Plastic chokes a canal in Chennai, India. Credit: R. Satish Babu/AFP via Getty Topics: Applied Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Environment, Medicine People who had tiny plastic particles lodged in a key blood vessel were more likely to experience heart attack, stroke or death during a three-year study. Plastics are just about everywhere — food packaging, tyres, clothes, waterContinue reading “Plastics and Infarctions…”
Category Archives: Environment
Black Silicon…
Fluorine gas etches the surface of silicon into a series of angular peaks that, when viewed with a powerful microscope, look much like the pyramid pattern in the sound-proofing foam shown above. Researchers at PPPL have now modeled how these peaks form in silicon, creating a material that is highly light absorbent. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 PublicContinue reading “Black Silicon…”
Power and Resources…
French economist Thomas Piketty compares the US economy to Europe in the Gilded Age. Oregon Live, 2014 Topics: Civics, Civil Rights, Civilization, Climate Change, Democracy, Existentialism, Fascism Thomas Piketty wrote “Capital in the 21st Century” in 2013 centered on the wealth inequality we can see all around us. I can see more house-less citizens onContinue reading “Power and Resources…”
Everything, Everywhere, All at Once…
The Flood by Antonio Marziale Carracci Topics: Civilization, Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Existentialism, Global Warming Another week, another catastrophic, record-setting, history-making flood, this time in Kentucky. Preliminary assessments indicate rainfall in Graves County last week likely set a new record for most precipitation in a 24-hour period, with 11.28 inches of rain. This would make it yetContinue reading “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once…”
Bitcoin and Gaia…
“What are the environmental impacts of cryptocurrency?” Written by Paul Kim; edited by Jasmine Suarez Mar 17, 2022, 5:21 PM EDT, Business Insider. Image: Ethereum, the second biggest cryptocurrency on the market, plans on changing to proof of stake mining in the future. Rachel Mendelson/Insider Topics: Applied Physics, Computer Science, Cryptography, Economics, Environment, Star Trek,Continue reading “Bitcoin and Gaia…”
Polluting the Pristine…
The sea floor near Australia’s Casey station in Antarctica has been found to have levels of pollution comparable to those in Rio de Janeiro’s harbor. Credit: Torsten Blackwood/AFP via Getty Topics: Antarctica, Biology, Chemistry, Environment, Physics, Research Antarctica is often described as one of the most pristine places in the world, but it has aContinue reading “Polluting the Pristine…”
Grappling With Waste…
The underground Onkalo repository in Finland is designed to safely and permanently store hazardous, radioactive waste. Credit: Posiva Topics: Environment, High Energy Physics, Nuclear Power Finland and the former Yugoslavia adopted nuclear energy only four years apart. In 1971 Finland began construction of its first nuclear plant, Loviisa, and the first of two planned reactorsContinue reading “Grappling With Waste…”
Nano Sanitizer…
The disinfectant powder is stirred in bacteria-contaminated water (upper left). The mixture is exposed to sunlight, which rapidly kills all the bacteria (upper right). A magnet collects the metallic powder after disinfection (lower right). The powder is then reloaded into another beaker of contaminated water, and the disinfection process is repeated (lower left). (Image credit: TongContinue reading “Nano Sanitizer…”
Solar…
The LRESE parabolic dish: the solar reactor converts solar energy to hydrogen with an efficiency of more than 20%, producing around 0.5 kg of “green” hydrogen per day. (Courtesy: LRESE EPFL) Topics: Applied Physics, Energy, Environment, Research, Solar Power A new solar-radiation-concentrating device produces “green” hydrogen at a rate of more than 2 kilowatts whileContinue reading “Solar…”
Mice, Men, and Nanoparticles…
Graphical abstract. Credit: Nanomaterials (2023). DOI: 10.3390/nano13081404 Topics: Biology, Environment, Nanomaterials, Nanotechnology Among the biggest environmental problems of our time, micro- and nanoplastic particles (MNPs) can enter the body in various ways, including through food. And now, for the first time, research conducted at MedUni Vienna has shown how these minute particles manage to breach the blood-brainContinue reading “Mice, Men, and Nanoparticles…”
Physics and Nano 