Month: January 2024

Gotta go? We’ve finally found out what makes urine yellow

The yellow color comes from bacteria metabolizing waste from red blood cells.

Image of a series of scientific sample tubes filled with yellow liquids.

Enlarge (credit: Science Photo Library)

There are many mysteries in life that we end up shrugging off. Why is urine yellow? It just is, right? Rather than flush that 125-year-old question down the toilet, scientists sought out the answer, discovering a previously unknown microbial enzyme was to blame.

The enzyme that has eluded us for so long is now known as bilirubin reductase. It was identified by researcher and assistant professor Brantley Hall of the University of Maryland, who was part of a team based at the university and the National Institutes of Health.

Bilirubin is an orange pigment released by red blood cells after they die. Gut microbes then use bilirubin reductase to break down bilirubin into colorless urobilinogen, which degrades into yellowish urobilin, giving urine that infamous hue. While urobilin previously had an association with the color of urine, the enzyme that starts the process by producing urobilinogen was unknown until now.

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Air pollution from Canada’s tar sands is much worse than we thought

Oil operations release vast quantities of damaging particles and noxious compounds.

Aerial Views Of Oil Sands Operations

Enlarge / Aerial view of the Athabasca oil sands near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. (credit: Bloomberg Creative via Getty)

Canada’s tar sands have gained infamy for being one of the world’s most polluting sources of oil, thanks to the large amounts of energy and water use required for their extraction. A new study says the operations are also emitting far higher levels of a range of air pollutants than previously known, with implications for communities living nearby and far downwind.

The research, published Thursday in Science, took direct measurements of organic carbon emissions from aircraft flying above the tar sands, also called oil sands, and found levels that were 20 to 64 times higher than what companies were reporting. Total organic carbon includes a wide range of compounds, some of which can contribute directly to hazardous air pollution locally and others that can react in the atmosphere to form small particulate matter, or PM 2.5, a dangerous pollutant that can travel long distances and lodge deep in the lungs.

The study found that tar sands operations were releasing as much of these pollutants as all other human-made sources in Canada combined. For certain classes of heavy organic compounds, which are more likely to form particulates downwind, the concentrations were higher than what’s generally found in large metropolises like Los Angeles.

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(g+) Teil 7 unseres Tutorials: Wie das Powershell-Skript Objekte zurückgibt

Powershell-Tutorial Ein gutes Powershell-Skript sollte Objekte zurückgeben. Im letzten Teil unseres Tutorials zeigen wir, wie das geht – und außerdem, wie man Parameter typisiert. Eine Anleitung von Holger Voges (Powershell-Tutorial, Server)

Powershell-Tutorial Ein gutes Powershell-Skript sollte Objekte zurückgeben. Im letzten Teil unseres Tutorials zeigen wir, wie das geht - und außerdem, wie man Parameter typisiert. Eine Anleitung von Holger Voges (Powershell-Tutorial, Server)