The Column-07-01-2011

Termite study

The Column

A study of the processes that termites use to break down plant cell walls could provide new enzymatic pretreatment processes for the production of biofuels.

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PBDEs in pasture

The Column

In the first controlled study of PDBE concentrations looking at soil, grass and the milk of cows grazed on flood-prone land on industrial river catchments, it was found that even if the land itself becomes polluted these river sediments do not introduce an increased health risk in cow?s milk.

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Seal Sickness

The Column

A recent study has used a method designed to test human blood to confirm the presence of ciguatoxins in living seals.

SIC vs HPLC

The Column

As a separation technique, it is claimed that sequential injection chromatography (SIC) has a number of advantages over HPLC, but also suffers from some limitations.