Lifeboat Foundation

Authorities in Denmark plan to build nine artificial islands off the coast of Copenhagen with a total area of more than 32 million square feet (3 million square meters.) The hope is that the new islands, which will be called “Holmene,” will become a futuristic hub for sustainable business and commerce.

“I think this could become a sort of European Silicon Valley,” said Brian Mikkelsen, the head of the Danish chamber of commerce, in an interview with The Guardian.

Homeowners tend to equate termites with property value apocalypse, but ecologically speaking, they’re more a force of stability than destruction. A new study points to how termites can help the rainforests they call home to weather droughts—which are expected to increase in frequency and intensity as climate change causes the tropics to heat up.

Termites are found across the tropics, where they feed on wood and dead leaves and build mounds that can sometimes be seen from space. Despite the wide-ranging influence of these ecological engineers, there’s been little research on how termites impact the ability of the forests they call home to withstand one of the biggest natural disturbances they face: drought.

The feature will be part of a SpaceX add-on package that uses thrusters to aid in acceleration and cornering.

Check out the SPACe_C eMart, the ice cream truck-style food delivery service of the future that offers fresh food and educates consumers on farm-to-table eating.

Zero Mass Water produces solar panels that pull water out of the air, filter it, and deliver it to your home faucet.

How do you separate carbon dioxide from carbon monoxide? One way, showcased by a new study from Kanazawa University, is to use a bowl of vanadium. More precisely, a hollow, spherical cluster of vanadate molecules can discriminate between CO and CO₂, allowing potential uses in CO₂ storage and capture.

At the molecular scale, small objects can fit inside larger ones, just like in the everyday world. The resulting arrangements, known as host-guest interactions, are stabilized by non-covalent forces like electrostatics and hydrogen bonds. Each host will happily take in certain molecules, while shutting out others, depending on the size of its entrance and how much interior space it can offer the guest.

Anion structures of CH₂ Cl₂ (guest)-inserted V12 (left) and guest-free V12 are shown. Orange and red square pyramids represent VO 5 units with their bases directed to the center of the bowl, and the inverted VO 5 unit. Green and black spheres represent Cl and C, respectively. Hydrogen atoms of CH₂ Cl₂ are omitted for clarity. (Image: Kanazawa University)

Over seven decades ago in 1941, Isaac Asimov wrote a short story, “Reason” (PDF), in which energy captured from the sun was transmitted via microwave beams to nearby planets from a space station. Flash forward to today, scientists are looking to make that very science fiction dream a reality for Earth.

There has been tremendous research on space-based solar power (SBSP) or space solar power (SSP) since the mid 20th century. Here is a great timeline of the various international studies and projects related to SBSP.

Continue reading “Why the Future of Solar Power Is from Space” »

Scientists at the University of Washington (UW) may have found an unexpected way to tackle persistent indoor air pollution: a common houseplant modified with rabbit DNA.

Researchers wanted to find a way to remove the toxic compounds chloroform and benzene from the home, a UW press release explained. Chloroform enters the air through chlorinated water and benzene comes from gasoline and enters the home through showers, the boiling of hot water and fumes from cars or other vehicles stored in garages attached to the home. Both have been linked to cancer, but not much has been done to try and remove them. Until now.

“People haven’t really been talking about these hazardous organic compounds in homes, and I think that’s because we couldn’t do anything about them,” senior study author and UW civil and environmental engineering department research professor Stuart Strand said in the release. “Now we’ve engineered houseplants to remove these pollutants for us.”

Continue reading “Scientists have combined a house plant with a rabbit gene. This is why” »

They play a key role in the process.