Tag: Science

For years, chemists have been tinkering with various forms of waste to turn them into useful products. The effort has transformed plant scraps into packaging and plastic trash scooped from the sea into clothing and sneakers.

In 1987, African villagers digging a water well struck a pocket of gas about 330 feet down. The gas streamed out, showing blue in sunlight and gold at night. When a villager looked down the hole while smoking a cigarette, the plume exploded.

A group of bioengineers from Columbia University, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University have created a paper-thin silicon wafer studded with 65,536 electrodes that can wirelessly transmit data to and from the brain 100 times faster than has been possible before. 

A combination of cement, water, a liquid electrolyte, and carbon black ground to powder on a nanoscale stores and releases electricity, calling up a vision of cities that draw power from their bridges, buildings, and sidewalks.

FGF19, a hormone produced in the intestine, can signal the brain to burn fat for energy, reducing excess weight and lowering blood sugar levels in obese mice, researchers at Brazil’s State University of Campinas have found.

Dcubed, a German aerospace company, is planning to manufacture solar panels in Earth orbit within two years, it has announced.

The eye’s outermost protective shield—the cornea—is crucial to focusing our vision. It’s also prone to damage from blows, scratches, and other forms of harm that can render it opaque or otherwise useless. 

Strategic minerals such as cobalt, gallium, lithium, and rare earths are crucial in applications ranging from smartphones and LEDs to electric vehicles and jet fighter planes.