Posts

May 09, 2013

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11:38 PM | From Classrooms to Corner Stores, One Young Food Leader Inspires a Healthy Food Movement

By Andrea Northup It’s quite common to see a student walk to school with soda in one hand and a bag of Cheetos in the other. Corner stores tend to furnish a convenient, popular “breakfast-to-go” option for urban residents. They’re also the first places many kids go after school for snacks. But all too often, corner store offerings lack the fresh, healthy options we know are necessary for their growing bodies and minds. That’s why I’m […]

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9:32 PM | Scientists Get More Energy, Less Carbon Dioxide From Natural Gas

Chemical engineering researchers have identified a new mechanism to convert natural gas into energy up to 70 times faster, while effectively capturing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2). “This could make power generation from natural gas both cleaner and more efficient,” says Fanxing Li, co-author of a paper on the research and an assistant professor

Galinsky, N., Huang, Y., Shafiefarhood, A. & Li, F. (2013). Iron Oxide with Facilitated O Transport for Facile Fuel Oxidation and CO Capture in a Chemical Looping Scheme , ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 1 (3) 364-373. DOI: 10.1021/sc300177j

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9:09 PM | Weekend Reads: Monk Seal Murders, Poison in Peru, Coming Soon: a GOP for Climate Action?

By The Editors Five #greenreads to read to your mother after brunch.Jon Mooallem in the New York Times Magazine on a tragic homecoming: Monk seals disappeared from the Hawaiian Islands about 1,500 years ago, presumably becoming big, blubbery treats to newly arriving Polynesians. Fewer than 1,000 seals now remain (mostly in the Leeward Islands), but the seals have slowly begun returning to Hawaii. With “the round eyes of an apologetic child,” this […]

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8:22 PM | Image: E. coli on cellulosic biomass

I finally rendered a somewhat satisfactory image of E. coli degrading cellulosic biomass to go along with my last post. Related articles Germs, for lack of a better word, are good. Germs are right. Germs work. Germs clarify, cut through, and capture, the essence of the evolutionary spirit. (mhrussel.wordpress.com) Filed under: Bacteria, Bioenergy, Microbiology, Nature, […]

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3:50 PM | Apache Announces Three New Oil and Gas Discoveries in Egypt

Apache Corporation made three oil and natural gas discoveries in Egypt’s Western Desert. Together the new discovery wells test-flowed at a rate of 3666 barrels of oil, 33.5 million cubic feet (MMcf) of natural gas and 1,522 barrels of natural-gas condensate per day. Read more »

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1:58 PM | China Coal Plans Derailed, the Price of Fish Piracy, Swallowed by a Hippo (Not a Euphemism!)

By The Editors Stopping coal’s dirty roll: Local activists in the Pacific Northwest have been fighting a series of massive export terminals that would send U.S. coal to China (see "Coal on a Roll," Fall 2011). Wednesday, the activists scored a major victory when an energy company announced it was dropping plans to build a $200 million facility on the Columbia River in northern Oregon. “That means three of the original six proposed coal export […]

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1:39 PM | New Method Improves Li-Ion Battery Quality Control

Scientists from the Purdue University have developed a new tool that applies flash thermography to find flaws in lithium-ion batteries as they are being manufactured. Effective methods for timely detection of these flaws are needed to reduce defects and inconsistencies in the thickness of electrodes that influence battery life and reliability. Read more »

May 08, 2013

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11:56 PM | Submitting assumptions for meaningful answers

The best talk of the conference was Ran Bachrach's on seismics for unconventionals. He enthusiastically described the physics to his spectators with conviction and duty, and explained why they should care. Isotropic, VTI, and orthorhombic media anisotropy models are used not because they are right, but because they are simple. If the assumptions you bring to the problem are reasonable, the answers can be considered meaningful. If you haven't considered and tested your assumptions, you haven't […]

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9:35 PM | Solar Garage Roof Will Charge Electric Cars

Solarwatt GmbH and BMW are teaming up to supply combined rooftop and carport photovoltaic solutions for future BMW i customers. The new Solarwatt Carport System will offer BMW i3 and BMW i8 owners an attractively designed solar-based electric vehicle charging plus household electricity generation system that uses innovative glass-glass modules (solar cell are encapsulated between two sheets of glass to ensure mechanical stability and durability). Read more »

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7:46 PM | Dual Color Semiconductor Device Opens Way to Cheaper Lighting

A group of scientists from the Arizona State University have developed a semiconductor device that is capable of emitting two distinct colors simultaneously. An ability to emit light in a wide spectrum range from a single monolithic structure could potentially become a basis for a cheaper and more efficient lighting technology. Read more »

Fan, F., Liu, Z., Yin, L., Nichols, P., Ning, H., Turkdogan, S. & Ning, C. (2013). Simultaneous two-color lasing in a single CdSSe heterostructure nanosheet, Semiconductor Science and Technology, 28 (6) 65005. DOI: 10.1088/0268-1242/28/6/065005

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7:40 PM | Crusader for Science in the Classroom Steps Down

By Jessica Camille Aguirre In December 2005, a Pennsylvania judge ruled that a local school board could not include intelligent design as part the district’s biology curriculum. Throughout the controversy, which ballooned to Scopes monkey trial proportions, a bespectacled physical anthropologist assisted the attorneys on the side of science by marshaling the evidence for evolution and assembling noted researchers to serve as advisers. That anthropologist […]

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5:52 PM | GE to Build 1 Gigawatt of Wind Power in the U.S.

GE’s renewable energy business announced 1 gigawatt (GW) of new U.S. wind turbine orders following the ruling of the production tax credit on January 1, 2013. Once installed, these turbines will supply 1 GW of energy to the electrical grid across the United States. This equates to enough cleaner energy to power 330,000 U.S. Homes (according to the EIA, an average U.S. household uses energy at a rate of 1.29 KW, an average of 940 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month) and taking more than a million […]

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3:44 PM | Fluorescent Dye Increases Solar Cells’ Efficiency

Scientists at Yale think that for some solar cells the future may be fluorescent. While many may believe that the purpose of a solar cell is to absorb light, not to emit it (fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation), it turns out that the addition of a fluorescent organic dye to the cell layer improves the ability of a promising type of solar cell to absorb light and convert it into electrical power. Read more »

Huang, J., Goh, T., Li, X., Sfeir, M., Bielinski, E., Tomasulo, S., Lee, M., Hazari, N. & Taylor, A. (2013). Polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells employing Förster resonance energy transfer, Nature Photonics, DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2013.82

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May 07, 2013

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11:03 PM | Solar House Becomes Permanent Research Facility at University of Calgary

A Cenovus Spo’pi Solar House, built at the University of Calgary for the Solar Decathlon, a biennial competition run by the U.S. Department of Energy, has now become a permanent research facility. University students designed and built this dome-shaped, 93 m2 (1001 square feet) structure that features the latest in solar power technology. An array of 37 photovoltaic panels on the roof generates enough electricity for a typical family of four to cook, do laundry, shower and operate household […]

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8:22 PM | More Natural Gas Discovered in Pakistan

Italian energy giant Eni has made a new natural gas discovery in the Sukhpur Block located in the Kirthar Foldbelt (one of the N-S-trending portions of the thrust belts of western Pakistan), 270 kilometers north of Karachi, Sindh Province. Read more »

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4:54 PM | Over 600 Miles on a Quarter of a Gallon of Fuel

For the second year running, Green Team Twente (a group of seven students from the University of Twente) will be taking part in the Shell Eco-marathon Europe. The team wants to crown last year's victory by returning to Twente with another first prize. They will be competing against more than 200 teams of students in a race that is not about speed, but economical driving. On Wednesday 8 May the team will unveil its sustainable hydrogen-powered car, which goes by the name of UTmotive. Anyone […]

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3:12 PM | Researchers Cook Solar Cells in Old Microwave Oven

University of Utah metallurgists created a “recipe” to produce solar cell material in a microwave oven. Using this kitchen appliance, a nanocrystal semiconductor suitable for photovoltaic applications can be manufactured rapidly from cheap abundant and less toxic metals than other semiconductors. Scientists hope that this new method will be used for more efficient photovoltaic solar cells and LED lights, biological sensors and systems to convert waste heat to electricity. Read more »

Sarswat, P. & Free, M. (2013). An investigation of rapidly synthesized Cu2ZnSnS4 nanocrystals, Journal of Crystal Growth, 372 87-94. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2013.03.022

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5:48 AM | Bath Time for Baby, an Acid Trip for the Arctic, Bats Join the Endangered Pollinators Club

By The Editors No more tears?: Thanks to Washington State's "Children's Safe Product Act," companies must now disclose whether their items they sell for kids contain certain industrial chemicals. The bad news: Ethylene glycol, antimony, parabens, and other ominous-sounding and potentially dangerous ingredients can be found in everything from building blocks to bibs to booster seats. The good news: At least one company is getting the message that using […]

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3:50 AM | A revolution in seismic acquisition?

We're in warm, sunny Calgary for the GeoConvention 2013. The conference feels like it's really embracing geophysics this year — in the past it's always felt more geological somehow. Even the exhibition floor felt dominated by geophysics. Someone we spoke to speculated that companies were holding their geological cards close to their chests, but the service companies are still happy to talk about (ahem, promote) their geophysical advances. Are you at the conference? What do you think? Let […]

May 06, 2013

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10:53 PM | Europe’s Pumped Hydropower Storage Can Be Increased Tenfold

One of the major drawbacks of the solar and wind power stations is the unstable power output (solar plants generate no power at nighttime). One way to compensate for that is to use pumped-storage hydroelectricity for load balancing. A new JRC report assessing Europe’s potential for pumped hydropower revealed that for a set of countries for which comparable data are available, the current storage capacity could be increased by up to 10 times when new plants are based on one existing reservoir. […]

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7:58 PM | The Top 20 Lead-Tainted Lipsticks

By Maggie Severns This article originally appeared at Mother Jones.Many women say lipstick makes them feel beautiful and confident. But could it also be making them sick?In a small study out last week, researchers asked a group of teenage girls to hand over their lipsticks and glosses and tested them for toxic metals, including lead and cadmium. Though metal content varied widely from brand to brand, they found that women who apply lipstick two to three […]

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6:34 PM | Buildings May be Powered by Graphene-Coated Walls, Study Suggests

A combination of graphene (a novel one-atom thick material) with other similar 2D crystals will allow to significantly increase the efficiency of solar cells and create the next generation of optoelectronic devices, scientists have revealed. University of Manchester and National University of Singapore researchers have shown how building multi-layered heterostructures in a three-dimensional stack can produce an exciting physical phenomenon exploring new electronic devices. Read more »

Britnell, L., Ribeiro, R., Eckmann, A., Jalil, R., Belle, B., Mishchenko, A., Kim, Y., Gorbachev, R., Georgiou, T., Morozov, S. & Grigorenko, A. (2013). Strong Light-Matter Interactions in Heterostructures of Atomically Thin Films, Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1235547

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4:03 PM | ABB to Power the New 75 MW Photovoltaic Plant in South Africa

Recently we wrote about the new power plant in Mauritania that claims to be the largest solar photovoltaic (PV) plant on the African continent, and noted that its 15 MW power generation capacity is fairly low for a typical solar photovoltaic plant. A significantly larger 75 MW solar PV power plant is being built now in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. ABB, one of the largest engineering companies in the world, has won an order worth around $25 million to supply electrical and control […]

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1:59 PM | Making the Enviro Case for Obama, Al Gore Unilaterally Attacks Canada, Europe's Carbon-Credit Collapse

By The Editors Verdict's not in: "The assumption that Obama’s climate-change record is essentially one of failure is mainly an artifact of environmentalists’ understandably frantic urgency," writes Jonathan Chait, in a lengthy essay that asks environmentally conscious (and, yes, understandably frantic) readers to take a deep breath and re-evaluate the amount of progress that the administration has made on the issue of climate change. "[T]here is a […]

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1:56 PM | Paper Suggests Ways to Develop Hydrocarbons in the Amazon With Minimal Environmental Impact

Hydrocarbon development in the Western Amazon Basin continues to gain momentum. A group of scientists has recently published a paper that outlines ways to save the unique ecosystem of the largest rainforest in the world by reducing the negative impact of oil and gas projects. A 10-point, best-practice framework combines technical engineering criteria with consideration of ecological and social concerns. Read more »

Finer, M., Jenkins, C. & Powers, B. (2013). Potential of Best Practice to Reduce Impacts from Oil and Gas Projects in the Amazon, PLoS ONE, 8 (5) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0063022

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May 04, 2013

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2:35 PM | U.S. Liquefied Petroleum Exports to Continue for the Next Several Decades

Last year the United States became a net exporter of liquefied petroleum gases (LPG) for the first time. LPG includes the natural gas liquids (NGL) components ethane, propane, butanes, and marketed refinery olefins. In its Annual Energy Outlook 2013 (AEO2013), EIA projects that the United States will continue to be a net exporter of LPG through 2040, mainly because of continued increases in natural gas and oil production. Read more »

May 03, 2013

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9:05 PM | Quiz: Is this a picture of a real bacterium?

Related articles New and Improved B.inky the bacterium: Now in 3D (mhrussel.wordpress.com) A work in progress: scene 2 of extracellular electron transfer as animated GIF (mhrussel.wordpress.com) Bacteria Illustrations Image Gallery Slideshow (mhrussel.wordpress.com) Filed under: Bacteria, Education, Microbiology, STEM Tagged: Animation, Bacteria, Biology, Educational Resources, Environment, Microorganism, Science, STEM

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