Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have gained key structural insights into the machinery employed by opportunistic, disease-causing bacteria, which may help chemists design new drugs to inhibit them.

Botanists from Trinity College Dublin have made a breakthrough discovery that could save barley farmers sleepless nights and millions of Euro each year: naturally occurring plant-friendly fungi prevent crop-ravishing diseases from spreading, and also aid plant survival in testing environmental conditions. Importantly, these amazing little organisms cause no harm to the plant roots in which they take up their abode. However, their gift of immunity against common seed diseases greatly reduces the need for farmers to spray environmentally damaging chemicals, which can affect ecosystems in a plethora of negative ways.

Entergy Corp was denied a request for a water-quality certification for its Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York, setting back efforts for a 20-year renewal of its license to operate the controversial plant. The company said on Sunday it plans to appeal the decision by New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation. The state on Friday concluded that the plant’s cooling systems, whether operated as they have been for decades or modified under a proposal by Entergy, “do not and will not comply with existing New York State water quality standards.” Entergy said the ruling could force it to spend $1.1 billion over 19 years to build new cooling towers.