The first callibrated images from the European Space Agency’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) Satellite are available less than four months from the satellite’s launch. As the mission name implies, these images provide information on global soil moisture and ...
Rate of Ecoshift in a Period of Climate Change
Scientists from several major research institutions have determined that, on average, ecosystems must shift 0.42 kilometers (approximately half of a mile) each year to keep pace with current climate changes. The shifts are projected to be greatest in dry, arid ...
The Ozone Layer
Where the ozone goes, everyone knows. This is thanks, in part, to two instruments onboard the Aura satellite that track ozone in our atmosphere: the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS). The ozone layer protects life ...
The World’s First Bionic Goose
Not quite the object of science-fiction movies, but futuristic nonetheless – we present you the world’s first bionic goose. In a first operation of its kind, vets in the UK have fitted a two-week old gosling with a bionic leg. ...
Carbon Nanotubes Dangerous to the Environment
Scientists from the research center Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (FZD) have discovered worrying properties of carbon nanotubes, which indicate that nanotube production may be dangerous to the environment. Their discovery, they say, may halt an otherwise diverse and fertile research area. Atomic ...
Converting Wastewater into Clean Energy
Waltham Technologies, a new Boston-based startup founded by Una Ryan, is using blue-green algae to decontaminate wastewater while creating a viable source of clean energy at the same time. The algae eats carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the ...
Buckyballs Prevent Water Biofouling
Researchers at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina have shown that buckyballs could prevent bacteria and other contaminants from attaching to water pipes and the membranes used to filter water in filtration plants. When bacteria attach to these surfaces, they ...
From Waves to Electricity
Aquamarine Power of Aberdeen, Scotland has invented the Oyster Hydro-Electric Wave Energy Converter, a device that turns ocean waves into usable electricity. Designed for deployment in multi-device arrays capable of powering up to 3000 average homes each, Oyster differs from ...
Wave Treader Hydro Power
Green Ocean Energy, Ltd. of Aberdeen, Scotland has developed a hydro power attachment to offshore wind turbines. The Wave Treader is a set of two floats that connect to the base of a wind turbine. As the floats are raised ...
Harder than Diamond
Researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas have calculated that compressed lonsdaleite (also called a hexagonal diamond) is 58% harder than a diamond. Traditionally, lonsdaleite has been rated between 7 and 8 on the ...