Weekly Science Digest: Soybeans, Yeast & Octopus

A multidisciplinary team of researchers has developed the world’s lightest material. With a density of 0.9 mg/cc, the new material is around 100 times lighter than Styrofoam. The unique micro-lattice cellular architecture consists of interconnected hollow tubes with a wall thickness 1,000 times thinner than a human hair. Originally intended for defense projects, there are hopes that the material could now be used in battery electrodes and acoustic, vibration and shock energy absorption.

A new strain of yeast developed by researchers at the University of Georgia is able to ferment ethanol from pretreated pine. The pine, one of the most common trees found in the USA, is a notoriously resistant to fermentation. To get around these problems, the team created a process which sees the wood pretreated with heat and chemicals and then fermented with the new yeast. As the so-called ‘super strain’ of yeast can withstand the chemicals used in the process, it can successfully convert the sugars released from the wood into ethanol. The ‘super strain’, an adaptation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, brings us one step closer to replacing gasoline with biofuels.

A breakthrough in the search for effective cancer treatments was announced after chemists at Rice University found a way to load 2 million tiny gold particles into a single cancer cell. The particles, known as nanorods, are around the size of a small virus and are able to convert light into heat. The team hopes the nanorods, which are activated by a laser, could be used to cook tumours from inside a cell. Take a look at the video to see how the process works.

A University of Oregon study has found that the domestication of soybeans occurred much earlier than thought: previously pegged at 3,000 years ago, domestication of the legume is now believed to have taken place around 5,500 years ago. A comparison of 949 charred soybean samples from 22 sites in northern China, Japan and South Korea allowed the researchers to take a closer look at the effect carbonization has had on the size of the bean. The study will afford archaeologists, crop scientists and plant geneticists a greater understanding of cultural contributions, which may lead to better soybean characteristics.

Can time be reversed? In this interview, Dr Giles Barr, a physicist at Oxford University, explains that if neutrinos can travel faster than light, time could effectively be “reversed”.

This week’s video comes courtesy of Duke University and shows us how an invisible octopus defends itself by changing from clear to red, all in the blink of an eye.  

The 'Weekly Science Digest' is a compilation of science news from around the world. News suggestions are always welcome: mark.howardbanks (at) researchgate.net