Black plastic can’t be recycled – but we’ve just found a way to use the carbon in renewable energy
The big problem with plastics is that though they last for a very long time, most are thrown away after only one use. Since plastics were invented in the 1950s, about 8,300m metric tonnes (Mt) have been made, but over half (4,900 Mt) is already in landfill or has been lost to the environment. In 2010 alone, an estimated 4.8 to 12.7 Mt went into the oceans. …read more
Source:: Physorg Latest
Meet the naked mole-rat: impervious to pain and cancer, and lives ten times longer than it should
The naked mole-rat is perhaps one of the most bizarre beasts on the planet. At first glance, it looks like little more than a cocktail sausage with legs and teeth. But beneath its wrinkly pink skin, this creature’s strange and beautiful biology has me fascinated—so much so that I set up a whole research group devoted to studying them. Largely immune to cancer, impervious to some forms of pain, and seemingly blessed with the elixir of life, you may well owe your life to them one day. …read more
Source:: Physorg Latest
Radically different telescope design offers deeper look into space
A radically different type of X-ray space telescope has been designed by scientists in Sweden, using advanced optic techniques that were originally developed in medical imaging research. …read more
Source:: Physorg Latest
Decoding Lake Matoaka’s sedimental history of the anthropocene
The region around the Mississippi River town of Galena, Illinois, ran on lead for the better part of a century. …read more
Source:: Physorg Latest
Transparent ceramic armor provides superior ballistic protection over traditional glass laminates
Transparent aluminum, a technology first suggested in the science fiction film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, is now a reality. …read more
Source:: Physorg Latest
Study explores how gossip spreads in social networks
How many different types of people—colleagues, friends, taxi drivers, etc.—should we hear a piece of information from before we start sharing it as a true fact? …read more
Source:: Physorg Latest
Supercomputers aid in novel simulations of gamma ray generation research
While intense magnetic fields are naturally generated by neutron stars, researchers have been striving to achieve similar results for many years. UC San Diego mechanical and aerospace engineering graduate student Tao Wang recently demonstrated how an extremely strong magnetic field, similar to that on the surface of a neutron star, can be not only generated but also detected using an X-ray laser inside a solid material. …read more
Source:: Physorg Latest
Turning the switch on biofuels
Plant cell walls contain a renewable, nearly limitless supply of sugar that can be used in the production of chemicals and biofuels. However, retrieving these sugars isn’t all that easy. …read more
Source:: Physorg Latest
Here comes the sun: a new framework for artificial photosynthesis
Scientists have long sought to mimic the process by which plants make their own fuel using sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water through artificial photosynthesis devices, but how exactly substances called catalysts work to generate renewable fuel remains a mystery. …read more
Source:: Physorg Latest
Human rights treaties benefit the world’s most oppressed
International human rights treaties really do work, and they work most effectively against the most repressive governments, argues Emily Hencken Ritter, associate professor of political science, in a new book called Contentious Compliance: Dissent and Repression under International Human Rights Law. …read more
Source:: Physorg Latest
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