Biologists have discovered a phosphorus-based bacterial metabolism that is both new and ancient. In a special role: a calculation from the 1980s, a sewage plant, a new bacterial organism, and a ...

The current focus in Washington on fertilizer reflects an immediate pressure on American agriculture, one that deserves both attention and a longer view. With prices high and supplies tight, ...

Phosphorus is a building block of all living cells. It is part of the structure of DNA. Cells use it to make membranes and many other molecules used in metabolism. In the earth's current environment, ...

Scientists may not know for certain whether life exists in outer space, but research now shows that one key element that produced life on Earth was carried here on meteorites. In a new study, ...

Monopotassium phosphite is a chemical compound with the molecular formula KH 2 PO 3. It is a salt of phosphorous acid and is commonly used as a fertilizer in agriculture. Monopotassium phosphite ...

A class of olefin metathesis catalysts that contains phosphite ligands has advantages over current catalysts for some challenging reactions, such as ring-closing metatheses of hindered dienes, ...

Early microbes may have relied on lightning to cook their dinner, say researchers. When lightning strikes sand or sediment, the path followed by the bolt can fuse into a glassy tube called a fulgurite ...

Our story begins at the end of the 1980s, with a sheet of paper. On this sheet, a scientist calculated that the conversion of the chemical compound phosphite to phosphate would release enough energy ...