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Category: sustainability – Page 325

Making dark semiconductors shine

Whether or not a solid can emit light, for instance as a light-emitting diode (LED), depends on the energy levels of the electrons in its crystalline lattice. An international team of researchers led by University of Oldenburg physicists Dr. Hangyong Shan and Prof. Dr. Christian Schneider has succeeded in manipulating the energy-levels in an ultra-thin sample of the semiconductor tungsten diselenide in such a way that this material, which normally has a low luminescence yield, began to glow. The team has now published an article on its research in the science journal Nature Communications.

According to the researchers, their findings constitute a first step towards controlling the properties of matter through light fields. “The idea has been discussed for years, but had not yet been convincingly implemented,” said Schneider. The light effect could be used to optimize the optical properties of semiconductors and thus contribute to the development of innovative LEDs, , optical components and other applications. In particular the optical properties of organic semiconductors—plastics with semiconducting properties that are used in flexible displays and solar cells or as sensors in textiles—could be enhanced in this way.

Tungsten diselenide belongs to an unusual class of semiconductors consisting of a and one of the three elements sulfur, selenium or tellurium. For their experiments the researchers used a sample that consisted of a single crystalline layer of and selenium atoms with a sandwich-like structure. In physics, such materials, which are only a few atoms thick, are also known as two-dimensional (2D) materials. They often have unusual properties because the they contain behave in a completely different manner to those in thicker solids and are sometimes referred to as “quantum materials.”

Scientists Invent Way to Grow Plants in Complete Darkness

Some things that could make the world more efficient simply feel impossible to achieve — not like having to eat and sleep or not suffering through inflated grocery store prices.

Earlier this week, though, scientists at UC Riverside and the University of Delaware say they found a way to cross one of those seemingly impossible barriers when they convinced plants to grow in total darkness. A university press release says the team used a two-step process to convert carbon dioxide, electricity and water into acetate. Plants consumed the acetate and were able to grow in the dark.

The release said that combined with solar panels to generate electricity, this method of food production would be more than 18 times as effective as the natural process, which they claim uses only 1 percent of the energy found in sunlight alone. The team’s research was published Thursday in the journal Nature Food.

If the Ocean Continues to Warm, Fish May No Longer Be on the Menu

Climate change is already had a serious impact on global food production — from making food less nutritious to messing with the growing season of plants, to even pushing some crop species towards extinction. On top of that, the world’s oceans are already stressed by overfishing, with over 70 percent of the world’s fish stocks fully exploited, over-exploited, or depleted.

The combination of overuse and climate change could prove deadly for global food security. And by the time 2,300 rolls around, it will be too late to mitigate the impact of human activity on our food sources, both those on land and those under the sea.

Startup Says It’s Honing in on Simple Solution for Practical Fusion Power

Yet another startup says it’s nearing tests for a system that could once and for all prove the technology can actually generate more energy than it consumes, The New York Times reports.

Seattle-based startup Zap Energy says its approach to fusion energy — potentially an entirely green source of renewable energy — is far simpler and cheaper than other attempts.

But critics are crying foul, arguing that we’re merely stuck in yet another round of “fusion energy fever,” according to the report.

Astronomers Radically Reimagine the Making of the Planets

Now look out past the sun, way beyond. Most of the stars harbor planets of their own. Astronomers have spotted thousands of these distant star-and-planet systems. But strangely, they have so far found none that remotely resemble ours. So the puzzle has grown harder: Why these, and why those?

The swelling catalog of extrasolar planets, along with observations of distant, dusty planet nurseries and even new data from our own solar system, no longer matches classic theories about how planets are made. Planetary scientists, forced to abandon decades-old models, now realize there may not be a grand unified theory of world-making—no single story that explains every planet around every star, or even the wildly divergent orbs orbiting our sun. “The laws of physics are the same everywhere, but the process of building planets is sufficiently complicated that the system becomes chaotic,” said Alessandro Morbidelli, a leading figure in planetary formation and migration theories and an astronomer at the Côte d’Azur Observatory in Nice, France.

Still, the findings are animating new research. Amid the chaos of world-building, patterns have emerged, leading astronomers toward powerful new ideas. Teams of researchers are working out the rules of dust and pebble assembly and how planets move once they coalesce. Fierce debate rages over the timing of each step, and over which factors determine a budding planet’s destiny. At the nexus of these debates are some of the oldest questions humans have asked ourselves: How did we get here? Is there anywhere else like here?

Life will find a way: could scientists make Jurassic Park a reality?

Alex SharpThe world needs to be subsidising heat pumps for the poorer regions of the world, to keep people safe.

2 Replies.

Chris BartlettThat’s alarmist, while they’re is global warming, there’s little evidence that we are yet seeing extreme weather previously unseen in Earth’s history or even during human history.

3 Replies.

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Paul Battista shared a link. Lifeboat Foundation.

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Solar Desalination Skylight provides free lighting and drinking water

A New Zeland-based designer Henry Glogau has developed Solar Desalination Skylight, a device that uses seawater to create natural ambient light, drinking water, and generates energy from the remaining sea salt.

Glogau’s Solar Desalination Skylight is the finalist of the Lexus Design Award 2021, a competition dedicated to empowering humans to make good things for the future of humanity and the planet. Projects that are finalized and awarded are determined by their positive impact on human society.

It emits a natural light, produces drinking water, and utilizes leftover salt brine for energy creation.

Loki Unveils a Spacious New Feature-Packed Camper Shell for the Tesla Cybertruck

Loki has just announced a new version of its Basecamp adventure pod—or camper shell, if you’re old fashioned—for the EV maker’s much-anticipated electric pickup. Although we’ll have to wait until the Cybertruck’s arrival to see it in action, the high-end accessory looks like it could turn the EV into the ultimate go-anywhere vehicle.

The $135,000 camper shell includes solar panels and a climate control system.

Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk promises a fast fix for ‘money furnace’ Tesla factories

Tesla CEO Elon Musk described the electric automaker’s factories in Austin and Berlin as “money furnaces” that were losing billions of dollars because supply chain breakdowns were limiting the number of cars they can produce.

In a May 30 interview with a Tesla owners club that was just released this week, Musk said that getting the Berlin and Austin plants functional “are overwhelmingly our concerns. Everything else is a very small thing,” Musk said, but added that “it’s all gonna get fixed real fast.”

It’s not clear how much has changed in the three weeks since the interview, but last week Musk tweeted congratulations to his Berlin team for producing 1,000 cars in a week.

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