News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
We are devouring ever more biomass, fossil fuels, metals and minerals each year. These graphics show how, and the shocking picture of how much we throw away Environment 9 February 2022 By Joshua Howgego Dominik Vanyi/Unsplash The sheer scale and complexity of the material economy makes it difficult to grasp how much of each different … Read more
As chemists scramble to find ways to reclaim valuable metals from industrial waste and discarded electronics, one team has found a solution that sounds a little like magic: Zap the trash with flashes of electric heat. Rare earth elements (REEs) present an environmental paradox. On one hand, these dozen or so metals, such as yttrium … Read more
Recycling rare earth elements from the ash left over from coal burning is cheaper, easier and more environmentally friendly than digging them out of mines Environment 9 February 2022 By Alice Klein A microscope image of tiny glass spheres in coal fly ash that contain rare earth elements Rice University Rare earth elements that are … Read more
We hack almost 100 billion tonnes of stuff from Earth’s surface every year, and most of it goes to waste. Changing that means a complete overhaul of how we live Environment 9 February 2022 By Joshua Howgego DEEPOL by plainpicture/Frank and Helena MANY of us, at least in richer parts of the world, are familiar … Read more
Dogs’ urine and faeces bring large amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus into suburban nature reserves, which could be harmful to plant biodiversity Life 7 February 2022 By Chen Ly A dog in a wildflower patch at St Abbs Head Nature Reserve, UK Rebecca Cole / Alamy Stock Photo Taking your dog for a walk in … Read more
In less than 24 hours the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists will update the Doomsday Clock. It’s currently at 100 seconds from midnight – the metaphorical time when the human race could destroy the world with technologies of its own making. The hands have never before been this close to midnight. There is scant … Read more
NASA just opened a challenge seeking ways to go to Mars and back with a minimum of wasted materials. The agency’s tournament lab, along with crowdsourcing platform HeroX, have launched a “Waste to Base” challenge looking for ideas to recycle trash, waste, carbon dioxide and foam packaging materials during a two- to three-year crewed Red … Read more
Fission in nuclear reactors forges radioactive metal by-products so toxic that they must be stored deep underground, at great cost and effort, for millennia. But a protein made by a common microbe could help ease this hazardous burden, researchers report in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Two of nuclear waste’s most problematic ingredients … Read more
California is poised to launch the nation’s biggest program to prevent food waste from going into landfills as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and generate clean energy. A law taking effect in January will require municipalities across the state to collect food waste for its potential use in making renewable natural gas for … Read more
As extreme weather events in Canada and around the world are linked to human-made climate change, there is one story that continues to be left out: the connection between climate change and the products we purchase. Recent research shows that across a product’s life cycle – from raw material extraction through manufacturing, distribution, use … Read more