RSS feed source: National Science Foundation

Astronomy has always relied on light to convey information about the universe. But capturing photons — such as those from visible light or radio waves — is no longer the only technique scientists have for studying astronomical phenomena. Neutrinos, cosmic rays and gravitational waves are also “messengers” that carry information about the universe to humans on Earth. 

Multi-messenger astronomy aims to combine information from two or more of those phenomena to provide a deeper understanding of some of the most extreme events in the universe, such as stellar explosions and actively feeding black holes. 

Jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory will soon contribute to this emerging field by using its powerful camera and wide field of view to find many faint and previously undetected multi-messenger sources. Once pinpointed in the sky, other telescopes can target those sources for follow-up observations. 

RSS feed source: National Science Foundation

There’s hardly a more ubiquitous substance than plastic. It’s everywhere in the environment, from soil to air to water, and it’s in our bodies. According to the U.N. Environment Programme, humans produce more than 430 million tons of plastic annually; two-thirds soon become waste. 

Such petroleum-based plastics have environmental and economic costs that can be mitigated with biodegradable and bio-based polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), U.S. National Science Foundation-funded scientists report in Microbial Biotechnology. However, the researchers state that industrial-scale production of PHAs has high costs and needs a better yield of its products. 

Now, purple bacteria may come to the rescue.  Scientist Arpita Bose and her colleagues at Washington University in St. Louis (WashU), Missouri, found that PHA production by the photosynthetic purple non-sulfur bacteria Rhodomicrobium vannielii and Rhodomicrobium udaipurense makes them contenders in the race to find an alternative to conventional plastics. These aquatic bacteria produce PHA using sustainable carbon sources, minimal nutrients and energy from light. 

In a second journal paper, the WashU researchers report that by using genetic engineering, they coaxed PHAs from the bacteria Rhodopseudomonas palustris TIE-1. The finding appears in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.  

“This work on photosynthetic purple non-sulfur bacteria will help move bioplastics research in the direction of sustainability,” says Anthony Garza, a program director in the NSF Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences.  

For more information, please visit WashU. 

Click this link to continue reading the article on the source website.