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Researchers at TU Graz have found a way to convert the aromatic substance vanillin into a redox-active electrolyte material for liquid batteries. The technology is an important step towards ecologically sustainable energy storage.

It is ground-breaking in the field of sustainable energy storage technology,” says Stefan Spirk from the Institute of Bioproducts and Paper Technology at Graz University of Technology. He and his team have succeeded in making redox-flow batteries more environmentally friendly by replacing their core element, the liquid electrolyte, which are mostly made up of ecologically harmful heavy metals or rare earths – with vanillin, an important ingredient of Austrian vanilla croissants.

Thanks for the niobium metal: http://www.samaterials.com/
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Do not repeat the experiments shown in this video!
So, today I will tell you about the metal that can replace gold, about niobium.
In the periodic table of chemical elements, niobium is placed in the 5th group, between vanadium and tantalum.
It got its name in the honor of Niobe, the daughter of the ancient Greek king Tantalus, and this is not a coincidence, because the properties of niobium and tantalum are very similar and at first sight they are quite hard to distinguish.
Niobium is mined from the mineral columbite, where tantalum is also present.
Because of that, until 1949 in the US, niobium was also called columbium, as in the 19th century, American scientists sometimes considered tantalum and niobium the same element and did not think about new names.
Now, when obtaining niobium from ore, it is purified from tantalum and other metals, and so pure niobium pentoxide is acquired, which is then subsequently dissolved with hydrofluoric acid, thereby obtaining complex niobium compounds.
Which are then reduced by the metallic sodium to a metallic state.
After such a process, what is obtained is a high-purity niobium which in its appearance resembles a white and a malleable metal.
If you compare its appearance with tantalum, then you can immediately see the difference in that tantalum has a more shiny surface, though it might be just the way they produce these rods.
Also niobium is about 3 times cheaper than tantalum.
Due to its high plasticity, it is easy to make a niobium foil, which is much harder to distinguish from the foil of tantalum.
Although, there is one way, as the density of niobium is almost 2 times less than that of tantalum, therefore these metals can be easily distinguished by means of scales.

A team of archaeologists from the University of Cincinnati has found that between about 2,200 and 1,000 years ago, the drinking water in this reservoir was filtered through a mixture of zeolite and coarse, sand-sized crystalline quartz. This filtration system is the oldest known example of water purification in the western hemisphere and the oldest known use of zeolite for decontaminating drinking water in the world.

Nature found a way to make those terrified of sharks even more worried about the ocean. A shark with two heads (previously at BB). Two damn heads! Fortunately, the bi-noggined fish was a spadenose shark, which at its full mature size is just over two feet long. After taking the requisite pictures the Indian fisherman released it back to the Arabian Sea waters and into your nightmares. That’s right, it is still out there, and most assuredly coming for you.

Feature photo by TheAgent41 Posted in 2-Headed Shark.

Animal studies suggest the metabolic conditions linked to obesity could be treated by using CRISPR gene editing to turn normal fat into heat-producing beige fat.

WASHINGTON — Axiom Space hopes to soon finalize its first commercial mission to the International Space Station, scheduled for late 2021, as it continues development of a commercial module for the station.

During a panel discussion at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) Oct. 13, Michael Suffredini, president and chief executive of Axiom Space, said his company had lined up the customers for that first mission, a 10-day flight to the space station on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2021.

“We have all of our customers identified and we’re about to finish their contracting,” he said. The company previously announced a contract with SpaceX for the flight and is “just about done” with a NASA contract for the mission.

On July 4, 2012, the most elusive particle was finally discovered. Here’s how researchers found the “God particle” and opened paths to new physics.

Scientists from Scripps Research and Los Alamos National Laboratory have devised a method for mapping in unprecedented detail the thickets of slippery sugar molecules that help shield HIV from the immune system.

Mapping these shields will give researchers a more complete understanding of why antibodies react to some spots on the virus but not others, and may shape the design of new vaccines that target the most vulnerable and accessible sites on HIV and other viruses.

The sugar molecules, or “glycans,” are loose and stringy, and function as shields because they are difficult for antibodies to grip and block access to the protein surface. The shields form on the outermost spike proteins of HIV and many other viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, because these viruses have evolved sites on their spike proteins where glycan molecules—normally abundant in cells—will automatically attach.

‘This is only good news in our fight against the illness,’ researcher says.