Scientists are taking their cues from fungi in the digestive tracts of cows, goats and sheep in the search for new ways to create sustainable fuels and medicines.
Working with researchers with Tokyo Tech's World Research Hub Initiative in Japan and Canada, Xantheas will combine laboratory methods with computational explorations to study the biological functions of serotonin and nicotine.
Organic matter found in vast quantities in oxygen-starved floodplains would yield only minimal energy for hungry microorganisms, which spurn the meal, researchers show in a study in Nature Geoscience.
PNNL scientists have developed a system to convert methane into an energy-rich substance that can be used as the basis for biofuels and even feed for cows that create the gas in the first place.
Bo Peng, a Linus Pauling Fellow and molecular sciences researcher at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, was recognized at the Sanibel Symposium with the Löwdin Postdoctoral Associate Award.
Patients with inflammatory bowel disease are more likely to see dramatic shifts in the make-up of the community of microbes in their gut than healthy people, according to a study published online in Nature Microbiology.