Through a novel formula a group of researchers are working to boost the capability of certain microorganisms to naturally extract contaminants such as sulphur-associated coal. Although coal is the most abundant fossil fuel in the world, it is also a polluting source after its combustion as it produces adverse environmental factors due to emission of sulphur gases into the environment, especially in large-scale industrial processes.

An international group of scientists, with the participation of The Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology of Salamanca (IRNASA, CSIC center), has discovered a regulatory key process in certain microorganisms which produce methane, the main ingredient of natural gas. This process is similar to the one that activates photosynthesis in plants and finding it in anaerobic microorganisms is an important change for the evolutionary biology. That is the reason why this work has been published at the prestigious scientific magazine Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).

Analysis performed on sexual behavior of quails showed that eliminating the stimuli, contrary of what was expected, increased the behavior. The research analyzed conduct learning using exercises which link stimuli to responses (just as human beings understand that turning a key opens a door), and emphasizing of the effects produced when stimuli are suspended.

How could these animals move around in spite of their size? This is the question that a group of scientists of different countries tried to answer. Among them was Rodolfo Coria, Independent researcher of CONICET at theInstituteofPaleobiologyand Geology (IIPByG, UNRN).

Worn out bills will now have a second useful life. They may be turned into material which would help decontaminate wastewater and remove pollutants from the environment. When a bill deteriorates it is destroyed in high speed machines which chop it into small confetti-size pieces. This waste is handled differently in each country; although common practice is to dispose it in sanitary landfills or incineration.