formerly a microbiology blog, this will now be a science blog, in which I post science only material. enjoy! p.s. I no longer teach microbiology, so I'm all out of original content, but reblogs will be plenty!
Microalgae Has Liquid Fuel Potential
Due to continuing high demand, depletion of non-renewable resources and increasing concerns about climate change, fossil fuel-derived transportation fuels face constant challenges from both a world market and an environmental perspective. Producing renewable transportation fuel from microalgae attracts much attention because of its potential for fast growth rates, high oil content, ability to grow in unconventional scenarios, and its inherent carbon neutrality.
Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/01/microalgae-has-liquid-fuel-potential
Middle East is Embracing Solar Tech
FileCovering nearly 300 football fields in a remote patch of desert, the Shams 1 solar project carries off plenty of symbolic significance for the United Arab Emirates.
It will be the first, large-scale solar project in the oil-rich country when it is completed at the end of the year, and the largest of its kind in the Middle East. At full capacity, the 100-megawatt, concentrated solar project will be able to power 20,000 homes. For those behind the project, it’s the surest sign yet that solar is coming to the region in a big way.
Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/12/middle-east-embracing-solar-tech
Amazing technology would allow for underground parks in NYC
If you’ve been to Manhattan in the past several years, you may have heard of the Highline in Chelsea. It’s a project that converted an abandoned above-ground railroad track into a park, and it has turned the formerly underdeveloped area around it into one of the trendiest new neighborhoods in the city; if you visit Manhattan, you have to check it out. Anyway, two architects want to build a park that will do for the Lower East Side what the Highline did for Chelsea, but with a twist: they want to build it underground!
If you’ve been to Manhattan ever, you’ll also know that space is at a premium, and there are few open spaces left to grow leafy green things or build a park. Dubbed the LowLine, the project would convert an old underground trolley car station, abandoned in 1948 and untouched since, into a 1.5 acre underground park. But how? This is where the science comes in: they’ve developed the technology to transmit sunlight underground. Using large parabolic mirrors and a fiber optic relay, sunlight from the surface would be shuttled to the park and then redisbursed, allegedly yielding enough light for photosynthesis. As shown in the artist’s renderings above, the park could house trees, grass, farmers markets, or art installations, all year round, rain or shine. The architects raised money on Kickstarter for a proof-of-concept exhibition, happening RIGHT NOW in the Essex Street Market in NYC, and they’re doing battle with the city and the transit authority that owns the underground depot for approval. Here’s to hoping the city bureaucrats see the light! *slaps knee*
Quick Links
this looks beautiful, but how would it smell? hopefully not like a musty, damp basement.
Either way i’d still visit.
Minimal Posters - Six Women Who Changed Science. And The World.
(via realfakescientist)
Onion Waste Absorbs Heavy Metals
Onion and garlic waste from the food industry could be used to mop up hazardous heavy metals, including arsenic, cadmium, iron, lead, mercury and tin in contaminated materials, according to a research paper published in Inderscience’s International Journal of Environment and Pollution.
Biotechnologists Rahul Negi, Gouri Satpathy, Yogesh Tyagi and Rajinder Gupta of the GGS Indraprastha Univ., explain how waste from the processing and canning of onion (Allium cepa L.) and garlic (Allium sativum L.) could be used as an alternative remediation material for removing toxic elements from contaminated materials including industrial effluent.
Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/12/onion-waste-absorbs-heavy-metals
Figure 2 (colour inverted) from ‘Sarcoid Reactions after Chemotherapy for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma’ Published in Clinical Medicine Insights: Case Reports
Figure 3 (colour inverted) from ‘Neonatal Systemic Juvenile Xanthogranuloma with an Ominous Presentation and Successful Treatment’ Published in Clinical Medicine Insights: Oncology
