Researchers develop computational tool to aid understanding of ORR on platinum catalysts in fuel cells
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder are developing new computational tools and models to better understand and manage the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells. Hendrik Heinz, an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, is leading the effort in partnership with the University of California Los Angeles. His team recently published new findings on the subject in an open-access paper in the journal
Science Advances.
Heinz said a key goal to making fuel cell vehicles viable is to find an effective catalyst in the fuel cell that can operate at near room temperature, with high efficiency and a long lifetime in acidic solution. Platinum metal is commonly used, but predicting the reactions and best materials to use for scaling up or different conditions has been a challenge to date.
Common antidepressant drugs help the immune system to attack tumors in mice
A class of drug called monoamine oxidase inhibitors is commonly prescribed to treat depression; the medications work by boosting levels of serotonin, the brain s happiness hormone.
A new study by UCLA researchers suggests that those drugs, commonly known as MAOIs, might have another health benefit: helping the immune system attack cancer. Their findings are reported in two papers, which are published in the journals
Science Immunology and
Nature Communications.
MAOIs had not been linked to the immune system s response to cancer before. What s especially exciting is that this is a very well-studied and safe class of drug, so repurposing it for cancer isn t as challenging as developing a completely new drug would be.
It all started with a California man’s arrest six years ago.
Owen Hanson grew up in Redondo Beach. He was a walk-on tight end on the 2004 University of Southern California football team, according to
San Diego Union Tribune reporter Kristina Davis. After college, he saw success in real estate development, but the business tanked when the economy crashed in 2007.
Then, Hanson ran a sportsbook that he took over from his father’s fishing buddy. But it wasn’t the only business Hanson would run. “It really started out as a sports betting racket and then [Hanson] got more seriously into drug trafficking,” Davis tells The Times. “He was a very unlikely drug kingpin.”
E-Mail
IMAGE: Schematic inner workings of the electrodes in a fuel cell, and the importance of key parameters. view more
Credit: Heinz et al., 2021
Widespread adoption of hydrogen-powered vehicles over traditional electric vehicles requires fuel cells that can convert hydrogen and oxygen safely into water - a serious implementation problem.
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder are addressing one aspect of that roadblock by developing new computational tools and models needed to better understand and manage the conversion process. Hendrik Heinz, an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, is leading the effort in partnership with the University of California Los Angeles. His team recently published new findings on the subject in
The American University of Bahrain (AUBH) became the first University in the kingdom to achieve eligibility to proceed with an Application for Accreditation with the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC).