Radiolytic support for oxidative metabolism in an ancient subsurface brine system.

Long-isolated subsurface brine environments (Ma-Ga residence times) may be habitable if they sustainably provide substrates, e.g. through water-rock reactions, that support microbial catabolic energy yields exceeding maintenance costs.

Thermoplastic Molding of Silk-Curcumin Sustainable Composite Materials with Antibacterial Properties.

Silk fibroin (SF) is a natural protein generated from the silkworm cocoons. It is useful for many different material applications. Versatile aqueous process engineering options can be used to support the morphological and structural modifications of silk materials related to tailored physical, chemical, and biological properties.

T'ah kóó hóniidló, we're still HERE! Mining legacies, Indigenous health and innovative solutions.

In the world today, there are many unknowns especially with rising environmental concerns. However, one of the most important is an irreplaceable and shared resource, water or as the Diné (Navajo) refer to as, Tó. Throughout the world many Indigenous communities are facing water challenges, from lack of and access to adequate infrastructure, water rights, climate change and water contamination issues due to a variety of sources including anthropogenic sources like mining, especially, on the Navajo (Diné) reservation.

Two-molecule theory of polyethylene liquids.

Two-molecule theory refers to a class of microscopic, self-consistent field theories for the radial distribution function in classical molecular liquids. The version examined here can be considered as one of the very few formally derived closures to the reference interaction site model (RISM) equation. The theory is applied to polyethylene liquids, computing their equilibrium structural and thermodynamic properties at melt densities.

Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Investigation of Water and Butanone Adsorption on UiO-66 with Defects.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are harmful chemicals that are found in minute quantities in the atmosphere and are emitted from a variety of industrial and biological processes. They can be harmful to breathe or serve as biomarkers for disease detection. Therefore, capture and detection of VOCs is important.

Biophysical Modelling for Insight into Oxygen Diffusion, Distribution, and Measurement.

Building on an extensive history of physiological and systems-oriented modelling, my group and others have recently used molecular simulation studies to understand oxygen (O) transport and localisation. Molecular simulations enable biophysical insight into processes difficult to study with experiments alone and are sometimes described as a "computational microscope." Our work has emphasised lipid membrane contributions to oxygen diffusion and uptake, suggesting that lipid-based pathways along membranes and lipid deposits are likely to accelerate diffusive transport through cells and tissues.

Flickering gamma-ray flashes, the missing link between gamma glows and TGFs.

Two different hard-radiation phenomena are known to originate from thunderclouds: terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) and gamma-ray glows. Both involve an avalanche of electrons accelerated to relativistic energies but are otherwise different. Glows are known to last for one to hundreds of seconds, have moderate intensities and originate from quasi-stationary thundercloud fields.

Highly dynamic gamma-ray emissions are common in tropical thunderclouds.

Thunderstorms emit fluxes of gamma rays known as gamma-ray glows, sporadically observed by aircraft, balloons and from the ground. Observations report increased gamma-ray emissions by tens of percent up to two orders of magnitude above the background, sometimes abruptly terminated by lightning discharges. Glows are produced by the acceleration of energetic electrons in high-electric-field regions within thunderclouds and contribute to charge dissipation.

Genome-wide patterns of homoeologous gene flow in allotetraploid coffee.

Premise: Allopolyploidy-a hybridization-induced whole-genome duplication event-has been a major driver of plant diversification. The extent to which chromosomes pair with their proper homolog vs. with their homoeolog in allopolyploids varies across taxa, and methods to detect homoeologous gene flow (HGF) are needed to understand how HGF has shaped polyploid lineages.

Comprehensive design and performance validation of a wind tunnel for advanced respirable dust deposition investigations.

This study presents the comprehensive design and performance validation of a wind tunnel specifically developed for advanced investigations into respirable dust deposition pertinent to coal mining environments. The design integrates a constant particle delivery system engineered to maintain uniform particle dispersion, which is critical for replicating real-world conditions in coal mines. Our methodology involved using ANSYS Fluent for the design and optimization of a blowing-type wind tunnel, with a focus on controlling turbulence levels and minimizing pressure drops, which are crucial for accurate dust behaviour simulation.

Little evidence for homoeologous gene conversion and homoeologous exchange events in Gossypium allopolyploids.

Premise: A complicating factor in analyzing allopolyploid genomes is the possibility of physical interactions between homoeologous chromosomes during meiosis, resulting in either crossover (homoeologous exchanges) or non-crossover products (homoeologous gene conversion). Homoeologous gene conversion was first described in cotton by comparing SNP patterns in sequences from two diploid progenitors with those from the allopolyploid subgenomes. These analyses, however, did not explicitly consider other evolutionary scenarios that may give rise to similar SNP patterns as homoeologous gene conversion, creating uncertainties about the reality of the inferred gene conversion events.

UV-Vis spectrophotometric determination of rare earth elements (REE) speciation at near-neutral to alkaline pH. Part I: -cresol purple properties from 25-75 °C and Er hydrolysis.

The speciation and mobility of rare earth elements (REE) strongly depends on pH, which controls the formation of charged aqueous hydroxyl species. The latter potentially play an important role in controlling heavy REE adsorption on clay minerals in near-neutral to alkaline waters such as in regolith-hosted REE mineral deposits. However, accurate REE hydrolysis constants are needed for developing geochemical models that can predict the role of these charged species in natural systems.

Utica/Point Pleasant brine isotopic compositions (δLi, δB, δBa) elucidate mechanisms of lithium enrichment in the Appalachian Basin.

Global Li production will require a ∼500 % increase to meet 2050 projected energy storage demands. One potential source is oil and gas wastewater (i.e.

Self-Replication Without Hydrogen-Bonds: An Exobiotic Design.

Life on Earth uses DNA as the central template for self-replication, genetic encoding, and information transfer. However, there are no physical laws precluding life's existence elsewhere in space, and alternative life forms may not need DNA. In the search for exobiology, knowing what to look for as a biosignature remains a challenge - especially if it is not from the obvious list of biologic building blocks.

Studies on invariant measures of fractional stochastic delay Ginzburg-Landau equations on R.

This paper is concerned with invariant measures of fractional stochastic delay Ginzburg-Landau equations on the entire space $ \mathbb{R}^n $. We first derive the uniform estimates and the mean-square uniform smallness of the tails of solutions in corresponding space. Then we deduce the weak compactness of a set of probability distributions of the solutions applying the Ascoli-Arzel$ \grave{a} $.

Raman spectroscopic study of anhydrous and hydrous REE phosphates, oxides, and hydroxides.

Rare earth elements (REE) include the lanthanides (La-Lu), Y, and Sc which are critical elements for the green energy transition. The REE show a decrease in ionic radii with increased atomic numbers, which results in a so-called lanthanide contraction systematically affecting crystal structures and mineral properties. Here we present a compilation of reference Raman spectra of ten REE sesquioxides (A-, B- and C-type), five REE hydroxides, eight xenotime-structured REE phosphate endmembers and two solid solutions, seven monazite-structured REE phosphate endmembers and two solid solutions and seven rhabdophane endmembers with up to five CeLREE rhabdophane solid solutions (LREE = La-Gd).

Origin and modern microbial ecology of secondary mineral deposits in Lehman Caves, Great Basin National Park, NV, USA.

Lehman Caves is an extensively decorated high desert cave that represents one of the main tourist attractions in Great Basin National Park, Nevada. Although traditionally considered a water table cave, recent studies identified abundant speleogenetic features consistent with a hypogenic and, potentially, sulfuric acid origin. Here, we characterized white mineral deposits in the Gypsum Annex (GA) passage to determine whether these secondary deposits represent biogenic minerals formed during sulfuric acid corrosion and explored microbial communities associated with these and other mineral deposits throughout the cave.

Critical Roles of pH and Activated Carbon on the Speciation and Performance of an Archetypal Organometallic Complex for Aqueous Redox Flow Batteries.

A lack of suitable high-potential catholytes hinders the development of aqueous redox flow batteries (RFBs) for large-scale energy storage. Hydrolysis of the charged (oxidized) catholyte typically occurs when its redox potential approaches that of water, with a negative impact on battery performance. Here, we elucidate and address such behavior for a representative iron-based organometallic complex, showing that the associated voltage and capacity losses can be curtailed by several simple means.

Plasmon assisted synthesis of TiN-supported single-atom nickel catalysts.

We report the deposition of single atom nickel catalyst on refractory plasmonic titanium nitride (TiN) nanomaterials supports using the wet synthesis method under visible light irradiation. TiN nanoparticles efficiently absorb visible light to generate photoexcited electrons and holes. Photoexcited electrons reduce nickel precursor to deposit Ni atoms on TiN nanoparticles' surface.