The largest challenge for bioconversion from raw materials to bioethanol is high processing costs, resulting in higher prices for bioethanol than for gasoline. A Virginia Tech researcher has developed a cost-effective pretreatment process that integrates cellulose solvent pretreatment, concentrated acid saccharification, and organosolv to precipitate dissolved cellulose, extract lignin, and enable effective chemical recycling. After pretreatment and reagent recycling, lignocellulose can be fractionated into four products: lignin, hemicelluose sugars, amorphous cellulose, and acetic acid.
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The chemical warning signals produced by fear improve cognitive performance, according to a study at Rice University in Houston. Women who were exposed to chemicals from fear-induced sweat performed more accurately on word-association tasks than did women exposed to chemicals from other types of sweat or no sweat at all.
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The Luddite strikes out with some of his readers while Owen Linzmayer isn’t getting invited to any birthday parties in today’s Rant ‘n’ Raves.
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It’s good to be a king-sized conglomerate. The Forbes Global 2000 tracks the world’s biggest corporate giants. From Forbes.com.
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Readers weigh in on Web 2.0 and digital music. And some folks just can’t get enough Flash. In Webmonkey Mailbox.
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Contradicting earlier studies, Swedish researchers conclude that long-term use of mobile phones increases the risk of brain tumors.
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A San Diego biotech company claims its blood-cleaning technology will cure bird flu and a slew of other infections like anthrax and Marburg. By Mark Baard.
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Jim Hagedorn wants to sell you the pest-proof, no-mow, genetically engineered lawn of the future. But first he has to head off a grass-roots rebellion. By David Wolman from Wired magazine.
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Vivid Entertainment is selling DVDs over the internet — without actually including the DVD — but its delivery company doesn’t want to talk about it. Commentary by Regina Lynn. This column is available as a .
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