Innovation Pipeline

Plant researchers have long studied why certain plants survive environmental stresses like drought while others wither and die. Now, with global warming, growing water crises around the world and increased interest in growing plants for biofuels, the question of plant survival is a hot-button issue.
Scientists from the University of California at Riverside made a significant [...]

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When it comes to the merits of counting carbon as a remedy to improve the health of our planet, there’s plenty of room for debate and dissension. It’s also quickly becoming a major obsession and perhaps a real distraction from important policy work that needs to get done.
A recent paper in Science, “Fixing a Critical [...]

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For all the unpleasant characteristics green algae possesses, it is beloved in cleantech circles because it can manufacture biofuels.
Now, scientists at the Angstrom Laboratory at Uppsala University in Sweden have discovered green algae’s distinctive cellulose nanostructure can also provide an effective coating substrate for batteries. It provides two advantages: it’s lighter in weight and much [...]

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Evolution is an elegant and powerful force. And if you’re looking for an effective design, what better source to borrow from than nature? That’s what researchers do in the emerging field of biomimicry, which uses natural forms for inspiration.
They study how nature solves problems and maximizes efficiency in areas like propulsion and mobility. Leonardo da [...]

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Researchers at the University of Minnesota reported recently that the production of ethanol fuelstocks may consume as much as three times more water than previously thought, depending on where they’re grown.
They found that ethanol fuelstock grown in Iowa uses the least water — about 6 gallons of water for each gallon of ethanol. [...]

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Rugged microbes equipped with a unique set of survival skills find high-temperature and acidic conditions a welcome home. And scientists have a peculiar fondness for these “extremeophiles,” freaks of nature that live outside the boundaries of normal existence. These are bugs that can grow in the harshest of conditions, from sulphuric acid to high-salt environments.
Part [...]

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A team of Michigan State researchers have identified a new protein that could give a big boost to photosynthesis and help produce large volumes of biofuels.
It involves chloropasts, the workhorses in plants. That’s where sunlight, carbon dioxide and water all get converted into sugars.

The newly discovered protein, trigalactosyldiacylglycerol 4, or TGD4, is considered a significant [...]

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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers think miscanthus could pack a special punch for the biofuel world.
The giant perennial grass is a lignocellulosic feedstock. It offers an alternative energy source outside of the controversial food category of plants like corn.
A dozen or more companies are currently building or operating plants in the U.S. to [...]

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