Monday, April 15, 2024

Using CO2 and biomass, FAMU-FSU researchers find path to more environmentally friendly recyclable plastics

FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

Modern life relies on plastic. This lightweight, adaptable product is a cornerstone of packaging, medical equipment, the aerospace and automotive industries and more. But plastic waste remains a problem as it degrades in landfills and pollutes oceans.

FAMU-FSU College of Engineering researchers have created a potential alternative to traditional petroleum-based plastic that is made from carbon dioxide (CO2) and lignin, a component of wood that is a low-cost byproduct of paper manufacturing and biofuel production. Their research was published in Advanced Functional Materials.

“Our study takes the harmful greenhouse gas CO2 and makes it into a useful raw material to produce degradable polymers or plastics,” said Hoyong Chung, an associate professor in chemical and biomedical engineering at the college. “We are not only reducing CO2 emissions, but we are producing a sustainable polymer product using the CO2.”

This study is the first to demonstrate the direct synthesis of what’s known as a cyclic carbonate monomer — a molecule made of carbon and oxygen atoms that can be linked with other molecules — made from CO2 and lignin.

By linking multiple monomers together, scientists can create synthetic polymers, long-chained molecules that can be designed to fill all manner of applications.

The material developed by Chung and his research team is fully degradable at the end of its life without producing microplastics and toxic substances. It can be synthesized at lower pressures and temperatures. And the polymer can be recycled without losing its original properties.

Using depolymerization, the researchers can convert polymers to pure monomers, which are the building blocks of polymers. This is the key to the high quality of the recycled material. The monomers can be recycled indefinitely and produce a high-quality polymer as good as the original, an improvement over previously developed and currently used polymer materials in which repeated heat exposure from melting reduces quality and allows for limited recycling.

“We can readily degrade the polymer via depolymerization, and the degraded product can synthesize the same polymer again,” Chung said. “This is more cost effective and keeps it from losing original properties of polymers over multiple recycling. This is considered a breakthrough in material science, as it enables the realization of a true circular economy.”

The newly developed material could be used for low-cost, short lifespan plastic products in such sectors as construction, agriculture, packaging, cosmetics, textiles, diapers and disposable kitchenware. With further development, Chung anticipates its use in highly specialized polymers for biomedical and energy storage applications.

The FSU Office of Commercialization provided valuable foundational support for Chung’s research. Support from an internal funding program helped previous work with lignin-based polymers, and with the help of the office, he has received patents for other polymer research.

The project was supported by federal funds awarded to the State of Florida from the United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture and support from the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. Postdoctoral researcher Arijit Ghorai was the lead author of the study.

A closer view of the polymer developed by Chung’s research team in monomer and polymer phases.

CREDIT

Scott Holstein/FAMU-FSU College of Engineering

JOURNAL

Advanced Functional Materials

DOI

10.1002/adfm.202403035

ARTICLE TITLE

CO2 and Lignin-Based Sustainable Polymers with Closed-Loop Chemical Recycling

Aging U.S. adults have retreated from civic life since pandemic began, new research shows

A study including 7,000 people age 55-plus found they're staying at home more and skipping restaurants, the gym and other 'third places'

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER

Years after the U.S. began to slowly emerge from mandatory COVID-19 lockdowns, more than half of older adults still spend more time at home and less time socializing in public spaces than they did pre-pandemic, according to new University of Colorado Boulder research.

Participants cited fear of infection and “more uncomfortable and hostile” social dynamics as key reasons for their retreat from civic life.

“The pandemic is not over for a lot of folks,” said Jessica Finlay, an assistant professor of geography whose findings are revealed in a series of new papers. “Some people feel left behind.”

The study comes amid what the U.S. Surgeon General recently called an ‘epidemic of loneliness’ in which older adults— especially those who are immune compromised or have disabilities— are particularly vulnerable.

“We found that the pandemic fundamentally altered neighborhoods, communities and everyday routines among aging Americans and these changes have long-term consequences for their physical, mental, social and cognitive health,” said Finlay.

‘I just can’t go back’

As a health geographer and environmental gerontologist, Finlay studies how social and built environments impact health as we age.

In March 2020 as restaurants, gyms, grocery stores and other gathering places shuttered amid shelter-in-place orders, she immediately wondered what the lasting impacts would be. Shortly thereafter, she launched the COVID-19 Coping Study with University of Michigan epidemiologist Lindsay Kobayashi. They began their research with a baseline and monthly survey. Since then, nearly 7,000 people over age 55 from all 50 states have participated.

The researchers check in annually, asking open-ended questions about how neighborhoods and relationships have changed, how people spend their time, opinions and experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic, and their physical and mental health.

“We’ve been in the field for some incredibly pivotal moments,” said Finlay, noting that surveys went out shortly after George Floyd was murdered in May 2020 and again after the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Collectively, the results paint a troubling picture in which a substantial portion of the older population remains isolated even after others have moved on.

In one paper published in February in the journal Wellbeing, Space and Society, 60% of respondents said they spend more time in their home while 75% said they dine out less. Some 62% said they visit cultural and arts venues less, and more than half said they attend church or the gym less than before the pandemic.

While that survey was taken two years ago, the most recent survey taken in spring 2023 showed similar trends, with more than half of respondents still reporting that their socialization and entertainment routines were different than they were pre-pandemic.

In another paper titled “I just can’t go back,” 80% of respondents reported that there are some places they are reluctant to visit in person anymore.

“The thought of going inside a gym with lots of people breathing heavily and sweating is not something I can see myself ever doing again,” said one 72-year-old male.

Those who said they still go to public places like grocery stores reported that they ducked in and out quickly and skipped casual chitchat.

“It’s been tough,” said one 68-year-old female. “You don’t stop and talk to people anymore.”

Many respondents reported that they were afraid of getting infected with a virus or infecting young or immune-compromised loved ones, and said they felt “irresponsible” for being around a lot of people.

Some reported getting dirty looks or rude comments when wearing masks or asking others to keep their distance— interpersonal exchanges that reinforced their inclination to stay home.

Revitalizing human connection

The news is not all bad, stresses Finlay.

At least 10% of older adults report exercising outdoors more frequently since the pandemic. And a small but vocal minority said that their worlds had actually opened up, as more meetings, concerts and classes became available online.
Still, Finlay worries that the loss of spontaneous interactions in what sociologists call “third places” could have serious health consequences.

Previous research shows that a lack of social connection can increase risk of premature death as much as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and exacerbate mental illness and dementia.

“For some older adults who live alone, that brief, unplanned exchange with the butcher or the cashier may be the only friendly smile they see in the day, and they have lost that,” Finlay said.

Societal health is also at risk.

“It is increasingly rare for Americans with differing sociopolitical perspectives to collectively hang out and respectfully converse,” she writes.

Finlay hopes that her work can encourage policymakers to create spaces more amenable to people of all ages who are now more cautious about getting sick – things like outdoor dining spaces, ventilated concert halls or masked or hybrid events.

She also hopes that people will give those still wearing masks or keeping distance some grace.

“It is a privilege to be able to ‘just get over’ the pandemic and many people, for a multitude of reasons, just don’t have that privilege. The world looks different to them now,” she said.

“How can we make it easier for them to re-engage?”

JOURNAL

Wellbeing Space and Society

DOI

10.1016/j.wss.2024.100184

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Altered place engagement since COVID-19: A multi-method study of community participation and health among older americans

New 3D-printing method makes printing objects more affordable and eco-friendly

The discovery has the potential to advance the world of additive manufacturing.

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

University of Florida engineers have developed a method for 3D printing called vapor-induced phase-separation 3D printing, or VIPS-3DP, to create single-material as well as multi-material objects. The discovery has the potential to advance the world of additive manufacturing.

Yong Huang, Ph. D., a professor in UF’s department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, said the printing process he and colleagues developed allows manufacturers to create custom-made objects economically and sustainably. The novel approach was reported Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

“It is more economical and much simpler than current counterpart technologies,” he said. “It’s an affordable process for printing advanced materials, including metals.”

To understand the process, imagine using special eco-friendly liquids to make the “ink” for a 3D printer. These dissolvable polymer-based liquids can include metal or ceramic particles. When you print with this ink, a non-solvent vapor is released into the printing area. This vapor makes the liquid part of the ink solidify, leaving behind the solid material — called the vapor-induced phase-separation process.

Huang explained the process allows manufacturers to 3D print multi-material parts with spatially tunable, multi-scale porosity, which means creating structures that have different kinds of substances at different locations and with varied levels of porousness.

The object’s porousness refers to it having tiny holes or gaps, and this is created by adjusting printing conditions and/or how much sacrificial material is used during the VIPS-3DP process. This can be useful for manufacturing things like porous medical implants or lightweight aerospace products.

“This is a promising method for creating metallic products that require different levels of porousness,” said Marc Sole-Gras, Ph.D., the first author of the paper and a former graduate student in Huang’s lab. “A good example of this is in bone tissue engineering. We can print an implant that is appropriately porous to ensure it integrates with the surrounding human cells.”

In addition to requiring less investments in infrastructure, the VIPS-3DP process is a greener option to traditional printing methods because it uses sustainable materials and less energy.

The UF-licensed technology has been granted two patents, and its development was supported through funding from federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy.

-30-

JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-024-47452-9

ARTICLE TITLE

Vapor-induced phase-separation-enabled versatile direct ink writing

3D mouth of an ancient jawless fish suggests they were filter-feeders, not scavengers or hunters

UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM

Early jawless fish were likely to have used bony projections surrounding their mouths to modify the mouth’s shape while they collected food.

Experts led by the University of Birmingham have used CT scanning techniques to build up the first 3D pictures of these creatures, which are some of the earliest vertebrates (animals with backbones) in which the mouth is fossilised. Their aim was to answer questions about feeding in early vertebrates without jaws in the early Devonian epoch – sometimes called the Age of Fishes – around 400 million years ago.

Feeding behaviours are commonly used by scientists to help piece together early evolution of vertebrates, and different jaw shapes and constructions can suggest a broad range of feeding strategies. In the absence of jaws, many competing theories have been developed ranging from biting and slicing, to filtering food from sediment or water.

In a new study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, an international team of palaeontologists have been able to visualise the mouth parts of one of these jawless fish, called Rhinopteraspis dunensis, in detail. The images revealed the structure and arrangement of finger-like bones that project from the lower ‘lip’ of the animal’s mouth, which the scientists believe acted to control the mouth’s size and shape as it captured food particles from surrounding water.

Senior author and project lead Dr Ivan Sansom said: “The application of CT scanning techniques to the study of fossil fish is revealing so much new information about these ancient vertebrates and giving us the opportunity to study precious and unique specimens without destructive investigation.”

Lead author Dr Richard Dearden explained: “In this case, these methods have allowed us to fit all of the small bones of this animal’s mouth together, and try and understand how it fed from this integrated system rather than by using isolated bones. Instead of a steady trend towards ‘active food acquisition’ - scavenging or hunting – we see a real diversity and range of feeding behaviours among our earliest vertebrate relatives.”

The reconstruction produced by the team shows that the bony plates around the mouth would have had limited movement, making it unlikely that the animals were hunters capable of ‘biting’. In combination with an elongated snout, they would also have found it difficult to scoop and filter sediment directly from the bottom of the sea. However these plates would have allowed it to control opening of the mouth, and perhaps strain food from water in a way also used by animals such as flamingos or oysters.

The findings offer a new perspective on theories of vertebrate evolution, since current hypotheses argue that long term evolutionary trends move from passive food consumption to increasingly predatory behaviour. In contrast, the work outlined in this paper suggests that in fact, early vertebrates had a broad range of different feeding behaviours long before jawed animals started to appear.

The study was funded by the Leverhulme Trust and is part of a collaborative project between the University of Birmingham, the Natural History Museum, and the University of Bristol, in the UK, and Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, in the Netherlands.

Early jawless fish were likely to have used bony projections surrounding their mouths to modify the mouth’s shape while they collected food.

JOURNAL

Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

DOI

10.1098/rspb.2023.2258

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Imaging analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

The three-dimensionally articulated oral apparatus of a Devonian heterostracan sheds light on feeding in Palaeozoic jawless fishes

Why won’t some people use a smartphone? And is that difficult?

Adjustments and flexibility are necessary to live without a smartphone

AALTO UNIVERSITY

Drawing of a smartphone and basic phone — IMAGE:
SOME PEOPLE AVOID SMARTPHONES AND INSTEAD USE A DUMBPHONE – A TRADITIONAL MOBILE PHONE OR A REDUCED-FEATURE DESIGNER PHONE.
view more
CREDIT: MATTI AHLGREN/AALTO UNIVERSITY

In a world where more and more services and social interaction are based on mobile apps, a smartphone has become close to a necessity. Despite this, some people avoid smartphones and instead use a dumbphone – a traditional mobile phone or a reduced-feature designer phone.

New research from Aalto University has explored why some people choose not to use smartphones and what the consequences are. The study, which will appear in the April issue of the prestigious Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, is based on interviews with participants who chose to give up their smartphone or never had one – a decision that can make daily life more burdensome, limit choices, and sometimes even increase risks.

‘Custom dumbphones can be expensive, and some of the European participants had even ordered phones from Africa that weren’t available on the domestic market,’ says Associate Professor Janne Lindqvist, head of the computer science department.

The participants all came from countries and social surroundings where smartphones were available and the obvious choice. Their reasons for turning them down varied. Some wanted to get away from the distractions a smartphone unavoidably causes, while others wanted to avoid online surveillance. For parents of under-age children, the main reasons were a desire to keep their offspring away from social media and to avoid the temptation of a smartphone interrupting time with their kids.

For a few, there were religious principles behind the choice.

‘For adherents of Haredi Jewish practice, the form factor of the phone played an important role because it doesn’t appear too technically precious or novel, and the sometimes cumbersome functionality was seen as a way to prevent excessive use. Aside from necessary communication technologies such as voice calls, text, and sometimes GPS, dumbphones usually have little else, which is valued by users as a way to focus on what they feel really matters,’ explains Annabel Rothschild, a doctoral researcher at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

People without smartphones have to get inventive

Refusing to use a smartphone caused all sorts of inconveniences in people’s daily lives, starting with the difficulty of finding a durable dumbphone. It also proved difficult to make various purchases, deal with two-factor authentication, and meet employers' expectations of reaching employees outside working hours or locations.

At the height of the pandemic, there were also mobile device-based access rights around the world that limited the interviewees’ mobility. In the worst cases, the lack of a smartphone also made life unsafe in the middle of the night, with access to quick-call rides limited to mobile apps.

‘We found that in many societies, all sorts of tricks had to be invented to make life without a smartphone work,’ says Lindqvist.

Some of the participants chose to use technical workarounds, such as stand-alone devices that replaced individual smartphone functions. Many also used a family member’s or acquaintance’s smartphone when the need arose. Thus, in practice, leading a smartphone-free life requires either technical know-how or flexible friends and family.

See peer-reviewed preprint version of the paper here.

JOURNAL

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction

Recent advances in application of polysaccharides in cosmetics

KEAI COMMUNICATIONS CO., LTD.

Mechanism diagram of polysaccharide regulating melanin synthesis through two pathways. — IMAGE:
MECHANISM DIAGRAM OF POLYSACCHARIDE REGULATING MELANIN SYNTHESIS THROUGH TWO PATHWAYS.
view more
CREDIT: QINGYUAN WU, ET AL.

With the increasing application of natural ingredients in the cosmetics industry, the beneficial properties of natural polysaccharides have been effectively harnessed. Certain polysaccharides exhibit superior moisturizing capabilities compared to hyaluronic acid, while others demonstrate whitening effects equivalent to arbutin. As such, the application and development of some polysaccharides are expected to replace some artificial and expensive traditional cosmetics.

In a recent review published in the Journal of Dermatologic Science and Cosmetic Technology, a team of researchers from Inner Mongolia University and The Sorbonne University of France the biological mechanisms underlying the cosmetic properties of polysaccharides, including moisturizing, whitening, anti-aging, and skin repair.

“Due to the complex macromolecular structure of polysaccharides, they often contain multiple active fragments, which can promote various activities through distinct pathways,” says corresponding author Yongmin Zhang. “Factors such as molecular weight, monosaccharide composition and functional groups impact their cosmetic efficacy, with optimal results achieved when these structural parameters are controlled within specific ranges.”

Moreover, the authors noted that the properties of polysaccharides can be fine-tuned by adjusting extraction methods and using polysaccharide modification techniques to enhance their cosmetic activity.

“Currently, the research on the mechanism of activity may not be comprehensive, needing further study on the monosaccharides, functional groups and structural fragments with the highest activity among polysaccharides,” adds Zhang. “Understanding how the highly active polysaccharide binds to the receptor and finally acts on the cell, is important. This knowledge will enable the matching of regulated polysaccharide structures with aesthetic activity detection.”

The authors concluded that by identifying the most effective structural units of polysaccharides in exerting aesthetic activity, the cosmetic efficacy may be maximized, potentially further enhancing the application value of polysaccharides in the cosmetics industry.

Promoting effect of polysaccharide on the wound repair process

CREDIT

Qingyuan Wu, et al.

Contact the author: Yongmin Zhang, Inner Mongolia University Research Center for Glycochemistry of Characteristic Medicinal Resources, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China, yongmin.zhang@upmc.fr

The publisher KeAi was established by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media Ltd to unfold quality research globally. In 2013, our focus shifted to open access publishing. We now proudly publish more than 100 world-class, open access, English language journals, spanning all scientific disciplines. Many of these are titles we publish in partnership with prestigious societies and academic institutions, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

JOURNAL

Journal of Dermatologic Science and Cosmetic Technology

DOI

10.1016/j.jdsct.2024.100004

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Literature review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Recent advances on application of polysaccharides in cosmetics

COI STATEMENT

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Yongmin Zhang is the Co-Editor-in-Chief for Journal of Dermatologic Science and Cosmetic Technology and was not involved in the editorial review or the decision to publish this article.

Novel UV broadband spectrometer revolutionizes air pollutant analysis

The laser-based technology developed at TU Graz enables the continual real-time analysis of air pollutants and their interaction with other gases and sunlight

Peer-Reviewed Publication

GRAZ UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Broadband UV dual-comb spectrometer — IMAGE:
BIRGITTA SCHULTZE-BERNHARDT (2ND FROM RIGHT) AND HER TEAM AT THE WORLD'S FIRST BROADBAND UV DUAL-COMB SPECTROMETER.
view more
CREDIT: LUNGHAMMER - NAWI GRAZ

Sunlight has a major influence on chemical processes. Its high-energy UV radiation in particular is strongly absorbed by all materials and triggers photochemical reactions of the substances present in the air. A well-known example is the formation of ground-level ozone when UV light hits nitrogen oxides. A research team led by Birgitta Schultze-Bernhardt from the Institute of Experimental Physics at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) is now utilising this high reaction potential for a new method of environmental monitoring. They have developed the world’s first broadband UV dual-comb spectrometer with which air pollutants can be continually measured and their reaction with the environment can be observed in real time. A paper on the development has been recently published in the journal Optica.

Dual-comb spectrometers have been around for almost 20 years. Here, a source emits light in a broad wavelength range, which, when arranged according to its optical frequencies, is reminiscent of the teeth of a comb. If this light penetrates a gaseous material sample, the molecules it contains absorb some of the light. The altered light wavelengths allow conclusions to be drawn about the ingredients and optical properties of the analysed gas.

Laser light pulses cause gas molecules to rotate and vibrate

The special feature of the spectrometer developed by Birgitta Schultze-Bernhardt is that a laser system emits double light pulses in the ultraviolet spectrum. When this UV light meets gas molecules, it excites the molecules electronically and also causes them to rotate and vibrate – so-called rovibronic transitions – which are unique to each gaseous substance. In addition, the broadband UV dual-comb spectrometer combines three properties that conventional spectrometers have so far only been able to offer in part: (1) a large bandwidth of the emitted UV light, which means that a great deal of information about the optical properties of the gas samples can be collected with a single measurement; (2) a high spectral resolution, which in future will also enable the investigation of complex gas mixtures such as our Earth’s atmosphere; and (3) short measurement times when analysing the gas samples. “This makes our spectrometer suitable for sensitive measurements by which changes in gas concentrations and the course of chemical reactions can be observed very precisely,” explains Lukas Fürst, PhD student in the Coherent Sensing working group and first author of the publication.

Developed and tested using formaldehyde as an example

The researchers developed and tested their spectrometer using formaldehyde. The air pollutant is produced when fossil fuels and wood are burned, as well as indoors through vapours from adhesives used in furniture. “With our new spectrometer, formaldehyde emissions in the textile or wood processing industries as well as in cities with increased smog levels can be monitored in real time, thus improving the protection of personnel and the environment,” explains Birgitta Schultze-Bernhardt. The application of the spectrometer can also be transferred to other air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and ozone and other climate-relevant trace gases. The research team hopes that this will provide new findings about their effects in the atmosphere. Based on this, new strategies for improving air quality could be derived.

This research area is anchored in the Field of Expertise “Advanced Materials Science“, one of five strategic foci of TU Graz. The research project was funded as part of an ERC Starting Grant (Horizon 2020, project number 947288) and an Austrian Science Fund START award (project number Y1254).

First author Lukas Fürst leaning over the broadband UV dual-comb spectrometer that combines a wide bandwidth of emitted UV light, high spectral resolution and short measurement times.

CREDIT

Lunghammer - NAWI Graz

JOURNAL

Optica

DOI

10.1364/OPTICA.516783

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Broadband near-ultraviolet dual comb spectroscopy

Study shedding new light on Earth’s global carbon cycle could help assess liveability of other planets

UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL

Research has uncovered important new insights into the evolution of oxygen, carbon, and other vital elements over the entire history of Earth – and it could help assess which other planets can develop life, ranging from plants to animals and humans.

The study, published today in Nature Geoscience and led by a researcher at the University of Bristol, reveals for the first time how the build up of carbon-rich rocks has accelerated oxygen production and its release into the atmosphere. Until now the exact nature of how the atmosphere became oxygen-rich has long eluded scientists and generated conflicting explanations.

As carbon dioxide is steadily emitted by volcanoes, it ends up entering the ocean and forming rocks like limestone. As global stocks of these rocks build up they can then release their carbon during tectonic processes, including mountain building and metamorphism.

Using this knowledge, the scientists built a unique sophisticated computer model to more accurately chart key changes in the carbon, nutrient and oxygen cycles deep into Earth’s history, over 4 billion years of the planet’s lifetime.

Lead author and biogeochemist Dr Lewis Alcott, Lecturer in Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol, said: “This breakthrough is important and exciting because it may help us understand how planets, other than Earth, have the potential to support intelligent, oxygen-breathing life.

“Previously we didn’t have a clear idea of why oxygen rose from very low concentrations to present-day concentrations, as computer models haven’t previously been able to accurately simulate all the possible feedbacks together. This has puzzled scientists for decades and created different theories.”

The discovery indicates that older planets, originating billions of years ago like Earth, may have better prospects to accumulate enough carbon-rich deposits in their crust, which could facilitate rapid recycling of carbon and nutrients for life.

The findings showed this gradual carbon enrichment of the crust results in ever-increasing recycling rates of carbon and various minerals, including the nutrients needed for photosynthesis, the process green plants use sunlight to absorb nutrients from carbon dioxide and water. This cycle therefore steadily speeds up oxygen production over the passage of Earth’s history.

The research, which started whilst Dr Alcott was a Hutchinson Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University in the United States, paves the way for future work to further unravel the complex interrelationships between planetary temperature, oxygen, and nutrients.

Co-author Prof Benjamin Mills, Professor of Earth System Evolution at the University of Leeds, said: “We have lots of information about distant stars and the size of the planets that orbit them. Soon this could be used to make a prediction of the planet’s potential chemistry, and new advances in telescope technology should let us know if we are correct."

JOURNAL

Nature Geoscience

ARTICLE TITLE

‘Crustal carbonate build-up as a driver for Earth’s oxygenation’

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

10-Apr-2024