US and Israel condemn Canada’s plan to recognise Palestinian state at UN
The United States and Israel have criticised Canada’s announcement that it will recognise the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly in Septe...
Australian-led research into ancient microbialite structures is revealing how early life thrived without sunlight, offering potential insights for future carbon capture strategies.
An Australian-led study is uncovering new clues about life’s origins by studying ancient microbialite structures formed by early microbes.
The research, conducted by Monash University in collaboration with the University of Melbourne and University College London, offered new insights into how early life forms may have thrived in extreme environments and could inform future carbon capture strategies to combat climate change.
The study showed that microbialites, among Earth’s earliest life forms, could thrive without sunlight by using energy from chemicals such as hydrogen, iron, ammonia, and sulfur. This allowed them to survive even in total darkness.
"We think these ecosystems have been places where microbes came up with new ways to survive and make energy, helping shape the course of life on Earth," said Francesco Ricci, the study’s first author and a postdoctoral research fellow at Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute’s Greening Lab.
Senior author Harry McClelland from University College London said the team was uncovering general rules for how these microbial communities function, finding that chemical energy exchange between neighbouring areas boosts carbon fixation and recaptures carbon dioxide, enhancing productivity.
Ricci noted that certain microbes in microbialites efficiently consume greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide, suggesting their potential for innovative carbon capture to help mitigate climate change.
Living examples of microbialites can be found in Western Australia, which not only shed light on Earth’s earliest ecosystems but also point to new possibilities for sustainable carbon management, according to the study published in the ISME Journal of the Netherlands-based International Society for Microbial Ecology.
The world’s biggest dance music festival faces an unexpected setback as a fire destroys its main stage, prompting a last-minute response from organisers determined to keep the party alive in Boom, Belgium.
Australian researchers have created a groundbreaking “biological AI” platform that could revolutionise drug discovery by rapidly evolving molecules within mammalian cells.
Australian researchers have pioneered a low-cost and scalable plasma-based method to produce ammonia gas directly from air, offering a green alternative to the traditional fossil fuel-dependent Haber-Bosch process.
A series of earthquakes have struck Guatemala on Tuesday afternoon, leading authorities to advise residents to evacuate from buildings as a precaution against possible aftershocks.
'Superman' continued to dominate the summer box office, pulling in another $57.25 million in its second weekend, as theatres welcome a wave of blockbuster competition following a challenging few years for the film industry.
Scientists have discovered thriving animal communities living off chemicals, not sunlight, at record depths in the Pacific Ocean’s Kuril-Kamchatka and Aleutian trenches.
Voice actors across Europe are sounding the alarm over the rise of artificial intelligence in the dubbing industry, warning that the use of AI-generated voices could jeopardize jobs, creative quality, and intellectual property rights.
Meta has announced it will halt political, electoral, and social issue ads in the European Union from October due to the region's new Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising regulation (TTPA).
A team from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) has developed a titanium alloy using 3D printing that is significantly cheaper and potentially more efficient than the widely used Ti-6Al-4V alloy.
Scientists warn the world’s oceans may have entered a new, hotter phase with serious consequences for the planet.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment