Artificial photosynthesis hits record speed

Swedish researchers say they've built a molecular catalyzer that can oxidize water to oxygen very quickly - reaching speeds not far off those of natural photosynthesis.

While artificial photosynthesis has been under development for 30 years, it's the first time that such a conversion rate has been reached - about 300 turnovers per second, compared with 100 to 400 for natural photosynthesis.

"Speed has been the main problem, the bottleneck, when it comes to creating perfect artificial photosynthesis," says Licheng Sun, professor of organic chemistry at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH).

"This is clearly a world record, and a breakthrough regarding a molecular catalyzer in artificial photosynthesis."

The result, he says, could make it possible in the future to create large-scale facilities for producing hydrogen in the Sahara, or combine the technique with traditional solar cells.

The team plans to continue working to try and drive down the price of the technology.

"I'm convinced that it will be possible in ten years to produce technology based on this type of research that is sufficiently cheap to compete with carbon-based fuels," says Sun.

"This explains why Barack Obama is investing billions of dollars in this type of research."

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Global warming: Scientists discover glaciers in Asian mountain range are actually getting bigger

Photos taken by a French satellite show glaciers in a mountain range west of the Himalayashave grown during the last decade.

The growing glaciers were found in the Karakoram range, which spans the borders between Pakistan, Indiaand China and is home to the world's second highest peak, K2.

The startling find has baffled scientists and comes at a time when glaciers in other parts of the region, and across the world, are shrinking.

French scientists from the National Centre for Scientific Research and the Universityof Grenoble, were forced to rely on satellite images, to study the region - because much of the Karakoram range is inaccessible.

They compared observations made in 1999 and 2008 and found a marginal mass increase.

They estimated the glaciers had gained between 0.11 and 0.22 metres of ice each year.

The researchers are unsure why the region bucks the global trend - but they know from other studies in other parts of the world that in very cold regions, like the Karakoram range, climate change can cause extra precipitation, which then freezes and adds to ice mass.

Lead reseacher Julie Gardelle told BBC News: 'We don't really know the reason. Right now we believe that it could be due to a very specific regional climate over Karakoram because there have been meteorological measurements showing increased winter precipitation; but that's just a guess at this stage.'

Stephan Harrison, associate professor in quaternary science at the UK's University of Exeter, said the new research had showed there is 'considerable variability' in the global climate and in how glaciers respond to it.

Area of Glaceries are increasing in Karakoram range

Harrison said much of their mass gain also comes from avalanches from the high mountains surrounding them.

'Overall, the impact of melting glaciers such as these on sea level rise is known to be negligible, but it does mean that there is much more to be learnt about exactly how the world's glaciers will respond to continued global warming.'

The findings provide welcome respite at a time when glaciers across the globe are shrinking at a rapid rate.

A study of the neighbouring Himalayas in 2011 found the rate of ice loss in glaciers - which provide fresh water for around 1.3 billion people - has doubled since the 1980s

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How 'bionic' bacteria can help fight disease and global warming

London, Sept 22 : Genetically enhanced bacteria may pave the way for creating new synthetic drugs to help fight disease and manufacturing biofuels to combat global warming, US researchers say.

Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have created bacteria capable of effectively incorporating "unnatural" amino acids - artificial additions to the 20 naturally occurring amino acids used as biological building blocks - into proteins at multiple sites.

This ability may provide a powerful new tool for the study of biological processes and for engineering bacteria that produce new types of synthetic chemicals, the report said.

An "expanded genetic code" created by the scientists overrides the genetic code of the cells and instructing them to use the artificial amino acids in the construction of proteins

Bionic bacteria

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"This provides us with a lot more room to think about what we can do with protein synthesis," said Lei Wang, assistant professor in Salk's Chemical Biology and Proteomics Laboratory and holder of the Frederick B. Rentschler Developmental Chair.

"It opens up new possibilities, from creating drugs that last longer in the blood stream to manufacturing chemicals in a more environmentally friendly manner."

The study was recently published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.

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