Since its first synthesis in a post-WWII American lab in 1949, berkelium has stood out on the periodic table, defying quantum mechanics by adopting an extra positive charge that its relatives typically avoid.Now, scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory—berkelium's birthplace—have successfully bonded this elusive element with carbon, creating a rare organometallic complex. This breakthrough...
Credit: Cornell ChronicleE-waste into prototypes. Ilan Mandel, a robotics researcher and builder at Cornell University, found himself puzzled by a seemingly illogical situation: how could a brand-new hoverboard cost less than the individual parts needed to build it? This discrepancy led him to contemplate the challenges of designing and prototyping, where finished products are...
The cost to producers for implementing EPR for packaging fell by £1 billion due to the exclusion of business waste.The Recycling Association has cautioned that proposals for business waste collection areas in the Scottish Government's circular economy bill could be "damaging" to the recycling industry.Within the consultation, the Scottish Government states it intends to...
Credit: UKRI.orgA lack of sorted plastic waste is negatively influencing the tasks of plastic recyclers across Europe, the association Plastic Recyclers Europe (PRE) has reported.The organization claimed that the lack of product was "unforeseen" as the EU has been registering a decline in waste exports over the previous few years. Influenced by the Chinese...
When a pulse of current goes through a tube containing coal ash, a flash of light indicates rapid heating. Rare earth elements then become much easier to extract. Credit: BRANDON MARTIN/RICE UNIVERSITYAs chemists struggle to discover methods to reclaim important metals from industrial waste and disposed electronics, one group has discovered an answer that...
The plastic material is of precious help. Some might also say it is an inevitability. However, it causes a tremendous harmful influence on our environment.Well, consider the Great Pacific rubbish patch, an oceanic accumulation of trash so enormous that it is generally referred to as a trash island. The area is twice the size...
