Gizmorama - June 15, 2015

Good Morning,

The next time you fly, when you need to fuel up, all you need to say is, "Gimme some sugar!" It seems that scientists have created an eco-friendly jet fuel from sugarcane. Sweet!

Learn about this and more interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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*-- Scientists create eco-friendly jet fuel from sugarcane --*
BERKELEY, Calif. (UPI) - Airplanes release a significant amount of CO2 with each takeoff and touchdown, and the EPA recently announced plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions by the airline industry.

But researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have a solution: a sugarcane-derived jet fuel they say reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent.

Over the last quarter century, scientists have developed a variety of alternative fuels, sourced from all sorts of natural gases and biomasses. These fuels now power cars, trucks, buses and more. But scientists have yet to offer a viable alternative to the jet fuel that powers planes.

The demands of an airplane engine are many. Planes require fuel that is oxygen-free and stable at very low temperatures. Proper jet fuel must also possess the right boiling point and an ideal degree of lubricity so as not to erode the turbines over time.

A team of scientists led by Alexis Bell claim their new fuel meets all those qualifications -- and it's better for the environment.

"All of the carbon and any hydrogen required for the fuel are derived from biomass, rather than fossil fuels," Bell told Quartz.

Instead of using enzymes to break down and turn sugarcane biomass into fuel, Bell and his colleagues employ a substitute catalyst -- substances that elicit a desired chemical reaction but which don't actually participate.

After fermentation has broken the sugarcane down into carbon atoms like acetone, butanol and ethanol, the catalysts work to string together longer carbon atom chains called methyl ketones that can be used as the building blocks for effective fuel.

The work of Bell and his research partners, which has been funded by BP, was recently detailed in the journal PNAS.


*-- MoleScope helps people monitor moles for melanoma --*
BURNABY, British Columbia (UPI) - A new device and smartphone app called MoleScope may help doctors catch melanoma in patients earlier by allowing them to receive high-quality images of moles to better monitor them over time.

Using a mini microscope that attaches to a smartphone, the app takes pictures magnified up to 10 times and uploads them to a cloud-based system where doctors can access and review them without patients needing to schedule an appointment and come to an office.

"For patients who are at a higher risk of skin cancer, it makes sense to monitor them this way, and it seems to be user-friendly," Dr. Jason Rivers, a Vancouver dermatologist and a medical adviser to MetaOptima, told The Vancouver Sun.

Rivers, who has used a prototype of the device, said the device follows what doctors advise patients to do anyway: take photos of their moles to monitor them over time.

MoleScope is expected to help in areas where there is a shortage of dermatologists or no easy access to medical professionals who can inspect and track moles that may be cancerous.

The device and app were developed by Dr. Maryam Sadeghi at Simon Fraser University, and it is now being manufactured and marketed by her company MetaOptima Technology. Sadeghi said the company is looking for early adopter dermatologists to begin using it, and will be offering access to a limited number of consumers, as well.

MetaOptima was spun off by Simon Fraser University through its Venture Connection program, which guides students from research and development of products to launching start-up companies that bring the products to market.

"It was obvious from the outset that Maryam had identified an unmet medical need and that she had strong insights in the application of technology to address that need," said Hugh MacNaught, Mentor-In-Residence at the SFU program, said in a press release.

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