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Energy News- Department of Energy to Invest Nearly $18 Million for Advanced Biofuels User Facility March 31, 2010DOE today announced that the Department's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will build an advanced biofuels process development facility aimed at speeding the commercialization of advanced biofuels. […]
- DOE to Provide $37.5 Million for U.S.-Chinese Clean Energy Research March 31, 2010DOE is committing $37.5 million in funding over the next five years to support the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center. The joint initiative will focus initially on building energy efficiency and clean vehicles, as well as carbon capture and storage. […]
- DOE, Interior, and Army Corps of Engineers to Cooperate on Hydropower March 31, 2010DOE, the U.S. Department of Interior, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that creates a new cooperative approach toward developing hydropower at federally owned facilities. […]
- Department of Energy to Invest Nearly $18 Million for Advanced Biofuels User Facility March 31, 2010
- Renewable Energy
- NREL's New Robots Scrutinize Solar CellsProcess Development and Integration Laboratory is faster, more precise, gives industry quicker answers. […]
- Tool That Tracks Solar Installations is Open to AllNREL's new Open PV Web site lets users download information about installations, explore trends in photovoltaic markets. […]
- High-Speed Pipeline Revs Up Biomass AnalysisHigh throughput system can analyze enzymes, poplars, switch grass, thousands at a time to help determine which plants are best suited for biofuels. […]
- NREL's New Robots Scrutinize Solar Cells
- Energy And The Environment
- EPA Signs Sustainability Agreement With Major New Jersey Company March 31, 2010(New York, N.Y.) Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc., New Jersey’s largest real estate development company, has signed an agreement with the U.S […]
- Five EPA Region 9 Metro Area Cities Rank Among Top 25 in Nation for Most Energy Efficient Buildings March 31, 2010List shows continued growth in saving money and energy (3/24/10 San Francisco) US EPA released a list of U.S. metropolitan areas with the largest number of energy efficient buildings that earned EPA’s Energy Star in 2009 […]
- Delaware Developer is Tops in Energy Efficiency March 31, 2010PHILADELPHIA (March 31, 2010) – In a ceremony today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S […]
- EPA Signs Sustainability Agreement With Major New Jersey Company March 31, 2010
- Energy Research
- Stojanoff deciphers crystal structures, promotes role of women in science April 2, 2010Vivian Stojanoff spends her workdays studying a special kind of crystals ??? protein crystals. […]
- SRNL assesses bamboo for closure caps April 2, 2010The very traits that can make some bamboos troublesome for landowners???quick to grow and hard to kill???make it potentially useful for cleanup, according to the Savannah River National Laboratory. […]
- MTI satellite celebrates 10 years in orbit, continues to serve April 2, 2010For researchers at DOE's Sandia National Laboratories, the evening of March 12 marked a proud moment. […]
- Stojanoff deciphers crystal structures, promotes role of women in science April 2, 2010
- Agriculture
- Diverse Wheat Tapped for Antifungal GenesRead the magazine story to find out more. Asian wheat lines like this one may provide new resistance to Fusarium head blight disease for U.S. wheat. Click the image for more information about it. Scientists identify specific barley tissues infected by scab ARS researchers develop method to speed up breeding of scab-resistant barley cultivars Scientists […]
- Model Predicts Shifts in Carbon Absorption by Forest CanopiesAn ARS scientist recently helped refine computer models that can indicate when forest "carbon sinks" become net carbon generators instead, such as when gypsy moths defoliate the canopy. Photo courtesy of NRCS. Bacterium curbs several insect pests Literature review predicts carbon storage on rangeland Farming practices influence the effects of […]
- St. John's Wort Collection Mined for Its Medicinal ValueARS maintains a unique collection of genetically diverse St. John's wort to support research into the plant's medicinal potential. Photo courtesy of Norman E. Rees, ARS. ARS scientists cryopreserve pest-imperiled ash trees Researchers team up to improve popcorn How are you fixed for flavonoids? St. John's Wort Collection Mined for Its Me […]
- Diverse Wheat Tapped for Antifungal Genes
- Food, Drugs And Health
- Federal Government Seeks Permanent Injunction Against Texas Egg Roll ManufacturerThe U. S. Department of Justice, in an action initiated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is seeking a permanent injunction against Chung’s Products LP (“Chung’s”), an egg roll manufacturer in Houston, Charlie A. Kujawa, the company's president, and Gregory S. Birdsell, the firm's director of quality assurance. […]
- FDA Requires Device Manufacturers to Include Information on Pediatric PopulationsThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that will begin implementing a requirement that device manufacturers provide readily available information in certain premarket applications on pediatric patients who suffer from the disease or condition that the device is intended to treat, diagnose, or cure, even if the device is intended for adult use. […]
- FDA Approves Asclera to Treat Small Varicose VeinsThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Asclera (polidocanol) injection for the treatment of small types of abnormally swollen or twisted veins called varicose veins. […]
- Public Health Agencies Collaborate to Prevent Further Illnesses from Norovirus Outbreak Associated with Oysters Recently Harvested from Area Near Port Sulphur, La.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is working with state health officials from Mississippi and Louisiana to notify consumers, food service operators and retailers nationwide about an outbreak of norovirus associated with oysters recently harvested from an area near Port Sulphur, La. known as Area 7. The oysters were sold or distributed nationwide. […]
- Two Arrested for Illegally Trafficking Counterfeit Weight Loss MedicationTwo Arrested for Illegally Trafficking Counterfeit Weight Loss Medication […]
- Federal Government Seeks Permanent Injunction Against Texas Egg Roll Manufacturer
The Spider Web: Paradox Of Super-strength
Research finds weakest chemical bonds produce materials stronger than steel
Since its development in China thousands of years ago, silk from silkworms, spiders and other insects has been used for high-end, luxury fabrics as well as for parachutes and medical sutures. Now, National Science Foundation-supported researchers are untangling some of its most closely guarded secrets, and explaining why silk is so super strong.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Materials Science and Engineering say the key to silk’s pound-for-pound toughness, which exceeds that of steel, is its beta-sheet crystals, the nano-sized cross-linking domains that hold the material together.
Markus Buehler, the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Associate Professor in MIT’s department of civil and environmental engineering, and his team recently used computer models to simulate exactly how the components of beta sheet crystals move and interact with each other. They found that an unusual arrangement of hydrogen bonds–the “glue” that stabilizes the beta-sheet crystals–play an important role in defining the strength of silk.
They found that hydrogen bonds, which are among the weakest types of chemical bonds, gain strength when confined to spaces on the order of a few nanometers in size. Once in close proximity, the hydrogen bonds work together and become extremely strong. Moreover, if a hydrogen bond breaks, there are still many hydrogen bonds left that can contribute to the material’s overall strength, due to their ability to “self-heal” the beta-sheet crystals.
The researchers conclude that silk’s strength and ductility–its ability to bend or stretch without breaking–results from this peculiar arrangement of atomic bonds. They say controlling the size of the area in which hydrogen or other chemical bonds act can lead to significantly enhanced properties for future materials, even when the initial chemical bonds are very weak.
The journal Nature Materials reported the findings online March 14.
-NSF-