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For years scientists have hypothesized that a rise in CO2 levels will cause the world’s forests to use water more efficiently, however only recently was this theory proven after Harvard University researchers performed the most complex study of the sort to date. The team of researchers led by research Trevor Keenan and Andrew Richardson actually found the the world’s […]
Hydrogen fuel has been eyeballed by scientists, as well as governments and energy corporations, for many years now as a potential alternative fuel source because of its incredibly high energy. It’s hard to imagine any other non-carbon fuel source capable of driving rockets or high velocity vehicles, like formula 1 sports cars. Besides it being […]
Renewable energy sources, like wind and solar, are gaining ground fast against fossil fuels in terms of energy production, but unfortunately not that fast as we’d hoped for. One big obstacle in the way of renewable energy is storage. A refined look at an older idea that dates back from the XIX century seeks to […]
With the world’s population hitting the magic seven billion a mere few years ago, new solutions are required to feed the growing number of hungry people, estimated at being almost one billion strong at the moment or one in every seven people being hungry, according to the World Hunger Education Service. A panel of experts […]
Possibly the most exciting technological innovation of the decade, in terms of the impact it’s projected to have, 3-D printing never seems ceasing to amaze us with its unrivaled potential. We’ve seen 3-D printed titanium jaw bones for implants, nanoscale F-1 cars, an ear or live tissue by 3-D printing of stem cells. A number of […]
The Peruvian capital of Lima, along with its outskirts, is plagued by a vicious drought, which coupled with pollution and unsanitary water extraction methods, has made the water there stagnant, dirty and dangerous. Doing what they know best – fix problems – engineers at Peru’s University for Engineering and Technology have devised an resourceful system that […]
Up until the mind XIXth century most homes and buildings were made out of wood, a readily available and cheap material. However, like we all know wood is easily flammable and caused a myriad of issues, especially in urban environments. How many times were whole cities at risk of being whipped out by flames? Rome? […]
Here’s a global warming reduction plan that might appeal to most of you – work less! According to a Washington thinktank called the Center for Economic and Policy Research, an annual 0.5 percent reduction in work hours would cut between eight and 22 percent of every degree of warming from now until 2100. In the past few […]
Oil, oil, shale gas, oil, fracking, oil – this is pretty much all you hear all day, especially if you come from a geology background. But in the US, things really seem to be spiraling out of control. Jack Gerard, one of the most aggressive players in the game and chief executive of the American […]
The National Climatic Data Center have released their monthly report for November 2012, which means we have an almost perfect picture of the temperatures in 2012, and the situation is pretty bleak: 2012 will almost certainly be, with a comfortable margin, the warmest year on record in the US. November itself wasn’t extremely warm, being […]
Researchers at Rice University and City College of New York have devised rechargeable lithium-ion batteries using a substance extracted from the madder plant as a cathode. The plant has been used since ancient times as a dye, and only recently have researchers learned about its fantastic capabilities it poses as an alternative green battery. The madder plant or Rubia […]
After it was first cast out to sea less than a year ago from San Francisco’s bay, the PacX Wave Glider, also known as Papa Mau, finally reached the end of its epic journey after it reached Queensland, Australia setting a new world record for the longest distance traveled by an autonomous vehicle. PacX swam over […]
The new architecture, depicted in the picture below can exceed a 40 percent conversion efficiency, and even when irradiated from the side it generates solar conversion efficiencies that rival, and may eventually surpass, even the most ultra-efficient photovolataics. The new cell was developed by researchers working on the David Ben-Gurion National Solar Research Center, and […]
If you’re reading ZME Science from home, chances are that you’ve got a can of beer or soda in someplace handy, and you’ll probably throw the can away after you finish your drink, hopefully in a designated recycling bin. What if I told you that the aluminum from your soda can could be used to power your […]
This month, the 20th anniversary of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, an United Nations conference where various issues where addressed like the systematic scrutiny of patterns of production, alternative sources of energy to replace the use of fossil fuels, new reliance on public transportation systems in order to reduce vehicle emissions or the growing […]
Yesterday marked the 40th Global Environment day, and this year’s theme was ‘Green economy’ – a sector in which, by far, Europe leads the way. When it comes to green energy and reducing the impact industry has on the environment, Denmark and Scotland stand out, by far – just think about Samso, the world’s ‘greenest […]
The Governor of the Honolulu county signed the law passed by the local council, banning plastic bags altogether – thus making Hawaii the first state ever to do so. There are four counties in Hawaii – and all of them set a great example together; the thing is, this was not done by state legislature, […]
In an absolutely remarkable discovery, Professor Yun Hang Hu, along with associates at Michigan Technological University, have discovered a chemical reaction which can turn the alarmingly ever increasing greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into a solid-state semiconductor (Li2CN2), while also releasing energy in the process. You couldn’t ask for something better. CO2 is an extremely pesky compound for […]
According to the World Wildlife Fund‘s annual Living Planet report, humans are using Earth’s resources at a rate 1.5 times greater than the rate of replenishment. “During the 1970s, humanity as a whole passed the point at which the annual Ecological Footprint matched the Earth’s annual biocapacity. This situation is called “ecological overshoot”, and has continued since […]
China is the most pollutant country in the world, and as it continues to develop industrially, one can only expect greenhouse gas emissions to grow as well. The country is taking steps towards its ecological rehabilitation, however. The first step was to acknowledge that it faces a dire problem, one whose consequences reverse on the entire world. One […]
A group of students from Yale University, along with molecular biochemistry professor Scott Strobel, were on a routine trip to the Amazon’s Yasuni National Park, one of the most biodiverse regions in the world, when they stumbled across a peculiar type of mushroom capable of eating polyurethane plastics. If successfully applied to landfills clogged with millions of metric tons […]
According to Chile’s Centre for Scientific Studies (CECs) it seems like an array of glaciers located in the country’s south have shrunk extensively recently. One such glacier, the Jorge Montt, was documented for a whole year by researchers who observed that its rate of shrinkage is the largest in the country, with snout retreating a […]
The term “urban jungle” gets tossed a lot, however it can take a literary connotation when you think of beautiful moss graffiti. As people become more eco-friendly and environmentally aware, the idea of making living, breathing graffiti has become a more green and creative outlet for graffiti artists. Moss paint is a lot more eco-friendly than […]
It’s high time that people, like you and me, started taking effective steps towards living in a manner that helps towards environmental conservation. We need to start pulling out all the stops to ensure that our actions are having a positive effect on the environment as a whole and in some ways help conserve it, […]
Biofuels are considered one of the leading alternative fuels on the market right now, because of their lower impact on the environment. Biofuels are made from plants or animals, and have gained a lot of attention from the general public and scientists driven by a need for increased energy security and concern for greenhouse gas […]
More and more countries are seeking to ban or at least limit the use of plastic bags or have already done so, and the latest government to go for this smart, eco-friendly move is the Republic of Congo. The African nation has just recently passed a bill in which the production, import, sale and use […]
It’s a black period for Brazil’s environment, and things will get even worse in days to follow; the government just applied a reform of the forestry code which will make it extremely easy to cut down massively on the rainforests in Brazil. Money money money After several delays and a desperate, but outnumbered resistance, the […]
China’s attempts to move towards nuclear and renewable energy is admirable, but the US will be the driving force behind innovations and development, in the field of clean energy – that’s what Bill Gates told a sold out crowd at a Seattle breakfast, where the topic was climate change. “China is very important and can […]
It’s incredible what some people manage to build simply by turning something that’s overpassed its use into something useful again. A perfect example of this is this incredible studio built entirely out of former cargo containers located deep in the Mojave Desert. The home designed by architect Walter Scott Perry of ecotechdesign out of was […]
After decades in which environmentalism wasn’t really taken serious, big steps are being made in the right direction; however, without any legal guidelines, it’s often hard to implement measures that can protect nature and fight climate change. But now, the intriguing idea of giving legal rights to natural systems is getting more and more attention. […]
The search engine giant who has dabbled in environmental projects before announced that it will chip in $168 million to the yet under development Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS), the soon to be world’s largest solar tower power plant. The site will be located on 3,600 acres of land in the Mojave Desert in […]
In an attempt to combat commuter and residential pollution, architect and product designer Wyatt Little came up with a very interesting concept called the U-Boat which tries to capitalize on urban body waters (rivers, lakes etc.) and utilize them as ‘off the grid’ marina style living spaces. It’s basically a boat-house-thingy, but with tremendous green […]
You might think that this isn’t quite the best time in the world to announce a nation wide nuclear plan, with the Japan double tsunami/earthquake incident which lead to the consequent Fukushima nuclear crisis and all, but South African officials don’t seem to let nature intimate them. As such, South Africa’s cabinet ratified a controversial […]
Now that’s a taste of politics from the land down under; some Australian officials are condemning carbon and pollution taxes, argueing that since it will make a difference only after a thousand years, we shouldn’t bother at all. Here’s their statement: “It will not make a difference for 1000 years,” the Opposition Leader told parliament. […]
The Andean cat (Leopardus jacobita) is an extraordinary elusive creature, being relatively small, well camuflaged and incredibly hard to find dwelling in a habitat usually at 3,000 meters in altitude. Actually, up to the late 1990s the snow leopard-like cat was known to scientists only through a few pictures sporadically taken by locals when such […]
Toys made out of recycled materials are of course a great initiative and can teach your kids a lot, while being very cheap and also fun, but Germany is set to show the world that things can get even better – way better. The latest trend in German green toys have solar panels and only […]
Nairobi, Kenya is home to one of the world’s biggest slums, more than one million people living in subhuman conditions in the African state capital. I’ve seen and read a lot of reports from there, and other African states alike, and the situation is indeed dire. Imagine having nothing to eat – now imagine having […]
A week before the UN Copenhagen climate summit, a disheartening new study conducted by scientists from University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, along with the University of East Anglia, shows that the world greenhouse gas emissions could reach record high in 2010, outranking the previous 2008 high. The data supports the idea that as […]
