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…
3D-printed human skin models will help end animal testing Carolina Catarino is a young Brazilian scientist who just won a Lush Prize for improving lab-grown skin models. When Carolina Catarino was a teenager, she wanted to be a fashion designer. But her parents, living in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba, told her she had…
We could power the world with volcanoes Rifting is the geological process that rips tectonic plates apart, roughly at the speed your fingernails grow. In Ethiopia this has enabled magma to force its way to the surface, and there are over 60 known volcanoes. Many have undergone colossal eruptions in the past, leaving behind immense…
EasyJet says it could be flying electric planes within a decade EasyJet could be flying planes powered by batteries rather than petroleum to destinations including Paris and Amsterdam within a decade. The UK carrier has formed a partnership with US firm Wright Electric, which is developing a battery-propelled aircraft for flights under two hours. EasyJet…
Uganda city of Gulu launches massive tree-planting campaign Experts are warning that global climate change is closely linked to agriculture, the World’s major source of nutritive food. They want the world to prevent global temperature rise above two degrees Celsius (35.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial level to prevent reaching a tipping point where food security can…
Cape Town’s new buses will be all-electric come 2025 Cape Town, along with 11 other major world cities, has vowed to shirk purchasing fossil fuel-powered buses in favour of electric models for its inner city transport networks by 2025. The cities, which include Auckland, Barcelona, Copenhagen, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Quito, Vancouver, Mexico City, Milan…
6,000 kg of plastic waste collected along Kenya’s south coast in clean-up exercise Over 6,000kg of plastic waste was collected on Saturday along the Kenyan coastal strip in an effort to reduce the amount of plastic waste dumped into the ocean. The exercise was organized and carried out by various conservation partners including World Wildlife Fund…
China is building 30 “sponge cities” to soften the blow of climate change China is taking the repercussions of climate change seriously. One consequence of our warming world is increasingly frequent and more severe flooding. This is especially problematic in growing, crowded cities, which has made certain regions in China more vulnerable. To combat this…
London’s first zero waste store London’s first-ever zero waste store is located on Kingsland Road in Hackney. The storefront is simple and subtle, with one small sign indicating its name, Bulk, and an attractive window display of fresh pastries, loaves of multigrain bread, and baskets of beautiful produce to draw in curious passersby. Inside, Bulk…
Blood plasma infusions from young donors may arrest Alzheimer’s Regular infusions of blood plasma from young donors could be used to treat patients with Alzheimer’s disease, a medical conference in Boston was told on Saturday. Researchers said that their study showed transfusions were safe, had no serious side effects and hinted that infusions could lead…