Earth E. coli engineered to make convenient 'drop-in' biofuel Genetically modified bacteria that munch on sugar to produce refinable fuels could bring down the cost of switching to cleaner energy. Although many biodiesels produced from crops and cooking fat can be fed directly into car and truck engines, they are not suitable for existing refineries and pipelines, and so require a separate distribution network. … News
Life Recreate life to understand how life began Incubating life's chemical precursors Building artificial cells will tell us much about the origins of life – and may explain how Darwinian evolution began, says Nobel laureate Jack Szostak IMAGINE Earth 4 billion years ago. It is a world of oceans, peppered with volcanic land masses resembling Hawaii and Iceland. The volcanoes spew poisonous gases … Opinion
Space Rethinking Einstein: The end of space-time Is it time to tear apart the fabric of space-time? Physicists struggling to reconcile gravity with quantum mechanics have hailed a theory – inspired by pencil lead – that could make it all very simple IT WAS a speech that changed the way we think of space and time. The year was 1908, and the … Features
Enigma Number 1607 England 1, Germany 4 At the football World Cup in South Africa, the England team lost to Germany 1-4 and so was eliminated from the tournament. In the equations below, each of the integers 1 to 9 has been replaced consistently by a different letter, in such a way that: (E x N x G … Regulars
The clatter of Jade Mountain The clatter of Jade Mountain DOZENS of readers responded to our plea for help finding out what a "pyridaben carbazole sound" might be (26 June) . We had been disappointed to find that the all-knowing internet did not help, and had suggested readers might like to send us their suggestions the old-fashioned way. One in … Regulars