Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: sustainability

Microbes harvest metals from meteorites aboard space station

If humankind is to explore deep space, one small passenger should not be left behind: microbes. In fact, it would be impossible to leave them behind, since they live on and in our bodies, surfaces and food. Learning how they react to space conditions is critical, but they could also be invaluable fellows in our endeavor to explore space.

Microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi can harvest crucial minerals from rocks and could provide a sustainable alternative to transporting much-needed resources from Earth.

Researchers from Cornell and the University of Edinburgh collaborated to study how those microbes extract platinum group elements from a meteorite in microgravity, with an experiment conducted aboard the International Space Station. They found that “biomining” fungi are particularly adept at extracting the valuable metal palladium, while removing the fungus resulted in a negative effect on nonbiological leaching in microgravity.

How an overlooked electrostatic force could drive the motor of the future

When we hear about moving objects with electricity, most of us imagine a “pulling force.” Positive and negative charges attract each other, drawing objects together. It is natural to think that this attractive force—known as electrostatic force—is what makes things move.

However, this force is not very strong, and it has not been suitable for driving large machines in our daily lives. For that reason, most practical motors rely on a different mechanism. For example, the motors in electric fans and electric vehicles do not use electricity directly to create motion. Instead, they use electricity to generate a magnetic field, and then use that magnetic force to rotate.

Wastewater Methane Gaps Found in National Climate Reports

“If you don’t know exactly how much emissions you have, then it’s really difficult to make effective policies or technologies or methods to reduce the emissions,” said Dr. Z. Jason Ren. [ https://www.labroots.com/trending/earth-and-the-environment/…-reports-2](https://www.labroots.com/trending/earth-and-the-environment/…-reports-2)

Are national climate reports missing crucial data points regarding wastewater greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions? This is what a recent study published in Nature Climate Change hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated the accuracy of national inventory reports (NIRs) for wastewater GHG. This study has the potential to help researchers, climate scientists, legislators, and the public better understand the methods for tracking climate change and steps that can be taken to fill the gaps in report lapses.

For the study, the researchers obtained data from 38 countries regarding wastewater GHG emissions with the goal of ascertaining existing data gaps in NIRs. The motivation of this study comes from the lack of consistent data methods and large changes that occur over many years and in global regions. The overarching goal of the study was to ascertain where the data gaps exist and how to fill them.

In the end, the researchers discovered massive data gaps in wastewater GHG emissions, including an unreported gap of 52.0–73.2 million metric tons (MMT) of CO2-equivalent (CO2e) annually across the 38 countries. Additionally, they found that global gap of 94–150 MMT CO2e annually.

Technology is NOT Enough!

Fifteen years ago, I wrote something that annoyed many techno-optimists.

Ten years ago, I filmed it as a podcast.

Today it feels less controversial — and more urgent.

Technology is NOT Enough.

We have the science to feed everyone. We have the tech to provide clean water. We understand climate change. We know how to reduce suffering.

And yet we don’t act.

Continue reading “Technology is NOT Enough!” | >

‘Solar battery’ stores sunlight for days, then releases hydrogen on demand

A new material can store energy from sunlight and convert it into hydrogen days later. The material, jointly developed by researchers from Ulm and Jena, can do this even in the dark. The process is reversible and can be reactivated several times using a pH switch. The results are published in the journal Nature Communications.

Green hydrogen is one of the most important pillars of the energy transition. It is produced from sunlight using photocatalytic processes. There are now a variety of technologies for converting and storing solar energy into chemical energy. But now, for the first time, a material that can store the energy from sunlight for several days and then release it in the form of hydrogen “at the push of a button” has been successfully developed.

“You can think of it as a combination of a solar cell and a battery at the molecular level,” explains Professor Sven Rau, who heads the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry I at Ulm University.

A new, useful absorption limit for ultra-thin films

The applications of ultrathin, conductive films such as those made of graphene have many applications, but it’s been thought their efficacy is limited to absorbing only half of the incidental light at best. A research group in China has now shown that absorption can be as high as 82.8% at light grazing angles nearly parallel to the film. This could not only significantly improve design efficiencies but sheds light on light-matter interactions at sizes much lower than the light’s wavelength. Their work has been published in Physical Review Letters.

Graphene ultrathin films, as thin as one carbon atom (about 0.34 nanometers, 300,000 times thinner than a sheet of paper) have many applications: flexible and transparent electronics, energy storage and batteries, solar cells and photovoltaics, sensors and high-speed electronics and more, where they absorb light.

While such films allow for miniaturizing devices and reducing their weight, their extreme thinness has led to the characterization that they are limited to absorbing only half of the incoming light.

How Flawed Crystals Are Powering the Future of Solar Energy

Defect-filled lead-halide perovskites rival silicon solar cells because domain walls inside the material separate and guide charges. Researchers visualized these charge-transport networks using a novel silver-staining technique, resolving a long-standing efficiency mystery. Perovskites made from

Major battery breakthrough paving way for EV upgrade

Chinese scientists have developed a lithium metal battery that boasts an energy density of more than 700 watt-hours per kilogram and stable performance at extremely low temperatures, marking a significant advancement in the production of high-energy batteries for electric vehicles. The research paper was published on Thursday in the science journal Nature.

Chen Jun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and vice-president of Nankai University in Tianjin, was among the researchers who led the breakthrough. Chen said the team has replaced oxygen atoms with fluorine ones. It designed and synthesized novel fluorinated hydrocarbon solvent molecules, creating a new electrolyte system based on lithium-fluorine coordination.

/* */