China is developing rice that grows in saltwater More than half the global population relies on rice to survive, but meeting that demand is difficult due to the increasing scarcity of freshwater, which is required for rice cultivation. To get around the problem, an 87-year-old Chinese scientist named Yuan Longping is developing a new high-yield…
200-year-old Mumbai mosque’s green choice cuts electricity bill by 67% Mumbai’s Jama Masjid in Kalbadevi is going to save 35 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year. The 200-year-old mosque is switching to solar energy for 70% of its electricity requirements, reports the Hindustan Times. This mosque in South Mumbai is not the only one…
A ‘floating’ plan to stop trash in rivers from entering seas It is the rivers in metropolitan cities that face maximum abuse, owing to the lack of efficient waste management system, besides the apathetic attitude of citizens, industries and civic bodies. What we fail to realise or conveniently overlook is the drastic effect that indiscriminate…
Food transformed: from garbage to gourmet Think of projects that are putting waste food to good use and likely to spring to mind are all-purpose, easily adaptable dishes like veg soups and simple curries. But it’s not just wonky veg that gets wasted. Although the vast majority of the UK’s 200,000 tonnes of retail sector…
Quark fusion produces eight times more energy than nuclear fusion To reduce the emissions fueling climate change and develop more efficient ways of generating energy, while focusing on the bottom line, governments and private institutions all over the world have been turning to renewable energy. And while solar and wind energy advance and become more…
Streptococcus vaccine ‘could prevent over 100,000 baby deaths worldwide’ More than 100,000 stillbirths and baby deaths worldwide could be prevented by the development of a vaccine against an infection commonly carried by pregnant women, according to a groundbreaking report. The impact of disease caused by group B streptococcus (GBS) has not been properly chronicled before…
A new organic material that generates electricity when stressed We all get stressed out. But typically, when we stress, we don’t produce electricity. The same can’t be said of a flexible new material developed by researchers from Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology. They’ve created a thin, flexible, rubbery material that generates…