Sanjukta Mondal

2 days ago | phys.org | Sanjukta Mondal

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategies use a wide range of techniques to capture CO2 from the air and store it durably, offering a frontier solution for counteracting the increasing levels of the greenhouse gas in our environment. Increasing the alkalinity of wastewater by treating it with alkaline minerals can substantially boost the CO2 sequestration abilities, finds a study appearing in Science Advances.

3 days ago | phys.org | Sanjukta Mondal

A wild ginger has a clever trick up its sleeve to lure in pollinators. No, it's not a sweet fragrance that fills the air, but the foul stench of rotting flesh and dung. To attract carrion-loving flies and beetles, the flowers of the plant genus Asarum brew a malodorous chemical called dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) with the help of a disulfide synthase (DSS)—an enzyme derived from another enzyme, methanethiol oxidase (MTOX), found in both animals and plants.

5 days ago | phys.org | Sanjukta Mondal

Some 460 million metric tons of plastic are produced globally each year, out of which a staggering 91% of plastic waste is never recycled—with 12% incinerated and 79% left to end up in landfills and oceans and linger in our environment.

1 week ago | phys.org | Sanjukta Mondal

What lives off the Northwest coasts of Spain and shrinks to one-fifth of its size when alarmed? Enter the accordion worm. This recently identified marine ribbon worm, colored brown to dark green, measures 110–250 mm long and 3–4 mm wide in its unbothered state and can expand and contract its body to form regular dark-colored ring-like folds, much like the bellows of its namesake musical instrument.

1 week ago | medicalxpress.com | Sanjukta Mondal

Not everyone needs 8 hours of sleep to function properly. Some people can feel well-rested and show no negative effects of sleep deprivation, even after just 4 hours of sleep, which is likely the result of a genetic mutation. A recent study has reported that a mutation in salt-induced kinase 3 (hSIK3-N783Y)—a gene critical for regulating sleep duration and depth—may be the reason why some people are natural short sleepers (NSS).