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Food News- The Food Assistance Landscape, FY 2009 Annual ReportThis report examines trends in USDA’s food and nutrition assistance programs through fiscal 2009. It also discusses a recent ERS report that examines the prevalence, severity, and characteristics of food insecurity in households with children. […]
- Wheat DataThis data product contains statistics on wheat - including the five classes of wheat: hard red winter, hard red spring, soft red winter, white, and durum - and rye. Includes data published in the monthly Wheat Outlook and previously annual Wheat Yearbook. Data are monthly, quarterly, and/or annual depending upon the data series. […]
- Feed Grains DatabaseInteractive database that contains statistics on four feed grains (corn, grain sorghum, barley, and oats), foreign coarse grains (feed grains plus rye, millet, and mixed grains), hay, and related items. Tables previously published annually in the Feed Yearbook are available and updated continuously as data are added to the database. Custom queries also allow […]
- Cross-Price Elasticities of Demand Across 114 CountriesThis report presents a simple methodology for calculating cross-price elasticities across countries, using the Frisch own-price elasticity. Cross-price elasticities are calculated for 9 major consumption categories from the 1996 International Comparison Program data across 114 countries. The consumption categories are: food, beverage, and tobacco; clothing a […]
- Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry OutlookTimely livestock, dairy, and poultry information, focusing on current and forecast production, price, and trade statistics for each of the sectors. […]
- The Food Assistance Landscape, FY 2009 Annual Report
- What Everyone Should Know About Energy
- What is the role of coal in the United States?Due to its relatively low cost and abundance, coal is used to generate about half of the electricity consumed in the United States. Coal is the largest domestically-produced source of energy. Coal use, however, results in higher amounts of carbon dioxide per unit of energy than the use of oil or natural gas. […]
- What is a cap-and-trade program and how does it work?A cap-and-trade program is designed to reduce emissions of a pollutant by placing a limit (or cap) on the total amount of emissions. The cap is implemented through a system of allowances that can be traded to minimize costs to affected sources. Cap-and-trade programs for greenhouse gas emissions would increase the costs of using fossil fuels. […]
- How can we compare or add up our energy consumption?To compare or aggregate energy consumption across different energy sources like oil, natural gas, and electricity, we must use a common unit of measure. This is similar to calculating your food energy intake by adding up the calories in whatever you eat. […]
- What is the role of coal in the United States?
- Invasive Species
- Georgia -- Inspect sod before buying, installing (Mar 18, 2010) March 19, 2010Inspect sod before buying, installing (Mar 18, 2010) University of... […]
- Bug Tackles UK'S Knotty Problem (Mar 9, 2010) March 19, 2010Bug Tackles UK'S Knotty Problem (Mar 9, 2010) Department for... […]
- Georgia -- Inspect sod before buying, installing (Mar 18, 2010) March 19, 2010
The Spider Web: Paradox Of Super-strength
Research finds weakest chemical bonds produce materials stronger than steel
Since its development in China thousands of years ago, silk from silkworms, spiders and other insects has been used for high-end, luxury fabrics as well as for parachutes and medical sutures. Now, National Science Foundation-supported researchers are untangling some of its most closely guarded secrets, and explaining why silk is so super strong.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Materials Science and Engineering say the key to silk’s pound-for-pound toughness, which exceeds that of steel, is its beta-sheet crystals, the nano-sized cross-linking domains that hold the material together.
Markus Buehler, the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Associate Professor in MIT’s department of civil and environmental engineering, and his team recently used computer models to simulate exactly how the components of beta sheet crystals move and interact with each other. They found that an unusual arrangement of hydrogen bonds–the “glue” that stabilizes the beta-sheet crystals–play an important role in defining the strength of silk.
They found that hydrogen bonds, which are among the weakest types of chemical bonds, gain strength when confined to spaces on the order of a few nanometers in size. Once in close proximity, the hydrogen bonds work together and become extremely strong. Moreover, if a hydrogen bond breaks, there are still many hydrogen bonds left that can contribute to the material’s overall strength, due to their ability to “self-heal” the beta-sheet crystals.
The researchers conclude that silk’s strength and ductility–its ability to bend or stretch without breaking–results from this peculiar arrangement of atomic bonds. They say controlling the size of the area in which hydrogen or other chemical bonds act can lead to significantly enhanced properties for future materials, even when the initial chemical bonds are very weak.
The journal Nature Materials reported the findings online March 14.
-NSF-