Jan 30, 2009 | 1
Japan Airlines today flew a Boeing 747-300 with one engine burning a blend of biofuel and regular Jet A. The 90-minute flight from Haneda Airport in Tokyo relied primarily on a new form of jet biofuel derived from camelina, a weedy flower native to Europe, that can be alternated with wheat crops.
Chief pilot Keiji Kobayashi said in a postflight statement that there was no difference in performance between the engines running on regular jet fuel and the one burning the blend.
A consortium of airlines, aircraft manufacturers and engine makers has now tested four different biofuel feedstocks in an effort to assess whether biofuels could play a role in reducing dependence on petroleum-based jet fuel, both to combat climate change and lower fuel costs.
Sep 22, 2008 | 5
Researchers say that they have pinpointed chemical signals that cause leaves, flowers, and fruit to fall from plants – and that, if blocked, might allow them to hang on forever.
Scientists already knew there were cells in the tissue linking stems and branches that release chemicals that break down plant cells, causing leaves, et al, to fall off. But they in the dark about what triggered the release of these chemicals.
Now University of Missouri plant biologist John Walker says he and colleagues have identified a group of compounds in Arabidopsis thaliana that prompt production of the proteins that cause plants to shed their petals. By blocking these chemicals, they succeeded in keeping petals intact, according to their paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Deadline: Aug 31 2013
Reward: $100,000 USD
The Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer’s Initiative (GBFAI) is launching the 2013 Geoffrey Beene Global NeuroDiscovery Challenge whose
Deadline: Jul 15 2013
Reward: $5,000 USD
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