New Method Generates Power From Seawater

                Scientists have used sunlight to efficiently turn seawater into hydrogen peroxide, which can then be used in fuel cells to generate electricity. It is the first photo-catalytic method of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) production that achieves a high enough efficiency so that the H₂O₂ can be used in a fuel cell. Researchers developed a new photo-electro chemical cell, which is basically a solar cell that produces H₂O₂. When sunlight illuminates the photo-catalyst, it absorbs photons and uses the energy to initiate chemical reactions in a way that ultimately produces H₂O₂. After illuminating the cell for 24 hours, the concentration of H₂O₂ in the seawater reached about 48 Millimolar. Researchers found that the negatively charged chlorine in seawater is mainly responsible for enhancing the photo-catalytic activity. The system has a total solar-to-electricity efficiency of 0.28%.

A Nanocarrier to Deliver Drugs to Brain Tumour Cells

                A nano-carrier engineered to be small enough to get past the blood-brain barrier could be targeted to deliver a chemotherapeutic drug more efficiently to tumour cells on the brain. Researcher said “I was surprised by how efficiently and well it worked once we got the nano-carrier to those cells.” Initial results were promising. It potentially points the way to a new treatment option for patients with conditions such as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). The brain tumour has a significant overall mortality, in part due to its location, difficulty of surgical treatment and the inability to get drugs through the blood-brain barrier. This led researchers to nanotechnology. They took what they know about the cancer’s biology and of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). They engineered a micelle that is a phospholipid nano-carrier, a bit of fat globule, deliver a concentrated close of the chemotherapy drug temozolomide (TMZ) to the GBM tumour cells.

Ocean on Jupiter Moon compatible host for life

The ocean on Jupiter’s icy moon Europa may have the Earth-like balance of chemical energy necessary for life, even if it lacks volcanic hydrothermal activity. Europa is strongly believed to hide a deep ocean of salty liquid water beneath its icy shell. In the study, scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) compared Europa’s potential for producing hydrogen and oxygen with that of Earth, through processes that do not directly involve volcanism. The balance of these two elements is a key indicator of the energy available for life. The study found that the amounts would be comparable in scale; in both worlds, oxygen production is about 10 times higher than hydrogen production.

'Space Veggies' being grown at Dutch university

                Establishing a human colony on the Moon and travelling to Mars had been the stuff of dreams since the dawn of the space age. But, how can humans survive for months or years in the ultra-hostile environment of space? What, for instance, will they eat?

Researchers at a Dutch university are growing vegetables in soil similar to those found on Moon and Mars. When people go to the Moon and Mars they also have to eat, and it’s easiest for them to grow their own food. For the soil, the researchers had to depend on NASA, which makes ground similar to that on the Moon from sand found in an Arizona desert, while Mars’ crimson “soil” is scooped from a volcano in Hawaii. The first experiments started in 2013 researchers received and order of 100 kg of NASA’s imitation “space soil” – at a hefty price of $2,285. Researchers stuck tomatoes, peas, cress and other plants in pots containing the simulated soil.

The ground at first did not absorb water, but soon turned out to be good potting soil. In the Martian soil, plants were growing fast. They even started to flower. However, Martian and lunar soil, including NASA’s own imitation, may contain heavy metals, which may be deadly for humans. The soil can be purified by growing other plant species such as violets which absorb the poisons. However, the experiment has a drawback – it is being conducted in non-sterile conditions on Earth where only the nutrient quality of the soil is being assessed.

Extremely cold temperatures – dropping to minus 62 degrees Celsius on Mars – as well as a lack of oxygen means lunar or Martian vegetables could only be grown in a closed and controlled environment. The facility would have to be pressurized to normal atmospheric conditions on Earth, heated and lit, and protected from cosmic radiation, which damages plant DNA.