What makes a data visualization memorable?

Bad data visualization, one packed with too much text, excessive ornamentation, gaudy colors, and clip art, are redundant at best and useless at their worst. Sometimes called “chart junk,” there is debate among visualization experts if these extra elements serve a purpose.

UCLA engineers develop new metabolic pathway to more efficiently convert sugars into biofuels

Scientists at UCLA have created a new synthetic metabolic pathway for hydrolyzing glucose that could lead to a 50% increase in the production of biofuels! Nearly all organisms use glycolysis to convert 4 of the 6 carbon atoms in glucose into 2-carbon molecules of acetyl-CoA. Acetyl-CoA is used to make biofuels (ethanol & butanol), fatty acids, amino acids, and pharmaceutical products. The problem is that the 2 remaining carbon atoms in glucose are lost as carbon dioxide gas and this is seen as a major inefficiency in the biorefining process.

Cold, Salty and Promiscuous - Gene-shuffling Microbes Dominate Antarctica’s Deep Lake

Antarctica’s Deep Lake has been isolated from the ocean for 3,500 years. This unique saltwater ecosystem remains liquid in extreme cold and provides researchers a unique niche for studying the evolution of extremophiles. Deep Lake is dominated by haloarchaea, microbes that require high salt concentrations to grow and are naturally adapted to -20°C. In a detailed analysis published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers have, for the first time, been able to present Deep Lake’s microbial community ecology.