Showing posts with label Article. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Article. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Friday, March 3, 2017
This Is How Badly We've Trashed The Planet
It seems like an everyday image: A man out walking his dog.
Except for one thing: Both human and nonhuman animals are donning masks so that they can breathe.
The image, from 2014, was shot in China's capital city, Beijing, on a day when the city raised its four-tiered air pollution alert system to "orange," according to Reuters.
Since then, people have discovered that air pollution in Beijing is even worse than they originally thought — breathing the air there is tantamount to smoking 40 cigarettes a day, a study released this year says.
But China isn't the only one making the only planet we've got poisonous for humans and animals. In the ranking of the earth's worst polluting countries, the U.S. is a close runner-up.
You may have never seen anything like this image before — but you surely will in the future.
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Science is not bent to one man's will.
It can not lie follow the movement and keep the truth free. Follow the link below to know to see where the blacked out agencies have gone.
https://twitter.com/StollmeyerEU/lists/twistance/members
https://twitter.com/StollmeyerEU/lists/twistance/members
Friday, January 20, 2017
New York City’s sanitation department's toy collection
On the second floor of a nondescript warehouse owned by New York City's Sanitation Department in East Harlem is a treasure trove—filled with other people's trash.
Nelson Molina, an NYC Sanitation Department employee, built up the huge collection over a 30-year career, and the department has been looking after the vast personal museum of unloved treasures ever since his retirement. Who knows what was lost and found throughout the years.
Tours are hard to arrange but not impossible. For more information on the occasional organized tours, email tours@dsny.nyc.gov.
Friday, January 6, 2017
Artist saves the oceans with recycled art lamps
A California artist Roxy Russel is taking plastic that normally would be thrown in the ocean and turns it into sea creatures that may illuminate their plight
Taken from an interview with Victor Van Gasbeek
Medusae Pendant Lamps: Interview with Californian designer Roxy Russell
Her inspiration for these lamps of course came from the ocean;
Taken from an interview with Victor Van Gasbeek
Medusae Pendant Lamps: Interview with Californian designer Roxy Russell
Her inspiration for these lamps of course came from the ocean;
“The ocean is such a boundless source of inspiration for myself and many other people, in all fields. Unfortunately, I am also very concerned about the fragile state of it’s very complex eco-system.
I wanted to bring to the surface, and illuminate the growing problem of plastic polluting our oceans in a way that makes people inspired to help. We have a floating island of plastic garbage in the Pacific that is twice the size of Texas. Up to 70 percent of this plastic is below the surface, broken down into tiny pieces,becoming a toxic part of the eco-system. Countless fish and birds die from mistaking these bits for food.
This is an opportunity to look at how we might be contributing to the problem. Most people think it’s ok to use plastic bottles because they throw them in the recycle bin or think someone else will, but what they don’t realize is that much of the plastic that is manufactured never gets recycled.
Many times when we think “eco” or “going green” we think of what’s on the surface, where we live…with this series I’d like to inspire people to look a little deeper.”
Your inspiration for these lamps came from the ocean and you express your concern about the vast amount of plastic in the ocean, yet your product for the most part consist out of plastic?
“Yes, A very good and valid question. It is made from the very element I am most concerned about clogging up our oceans! It is made of a form of PET, a recyclable plastic.
I did see the irony in this, but also the poetry.
The way I see it is this:
I don’t believe the PET is an evil material, it is the way we use it. We will never be able to completely eliminate something as versatile as plastics. The reason that they are used up to a large extent and considered ‘environmental friendly’ is because it is safe, non-toxic, doesn’t have plasticizers, and don’t contain heavy metals. Of course, the main advantages of this polymer are that these can be recycled.
We must, however put more thought into how disposable it is, and it’s role in our everyday lives. For example, we know we need to drink water everyday in order to survive, why are most people still using disposable containers to hold their water? It’s such a new thing too, for centuries we had canteen’s, animal skins etc, to hold our water. Now, we forget so easily that we are creating this waste every time we need to hydrate! I personally, always keep reusable container’s for my water needs, and always bring my own bags to stores, even when it’s not for groceries.
The lights are an example of how delicate and beautiful our ocean life is. The use of plastic in such a way shows a middle ground in the ways we use our technologies. And hopefully elevates it, in a way…
What kind of “eco” choices did you make concerning material, manufacturer and packaging?
“So, I hope this help’s clarify my choices for these lamps!”
- It is not a disposable item, but it is made of materials that can be separated for recycling, as opposed to hybrid materials which cannot be broken down to recycle. (Note: I am now using a thin aluminum for the ‘crown’ pieces, instead of the original acrylic )
- It is flat packed in pieces for the consumer to put together. This minimizes the amount of space used for transport.
- It is very lightweight, also saving energy in transport.
- It is manufactured in Los Angeles, so it supports local economy and eliminates overseas shipping in the manufacturing process.
- A percentage of profits will be donated to The Ocean Conservancy
It sure does, and what a great product it has become, thank you for answering my questions and for giving us some insight in this project!
Friday, December 23, 2016
Scientists have discovered the true origin of the most isolated animal on Earth
The Devils hole pupfish perhaps the rarest of all fish, the world’s loneliest species, and the most isolated animal species on Earth.
And now scientists believe they have finally established where it came from. fish lives in a single limestone cavern, known as Devils Hole in Nye County, Nevada.
Although the cavern opens to the air, the water inside is not connected to any other source.
How did the Devils Hole pupfish come to live inside Devils Hole?
Some 15 metres below the cavern’s opening, is a pool of water, within which every wild Devils pupfish has ever lived.
At one end of this pool is a small limestone shelf, measuring just 3 metres by 6 metres. This shelf is the fish’s only known feeding and spawning ground.
As a result, the pupfish has the smallest geographic range of any vertebrate species.
The fish also survives continually harsh conditions; a constant temperature of 32-33 degrees Celsius, low levels of oxygen, and sporadic changes in water levels.
The fish’s extreme rarity led to it, in 1966, being one of the first species listed under the original US Endangered Species Preservation Act, and the US Supreme Court once ruled in the fish’s favour, banning the pumping of nearby groundwater, that may have threatened its habitat and existence. That ruling strengthened the legal protection later offered to a range of endangered species.
However, such rarity raises a fundamental question; how did the Devils Hole pupfish come to live inside Devils Hole?
Monday, November 7, 2016
“The Breathing Earth,”
NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterSatellite instruments reveal the yearly cycle of plant life on the land and in the water. On land, the images represent the density of plant growth, while in the oceans they show the chlorophyll concentration from tiny, plant-like organisms called phytoplankton. From December to February, during the northern hemisphere winter, plant life in the higher latitudes is minimal and receives little sunlight. However, even in the mid latitudes plants are dormant, shown here with browns and yellows on the land and dark blues in the ocean. By contrast the southern ocean and land masses are at the height of the summer season and plant life is revealed with dark green colors on the land and in the ocean. As the year progresses, the situations reverses, with plant life following the increased sunlight northward, while the southern hemisphere experiences decreased plant actvity during its' winter.
Rather than showing a specific year, the animation shows an average yearly cycle by combining data from many satellite instruments and averaging them over multiple years.
Rather than showing a specific year, the animation shows an average yearly cycle by combining data from many satellite instruments and averaging them over multiple years.
Monday, October 24, 2016
How a Band of Marine Researchers Is Solving the Plastic Pollution Crisis in Our Oceans
Algalita's Ship-2-Shore education program aims to demystify recycling. Image courtesy Algalita. Algalita’s executive director, Liesl Thomas, carries on Captain Moore’s vision of collaboration. “It was always his mentality that if anything is going to get solved, it will be by people working together,” she says from her office in Long Beach.
Liesl ThomasExecutive Director, Algalita
On the recycling education front, Algalita has partnered with the nationwide program Recycle Across America, whose goal is to get standardized recycling labels on all recycling bins across the country.
Read more
Friday, October 14, 2016
The Great Barrier Reef of Australia passed away in 2016 after a long illness.
It was 25 million years old
A scientist who recently visited the Great Barrier Reef has said "if it was a person, it would be on life support", as researchers strive to highlight the plight of the reef.
New images have shown the worrying extent of the damage done to the reef by climate change.
A scientist who recently visited the Great Barrier Reef has said "if it was a person, it would be on life support", as researchers strive to highlight the plight of the reef.
New images have shown the worrying extent of the damage done to the reef by climate change.
Rising water temperatures have damaged the world’s largest reef system, which stretches for over 1,400 miles off the coast of Australia.
read more
read more
There are other reports that there is still hope
The news isn’t good, but it may not be as dire as the obituary may have you believe.
“For those of us in the business of studying and understanding what coral resilience means, the article very much misses the mark,” said Kim Cobb, a professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. “It’s not too late for the Great Barrier Reef, and people who think that have a really profound misconception about what we know and don’t know about coral resilience.”
Monday, September 5, 2016
The longest lived vertebrate takes the title by at least a century
Imagine having to wait a century to have sex. Such is the life of the Greenland shark—a 5-meter-long predator that may live more than 400 years, according to a new study, making it the longest lived vertebrate by at least a century. So it should come as no surprise that the females are not ready to reproduce until after they hit their 156th birthday.
The longevity of these sharks is “astonishing,” says Michael Oellermann, a cold-water physiologist at Loligo Systems in Viborg, Denmark, who was not involved with the work. That’s particularly true because oceans are quite dangerous places, he notes, where predators, food scarcity, and disease can strike at any time.
Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus) had been rumored to be long-lived. In the 1930s, a fisheries biologist in Greenland tagged more than 400, only to discover that the sharks grow only about 1 centimeter a year—a sure sign that they’re in it for the long haul given how large they get. Yet scientists had been unable to figure out just how many years the sharks last.
Intrigued, marine biologist John Steffensen at the University of Copenhagen collected a piece of backbone from a Greenland shark captured in the North Atlantic, hoping it would have growth rings he could count to age the animal. He found none, so he consulted Jan Heinemeier, an expert in radiocarbon dating at Aarhus University in Denmark. Heinemeier suggested using the shark’s eye lenses instead. His aim was not to count growth rings, but instead to measure the various forms of carbon in the lenses, which can give clues to an animal’s age.
Then came the hard part.
READ MOREBy Elizabeth Pennisi
Good summer for pandas
A surprise pare of twin pandas were born in Atlanta GA in July and now The official status of the much-loved animal has been changed from "endangered" to "vulnerable" because of a population rebound in China. They are not out of the woods yet and it will probably take a few lifetimes before we can count them safe.
Friday, September 2, 2016
Millions of honey bees are being killed because if the strong measures being taken to stop the spread of Zika through the mosquito population in South Carolina.
"On Saturday, it was total energy, millions of bees foraging, pollinating, making honey for winter," beekeeper Juanita Stanley said. "Today, it stinks of death. Maggots and other insects are feeding on the honey and the baby bees who are still in the hives. It's heartbreaking."
"Those that didn't die immediately were poisoned trying to drag out the dead," Stanley said. "Now, I'm going to have to destroy my hives, the honey, all my equipment. It's all contaminated." Source cnn
This could have been prevented with a warning that spraying was going to happen. Even the firechief and hobbyist beekeeper did not know spraying was going to happen. Is this a poor communication error or a tactic to avoid a deley by proponents to spraying.
Hearing reports on my local radio WBZ it is happening in all areas Spraying is effective but blanketing instead of organizing a ground crew without warning is also harmful to our ecosystem and peoples health who are sensitive to this. There are other officials who seem like the mayor in Jaws putting health at risk to keep tourists coming by downplaying the dangers in the area. Contact your local and state authority people must know what is happening before another massacre.
"On Saturday, it was total energy, millions of bees foraging, pollinating, making honey for winter," beekeeper Juanita Stanley said. "Today, it stinks of death. Maggots and other insects are feeding on the honey and the baby bees who are still in the hives. It's heartbreaking."
"Those that didn't die immediately were poisoned trying to drag out the dead," Stanley said. "Now, I'm going to have to destroy my hives, the honey, all my equipment. It's all contaminated." Source cnn
This could have been prevented with a warning that spraying was going to happen. Even the firechief and hobbyist beekeeper did not know spraying was going to happen. Is this a poor communication error or a tactic to avoid a deley by proponents to spraying.
Hearing reports on my local radio WBZ it is happening in all areas Spraying is effective but blanketing instead of organizing a ground crew without warning is also harmful to our ecosystem and peoples health who are sensitive to this. There are other officials who seem like the mayor in Jaws putting health at risk to keep tourists coming by downplaying the dangers in the area. Contact your local and state authority people must know what is happening before another massacre.
Monday, August 22, 2016
A smally Mystery: America's pungent corpse flowers are all blooming at once
There have only been 157 recorded blooms ever between 1889 and 2008. But this year in the US alone, at least seven flowers have bloomed.
Math? Another hypothesis is that corpse flowers are more popular now than ever among botanical gardens in the US, so more are blooming because, well, there are simply more of them and the planets have aligned where they are all blooming this year.
What is a corpse flower? Amorphophallus titanum (from Ancient Greek amorphos, "without form, misshapen" + phallos, "phallus", and titan, "giant"), known as the titan arum, is a flowering plant with the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world.
Due to its odor, which is like the smell of a rotting animal, the titan arum is characterized as a carrion flower, and is also known as the corpse flower, or corpse plant. The titan arum, grows in the rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia and Malaysian Borneo in Sabah and Sarawak. It is listed on the endangered species list as threatened due to deforestation.
These gigantic flowers bloom about once every six years. So far, seven corpse flowers have bloomed around the US within months of each other The Guardian notes
that corpse flowers are expected to bloom soon (or have just started
blooming) in New York, Washington, D.C., Bloomington, Indiana, and Sarasota,
Florida. with blooms earlier this year in Chicago, Charleston, Illinois, and Winter Park, Florida.
Are they all related? One of most popular hypotheses right now is
that the rampant blooming is due to US greenhouses and botanical
gardens sharing seeds with one another, meaning most of the corpse
flowers that are currently blooming are likely related
unfortunately, little is known about the origins of many of the flowers
currently blooming, so the “cousins” theory is difficult to verify.
Math? Another hypothesis is that corpse flowers are more popular now than ever among botanical gardens in the US, so more are blooming because, well, there are simply more of them and the planets have aligned where they are all blooming this year.
Science? Could it be that we are learning more about plant care and have enough facilities with the technology to create the ideal blooming environment for a happy plant. The crowds come to see the blooms bring business and the more blooms the more business.
what do you think?
READ THE WHOLE STORY
what do you think?
READ THE WHOLE STORY
Monday, August 8, 2016
How Houses Were kept cool before the age of AC
Earlier this summer, my next door was complaining to me about how costly his electric bill had gotten due to running his air conditioning system. I was shocked when we compared inside temperatures and bill amounts and realized that despite the fact that his house is a single-level home and about 70 years newer than my 1920’s split-level, his electric expense is considerably higher. “How can that be?” he asked “That drafty old house should cost you an arm and a leg!” I replied “I guess they just don’t make them like they used to!” Not until the last few weeks did I realize just how right I was. That conversation got me thinking about all the things about older homes that are basically designed to conserve energy.
It makes sense, really. Air conditioning systems didn’t become a common feature in American homes until after World War II, and homes built before then had to have architectural and strategic features to help them and their residents stay cool in the summer. Here is a breakdown of some of those features, as well as a few extra tricks used by our grandparents’ generation to avoid melting during the sweltering heat of summer back in the “old days” before we became reliant on air conditioning.
Interior Controls:
Wall ThicknessOne of the biggest things about older homes that helped them conserve energy was the thickness of the walls. The exterior walls of many quality older homes were made of brick or stone, which provided a great deal of insulation and protection from the outside weather. In fact, in southern states where the weather got especially hot in the summer, brick and stone walls were commonly made 12-24 inches thick, a huge difference from the 2×4 or 2×6 lumber used in most modern construction.
While the thick stone walls kept heat from penetrating the house during the day, they did absorb heat, which could more easily be eliminated from the homes later in the day when cooler night air prevailed. Which brings me to my second point:
Airflow, Airflow, Airflow!
The split-level designs of many older homes featured open stairwells that freely and naturally allowed warm air to rise to the upper levels. In fact, some older homes even had turrets or towers that sat above the living spaces of the home to collect heat and allow it to be vented from the home. Even without turrets, however, strategic opening of windows in the home maximized the flow of cool air through the home. For example, if the wind was from the west, basement or first-floor windows would be opened on that side of the house, and on the opposite side of the house, windows on the second floor would be opened to essentially draw cool air through the house and eliminate heat with the natural force of the outside breeze. Fans could also be used to increase this effect.
In southern states, where basements are not as common, many homes would actually be built on top of blocks that allowed breeze to flow underneath the living space of the house all the time.
Higher Ceilings & Larger Windows
Another way that older homes facilitated air movement and removing heat from living space was through higher ceilings. Most modern homes are built with 8 foot ceilings being the standard, but in the pre-air era, ceilings of 10-14 feet were very common. Naturally, heat tended to rise to the ceiling while lower areas stayed cooler. Ceiling fans also encouraged this effect, commonly used to draw heat upward in summer months and to blow it downward in cooler months.
Another way that warm air could be eliminated from rooms in older homes was through transoms, which were essentially small windows over doorways. Transoms were very common in older homes, both over interior and exterior doors to vent heat from the highest points of the room. Over exterior doors, hinges and special hardware allowed the transoms to be easily opened to allow airflow but still provided a degree of security to the home.
Transoms weren’t the only way windows were used differently in the old days, of course. Many older and historic homes had extra-large, double-hung windows. During the day, the top window could be opened to allow heat to escape near the ceiling, and at night, the bottom window would be opened to let cooler air inside. Not only did windows tend to be larger in the days before air-conditioning, there also tended to be more of them. To control the heat of direct sunlight pouring through these windows, large, heavy drapes were often used. Though there were other ways to control the effects of the sun, which brings me to my next point:
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Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Solar Impulse Plane Completes Record-Breaking Flight Around The World Powered Only By The Sun
Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg set out and accomplished something that still seems impossible today: the First Round-The-World Solar Flight, powered only by the sun, with no fuel or polluting emissions.
In line with the Piccard Family tradition of scientific exploration and protection of the environment, Solar Impulse wanted to demonstrate that clean technologies can achieve impossible goals.
The record breaking solo flight of 5 days and 5 nights without fuel from Nagoya to Hawaii gives a clear message : everybody could use the plane’s technologies on the ground to halve our world’s energy consumption, save natural resources and improve our quality of life. This message will continue to be spread by the pilots to the general public, students, key decision-makers and entrepreneurs all over the world.
The three record-breaking solo flights of André Borschberg from Nagoya to Hawaii and Bertrand Piccard from Hawaii to San Francisco and later New York to Seville give a clear message: everybody could use the same technologies on the ground to halve our world’s energy consumption, save natural resources and improve our quality of life.
Read it all Here
In line with the Piccard Family tradition of scientific exploration and protection of the environment, Solar Impulse wanted to demonstrate that clean technologies can achieve impossible goals.
The record breaking solo flight of 5 days and 5 nights without fuel from Nagoya to Hawaii gives a clear message : everybody could use the plane’s technologies on the ground to halve our world’s energy consumption, save natural resources and improve our quality of life. This message will continue to be spread by the pilots to the general public, students, key decision-makers and entrepreneurs all over the world.
The three record-breaking solo flights of André Borschberg from Nagoya to Hawaii and Bertrand Piccard from Hawaii to San Francisco and later New York to Seville give a clear message: everybody could use the same technologies on the ground to halve our world’s energy consumption, save natural resources and improve our quality of life.
Read it all Here
Friday, July 22, 2016
This cute marsupial deserves a hug after it overcame extinction
Move over, koalas and quokkas. Australia has a new cute marsupial in town.
Meet the eastern bettong. If the name doesn’t sound familiar, that’s because this adorable species was extinct in the Australian mainland for quite some time. Overhunting from farmers and introduced predators, such as cats and foxes, eradicated them in Canberra around the early 20th century.
Fortunately, populations in Tasmania survived. And now for the past four years, they’re being reintroduced to their former habitats in the mainland.
Kate Grarock, an ecologist at the Mulligan’s Flat sanctuary in Canberra, is looking to raise awareness about the species to ensure their survival.
“No-one’s heard of a bettong, except for people who’ve been to Tasmania, or lived in Tasmania,” Grarock told Mashable Australia. “I studied environmental science, and I hadn’t even heard of one. It’s a representation of the sad state of affairs for these little bettongs. They’re really cool little animals.”
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Friday, May 20, 2016
Portugal runs for four days straight on renewable energy alone
Electricity consumption in the country was fully covered by solar, wind and hydro power in an extraordinary 107-hour run that lasted from 6.45am on Saturday 7 May until 5.45pm the following Wednesday, the analysis says.
News of the zero emissions landmark comes just days after Germany announced that clean energy had powered almost all its electricity needs on Sunday 15 May, with power prices turning negative at several times in the day – effectively paying consumers to use it.
READ MORE
Arthur Neslen
News of the zero emissions landmark comes just days after Germany announced that clean energy had powered almost all its electricity needs on Sunday 15 May, with power prices turning negative at several times in the day – effectively paying consumers to use it.
READ MORE
Arthur Neslen
Friday, April 22, 2016
The Goldman Environmental Prizes Presented this month
The Goldman Environmental Prize honors grassroots environmental heroes from the world’s six inhabited continental regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands & Island Nations, North America, and South & Central America. The Prize recognizes individuals for sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk. The Goldman Prize views “grassroots” leaders as those involved in local efforts, where positive change is created through community or citizen participation in the issues that affect them.
Zuzana Caputova
Slovakia / Europe
A public interest lawyer and mother of two, Zuzana Caputova spearheaded a successful campaign that shut down a toxic waste dump that was poisoning the land, air and water in her community, setting a precedent for public participation in post-communist Slovakia.
Leng Ouch
Cambodia / Asia
In one of the most dangerous countries in the world for environmental activists, Leng Ouch went undercover to document illegal logging in Cambodia and exposed the corruption robbing rural communities of their land, causing the government to cancel large land concessions.
Máxima Acuña
Peru / South and Central America
A subsistence farmer in Peru’s northern highlands, Máxima Acuña stood up for her right to peacefully live off her own property, a plot of land sought by Newmont and Buenaventura Mining to develop the Conga gold and copper mine.
Destiny Watford
United States / North America
In a community whose environmental rights had long been sidelined to make room for heavy industry, Destiny Watford inspired residents of a Baltimore neighborhood to defeat plans to build the nation’s largest incinerator less than a mile away from her high school.
Luis Jorge Rivera Herrera
Puerto Rico / Islands and Island Nations
Luis Jorge Rivera Herrera helped lead a successful campaign to establish a nature reserve in Puerto Rico’s Northeast Ecological Corridor—an important nesting ground for the endangered leatherback sea turtle—and protect the island’s natural heritage from harmful development.
Edward Loure
Tanzania / Africa
Edward Loure led a grassroots organization that pioneered an approach that gives land titles to indigenous communities—instead of individuals—in northern Tanzania, ensuring the environmental stewardship of more than 200,000 acres of land for future generations.
Read more
Thursday, April 7, 2016
World’s Most Polluted City to Go Car-Free One Day a Month
Up to 90 percent of air pollution is linked to vehicle emissions.
New Delhi smog. (Photo: Flickr)
A four-mile stretch of congested, smog-filled roadways in New Delhi will soon look vastly different as the government prepares to ban cars from the city streets—but only for a few hours.
The government hustled to come up with a set of plans to combat the Indian capital’s air-pollution crisis after an order was issued by the Supreme Court on Monday. New Delhi’s air was ranked most polluted—much of it linked to vehicle emissions—out of 1,600 cities worldwide in a 2014 report from the World Health Organization.
New Delhi’s air has hazardous levels of particulate matter 2.5 microns or smaller in diameter. These particles are especially dangerous as they can be easily inhaled, leading to a wide array of health problems, from asthma to heart attacks.
More than 600,000 people die from air pollution annually in India, according to a 2013 estimate from WHO. In July, Indian officials announced that 80 people die in New Delhi from pollution-related deaths every day.
The number of cars on the road in New Delhi increased by 97 percent from 2002 to 2012,according to India’s Environment Pollution Control Authority. The U.N. Environment Programattributes more than 90 percent of all outdoor air pollution in rapidly developing cities to an influx of cars that don’t meet emissions standards. An Indian court ordered all cars 15 years or older off the road earlier this year, but officials haven’t enforced the ruling.
Rai also urged residents to adopt a one-car-per-household policy, take public transportation, and carpool.
But personal vehicles are only part of the problem. A report released this week from New Delhi’s Center for Science and Environment estimates that 30 percent of the city’s air pollution comes from commercial vehicles. Instead of driving around the city, trucks hauling goods across India drive right through the heart of the metropolis. To curb this, within two months’ time the government will begin charging diesel-fueled commercial vehicles entering the city a tax of up to $20, with plans to possibly build a road around the city’s perimeter to reduce the number of cars in the city.
Monday, March 21, 2016
Recycling: Using Old MRI Magnets in a Physics Lab
When magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners reach the end of their lifetime, hospitals have to deal with a large piece of electronic waste, stuffed with potentially dangerous parts. Unless a physics lab can make use of them.
In the photo above you can see an old MRI magnet, one of the most valuable part of a discarded medical device. But this one won’t end up in a landfill, but find a new home in instruments used in high-energy and nuclear physics experiments. Argonne National Laboratory explains what will happen:
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory recently acquired two decommissioned magnets from (MRI) scanners from hospitals in Minnesota and California. The two new magnets have a strength of 4 Tesla, not as strong as the newest generation of MRI magnets but ideal for benchmarking experiments that test instruments for the g minus 2 (“g-2”) muon experiment currently being assembled at the DOE’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The Muon g-2 experiment will use Fermilab’s powerful accelerators to explore the interactions of muons, which are short-lived particles, with a strong magnetic field in “empty” space.
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