Nature Favors all Creatures Great and Small Over Medium

balls

Rutgers researchers conduct survey on the body sizes of Earth’s organisms. Life may come in all shapes and sizes, but in nature the most extreme size ranges predominate, according to Rutgers researchers. A survey of body sizes of Earth organisms, published Wednesday in the science journal PLoS ONE, shows that the planet’s biomass – the material that makes up all living organisms – is …

Preserving the High Seas and the Life Within

sea turtle

Rutgers professor participating in historic ocean treaty negotiations predicts it will increase ocean resilience to climate change. Climate change. Overfishing. Seabed floor mining. These are some of the epic challenges that would be addressed by a historic United Nations treaty protecting ocean biodiversity that gained backing in early March when a significant majority of nations agreed on language supporting it. …

Rutgers Scientists Identify Substance That May Have Sparked Life on Earth

A computer rendering of the Nickelback peptide shows the backbone nitrogen atoms (blue) that bond two critical nickel atoms (orange). Rutgers scientists who identified this piece of a protein believe it may provide clues to detecting planets on the verge of producing life. Photo: Nanda Laboratory.

Research could provide clues to extraterrestrial life. A team of Rutgers scientists dedicated to pinpointing the primordial origins of metabolism – a set of core chemical reactions that first powered life on Earth – has identified part of a protein that could provide scientists clues to detecting planets on the verge of producing life. The research, published in Science Advances, has important implications …

SEBS Professors Study the Microbiology of Arsenic-Contaminated Agricultural Soils in the Mekong River and Red River Deltas

The research team of Max Häggblom, John Reinfelder, Vien Minh Duong and Hang Dam sampling soil cores in the Mekong Delta. Photo: courtesy of Max Häggblom and John Reinfelder.

Distinguished Professor Max Häggblom, chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, and professor John Reinfelder, Department of Environmental Sciences, visited Vietnam to initiate collaborative research on microbial arsenic metabolism in rice paddy soils with investigators at Can Tho University, College of Agriculture and Hanoi University of Science and Technology, School of Biotechnology and Food Technology. The research was funded …

Rutgers Students Work to Bring Wind Energy to New Jersey

wind turbines

This September, Gov. Phil Murphy signed an order to increase New Jersey’s offshore wind goal to nearly 50 percent by 2040. A group of 12 Rutgers students is hard at work to help the state meet that deadline. They are part of the inaugural cohort of the Wind Institute Fellowship Program: a pilot launched last April at Rutgers and several …

Rutgers and NJ Board of Public Utilities Offer Scientists Opportunity to Work on Climate Change Mitigation and Clean Energy Policy

climate graphic

The Eagleton Science and Politics Fellowship at Rutgers University–New Brunswick is partnering with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) to create a Climate Action Track for Eagleton Science Fellows. Rutgers Eagleton Science Fellows Program places PhD-level scientists, engineers and health care professionals as in-house science aides in state government offices to help develop and implement science-based policies. This new partnership …

Microscopic Chalk Discs in Oceans Play Key Role in Carbon Cycle by Propagating Viruses

Scanning electron microscope image of the microscopic chalk disks called coccoliths formed by the marine algae Emiliania huxleyi. Courtesy of Bidle Lab

Rutgers-led research finds biomineral structures formed by marine algae foment viral infection, contributing positively to capture CO2. A Rutgers-led team of scientists studying virus-host interactions of a globally abundant, armor-plated marine algae, Emiliania huxleyi, has found that the circular, chalk plates the algae produce can act as catalysts for viral infection, which has vast consequences for trillions of microscopic oceanic creatures and …

Rutgers Tackles Climate Change Solutions at White House Forum

Rutgers joins a White House event on climate change exploring how innovative actions developed at colleges and universities can benefit surrounding communities and beyond. Nick Romanenko/Rutgers University

Rutgers is joining several colleges and universities this week at a White House forum on climate change exploring how innovative actions developed on campuses can benefit surrounding communities and beyond. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy will bring together climate, sustainability and resilience leaders and educators from colleges and universities across the country with federal agency leaders …

Rutgers Professor Elected to Prestigious National Academy of Engineering

Lily Young, Distinguished Professor in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, is among 106 new members of the National Academy of Engineering within the United States and 18 internationally. Nick Romanenko/Rutgers University

Lily Young has conducted research as an environmental microbiologist at Rutgers for more than 30 years. Lily Young has spent more than three decades at Rutgers using her skills as a scientist to gain a better understanding of the contaminants in the environment while working with engineers to find a solution to fix the problem. “I became an environmental microbiologist …

Award-Winning Film Highlights Rutgers Efforts to Protect Basil From Blight

Rutgers researchers and students out in their field of basil. Micah Seidel

Fields of Devotion provides a window into the science behind developing disease- and climate change-resistant food crops. When a devastating disease wiped out New Jersey farmers’ basil fields, growers turned to Rutgers scientists for help. Now the public will be able to follow the unique partnership between local farmers and Rutgers scientists in Fields of Devotion, a science-in-action film and the winner of the …