nitrogen

NASA scientists recently conducted a study on asteroid rocks that their spacecraft took from a distant "potentially hazardous"…

A recent study on leguminous plants has uncovered the role of IRON MAN (IMA) peptides in facilitating the collection of iron into root nodules during rhizobial symbiosis. This process is vital for nitrogen fixation, a key aspect of plant growth and nitrogen homeostasis. Credit: SciTechDaily.comIMA peptides in legumes enhance iron acquisition for nitrogen fixation, offering insights into sustainable agriculture practices.Leguminous plants have a mechanism (rhizobial symbiosis) to efficiently acquire nitrogen, which is an…

News organizations may use or redistribute this image, with proper attribution, as part of news coverage of this paper only. Credit: Higher Education Press Sulfate-nitrate-ammonium (SNA) and other atmospheric aerosols play a significant role in influencing both atmospheric and environmental conditions. These aerosols impact climate directly through scattering and absorbing solar radiation, thus influencing the Earth's radiative…

The Supreme Court has ruled that Alabama can move forward with plans to execute a death row inmate using nitrogen gas — a method of execution by asphyxiation that has never been used in the United States.  The court denied a stay of execution on Wednesday for Kenneth Smith, who was sentenced to death in 1989 for the murder of Elizabeth Sennett, and was already subjected to a botched attempt at execution by lethal injection in 2022. In May of last year, the Supreme Court denied an appeal by state officials to once…

A legal battle over how death row prisoners in Alabama can be killed has reached a critical point. On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that the state can proceed with its planned execution of inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith using nitrogen gas. The execution is scheduled for later this month and would be the first ever to implement the colorless and odorless gas. But Smith’s lawyers have condemned the method as untested and potentially cruel and will likely appeal the decision.Are You Rich Enough to Buy This Folding TV?The…

A recent study reveals that icy celestial body micrometeorites may have brought nitrogen to Earth’s orbit in the solar system’s early days, contributing potentially to life’s building blocks. Credit: SciTechDaily.comKyoto-Hawai’i team reveals results of study from Ryugu samples.Micrometeorites originating from icy celestial bodies in the outer Solar System may be responsible for transporting nitrogen to the near-Earth region in the early days of our solar system. That discovery was published recently in Nature Astronomy…

Reversible activation and catalytic transfer of ammonia via a compound of main group elements. Credit: Frank Breher, KIT Researchers at KIT have unveiled a novel system for the activation and catalytic transfer of ammonia – catalysis is based on main group elements. Ammonia (NH3), composed of nitrogen and hydrogen, stands as one of the most commonly manufactured chemicals globally. It plays a crucial role in creating numerous nitrogen-based compounds. If amines could be produced by the simple addition of ammonia to…

New research on cycads, ancient plants from the Mesozoic Era, reveals that their survival into the modern era can be attributed to a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. This study provides insights into the ecological evolution of cycads and their adaptation to past climate changes.Cycads, ancient plants once prevalent during the Mesozoic Era, have mostly gone extinct, with a few species surviving in tropical and subtropical areas. Researchers have discovered that these surviving cycads relied on…

Credit: Science of The Total Environment (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166769 Perennial grass cover significantly reduces nitrogen leaching from cultivated peatlands, according to a recent study published in Science of The Total Environment. In measurements of Ruukki NorPeat field, the least amount of nitrogen was leached from field blocks covered with grass and thin peat layer. The largest nitrogen leaching came from…

Cleaner ways of producing steel are being explored. Mostly, these are based on the use of hydrogen instead of coke as the reagent which extracts the oxygen from iron-oxide ore. But much of the pertinent technology is in its infancy. That, together with the cost of converting from old to new equipment, which might run to several billion dollars per plant, means it could take decades for steelmakers to go green. Yulong Ding and Harriet Kildahl of the University of Birmingham, in…