Articles tagged with Nitrogen
A SLAC X-ray laser study reveals the molecular structure changes during charge transfer in N,N'-dimethylpiperazine (DMP) gas molecules. The research team observed how the molecule's atomic scaffolding deforms and redistributes charges, leading to a lopsided response to light.
Scientists have created a cube-shaped iron-sulfur cluster that can support a multiple bond between iron and nitrogen, a structural motif involved in biological nitrogen fixation. The discovery shows the cluster's ability to accommodate an unusual bond without distorting its structure.
A century ago, human populations consumed a more diverse diet than today. The rise of industrial agriculture and globalization led to a significant narrowing of dietary breadth for modern human populations.
A recent study found that ozone pollution in Germany has decreased primarily due to reduced nitrogen oxide emissions. Ozone formation is often linked to NOx emissions from traffic and industrial processes. Lower NOx levels are positively correlated with lower ozone concentrations, especially in regions like southwestern Germany.
A study by Penn State researchers suggests that dairy farmers can reduce nitrous oxide emissions from corn crops by applying manure after planting and using organic nitrogen amendments. The results show that this approach can lower total nitrogen application and mitigate climate change, while also protecting water quality.
A new study shows that incorporating legumes into traditional crop rotations can significantly reduce environmental impacts while increasing nutritional value for humans and livestock. Legumes are a sustainable source of nitrogen, enriching the soil with essential nutrients and providing protein, fiber, and vitamins.
Tropical forest soils capture carbon dioxide into organic matter interacting with soil minerals, leading to reduced CO2 emissions. Excessive nitrogen deposition stimulates soil carbon storage by 7-21% in tropical forests.
Researchers at Marine Biological Laboratory found that replacing beef with chicken, swapping meat meals for vegetarian options, and upgrading lighting could reduce the institution's nitrogen footprint by up to 7.7%. These 'low-effort' solutions require no major changes or additional funding.
Researchers found that excess nitrogen deposition increases soil carbon and nitrogen concentrations in tropical forests, accelerating acidification and physical protection. However, this sink cannot offset human-induced carbon emissions, highlighting the need for sustainable land management practices.
A new study found that bacteria in the soil enhance plant growth by promoting lateral root formation and improving nitrogen absorption. This breakthrough could lead to more sustainable agriculture practices by reducing fertilizer use and environmental pollution.
Assistant Professor Xin Zhang received a $500,000 NSF CAREER Award to investigate how to align stakeholder interests with nitrogen reduction goals. The research aims to improve decision-making and develop innovative solutions for sustainable nitrogen management.
A global study led by the University of Gothenburg found that groundwater discharges are a major source of nitrogen and phosphorus to coastal waters worldwide, often exceeding river pollution at 60% of sites. This discovery highlights the importance of considering groundwater aquifers in managing coastal water quality.
India aims to quintuple wind and solar energy capacity by 2030, which could hold greenhouse gas emissions at 2018 levels while nearly doubling electricity supply. Researchers also discover a hidden charge-generating pathway in copper-phthalocyanine:fullerene material for more efficient sunlight conversion.
Research suggests even slight increases in nitrogen dioxide levels are associated with significant rises in cardiovascular and respiratory deaths. The study's findings support revising and tightening current air quality guidelines for greater public health benefit.
Climate change impacts grassland vegetation through increased CO2 concentration, leading to reduced stomatal conductance, nitrogen uptake, and yield. Researchers found that heavy nitrogen fertilization no longer boosts yield performance, instead hindering it.
A research team at FAU has discovered that calcium can break the strong nitrogen bond at a temperature of minus 60°C. This finding could lead to simplified industrial processes for converting nitrogen into useful chemicals.
A new study found that decades of corn breeding led to a degradation of sustainable nitrogen-fixing microbes in the soil, contributing to increased greenhouse gas emissions. The researchers recreated the history of corn breeding from 1949 to 1986 and found modern corn varieties recruit fewer beneficial microbes than earlier varieties.
Research reveals Scythian populations were diverse and complex, with some living sedentary lives farming millet and raising livestock, challenging traditional nomadic warrior image.
A new study reveals that nitrogen-fixing trees play a vital role in recovering tropical forests by enriching nutrient-poor soils with scarce elements such as phosphorus. The trees' roots weather rocks beneath them, releasing nutrients like phosphorus and molybdenum that boost plant growth.
A long-term collaboration between scientists and citizen volunteers has documented nitrogen pollution's effects on marine life in Buzzards Bay. The data has informed policies to improve Bay health, with a focus on upgrading wastewater treatment plants.
The study found that air pollutants decreased more than carbon dioxide during the lockdown, confirming earlier assumptions. The researchers also revealed that domestic and commercial energy consumption contribute less to nitrogen oxide emissions than previously thought, with traffic responsible for over 90% of emissions.
Researchers have developed novel Bi-BiVO4 Mott-Schottky heterostructure catalysts for efficient urea synthesis under ambient conditions. The spontaneous charge transfer at the heterointerfaces promotes targeted adsorption and activation of CO2 and N2 molecules, effectively suppressing CO poisoning.
Shellfish aquaculture provides direct economic benefits and ecosystem services, including habitat for native species and improved water quality. A study estimated that replacing shellfish aquaculture with traditional engineered nutrient reduction strategies would cost between $2.8-5.8 million per year.
Researchers aim to understand and analyze the interconnectedness of these life-sustaining systems by investigating how nitrogen flows through agricultural production systems. The goal is to improve nitrogen-use efficiency and address challenges such as water scarcity and energy demands.
A pioneering study identified 20 'nitrogen hotspots of opportunity' in the US, representing 63% of surplus nitrogen balance but only 24% of cropland area. The top-ranked hotspot is a region across Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Wisconsin.
Physicists have produced kagome graphene, a carbon-nitrogen compound with unusual electrical properties, including semiconducting behavior that can be switched on and off. The material's unique structure and strong electron interactions could lead to the development of sustainable electronic components.
Researchers found significant differences in VOC concentrations and proportions vertically between winter and summer. Alkanes were the largest chemical species, primarily from gasoline combustion, which increased with altitude.
Researchers investigated how high salt and nitrogen concentrations impact soil microbiome development in high tunnel systems. They found that these properties delayed the re-establishment of a diverse microbial community, with certain 'universal colonizers' surviving despite the stress.
Researchers have successfully created a stable armchair-like hexazine N6 ring in tungsten hexanitride under high-pressure conditions. The compound, WN6, exhibits exceptional hardness and toughness, making it a promising candidate for high-energy-density materials.
Researchers found a 15% reduction in total nitrogen losses, 14% reduction in total phosphorus losses, and 39% reduction in sediment losses through crop reallocation simulations. This approach could be a potential path to restoring the Chesapeake Bay.
A new study by Concordia researchers found a significant decrease in air pollution levels across major Canadian cities during the pandemic. Emission levels dropped dramatically, with a 69% reduction in Toronto and a 75% reduction in Montreal compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Scientists from Okayama University have demonstrated high-performance gas molecule confinement with boron nitride nanopores, surpassing activated carbon. The study found that the nanoporous structure of p-BN allows for strong interaction between nitrogen and its pores, leading to higher adsorption rates.
Researchers found that forests dominated by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi trees release more nitrogen gases than those associated with ectomycorrhizal fungi, negatively impacting air quality. Meanwhile, AM-associating tree roots enhance soil carbon storage by releasing protected carbon, highlighting the complexity of forest ecosystems.
Researchers found distinct nitrogen isotopic signatures in iron meteorites, suggesting the protoplanetary disk divided into two reservoirs within 300,000 years of its formation. This discovery challenges current understanding of volatile elements' origin and habitability of exoplanets.
A new framework measures nitrogen loss across a wide variety of crops and food products, revealing significant differences between crops and livestock. The research highlights the importance of dietary change and economic incentives to reduce nitrogen loss and promote sustainable agriculture.
Excessive fertilizer use is costing US corn farmers billions of dollars every year, with one-third of applied fertilizer compensating for ongoing soil fertility loss. The true cost of fertilizer use goes beyond economic costs, also impacting the environment and freshwater ecosystems.
A study published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition reveals the role of pyridinic nitrogen in optimizing oxygen reduction reactions in PEM fuel cells. Nitrogen-doped carbon catalysts were found to have improved performance, paving the way for more sustainable transportation technologies.
Researchers identified nitrogen-scrubbing bacteria living in coral slime, which can take up excess nitrogen and prevent algae blooms. This natural defense mechanism may help corals protect themselves from certain stressors.
Researchers found a key gene, OsTCP19, that helps rice adapt to low soil nitrogen levels. By introducing this gene into modern cultivars, farmers can improve crop yields while reducing fertilizer use, leading to more sustainable agricultural practices.
Researchers found that Arabidopsis seedlings adapted by increasing cell division and reducing cell elongation on ammonium, but reversed this balance on nitrate. The key hormone auxin regulated the balance between cell proliferation and cell expansion.
A new analysis of global data reveals that fertilizer pollution in streams and rivers can lead to increased growth across the food web, including algae, insects, and fish. The study suggests regulators should expand their view beyond algal responses to reduce nutrient runoff.
Researchers discovered that elevated CO2 levels stimulate soil respiration under conditions of nitrogen limitation. Elevated CO2 has a deteriorating effect on climate change mitigation in soils deficient in nitrogen.
A University of Oklahoma-led study found that lower nitrogen levels in soil stimulate the release of carbon dioxide from soils under high atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, contributing to climate change. Soil microorganisms play a crucial role in this process.
Researchers found that double element co-doped CQDs can capture photogenerated electrons, reducing fluorescence and improving carrier separation. The kinetic constant of PNCQDs/TiO2 reached 3.4 times that of pure TiO2 under simulated sunlight.
Research suggests that changes in Antarctic Ocean surface waters stored more CO2 in the deep ocean during ice ages. Diatom fossils provided evidence of reduced wind-driven upwelling, linking it to climate cooling and atmospheric CO2 drawdown. This discovery brings scientists closer to understanding the origin of ice ages.
Researchers at NUS have developed a new way to treat sewage using a novel strain of bacteria called Thauera sp. strain SND5. This new method significantly reduces operational costs and greenhouse gas emission compared to traditional methods.
Almond trees have unique needs and challenges for farmers, but researchers are finding ways to balance nutrient inputs with environmental quality. Conservation practices like nutrient budgeting and fertigation can help achieve this balance.
Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have identified a new method to produce ammonia with a significantly lower carbon footprint. The process uses a mesh screen coated in copper as a catalyst, which helps bind nitrogen to hydrogen to form ammonia.
Researchers from RUDN University developed a universal approach to synthesizing thienoindolizine derivatives using two- and three-component thienopyridine reactions. This method allows for the formation of compounds with different functional groups, expanding their potential applications in pharmaceutics and optoelectronics.
The Borexino experiment has successfully measured neutrinos from the sun's second fusion process, the Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen cycle (CNO cycle), confirming theoretical predictions. The findings provide evidence on the metallicity of the sun and have implications for understanding the properties of stars.
Researchers used computer models to analyze COVID-19 pandemic-related changes in human activity and its impact on air pollution. The study found that global nitrogen dioxide concentrations decreased by nearly 20%, with significant reductions observed in 50 of the analyzed cities, including Wuhan, China, Milan, and New York.
Chemists at Goethe University Frankfurt have directly observed and characterized a metallonitrene diradical with a single metal-nitrogen bond. This discovery enables the targeted insertion of nitrogen atoms into carbon-hydrogen bonds, contributing to the development of novel 'green' syntheses.
Researchers found a decrease in nitrogen dioxide concentrations at most monitoring sites, but no significant improvement in particulate matter. In contrast, some areas experienced worse air quality in April 2020 compared to previous years.
A recent study published in Nature Food found that countries have a significant impact on nitrogen pollution, often multiple times greater than their effect on crop yields. Countries can curb fertiliser use without compromising yield by adjusting institutions, economic development, population size, and farm production processes.
Researchers incorporated nitrogen cycle into AVIM model, simulating gross primary production and net primary production well. However, discrepancies remain in carbon and nitrogen fluxes between datasets and the model.
A study of common dolphins in the Hauraki Gulf found declines in carbon values, suggesting a decrease in primary productivity or changes in prey selection. The research highlights the need for careful management of marine parks and surrounding environments to prevent overfishing and nutrient runoff.
Research on three endangered tree species in Guam reveals that their decomposition releases nitrogen and carbon into the soil, improving forest ecosystem health. The findings highlight the importance of biodiversity and symbiotic relationships between plants and microorganisms in nutrient cycling.
A new study found that ocean carbon sequestration decreased as phytoplankton failed to devour macronutrients and trap carbon dioxide in the deep ocean. This process, called the biological pump, transfers carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and surface ocean into the dark, deep ocean.
A new land surface model CAS-LSM was developed to assess impacts of climate change and anthropogenic disturbances on global river temperature and nitrogen transport. The model found increased river temperatures in tropical zones due to climate change, with power plants warming local rivers by up to 60% in Asia.
Researchers establish relationship between soil nitrogen at different growth stages and corn yield, finding a tradeoff between productivity and environmental impact. Soil nitrogen explains majority of grain yield variation, with optimal levels resulting in 22% yield increase.