Search Results - environmental

The Crop-Spraying Robot Reduces Emissions and Herbicide Use

The Prospr robot is additionally intended to address the shortage of farm workers Robotics Plus Spraying orchards and vineyards is not environmentally friendly, as tractors emit exhaust while applying herbicides and pesticides. This issue was a key motivation behind the development of the electric, autonomous Prospr robot. Created by the New Zealand agritech firm Robotics Plus, this...

Can the Use of Laptop Cause Infertility?

A gynecologist points out that sitting for many hours with equipment that generates heat, such as a laptop, causes the temperature inside the scrotum to rise. Credit: compumake, The Covid-19 pandemic brought significant societal changes, including a rise in remote work. Many professionals, especially men, have continued to work from home in various countries. However,...

A New Type of Plastic Breaks Down in the Ocean More Quickly than Paper

A prototype straw (who would ever have thought those two words would be used together?) developed by Eastman made of foam CDA for testing its biodegradability WHOI Researchers have spent recent years investigating which type of plastic biodegrades most rapidly in marine environments, as millions of tons of plastic enter our oceans each year. They discovered...

Watch: SpaceX Achieves Historic Booster Retrieval

Super Heavy just before captureSpaceX In an impressive display of space engineering, SpaceX achieved a groundbreaking milestone. At around 7:31 am CT, they successfully captured a Super Heavy booster using their launch tower after it deployed a Starship second stage into orbit and performed a controlled reentry. After following space launches since the Mercury missions, I...

Scientists Warn About the Troubling State of Earth’s Trees

Credit: Pixabay Introduction: Iconic Trees at Risk From towering coastal redwoods to ancient Wollemi pines and firs that adorn Christmas, even the planet’s most iconic plants are facing severe issues. However, the loss of certain species won’t just endanger local forests; it will threaten entire ecosystems, as recent research indicates. In 2021, a global assessment titled "State...

A Pangolin-Inspired Robot Deposits Tree Seeds Into the Holes it Digs

The hole-digging, seed-bomb-depositing, Plantolin pangolin-inspired robotUniversity of Surrey Foraging pangolins naturally dig in the ground, so why not have them plant trees at the same time? Training them to do so would be quite challenging, which is why a high school student from California named Dorothy created a pangolin-inspired robot to handle the digging and...

Carbon-Neutral Granite Concrete is Used in a NYC Skyscraper

Designed by Foster + Partners, 270 Park Avenue will be the new global headquarters of banking company JPMorganChasedbox / Foster + Partners A new carbon-neutral concrete has been commercially applied for the first time in a prominent skyscraper under construction in Manhattan. This concrete uses a granite binder instead of the conventional limestone cement that...

Closer to a Live Mammoth by 2028

This achievement marks a world first and is crucial for the development of a mammoth outside the womb.Image courtesy of Colossal Biosciences Colossal Biosciences has announced a world-first achievement: their goal is to create a woolly mammoth by 2028. Their approach involves reprogramming elephant cells into stem cell-like cells capable of differentiating into all necessary...

Sustaining the Future: How Vertical Farming Could Revolutionize Food Production

By integrating smart lighting and environmental controls, vertical farming aims to optimize plant health and reduce electricity usage, aligning food production with sustainable practices. Researchers are investigating how dynamic environmental management in indoor farms could help provide nutritious, high-quality, locally grown fruits and vegetables to support a growing population. Vertical farming has the potential to transform...

Sunlight Converts CO2 and Methane into Valuable Chemicals

Scientists use a blueprint of photosynthesis to produce greener, renewable productsMcGill University Drawing inspiration from natural photosynthesis, scientists have developed a technique that uses sunlight to convert two major greenhouse gases into valuable chemicals for fuel and industrial applications. Researchers from McGill University have created a novel process called photo-driven oxygen-atom-grafting. This method employs gold,...