production

Eating More Bugs Could Help The Environment Even More Than We Thought

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Insects have been touted as a food of the future, not least because of the sustainability benefits. An excellent protein source, they take up significantly fewer resources to produce when compared to traditional farming. Give your farm of mealworms around 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of food and you’ll get a kilogram of edible protein; with beef, … Read more

Glitchy protein production may hasten aging | Science

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Cells are continually cranking out new proteins, but like car factories, they produce some lemons. A study of mice now suggests these defective proteins speed aging, bolstering an idea first proposed 60 years ago. The new paper “fills a critical gap” and “allows us to say that protein damage is an accelerant of aging,” says … Read more

Methane Emissions from Energy Production Are Massively Undercounted

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Governments across the world are massively undercounting the amount of methane that energy production is releasing into the environment, according to a report this morning from the International Energy Agency. The agency’s annual Global Methane Tracker said emissions from the energy sector are about 70 percent greater than the amount national governments have officially reported. … Read more

Depleted uranium: US arms maker ends production of controversial weapons

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By David Hambling US Army M1 Abrams tanks use depleted uranium rounds Stocktrek Images, Inc./Alamy The maker of a controversial depleted uranium weapon used by the US Army has said that it is ceasing production. Depleted uranium (DU) is an extremely strong and dense metal that is able to pierce armoured vehicles, making it the … Read more

Fusion Power Experiment in The UK Smashes Its Old Record in Major Step Forward

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Late last century, the Joint European Torus (JET) near Oxford, UK, churned out 22 megajoules of energy in what was, at the time, a record in fusion power. Now, experimental upgrades have brought the facility into line with the technology anticipated for a major international project, resulting in the production of nearly three times that … Read more

The World’s Massive Need For More Solar Panels Has One Shiny Catch

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There’s a major catch to the world’s need for solar panels, a new analysis suggests. The booming solar panel market – which is critical for a clean energy future – could demand close to half the world’s aluminum by 2050. Thankfully, there are ways we can mitigate this.    Unlike more precious metals, such as … Read more

We Have Breached The Safe Planetary Limit For Synthetic Chemicals, Scientists Warn

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From sea to land to sky, Earth’s systems are contaminated with synthetic substances, and scientists warn it has already pushed the integrity of our planet over the brink. Today, there are about 350,000 human-made chemicals on the market, including plastics, pesticides, industrial chemicals, cosmetic chemicals, antibiotics, and other drugs.   The fact this number continues … Read more

Microbes in The Ocean Depths Can Make Oxygen Without Sun. This Discovery Could Be Huge

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For most of life on Earth, oxygen is essential, and sunlight is usually needed to produce that oxygen. But in an exciting twist, researchers have caught a common, ocean-dwelling microbe breaking all the rules.   Scientists have found that a microbe called Nitrosopumilus maritimus and several of its cousins, called ammonia oxidizing archaea (AOA), are able to … Read more