The world’s population is expected to reach 10 billion people by 2050. A growing population means more food will be needed to feed that population. According to the United Nations, food production must double to meet that demand. Livestock products are a piece of that demand. There are challenges to be overcome and changes to …
Researchers from Michigan State University’s top-ranked School of Packaging have developed a way to make a promising, sustainable alternative to petroleum-based plastics more biodegradable. A team led by Rafael Auras has made a bio-based polymer blend that’s compostable in both home and industrial settings. The work is published in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & …
MSU Professor Lawrence Drzal leads the charge on a nanomaterial called graphene that could be in the next generation of EV batteries Most people are familiar with graphite, the dark silver-colored crystalline form of carbon commonly used in pencil lead. In fact, graphite derives its name from its usage (graphein is “to write” in Greek). What’s …
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, or DOE-SC, has awarded $529 million to continue world-leading nuclear science research at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University. The new cooperative agreement provides $529,068,000 over five years to operate FRIB as a DOE-SC user facility to enable unprecedented discovery opportunities envisioned by …
For most people, the quest for the perfect strawberry begins and ends in the produce aisle: perusing small towers of clamshell containers – plastic treasure chests of ruby-red fruit – to find the right one to take home and savor. But for Cholani Weebadde, associate professor and Plant Breeder for International Programs at Michigan State …
Making artificial intelligence more reliable Artificial intelligence has entered the mainstream in a way the world has never experienced before. Millions of people are using tools such as ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion for AI-generated help answering questions, creating images, and accomplishing a host of other tasks. But anyone who has used these systems has probably …
University Distinguished Professor devotes career to cause and effect of air pollution. This summer’s hazy skies caused by the wildfires in Canada prompted air pollution to rise to the center of attention in Michigan and across the nation. Alerts issued by state and federal agencies warning against prolonged outdoor exposure to the lingering smoke gave …
Metabolism regulates far more than just body fat—it encompasses all the various life-sustaining chemical reactions that occur within an organism. When food is broken down into energy, a wide range of metabolites are produced. Primary metabolites help regulate and enable normal growth, while secondary metabolites provide unique advantages to an organism based on adaptations to …
Michigan State University molecular plant scientist Dan Chitwood has received a $640,000 grant, part of a larger $1.5 million collaborative award from the National Science Foundation, to learn how to predict a plant’s phenotype — its observable physical traits — from its genetic makeup or molecular profile. While current sequencing technologies allow the extraction of …
Understanding the intricate puzzle pieces that make up the photosynthetic systems of plants can help researchers know how to grow and create plants that can survive in changing climate conditions. Michigan State University scientists in the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory (PRL) are working to illuminate this understanding by investigating specific chloroplast proteins and the role …
