Sandia National Laboratories is developing computer models that show how radioactive waste interacts with soil and sediments, shedding light on waste disposal and how to keep contamination away from drinking water.
Computer power clicks with geochemistry
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Iron-reducing bacteria could detoxify chromium
Hexavalent chromium is a major environmental contaminant at several Department of Energy (DOE) sites as well as other sites around the world. Iron-reducing bacteria can convert the oxidized form of iron in clay minerals, called ferric iron, into the reduced form of iron, called ferrous iron, which can then reduce hexavalent chromium to trivalent chromium—the reduced, insoluble and less toxic form of the heavy metal that poses a lower risk of groundwater contamination. This study sheds light on the poorly understood process by which iron-reducing bacteria reduce ferric iron in clay minerals, resulting in ferrous iron that could then immobilize and detoxify chromium.
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Improving the stability of clay for construction
Researchers at the Universiti Teknologi MARA mixed clay with various waste materials to enhance its engineering quality.
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Prehistoric 'bookkeeping' continued long after invention of writing
An archaeological dig in southeast Turkey has uncovered a large number of clay tokens that were used as records of trade until the advent of writing, or so it had been believed.
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Clay minerals are a possible new answer to MRSA and other 'superbug' infections
Superbugs, they're called: Pathogens, or disease-causing microorganisms, resistant to multiple antibiotics. Such antibiotic resistance is now a major public health concern.
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Researchers create safe, resistant material to store waste
(Phys.org) —Storing industrial waste has never been a pretty job, and it's getting harder. New techniques for refining such metals as aluminum and vanadium, for example, also yield new byproducts that have to be sealed away from human and environmental contact. And the practice of "scrubbing" the exhaust of coal-fired power plants keeps chemicals like sulfur dioxide from entering the air, but produces a more concentrated residue.
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Repaired Opportunity rover readies for 'Marathon Valley'
With a newly cleared memory, it's time for Opportunity to resume the next stage of its long, long Martian drive. The next major goal for the long-lived rover is to go to Marathon Valley, a spot that (in images from orbit) appears to have clay minerals on site. Clay tends to form in the presence of water, so examining the region could provide more information about Mars' wet, ancient past.
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Drilling into an active earthquake fault in New Zealand
Three University of Michigan geologists are participating in an international effort to drill nearly a mile beneath the surface of New Zealand this fall to bring back rock samples from an active fault known to generate major earthquakes.
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Opportunity Mars rover pushes past 41 kilometers of driving on red planet
Opportunity is the rover that keeps on going and going. It recently broke an extraterrestrial driving record after 10 years of working on the Red Planet.
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Shaping the future of energy storage with conductive clay
In the race to find materials of ever increasing thinness, surface area and conductivity to make better performing battery electrodes, a lump of clay might have just taken the lead. Materials scientists from Drexel University's College of Engineering invented the clay, which is both highly conductive and can easily be molded into a variety of shapes and sizes. It represents a turn away from the rather complicated and costly processing—currently used to make materials for lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors—and toward one that looks a bit like rolling out cookie dough with results that are even sweeter from an energy storage standpoint.
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Using clay to fight fish disease
A type of clay used in cosmetics, medicine, and papermaking may be just what aquaculture farmers need to fight columnaris—a costly and deadly bacterial disease that affects freshwater finfish worldwide.
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Improved soil condition increases moisture for crops
Tillage practices that conserve moisture, plants that use water more efficiently and soil with more organic matter have produced higher yields even in dry conditions, according to soil scientist David Clay, professor of plant science.
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Clay can be used for carbon capture
Carbon capture will play a central role in helping the nations of the world manage and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Many materials are being tested for the purpose of capturing CO2. New results show that ordinary clay can work just as effectively as more advanced materials.
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Long-term study on ticks reveals shifting migration patterns, disease risks
Over nearly 15 years spent studying ticks, Indiana University's Keith Clay has found southern Indiana to be an oasis free from Lyme disease, the condition most associated with these arachnids that are the second most common parasitic disease vector on Earth.
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Bio-based insulation materials may be the construction industry's best kept secret
Good news for those planning to build a new home: novel insulation materials based on plant waste, such as straw, clay and grasses could offer 20% better insulation than traditional materials.
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Opportunity's 7th Mars winter to include new study area
Operators of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity plan to drive the rover into a valley this month where Opportunity will be active through the long-lived rover's seventh Martian winter, examining outcrops that contain clay minerals.
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Image: July 7, 2003, NASA's Opportunity rover launches to Mars
On July 7, 2003, NASA launched its second Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, aboard a Delta II launch vehicle. Opportunity's dash to Mars began with liftoff at 11:18:15 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
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Clay sheets stack to form proton conductors
Northwestern Engineering professor Jiaxing Huang has developed a cheaper, more stable proton-conducting system. To find the key ingredient, he had to look no further than his own backyard.
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Chimpanzees binge on clay to detox and boost the minerals in their diet
Wild chimpanzees in the forests of Uganda are increasingly eating clay to supplement the minerals in their diet, according to a long-term international study published in the early version of the journal PLOS ONE.
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Opportunity Mars rover preparing for active winter
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is conducting a "walkabout" survey of "Marathon Valley," where the rover's operators plan to use the vehicle through the upcoming Martian winter, and beyond, to study the context for outcrops bearing clay minerals.
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