Scienceblogtwo

Chemical reactions can be accelerated by the presence of catalysts, which is crucial for industrial chemistry. Platinum, however, makes a great catalyst for several reactions, although it is rather expensive. In actuality, it is a precious metal with a higher value than gold. Because of this, developing new, less priced catalysts is tremendously beneficial. Researchers have combined liquid gallium and platinum in the same manner. Australian researchers have developed low-cost, highly effective chemical reactions using trace amounts of liquid platinum, paving the possibility for significant emissions reductions in key industries. The amounts of platinum needed, when combined with liquid gallium, are so small as to significantly increase the earth's platinum reserves, as well as possibly providing more sustainable solutions for CO2 reduction, ammonia synthesis in fertilizer production, and the development of green fuel cells, among many other potential uses in the chemical industries...

It is yet unclear what factors restrict tree growth. The development of trees appears to be constrained by cell growth rather than photosynthesis, according to new findings from an international team of scientists. The U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Science Foundation, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, and the Arctic Challenge for Sustainability II provided funding for the study, which was released in the journal Science on May 12th. The study's conclusions are shocking as well. A significant amount of our present carbon dioxide emissions are currently absorbed and stored by forests. The ability of the trees to absorb carbon and delay climate change would decrease if forest expansion slows. The study also discovered that photosynthesis and tree development respond differently to various climate cues, indicating that current models of forest carbon sequestration may overestimate the capacity of forests to store atmospheric carbon....