gas
Oldest objects in solar system indicate a turbulent beginning
LIVERMORE, Calif. — Scientists have found that calcium, aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs), some of the oldest objects in the solar system, formed far away from our sun and then later fell back into the mid-plane of the solar system.
The findings m…
Sugarcane bioethanol: Environmental implications
Researchers have long promoted biofuels produced from crop biomass as an environmentally sustainable source of renewable energy. A recent study questions whether the potential climate benefit of sugarcane ethanol is diminished when emissions from la…
Berkeley scientists highlight challenges of meeting state energy goals by 2050
California is showing the way for the rest of the nation in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, having set an ambitious goal to reduce these emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2050. Given that energy demand is projected …
Measuring methane
MADISON, WI, MARCH 1, 2011 — Methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas. Wetlands, gas hydrates, permafrost, termites, oceans, freshwater bodies, non-wetland soils, are all natural sources of atmospheric methane; however, the majority of methan…
Study finds massive flux of gas, in addition to liquid oil, at BP well blowout in Gulf
Athens, Ga. — A new University of Georgia study that is the first to examine comprehensively the magnitude of hydrocarbon gases released during the Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico oil discharge has found that up to 500,000 tons of gaseous hydroca…
Surprise hidden in Titan’s smog: Cirrus-like clouds
Every day is a bad-air day on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Blanketed by haze far worse than any smog belched out in Los Angeles, Beijing or even Sherlock Holmes’s London, the moon looks like a dirty orange ball. Described once as crude oil wi…
First study of dispersants in Gulf spill suggests a prolonged deepwater fate
To combat last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill, nearly 800,000 gallons of chemical dispersant were injected directly into the oil and gas flow coming out of the wellhead nearly one mile deep in the Gulf of Mexico. Now, as scientists begin to ass…
New reactor paves the way for efficiently producing fuel from sunlight
PASADENA, Calif. — Using a common metal most famously found in self-cleaning ovens, Sossina Haile hopes to change our energy future. The metal is cerium oxide — or ceria — and it is the centerpiece of a promising new technology developed by Hai…
The Orion nebula: Still full of surprises
The Orion Nebula, also known as Messier 42, is one of the most easily recognisable and best-studied celestial objects. It is a huge complex of gas and dust where massive stars are forming and is the closest such region to the Earth. The glowin…
Possible missing link between young and old galaxies
University of California, Berkeley, astronomers may have found the missing link between gas-filled, star-forming galaxies and older, gas-depleted galaxies typically characterized as “red and dead.”
In a poster to be presented this week at t…
Direct observation of carbon monoxide binding to metal-porphyrines
The mechanism for binding oxygen to metalloporphyrins is a vital process for oxygen-breathing organisms. Understanding how small gas molecules are chemically bound to the metal complex is also important in catalysis or the implementation of chem…
