Converting sugar directly to diesel

Sweet diesel! Scientists have discovered a process to convert sugar directly into renewable diesel that could replace fossil fuels used in vehicles.

University of California, Berkeley scientists found that a long-abandoned fermentation process once used to turn starch into explosives can be used to produce renewable diesel.

Researchers teamed up to produce diesel fuel from the products of a bacterial fermentation discovered nearly 100 years ago by the first president of Israel, chemist Chaim Weizmann. The retooled process produces a mix of products that contain more energy per gallon than ethanol that is used today in transportation fuels and could be commercialised within 5-10 years.

While the fuel's cost is still higher than diesel or gasoline made from fossil fuels, scientists said the process would drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, one of the major contributors to global climate change. What I am really excited about is that this is a fundamentally different way of taking feed-stocks  sugar or starch  and making all sorts of renewable things, from fuels to commodity chemicals like plastics, said Dean Toste, professor of chemistry and co-author in a statement.

The late Weizmann's process employs the bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum to ferment sugars into acetone, butanol and ethanol. Researchers developed a way of extracting the acetone and butanol from the fermentation mixture while leaving most of the ethanol behind, while developing a catalyst that converted this ideally-proportioned brew into a mix of long-chain hydrocarbons that resembles the combination of hydrocarbons in diesel fuel. Tests showed that it burned about as well as normal petroleum-based diesel fuel.

It looks very compatible with diesel, and can be blended like diesel to suit summer or winter driving conditions in different states, said coauthor Harvey Blanch. The process is versatile enough to use a broad range of renewable starting materials, from corn sugar (glucose) and cane sugar (sucrose) to starch, and would work with non-food feed-stocks such as grass, trees or field waste in cellulosic processes.

You can tune the size of your hydrocarbons based on the reaction conditions to produce the lighter hydrocarbons typical of gasoline, or the longer-chain hydrocarbons in diesel, or the branched chain hydrocarbons in jet fuel, Toste said.

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Commenting on Twitter, FB 'not same as chatting in pub'

Now, posting any comment on social networks like Twitter and Facebook is no longer the same as a chat down the pub, two prominent British media lawyers have said. Media lawyers Niri Shan and Lorna Caddy explained that when we post material online, we act as publishers and our publications are subject to the same laws as those of professional publishers, such as newspapers.

According to the lawyers, the court's ruling in cases involving social networks, suggest that the public cannot treat Twitter and Facebook as they would a casual chat in the pub, the Telegraph reports.

The remarks came as a UK District Judge Andrew Shaw recently ordered nine people to pay footballer, Ched Evan's, rape victim 624 pounds after they admitted disclosing her identity on Twitter and Facebook.

They were charged with publishing material likely to lead members of the public to identify the complainant in a rape case, the paper said.

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Humans can smell fear like other animals

 Humans can smell fear and disgust, and the emotions are contagious, a new study has revealed.

The findings suggest that humans communicate via smell just like other animals, CBS News reported.

"These findings are contrary to the commonly accepted assumption that human communication runs exclusively via language or visual channels," Gun Semin and colleagues from Utrecht University in the Netherlands wrote.

Most animals communicate using smell, but because humans lack the same odor-sensing organs, scientists thought we had long ago lost our ability to smell fear or other emotions.

To find out, the team collected sweat from under the armpits of 10 men while they watched either frightening scenes from the horror movie 'The Shining' or repulsive clips of MTV's 'Jackass.'

Next, the researchers asked 36 women to take a visual test while they unknowingly inhaled the scent of men's sweat.

When women sniffed " fear sweat," they opened their eyes wide in a scared expression, while those smelling sweat from disgusted men scrunched their faces into a repulsed grimace. (The team chose men as the sweat donors and women as the receivers because past research suggests women are more sensitive to men's scent than vice versa.)

The findings suggest that humans can communicate at least some emotions by smell, which could prove useful in crowded places, the authors suggest.

"Our research suggests that emotional chemo-signals can be potential contributors to emotional contagion in situations involving dense crowds," the authors wrote.

The findings are published in the journal Psychological Science.

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Visible signs of ageing may predict heart disease

If you look old, your heart may be at risk, according a new research. The study found that those who had three to four aging signs - receding hairline at the temples, baldness at the head's crown, earlobe crease, or yellow fatty deposits around the eyelid (xanthelasmata) - had a 57 percent increased risk for heart attack and a 39 percent increased risk for heart disease.

"The visible signs of aging reflect physiologic or biological age, not chronological age, and are independent of chronological age," said Anne Tybjaerg-Hansen, M.D., the study's senior author and professor of clinical biochemistry at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

Researchers analysed 10,885 participants 40 years and older (45 percent women) in the Copenhagen Heart Study. Of these, 7,537 had frontoparietal baldness (receding hairline at the temples), 3,938 had crown top baldness, 3,405 had earlobe crease, and 678 had fatty deposits around the eye.

In 35 years of follow-up, 3,401 participants developed heart disease and 1,708 had a heart attack.

Individually and combined, these signs predicted heart attack and heart disease independent of traditional risk factors. Fatty deposits around the eye were the strongest individual predictor of both heart attack and heart disease.

Heart attack and heart disease risk increased with each additional sign of aging in all age groups and among men and women. The highest risk was for those in their 70s and those with multiple signs of aging.

In the study, nurses and laboratory technicians noted the quantity of gray hair, prominence of wrinkles, the type and extent of baldness, the presence of earlobe crease and eyelid deposits.

"Checking these visible aging signs should be a routine part of every doctor's physical examination," Tybjaerg-Hansen said.

Co-authors are Mette Christoffersen, Ph.D. candidate; Ruth Frikke-Schmidt, M.D.; Peter Schnohr, M.D.; Gorm Jensen, M.D.; and Borge Nordestgaard, M.D. Funding information and author disclosures are on the abstract.

Learn your heart attack and heart disease risks or view an animation of a heart attack .

The study was presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012.

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Give your anarkali a trendy makeover this Diwali

Bored of free flowing anarkali-style suits? Tweak it this festive season to give it a western touch by playing with the 'kalis' and, who knows, it can even double up as a gown.

A little twist here, a little turn there can make your anarkali-style suit more trendy, say designers, telling fashionistas to play around with the hemline, use light embellishments and team it with palazzos.

"I think the anarkali needs a re-invention as we are seeing the same pattern for so long. The only thing that most designers are doing is raising or dropping the hemline. I just feel that one could be a little more futuristic in dealing with the anarkali," designer Niki Mahajan said.

"We can turn around a little bit to make it more glamorous and different. As a designer, I can make it more interesting by controlling kalis on one side and playing on the other by giving a sharper neckline and repositioning colours," she added.

"Anarkalis have always been a hot favourite for young women during festivities. It is, however, time to tweak anarkalis and make them more western. Little changes here and there can make it trendy. One can try anarkalis that have a European feel, which means they can be worn as gowns also," designer Joy Mitra said.

Some emerging trends this festive season are layering and draping with lace and lighter embroidery.

Kalidar kurtas are also hitting the shelves and people are going in for more layering and draping with a lot of lace work.

They are also asking for more styling, not just embellishments, said designer Gautam Gupta. "The unique thing that I have discovered this festive season is that people are looking for lighter work," he added.

"Yes, they want the clothes to look heavy with a little bit of bling, but at the same time they want the material used for the embroidery to be light," he added.

Apart from the regular georgette and chanderi, fabrics like kota and lightweight Japanese yukata, instead of zardozi, are being used to make anarkalis.

"It's easy to move in fabrics like kota as it brings a lot of flexibility," Gupta added.

Festivity also means a splash of bright colours. According to Ashish Parikh from brand Studio Virtues, "Coral shades, which could be experimented with embroidered belts, are making a big comeback. Fuschia, purple and red are also trending big time."

How does one accessorise anarkali suits?

Go for a simple clutch and matching footwear to add drama to your attire, said designer Rajdeep Ranawat.

He also suggested that jewels should be "classic and elegant".

"One simple mantra to focus while wearing Indian line is: choose colours that complement the skin, silhouettes that complement the body and embellishments that complement the personality. Carry the outfit with elan and a confident poise thereafter," added Ranawat.
- IANS

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Whales found in NZ in 2010 are 'rarest marine mammal'

Two whales that beached themselves in New Zealand in 2010 have now been identified as belonging to the world's rarest and perhaps most enigmatic marine mammal. The beached whales, a 17ft (5.2m) adult and her 11ft male calf, were discovered on Opape Beach on the North Island on New Year's Eve in 2010, the independent reported.

However, conservation workers thought they were Gray's beaked whales and burying them after taking tissue samples.

Now, researchers from New Zealand and the United States has identified them as rare spade-toothed beaked whales, the species which is so rare that nobody has seen one alive.

"For the first time we have a description of the world's rarest and perhaps most enigmatic marine mammal," the Independent quoted researchers as writing in a paper published yesterday in the journal Current Biology.

Previously only three skull fragments of the species had been found: in New Zealand in 1872 and in the 1950s and the last one 26 years ago on an island off Chile. The males have broad, blade-like tusk teeth that give the species its name. Both males and females have beaks, which make them resemble dolphins.

"This is pretty fantastic. There would be few, if any, mammalian species in the world that would be rarer. And we know much more about pandas and other iconic, rare animals," said Ewan Fordyce, a geology professor at the University of Otago.

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Facebook tracks real-time voters in US election

Facebook users in the US can let the world know they voted in the US presidential election Tuesday, with results displaying on a real-time map on the popular social networking site.

"This map is a representation of people on Facebook who clicked an Election Day prompt to share with their friends that they're voting in the 2012 US election," said the Facebook team in a post on the website.

While Facebook masks the identity of which users voted, other information on those who self-reported their trip to the polls is available, such as their age, gender, and geographic location.

Facebook's team will also use its so-called "Talk Meter" to monitor and measure overall chatter and the most used terms and phrases on the site during Election Day.

Facebook ranks topics on a scale of 1-to-10 and posts results on its US Politics on Facebook page.

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