Archive by date | May 2012

Glass ceiling firm in Germany

Glass ceiling firm in Germany

The paltry representation of women in leading positions in science has long been a matter of considerable embarrassment for Germany. In 2006, the proportion of women in top positions in the main German science organisations – including the Max Planck Society, the Helmholtz Society, the Leibniz Society and the Fraunhofer Society – hovered, in best cases, around 5%.  Read more

Chemists image the Olympic rings on a molecular scale

Olympicene - the black scale bar is 0.5 nm.

Everyone in the UK wants a slice of Olympic pie, and you can hardly blame chemists for getting in on the act. A team at the University of Warwick led by Anish Mistry and David Fox have forged a synthetic route to the five-ring polyaromatic hydrocarbon dubbed olympicene, which can be regarded as a little fragment of graphene. They have teamed up with researchers at IBM’s research laboratory in Zurich to take a snapshot of this molecule with atomic resolution – a direct confirmation that its name is warranted. Seeing this degree of detail in a molecular structure has only recently become possible thanks to advances in atomic force microscopy: conventional imaging with a scanning tunnelling microscope would provide only a blurry view of the molecule’s trapezoidal shape, without the visible ring structure.  Read more

Updated: Brazilian president vetoes parts — but not all — of controverial forestry bill

Updated: Brazilian president vetoes parts — but not all — of controverial forestry bill

Seeking the ever-elusive middle ground, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff carefully wielded her veto to eliminate the most controversial provisions of a landmark forestry bill on Friday. But she stopped short of the outright veto sought by many in the environmental and scientific communities, both at home and abroad.  Read more

Butanol hits the biofuels big-time

Ethanol has dominated much of the biofuel industry’s attention over the past few years. But synthetic biology companies are now scaling up production of what some say is a superior fuel: butanol, an alcohol with four carbon atoms to ethanol’s two. Compared to ethanol, butanol stores more energy per litre, is less corrosive to pipelines, is more easily separated from water, and can be blended into gasoline (petrol) at higher concentrations before vehicle engines are damaged.  Read more

China to boost clean energy as global CO2 climbs to all-time high

Coal-fired power plant.

Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from burning of fossil fuel reached a record high of 31.6 billion metric tonnes in 2011, according to preliminary estimates by the International Energy Agency(IEA).  Read more

California stem-cell agency shifts toward clinical work

California stem-cell agency shifts toward clinical work

The California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) voted on 24 May to accept a new strategic plan which shrinks or eliminates support for basic research, facilities and training, while funneling more of its funds toward clinical development. “The first stage of CIRM was really exploring the field,” said Ellen Feigal, senior vice president of R&D. “The next five years should be one of more focus.” By July 2013, the agency hopes to have two programmes approved for clinical trials in the United States.  Read more