Show 3 May 2024
Story 1: A simple injection could bring aging batteries back to life.
Source: Interesting Engineering Story by Rizwan Choudhury
- We know that lithium-ion batteries are the most common type of rechargeable batteries, powering our daily lives, from smartphones to electric cars. But over time, they lose their ability to hold a charge, making them less efficient and reliable. This is because they lose some charged particles, or ions, that store and release energy inside the battery.
- But what if you could replenish those ions and restore the battery’s original capacity? That’s exactly what the researchers from Toyota Central R&D Labs in Japan have achieved, using a single-step process that could reduce waste and boost the supply of batteries needed for fleets of electric vehicles.
- The researchers injected a special substance, called a recovery reagent, into the battery cells. This substance triggered a chemical reaction that produced more lithium ions and electrons, the two types of charged particles that enable a battery to store power.
- By adding more of these particles, the researchers were able to reverse the degradation of the battery and restore 80 percent of its original capacity. The restored battery also maintained its performance for 100 charging and discharging cycles.
- The researchers tested their method on small and large batteries, including those used for automotive applications.
- However, the technique is not a magic bullet for all types of battery degradation. It only works for batteries that have lost their ions due to repeated charging and discharging, not those that have suffered structural damage or other forms of deterioration. It also requires a way to diagnose the battery’s state and determine whether it suits the injection.
- As the news outlet NewScientist reports, the Toyota research group has filed a patent application for their work, which has attracted interest and funding from other companies and government agencies, such as the US Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.
Story 2: Scientists are growing crops with salt water that could help save us from starvation.
Source: AgNews Story by Ellyn Lapointe
Link: https://news.agropages.com/News/NewsDetail—49686.htm
See also: https://www.salicrop.com/
- Saltwater is bad news for most crops, but not for a series of tomatoes, alfalfa, onions, and rice sprouting in a lab in Israel.
- These crops don’t just grow, they thrive on salt water.
- Over the last four years, SaliCrop has been testing its seed enhancement technology on tomatoes in southern Spain, where devastating drought has triggered severe salinization, the process where soils become too salty for crops to grow efficiently.
- With SaliCrop’s seeds, however, participating tomato farmers have seen a 10% to 17% increase in crop yields.
- Spain is just one of many places worldwide with a serious salinization issue. A perfect storm of years-long irrigation, warming global temperatures, and sea level rise have made 20% to 50% of irrigated soils worldwide too salty to be fertile. This costs the global economy an estimated $27 billion per year in lost crops.
- Scientists at SaliCrop are developing an army of resilient crops that can grow under the stresses of our changing world, like saltier soils and warmer temperatures.
- SaliCrop is working to bring its solution to eight different countries, and is already fielding calls from seed companies in Europe, India, and Africa that are seeking immediate solutions to improve their crop yield.
Story 3: Scientists turn food waste into plastic-free diapers and sanitary pads.
Source: ZME Science Story by Tibi Puiu
Link: https://www.zmescience.com/future/food-waste-diapers-sanitary-pads/
- Antonio Capezza, a researcher in the polymeric materials division at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, has found a way to replace various polymer fibers in diapers and sanitary pads with porous materials made of biomass waste. In specific, that’s protein from the waste of the food and agricultural industries that would have otherwise been discarded.
- Here’s the problem, lots of plastic materials in diapers and sanitary pads can’t be recycled. Below is some optional details on plastics in diapers and sanitary pads:
- Sanitary pads often contain polyethylene plastic in their back layer for leak protection, while their absorbent core can include superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) that efficiently capture and retain moisture.
- The outer layer of most disposable diapers is made of a waterproof plastic material, often polyethylene film, which prevents leaks. The inner layer that sits against the baby’s skin is typically made from a nonwoven, polypropylene fabric designed to be soft and to wick moisture away into the absorbent core, which in turn is made of superabsorbent polymers.
- This problem is why this new research from the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden is so promising. And it gets double points for being a happy accident.
- One day, Capezza was breaking stuff on purpose to teach students what could go wrong in the lab. In one instance, he introduced unwanted humidity while making bioplastic filaments from proteins. The wet cotton he used caused the mixture to foam. Later, when the product dried, the research team realized that the material was super porous, capable of soaking up a lot of liquid like a sponge.
- This serendipitous moment opened the door to a new line of research. Instead of cotton, which needs bleaching and other chemical interventions to be useful in sanitary products, the researchers looked to natural molecules left over from food and agriculture. Things like zein from corn, gluten from wheat, and natural antioxidant extracts.
- What is zein from corn? Zein, also known as maize prolamine, is a class of protein found in corn. It is usually manufactured as a powder from corn gluten meal.
- The researchers combined proteins in varying ratios and added water and bicarbonates like baking soda as foaming agents, glycerol as a sweetener to act as a plasticizer, and natural extracts for preservation.
- They then employed plastic industry methods and equipment, such as extrusion equipment similar to a pasta maker, to create components typical in pads and diapers.
- This process allowed them to produce both foamed filaments and flat sheets. Using these methods, they crafted three components needed for diapers and sanitary pads:
- 1. A dry-to-the-touch “nonwoven” layer that let liquid pass through quickly
- 2. A fluffy porous material that absorbed liquid efficiently, and
- 3. Waterproof films to safeguard outer garments.
Story 4: Lab grown mini colons advance colorectal cancer research.
Source: MedicalExpress.com Story by Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne
Link: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-04-mini-colons-advance-colorectal-cancer.html
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk4nAAQMxY4
See also the study published in Nature.
- In a breakthrough for cancer research, scientists at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne [the federal polytechnical school in Lausanne, Switzerland – pronounced “lozan”] have created lab-grown mini-colons that can accurately mimic the development of colorectal tumors, offering a powerful new tool for studying and testing treatments for the disease.
- In a significant leap forward for cancer modeling, scientists have combined microfabrication and tissue engineering techniques to develop miniature colon tissues that can simulate the complex process of the initial formation of a tumor in the body.
- The key here is they have created a way to study this process outside of the body with high fidelity. They were able to create tumors that closely resemble those found within the body.
- The mini-colons are topobiologically complex, meaning that they not only replicate the physical structure of colon tissue, but they also mimic the cellular diversity present in the actual colon tissue during healthy and diseased states.
- Another important feature of the lab-grown mini-colons is that they can be induced to develop tumors “at will” and in targeted areas—a massive advantage for cancer research.
- The researchers were able to turn genes that can be activated or turned on under specific conditions using “optogenetics.” This cutting-edge technique uses light to control biological processes such as gene expression.
- By integrating a blue-light-responsive system into the mini-colons, the researchers made them undergo controlled genetic alterations that can lead to the development of cancer. The result – this can reveal tumor evolution with unprecedented details.
- This optogenetic approach allowed the scientists to induce targeted changes in specific cell populations within the mini-colons, mimicking the localized onset of colorectal cancer in the body.
- As one of the lead researchers noted, “This basically allows you to watch tumor formation in real-time and do very detailed analyses of a process that’s very difficult to study in a mouse.”
Honorable Mentions:
Story: Constructing A Self-Balancing Screw-Wheel Bike
Source: Technabob Story by Jonathan Berisford
Link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/fitness/constructing-a-self-balancing-screw-wheel-bike/ar-BB1lOFBh
- The brainchild of engineer James Brunton, the Screw-Bike is a self-balancing electric bike that sits on four omnidirectional mecanum wheels. The amount of engineering that went into building the bike staggers my mind. Although, if I’m being completely honest, my mind doesn’t take much to be staggered.
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Story: Researchers report new fuel refinery concept that could power planes without traditional dirty fuel: ‘Designed to be simple, low-cost, and robust’
Source: The Cool Down Story by Susan Eliabeth Turek
- The next generation of biofuels could be on the horizon to help people get to their destinations without flying on planes powered by dirty energy.
- Another exciting factor? The biofuel could be available for as little as $3.15 per gallon of gasoline equivalent, as detailed by Anthropocene, possibly facilitating travel at a more affordable price point with significantly less harmful pollution.
- This biofuel would be made possible by a refinery process first reported by researchers at the University of California, Riverside in 2013.
- To transform non-food sources into fuel, scientists used an organic compound called tetrahydrofuran, which reacts with the three main elements of plant cell walls at “mild temperatures.”
- The method, known as CELF (co-solvent enhanced lignocellulosic fractionation), efficiently split plant matter into high-quality practical materials.
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Story: Critical Minerals Recovery from Electronic Waste
Source: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Story by Karyn Hede
Link: https://www.pnnl.gov/news-media/critical-minerals-recovery-electronic-waste
- A clever method of recovering valuable minerals from e-waste, developed by a research team at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, is showing promise to do just that. Materials separation scientist Qingpu Wang will present recent success in selectively recovering manganese, magnesium, dysprosium, and neodymium, minerals critical to modern electronics, at the 2024 Materials Research Society (MRS) Spring Meeting on April 25, 2024, in Seattle, WA.
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Story: Parrots can play tablet games for enrichment. Now researchers are studying how to improve them for birds to use.
Source: CNN Story by Taylor Nicioli
Link: https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/11/world/parrots-tablet-enrichment-study-scn?cid=ios_app
- Parrots are smart, with some species found to have the problem-solving skills of a young child. So if small kids can use technology in some capacity, why can’t parrots?
- Researchers aiming to answer why parrots should use technology for cognitive enrichment set out to answer just how tablets could be improved for optimal use by the intelligent birds, according to a recent March study.
- By designing a balloon-popping tablet game and collecting data from 20 pet parrots, the researchers found that birds’ interest in the game indicated mental stimulation could be a potential benefit. However, the critters’ anatomy was an obstacle to interacting with the screens. Each parrot popped virtual balloons by using its tongue and beak, with eyes often very close to the screen. As a result, the bird would have to turn its head or pull back to find the next target.