Nutrition Trends: 2014-2020

A team of scientists has forecast the direction of nutrition research. The panel identified the following ten areas of research which they believe will be the focus of nutritional scientists in the next six years: (1) Global Food Security: The scientists predict that global food security, food safety, and sustainability will occupy the spotlight by … Read more

Mashup in Potato Park

Parque de la Papa farmers began to stir in their seats, waiting for an opportunity to share their stories. Others came from as far as Bhutan and China. They discovered that their cultures were more similar than they had expected, and that one concern had been troubling all of them: Climate change was making it … Read more

A Cheaper Way to Make Solar Cells

“The way solar is progressing it will just be a matter of time before it becomes competitive with fossil fuels and eventually replace them.” So says Dr Jon Major who led a team at Liverpool University that has found a way of replacing one toxic element, used in the process of manufacturing solar cells, with … Read more

Biomass Conversion to Jet Fuel

Lignocellulose, a raw material in biomass, can be converted to biofuels and is often considered a long-term alternative to the diminishing supply of fossil fuels. The conversion process involves biomass pretreatment, hydrolysis of constituent carbohydrates and catalytic conversion of platform chemicals. Proposed strategies to convert lignocellulose to aviation fuels have underused components, preventing their commercialization. … Read more

3d Printing with Carbon Fiber

Material scientists are now using the technology to create new super strong materials that may be used one day in building lightweight, yet powerful, structures. MarkForged announced that it had created a carbon fiber 3D printer. Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology revealed that is has invented a new material that’s lighter than water, yet stronger … Read more

Food Security and Drought

What are the food security implications of the ever worsening drought?   “Increasingly intense droughts in California, all of the Southwest, and even into the Midwest have everything to do with human-made climate change.” So says climatologist James Hansen, who co-authored one of the earliest studies on this subject back in 1990. The food security … Read more

Completely New Means of Generating Electricity

A new means of generating electricity, one that utilizes bacteria to harness the energy of evaporating water, has been created by researchers from the Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. The method could potentially be used to capture the energy released by ponds, harbors, and other bodies of water when the Sun … Read more

New Life for Nitinol

Nickel titanium, also known as nitinol, is a metal alloy of nickel and titanium, where the two elements are present in roughly equal atomic percentages. Nitinol alloys exhibit two closely related and unique properties: shape memory and superelasticity (also called pseudoelasticity). Shape memory is the ability of nitinol to undergo deformation at one temperature, then … Read more

Contrast and Compare – Saturday, December 21, 2013 (The Winter Solstice)

“All true art must help the-soul to realize it’s inner self. True art must be evidence of the happiness contentment and purity of its authors.” — Ghandi (1869-1948) “Any scientific interpretation of the material universe is valueless unless it provides due recognition for the scientist. No appreciation of art is genuine unless it accords recognition … Read more

Sucralose (Splenda) Baking Releases Dioxin

The Center for the Public Interest in Science downgraded Splenda from “safe” to “caution,” citing their need to evaluate a forthcoming Italian study linking the artificial sweetener to leukemia in mice as a basis for their decision. Another recent human study linked Splenda to diabetes-associated changes, calling into question its value as a non-calorie sweetener … Read more