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Archive for the ‘sustainability’ category: Page 475

Dec 12, 2019

AI-driven robots are making new materials, improving solar cells and other technologies

Posted by in categories: information science, robotics/AI, solar power, sustainability

Decision-making algorithms transform how automated systems evaluate and synthesize novel compounds.

Dec 11, 2019

Punching holes in solar cells turns them into transparent windows

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

Opaque solar panels could be turned into window glass for tall buildings by punching hundreds of tiny holes in them so our eyes perceive them as transparent.

Dec 10, 2019

Researchers develop new method to remove dust on solar panels

Posted by in categories: particle physics, solar power, sustainability

Taking a cue from the self-cleaning properties of the lotus leaf, researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have shed new light on microscopic forces and mechanisms that can be optimized to remove dust from solar panels to maintain efficiency and light absorption. The new technique removed 98 percent of dust particles.

In a new study published in Langmuir, the researchers confirmed that modifying the surface properties of may greatly reduce the amount of remaining on the surface, and significantly increase the potential of solar energy harvesting applications in the desert.

Dust adhesion on solar panels is a major challenge to energy harvesting through photovoltaic cells and solar thermal collectors. New solutions are necessary to maintain maximum collection efficiency in high dust density areas such as the Negev desert in Israel.

Dec 9, 2019

The US just promised to adopt universal health care

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, finance, health, sustainability

Every single member of the UN doubled-down today on a commitment to provide universal health coverage to their citizens. The fact that the US will be among them is perhaps evidence of how disconnected these declarations can be from actual domestic political agendas.

Yet the issue is important, and it shows just how out of line the US approach to health care coverage is compared to the rest of the world. Only about half the world’s population has access to the kind of affordable health care services that don’t require crippling out-of-pocket costs. Most of those people are in mid- and low-income countries. Or they are in the wealthiest country on Earth: the US.

Bringing universal health care to everyone is one of the “sustainable development goals,” the ambitious to-do list for UN member countries to complete by 2030. For the UN, universal health care means, “financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.”

Dec 7, 2019

California could use advanced desalination plants to be entirely self-sufficient even cleaning molecules of plastic also other toxins magnonics would be used to separate the molecules cell

Posted by in categories: materials, sustainability

California’s drought is spawning a slew of proposed desalination plants to create potable water from seawater, including one coming up in Santa Barbara. Just how clean are these facilities and what is their impact on ocean life?

Dec 6, 2019

Scientists Develop Photocatalyst That Can Turn CO2 to Fuel

Posted by in category: sustainability

CHICAGO, Dec. 5, 2019 — In a recent study from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, scientists used a photocatalyst largely made of copper to transform carbon dioxide (CO2) to methanol.

Dec 6, 2019

Scientists Are Contemplating a 1,000-Year Space Mission to Save Humanity

Posted by in categories: climatology, Elon Musk, space, sustainability, virtual reality

VR and Interstellar Travel

Crew members in route to a distant planet may best be accommodated by full immersion VR. The actual spaceship could be reduced to a relatively simple, small, well-shielded vehicle. Inside the crew’s biological material could be supported by a simplified nutrition, waste and maintenance system. Their minds could inhabit a fully immersive VR environment that would provide them with all the luxuries of vast, diverse spaces and experiences — complete with simulated gravity, simulated pleasant nature-like and artificial environments, and simulated meals.

They could also engage in simulating the type of society they intend to build once they arrive in their new physical environment, using similar constraints to the ones they will encounter. This could allow many years for actual human experiences to test and refine what they will build and how they will interact in their new home.

Continue reading “Scientists Are Contemplating a 1,000-Year Space Mission to Save Humanity” »

Dec 2, 2019

Oil-Eating Bacteria Could Help Clean Up Oil Spills

Posted by in category: sustainability

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Dec 2, 2019

Tesla CEO Elon Musk: Cybertruck could hit Cd of .30 “with extreme effort”

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, sustainability, transportation

Last week we covered how the Tesla Cybertruck’s aerodynamics might be better than its boxy shape suggests, and today Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to the numbers and suggested that the Cybertruck could get a Cd (drag coefficient) as low as .3 – quite impressive for a pickup truck.

Nov 30, 2019

Near-Real-Time and Laboratory Data

Posted by in category: sustainability

RadNet data from individual near-real-time air monitors is available on a clickable map and is also listed by state and city. Sampling locations with drinking water, precipitation and air filter analysis results in 2016 are also listed.