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Scientist invents way to trigger artificial photosynthesis to clean air

A chemistry professor in Florida has just found a way to trigger the process of photosynthesis in a synthetic material, turning greenhouse gases into clean air and producing energy all at the same time.

The process has great potential for creating a technology that could significantly reduce greenhouse gases linked to climate change, while also creating a clean way to produce energy.

"This work is a breakthrough," said UCF Assistant Professor Fernando Uribe-Romo. "Tailoring materials that will absorb a specific color of light is very difficult from the scientific point of view, but from the societal point of view we are contributing to the development of a technology that can help reduce greenhouse gases."

The findings of his research are published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

Uribe-Romo and his team of students created a way to trigger a chemical reaction in a synthetic material called metal-organic frameworks (MOF) that breaks down carbon dioxide into harmless organic materials. Think of it as an artificial photosynthesis process similar to the way plants convert carbon dioxide (CO2) and sunlight into food. But instead of producing food, Uribe-Romo's method produces solar fuel.


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_rele...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 
More pearls for you swine.

A bioprosthetic ovary created using 3D printed microporous scaffolds restores ovarian function in sterilized mice

Emerging additive manufacturing techniques enable investigation of the effects of pore geometry on cell behavior and function. Here, we 3D print microporous hydrogel scaffolds to test how varying pore geometry, accomplished by manipulating the advancing angle between printed layers, affects the survival of ovarian follicles. 30° and 60° scaffolds provide corners that surround follicles on multiple sides while 90° scaffolds have an open porosity that limits follicle–scaffold interaction. As the amount of scaffold interaction increases, follicle spreading is limited and survival increases. Follicle-seeded scaffolds become highly vascularized and ovarian function is fully restored when implanted in surgically sterilized mice. Moreover, pups are born through natural mating and thrive through maternal lactation. These findings present an in vivo functional ovarian implant designed with 3D printing, and indicate that scaffold pore architecture is a critical variable in additively manufactured scaffold design for functional tissue engineering.

https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15261

 

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Hold the presses. Early man may not have come out of Africa.

Abstract

The split of our own clade from the Panini is undocumented in the fossil record. To fill this gap we investigated the dentognathic morphology of Graecopithecus freybergi from Pyrgos Vassilissis (Greece) and cf. Graecopithecus sp. from Azmaka (Bulgaria), using new μCT and 3D reconstructions of the two known specimens. Pyrgos Vassilissis and Azmaka are currently dated to the early Messinian at 7.175 Ma and 7.24 Ma. Mainly based on its external preservation and the previously vague dating, Graecopithecus is often referred to as nomen dubium. The examination of its previously unknown dental root and pulp canal morphology confirms the taxonomic distinction from the significantly older northern Greek hominine Ouranopithecus. Furthermore, it shows features that point to a possible phylogenetic affinity with hominins. G. freybergi uniquely shares p4 partial root fusion and a possible canine root reduction with this tribe and therefore, provides intriguing evidence of what could be the oldest known hominin.

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0177127
 
Snake_Baker said:
Hold the presses. Early man may not have come out of Africa.

Abstract

The split of our own clade from the Panini is undocumented in the fossil record. To fill this gap we investigated the dentognathic morphology of Graecopithecus freybergi from Pyrgos Vassilissis (Greece) and cf. Graecopithecus sp. from Azmaka (Bulgaria), using new μCT and 3D reconstructions of the two known specimens. Pyrgos Vassilissis and Azmaka are currently dated to the early Messinian at 7.175 Ma and 7.24 Ma. Mainly based on its external preservation and the previously vague dating, Graecopithecus is often referred to as nomen dubium. The examination of its previously unknown dental root and pulp canal morphology confirms the taxonomic distinction from the significantly older northern Greek hominine Ouranopithecus. Furthermore, it shows features that point to a possible phylogenetic affinity with hominins. G. freybergi uniquely shares p4 partial root fusion and a possible canine root reduction with this tribe and therefore, provides intriguing evidence of what could be the oldest known hominin.

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0177127
Click to expand...
Love stuff like this. Always pushing knowledge back. This is being discussed as well here . My first thought is ok that's the benchmark now do a DNA test and see what results are like. ( if possible)

I still think the OOA theory has more validity but am willing to accept an alternative. For me its more likely an earlier wave out of Africa also happened
 
In Switzerland, a giant new machine is sucking carbon directly from the air

By Christa Marshall, E&E NewsJun. 1, 2017 , 10:30 AM

Originally published by E&E News

The world's first commercial plant for capturing carbon dioxide directly from the air opened yesterday, refueling a debate about whether the technology can truly play a significant role in removing greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere.

The Climeworks AG facility near Zurich becomes the first ever to capture CO2 at industrial scale from air and sell it directly to a buyer.

Developers say the plant will capture about 900 tons of CO2 annually — or the approximate level released from 200 cars — and pipe the gas to help grow vegetables.

While the amount of CO2 is a small fraction of what firms and climate advocates hope to trap at large fossil fuel plants, Climeworks says its venture is a first step in their goal to capture 1 percent of the world's global CO2 emissions with similar technology. To do so, there would need to be about 250,000 similar plants, the company says.

"Highly scalable negative emission technologies are crucial if we are to stay below the 2-degree target [for global temperature rise] of the international community," said Christoph Gebald, co-founder and managing director of Climeworks.

The plant sits on top of a waste heat recovery facility that powers the process. Fans push air through a filter system that collects CO2. When the filter is saturated, CO2 is separated at temperatures above 100 degrees Celsius.

The gas is then sent through an underground pipeline to a greenhouse operated by Gebrüder Meier Primanatura AG to help grow vegetables, like tomatoes and cucumbers.

Gebald and Climeworks co-founder Jan Wurzbacher said the CO2 could have a variety of other uses, such as carbonating beverages. They established Climeworks in 2009 after working on air capture during postgraduate studies in Zurich.

The new plant is intended to run as a three-year demonstration project, they said. In the next year, the company said it plans to launch additional commercial ventures, including some that would bury gas underground to achieve negative emissions.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/06/switzerland-giant-new-machine-sucking-carbon-directly-air

 
Scientists have used satellite technology for the first time to generate and transmit entangled photons — particles of light — across a record distance of 1,200 kilometres on Earth.


Key points
  • Chinese scientists have used a satellite to break distance record for distributing entangled photons
  • The experiment is the first time entangled photons have been generated in space
  • Because any change in one particle will be apparent in the other instantly, quantum entanglement has been considered a potentially powerful tool for sending secure information

The feat, published today in the journal Science, is more than 10 times the distance previously achieved using land-based fibre optic technologies.

The experiment by a group of Chinese researchers, led by Professor Jian-Wei Pan of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), takes us a step closer to achieving instant, unhackable communication.

A cornerstone of quantum physics is a process called entanglement, where the properties of two particles — such as spin, position and momentum — intimately affect each other, even when those particles are separated by large distances.

"Quantum entanglement was discussed as far back as 1935 by Einstein, Schrodinger and others and it is still extensively studied as a fundamental question, but our knowledge has been restricted by the boundaries that we have been able to explore," said study co-author Professor Chao-Yang Lu.

"This [experiment] has extended those boundaries by an order of magnitude.

"Quantum science has also become a new resource as real as energy and is being applied to cryptography, teleportation and quantum computing. This new knowledge can be instantly applied to these areas."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/...-quantum-entanglement-distance-record/8620240
 
Double slit experiment?


http://www.iflscience.com/plants-an...ng-behavior-when-being-watched-by-humans/all/




Chimps are known to be methodical hunters, surrounding an unfortunate monkey victim before striking it dead, tearing the prey apart, and sharing the spoils. But it turns out that this behavior may be influenced by human observers, who have spent decades habituating the apes to allow them to watch.

Researchers observing these chimps in the forests of Uganda have noticed that two separate communities display vastly different hunting behaviors, despite living in the same environment and having access to the same prey. While one group, known as the Sonso community, focuses almost exclusively on black and white colobus monkeys, another called the Waibira chimpanzees seem to show an equal preference for small antelopes, while also catching a wider variety of primates.
 

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Snake_Baker said:
How do you work wave function in to the picture?

How can this effect the nature of chimpanzees (who are also observers)?
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Double slit was a tongue in cheek, pretty much. But just to point out the similarity. Why do they change their behaviour while being observed is the key question in both.
 
Total Power said:
Double slit was a tongue in cheek, pretty much. But just to point out the similarity. Why do they change their behaviour while being observed is the key question in both.
Click to expand...

You would be better served by looking for an answer in a psychology book rather than a physics book.
 
Anyone trying to get a look at the Geminids meteor shower?
Set myself up with a deck chair and a beer but its a little early. Gemini only just rising over the horizon. City light pollution is not helping though.
I got SkyView free for my phone. Its quite good. Make sure its showing true nth, if not, wave your phone around in a figure 8 to calibrate your compass.
 
Doc_ said:
Anyone trying to get a look at the Geminids meteor shower?
Set myself up with a deck chair and a beer but its a little early. Gemini only just rising over the horizon. City light pollution is not helping though.
I got SkyView free for my phone. Its quite good. Make sure its showing true nth, if not, wave your phone around in a figure 8 to calibrate your compass.
Click to expand...
Was walking home last night and saw three meteorites burn up in less than 5 minutes!
 
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