ANDREW C. REVKINAfter months of urging by conservation biologists and environmental groups, the Obama administration moves to stave off a devastating threat to American salamanders.
Researchers are using the bacterium Moorella thermoacetica to perform photosynthesis and also to synthesize semiconductor nanoparticles in a hybrid artificial photosynthesis system for converting sunlight into valuable chemical products.
adminMale moths locate females by navigating along the latter’s pheromone (odor) plume. Two strategies are involved: males must find the outer envelope of the pheromone plume, and then head upwind. Can understanding such insect behavior be useful for robotics research? Yes, according to an entomologist, whose research using computer simulations shows that such insect behavior has implications for airborne robots (drones) that ply the sky searching for signature odors.
