S&TR | September 2013 DESERTEC Foundation: Start Plastic Trash Challenge » Challenge: Show Us Your (Plastic) Trash! As you know, I’ve been collecting and tallying my own plastic trash since 2007. The experience has been educational for me, and I hope, for readers of My Plastic-free Life. I’ll keep doing it. But now it’s your turn. 1.) Collect all of your own plastic waste, both recyclable and non, for a minimum of one week. 2.) 3.) 4.) 5.) 6.) 7.) 8.) 9.) 10.) After you have completed the exercise, please complete the following form. Your tally should appear on the site within 3 days of sending your form since I post them manually. Questions? NASA hopes to put greenhouse on Mars Cheryl Santa Maria Digital Reporter Wednesday, May 7, 2014, 3:50 PM - We may be one step closer to putting life on Mars. By 2021, NASA hopes to be growing plants on the red planet. NASA's next Mars rover is expected to land on the planet in 2020, and it may be bringing a few plants along with it. Researchers hope to conduct a plant-growth experiment which could pave the way to a human colonization on Mars. "In order to do a long-term, sustainable base on Mars, you would want to be able to establish that plants can at least grow on Mars," Mars Planet Experiment deputy principal investigator Heather Smith said at an April 24 conference in Washington. "This would be the first step in that … we just send the seeds there and watch them grow." RELATED: NASA captures mysterious light on Mars Scientists hope to attach a box to the exterior of the next Mars rover which will contain Earth air and about 200 seeds. The seeds will receive water when the rover touches down. "That would be the goal."
Energy bill expected to favour nuclear and gas over renewables | Environment The energy bill is likely to favour fossil-fuel sources like gas, for which power stations can be built quickly and cheaply. Photograph: Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Images A dash for gas, a major fillip for nuclear power and blows to renewable energy – these are widely expected to be the contents of the government's much-anticipated draft energy bill, the main contents of which will be outlined by ministers in the afternoon. The nuclear industry is expected to be one of the big winners, with a set of policies designed to favour low-carbon power – which will, controversially, include atomic energy as well as renewable sources such as wind and solar. But renewable companies are concerned that they will lose out, because the current system of subsidies will be replaced with a complex new system of support that could favour big companies over their smaller rivals. This new system – known as contracts for difference – would allow companies to sign long-term contracts to supply electricity.
Miswak is Nature’s Twiggy Toothbrush Ever brush your teeth with a stick from a tree? This brother shows how it’s done Twigs for oral hygiene may seem like a curious idea, better suited for the holistic type than today’s modern lifestyle. However, before the advent of the ubiquitous plastic toothbrush, miswak, a natural alternative made from the Salvadora persica tree was the traditional way for cleansing teeth. For centuries miswak was known to be affective against tooth caries yet scientific research has only recently validated this age-old tradition. Miswak has been found to inhibit bacterial growth and retard the buildup of plaque, helping to improve oral health and freshen the breath. A research group from Sweden concluded that miswak is “as effective as toothbrushing for reducing plaque and gingivitis, and that the antimicrobial effect of S. persica is beneficial for prevention and treatment of periodontal disease.” This toothbrush is natural, biodegradable and with proven ability to reduce tooth decay.
Microscope work wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry 8 October 2014Last updated at 05:57 ET The technique has extended the resolution of light microscopes The 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to a trio of researchers for improving the resolution of microscopes. Eric Betzig, Stefan Hell and William Moerner used fluorescence to extend the limits of the light microscope. The winners will share prize money of eight million kronor (£0.7m). They were named at a press conference in Sweden, and join a prestigious list of 105 other Chemistry laureates recognised since 1901. The Nobel Committee said the researchers had won the award for "the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy". Committee chair Prof Sven Lidin, a materials chemist from Lunds University, said "the work of the laureates has made it possible to study molecular processes in real time". Optical microscopes had previously been held back by a presumed limitation: that they would never obtain a better resolution than half the wavelength of light.
How Humans Helped the Earth in 2010: Slide Show Ridding the Earth of Plastic From boom to bust, the reputation of plastics since World War II has gone from revolutionary dream invention to environmental nightmare. Degradable plastics break down into smaller pieces, leaching chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA) into the water. Pieces of plastic are often mistaken for food among marine and desert animals alike -- with lethal consequences. Cutting back on the pervasive use of plastics in society is practically impossible, but helping to improve biodegradability, identifying new alternative materials, researching the ocean’s plastic-laden gyres, recycling plastic in new ways, and banning the use of plastic bags shows that in 2010 humans took the problem of plastic to the bank. In Agra, India, home of the Taj Mahal, plastic bags and bottles blocked drains during the monsoon season.
Researchers make nanostructured carbon using the waste product sawdust Chemists at the University of Birmingham have found a new way to make nanostructured carbon using the waste product sawdust, according to research published in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Green Chemistry today. By cooking sawdust with a thin coating of iron at 700 degrees centigrade, the researchers have discovered that they can create carbon with a structure made up of many tiny tubes. These tubes are one thousand times smaller than an average human hair. Scientists are looking for new ways of making carbon nanomaterials as they can be expensive and difficult to manufacture. Carbons with a very specialized structure have many different applications, for example, carbons with very small pores are used in water treatment for removing pollutants and in soil remediation where they can help to retain moisture and nutrients. There are many different types of carbon nanostructure. Sawdust is made up of fibres of cellulose and lignin, two of the main building blocks of all plants.
Researchers develop method for growing single species of single-walled carbon nanotubes (Phys.org) —A team of researchers with members from Switzerland and Germany has developed a method for producing a specific single-walled carbon nanotube type with a predefined structure. They describe the procedure in their paper published in the journal Nature. James Tour offers a News & Views piece in the same journal discussing the groundbreaking work done by the team. Carbon nanotubes, as most are aware, are tubes made of only carbon atoms, and quite often have walls that are just one atom thick (known as single-walled). Because of their unique properties, researchers have been creating and using them in a variety of applications ranging from solar cells, to light detectors and sensors. Carbon nanotubes types are defined by species, each has what is known as a chirality index that consists of two numbers—one describes tube diameter, the other the angle of the walls relative to the base when the tube has been rolled up. Press release
Wireless patches could provide "acupuncture" on demand For a good 2,000 years or so, many people have sworn by acupuncture as a means of relieving aches and pains, and treating various other disorders. In order to receive treatment, however, they have had to go to clinics and get jabbed with needles. Now, New York College of Health Professions chairman Donald Spector has created a wirelessly-controlled wearable skin patch, that he claims is able to deliver acupuncture-like treatment on demand. Acupuncture works (or is said to work, depending on who you ask) by stimulating key points in the body through the precise insertion of thin steel needles. Already, people can buy adhesive patches with pointy studs on the underside, that continuously exert pressure on acupuncture points when applied to the skin. The consumer version of the patch would be disposable, with the idea that users would wear it continuously between visits to an acupuncture therapist (who would presumably be the person who administered the patch in the first place).
Snow Peak Lapel Torch headlamp alternative A small, magnetic clip on the back of the lamp lets you attach the Lapel Torch to your shirt. Image Gallery (4 images) Look quickly at the Snow Peak Lapel Torch and you could easily mistake it for an iPod Shuffle with an earbud hanging off. The "Shuffle" is actually a battery pack and the earbud is an LED light. A sort of headlamp alternative, the Lapel Torch is a hands-free lighting solution. The Lapel Torch packs up to 60 lumens of light output into a 1.4-ounce (39.7-gram) package. You can tilt and reposition the light to change the direction of the beam and the battery pack can be stored in a pocket or clipped to your clothes. The battery pack measures 2.75 inches (7 cm) by 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) by 7/8 inch (2.2 cm) thick, while the light head is 3/4 of an inch (1.9 cm) in diameter. Source: Snow Peak About the Author Upon graduating college with a poli sci degree, Chris toiled in the political world for several years. Post a CommentRelated Articles