Batteries are included (unfortunately) – A chemical cocktail of toxic gases is released when you burn alkaline batteries, according to the latest research from Spain. The investigating team highlights the issue with respect to municipal waste incineration, which is used as an alternative to landfill and suggests that recycling is perhaps the only environmentally viable alternative.
Today, UK government departments BERR and Defra, in conjunction with the Devolved Administrations,
today published a Consultation Document containing draft Regulations setting out proposed systems for the collection, treatment and recycling of waste portable, industrial and automotive batteries.
Cutting heroin analysis – Analysing samples of street heroin just got easier as researchers have developed a statistical method for removing uninformative signals from their near-infra-red spectra of seized samples.
Sperm and eggs – Scientists in Sweden have determined the precise molecular structure of a protein, ZP3, essential to the interaction of the mammalian egg coat and sperm. The work could eventually lead to improved contraceptives, has implications for fertility studies, and might, in some sense, explain how new species arise.
Untangling Alzheimer molecules – Magnetic resonance spectroscopy provides new clues about how a dipeptide molecule blocks the formation of the toxic amyloid beta-peptide aggregates in the mouse brain. The discovery could put paid to the theory that amyloid beta-peptide causes Alzheimer’s disease and suggest a therapeutic lead that focus on the real culprit at an earlier stage.