Researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Fathom Bristol used a hydraulic model to consider the degree to which human-caused climate change may have affected flooding in Houston in 2017 during Hurricane Harvey. Resources at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center were used to quantify the increase in Houston flood area and depth and to host a portal where other scientists and the public can access and explore the resulting data.
Key to Cleaner Combustion? Look to the Stars
6H
6, the benzene ring – an elegant, hexagonal molecule comprised of 6 carbon and 6 hydrogen atoms.
Astrophysicists say that the benzene ring could be the fundamental building block of polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons or PAHs, the most basic materials formed from the explosion of dying, carbon-rich stars. That swirling mass of matter would eventually give shape to the earliest forms of carbon – precursors to molecules some scientists say are connected to the synthesis of the earliest forms of life on Earth.
Paradoxically, PAHs have a dark side, too. The industrial processes behind crude oil refineries and the inner-workings of gas-powered combustion engines can emit PAHs, which can snowball into toxic air pollutants like soot.
ORNL researchers found the papain-like protease (in orange) can bind to the human interferon-stimulated gene 15 protein (in blue) in multiple ways and.