Lifeboat Foundation

Princeton Engineering researchers have developed a cost-effective way to use breakfast foods to create a material that can remove salt and microplastics from seawater.

The researchers used egg whites to create an aerogel, a versatile material known for its light weight and porosity. It has a range of uses, including water filtration, energy storage, and sound and thermal insulation. Craig Arnold, the Susan Dod Brown Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and vice dean of innovation at Princeton, leads a lab that focuses on creating new materials, including aerogels, for engineering purposes.

One day, sitting in a faculty meeting, he had an idea.

A study demonstrates full energy–momentum matching, and enhanced interaction, between free electrons and photons through a continuum of flatband resonances, realized in a silicon-on-insulator photonic crystal slab.

During its pilot run, carbon emissions were slashed from 2,500 to 500 metric tons.

A British company has created a pioneering tractor that could be a game changer in the green energy-striving agricultural industry.

“The T7 liquid methane-fuelled tractor is a genuine world-first and another step towards decarbonizing the global agricultural industry and realizing a circular economy,” said Chris Mann, co-founder of Bennamann, a company that deals with methane energy products.

Continue reading “Game changer: World’s first cow-dung-powered tractor is here” »

A flying car could be tested by the public in America as early as next year.

Jet-ski champion and over-water hoverboard inventor Franky Zapata’s latest innovation is the JetRacer, a single-seat car that can fly.

Continue reading “Inside the factory making a flying car ready for take off — BBC News” »

Forty-six representations of ancient Egyptian goddesses were found in a mural completely covered in bird dung in an ancient temple.

During ancient times, the ancient Egyptians built Esna on the west bank of the River Nile: the city that served as a center of power in Upper Egypt. While they were in office, public buildings and temples were decorated with ornate murals dedicated to gods from the sacred pantheon. Over time, the ancient ceremonial centers became covered in sand, dust, and animal feces.

The Seebeck effect is a thermoelectric phenomenon by which a voltage or current is generated when a temperature difference exists across a conductor. This effect is the basis of established and emerging thermoelectric applications alike, such as heat-to-electricity energy harvesters, sensing devices, and temperature control.

In line with the unrelenting demand for ever-smaller devices, scientists are looking for new ways to leverage the Seebeck effect at the nanoscale. One way to achieve this is by using molecular junctions, which are miniature devices consisting of two electrodes bridged by one or a few individual molecules. Depending on how sensitive these molecules are to temperature, it is possible to fine tune the thermoelectric properties of molecular junctions to match their intended application.

Thus far, most studies on molecular thermoelectrics have been limited to rather simple organic molecules. This has led to molecular junctions with a low Seebeck coefficient, which translates to poor temperature-to-voltage conversion and performance. There is therefore an ongoing challenge to design molecular junctions with better characteristics and, most importantly, a higher Seebeck coefficient.

Russia has focused its aerial attack on destroying Ukraine’s energy grid. Are all countries with national grids vulnerable to this type of assault?

National grids are not just vulnerable to third-party cyberattacks. In war, if the grid is targeted, it can be a country’s Achilles’ heel.

The technology system will enable the Yanghuopan Power Station in Yulin City, Shaanxi, to save 24,500 tonnes of coal and cut 54,100 tonnes of carbon emissions annually, claims Chinese media.

China claims the “world’s first” power plant equipped with a “natural direct cooling” (NDC) system is now connected to the grid in the Shaanxi Province of the country.

“The technology, described as ‘a revolution in industrial air cooling’ by local newspaper Shaanxi Daily, makes use of the natural airflow in the plant to guide the heat to the air condenser,” said the report.

Continue reading “China claims ‘revolutionary breakthrough’ in cooling power plants” »

With its tail flipping rhythmically from side to side, this strange synthetic fish scoots around in its salt and glucose solution, using the same power as our beating hearts.

This nifty miniaturized circulatory system, developed by scientists at Harvard and Emory universities, can keep swimming to the beat for more than 100 days.