming study finds plastic ocean pollution harms bacteria that produce the oxygen we breathe

Rich Haridy May 14, 2019

A new study is raising concerns over the effects of plastic pollution in our oceans. For the first time researchers investigated how a common ocean bacteria, responsible for producing over 10 percent of oxygen in the atmosphere, is impaired by chemicals that can leach out of plastic products.

Chemicals that leach out of plastic rubbish were found to impair the growth of bacteria in ...

Energy Audio available

Real-world-ready artificial leaf can pluck carbon dioxide out of thin air

Michael Irving February 13, 2019

Over the last few years humans have tried to mimic nature with artificial leaves, but they’re never quite up to scratch. Now, researchers have designed a new version that could work under real-world conditions, sucking carbon dioxide out of the air and creating oxygen and synthetic fuels.

Researchers have developed a new design of artificial leaf that's able to pull carbon dioxide out ...

Science Audio available

Bioengineered rice delivers significant increases in grain yields

Rich Haridy January 13, 2019

Research has demonstrated a novel technique to enhance photosynthetic efficiency in rice crops can increase grain yields by up to 27 percent. The study follows other recent demonstrations of food bioengineering designed to enhance worldwide food productivity by improving the photosynthesis process.

On the far left is a wild, unenhanced rice plant, and the other three display improved ...

Science

Scientists hack plant photosynthesis to boost crop yields by 40%

Rich Haridy January 3, 2019

A team of researchers has, for the first time, demonstrated that by fixing a common glitch in photosynthesis, a crop’s yield could be improved by around 40 percent. The landmark study suggests optimizing a plant’s photosynthetic efficiency could significantly increase worldwide food productivity.

The genetically modified crops grow faster and taller than their conventional counterparts

Energy

Hybrid cell turns sunlight and water into hydrogen and electricity

Michael Irving October 29, 2018

Artificial photosynthesis devices can split water into hydrogen and oxygen, but they still suffer from some efficiency issues. Now a new hybrid device may be able to recover some of the energy that would otherwise go to waste, by producing both hydrogen and electricity.

A new hybrid device could use artificial photosynthesis to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, and ...

Materials

New material pulls carbon from the air for self-repair

Michael Irving October 11, 2018

It’s not enough to reduce our carbon output – we need to actively remove some from the atmosphere. On a small scale MIT engineers have developed a new material that can suck carbon out of the air and use it to get stronger or patch itself up.

The new hydrogel material (dark green) contains chloroplasts (light green) that let it absorb carbon from ...

Biology

Microbial "spacesuits" help bacteria convert CO2 to useful chemicals

Michael Irving October 1, 2018

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have now developed “spacesuits” that wrap around bacteria to not only protect them from the elements, but turn them into biohybrids that capture carbon dioxide and turn it into useful chemicals.

A diagram of the metal organic framework (MOF) structure (left) and how it interacts with bacteria ...

Energy

Bacteria-packed solar cell soaks up the Sun even behind clouds

Michael Irving July 6, 2018

Researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) have developed a new way to build solar cells containing bacteria, which are more efficient than similar systems and can even work on dim, cloudy days.

In the future, bacteria-powered solar cells could be competing with conventional panels

Automotive

Goodyear goes green in Geneva with photosynthesizing concept tire

Nick Lavars March 6, 2018

Recently Goodyear has rolled into the Geneva Motor Show with new tire designs that could be described as intriguing concepts at best and crazy, outlandish ideas at worst. This year's rendition is no different, hiding living moss inside to cleanse the surrounding air as the car rolls down the road.

Energy

New algae fuel cell design ramps up the efficiency

Michael Irving January 10, 2018

A University of Cambridge team has developed a new design for an algae-based fuel cell that is apparently five times more efficient than existing devices, and much cheaper to make and easier to use.

A University of Cambridge team has developed a new algae fuel cell that's five times more ...