Environment

Video: Potential of Atlantic Ocean current collapse and its impacts on global climate

By Lisa McDonald / February 21, 2024

The potential collapse of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) current system would have far-reaching impacts on global climate. Several recent studies suggest that a collapse might occur sooner than previously theorized.

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Rinse and repeat: Water replaces toxic chemicals in printed electronics processing

By Lisa McDonald / February 9, 2024

Printable electronic inks and their associated print processes tend to rely on environmentally hazardous chemicals, which offsets the benefits of printed electronics in application. Engineers at Duke University developed a water-only printing process for fabricating printed electronics.

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Solid-state electrocaloric materials heat up cooling performance

By Guest Contributor / January 19, 2024

Electrocaloric materials have potential to replace liquid refrigerant in cooling systems, thus avoiding the emission of harmful greenhouse gases. But currently, electrocaloric devices can only operate within a small temperature span. A recent study reported a new electrocaloric prototype with greatly improved temperature span and cooling power.

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Communicating the sustainability crisis: ACerS members help lead the charge for action with new paper, alliance

By Lisa McDonald / January 16, 2024

The world is facing a fundamental sustainability crisis. Scientists have a role to play in not only developing new materials and technologies to combat the crisis but also in communicating about the situation to the public. Several ACerS members have made significant strides in this regard with the release of a new paper and helping to establish a new international alliance.

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Green is not for granted: Commonly perceived sustainable practices do not always guarantee benefits

By Lisa McDonald / January 9, 2024

Incorporating practices commonly regarded as sustainable into an individual or group’s workflow does not always guarantee environmental benefits. Researchers from the Technical University of Darmstadt published a case study that shows the importance of critically evaluating perceived green technologies before adoption.

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Inside the world of brood parasitic birds: The role of grain boundaries in eggshell strength

By Lisa McDonald / January 5, 2024

The eggs of brood parasitic birds have evolved in response to host bird defense strategies. An international group of researchers used imaging techniques and conceptual frameworks from the field of grain boundary engineering to understand how structural features affect eggshell strength.

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Video: From pollution to pigments—Appalachian community turns mine waste into marketable product

By Lisa McDonald / December 13, 2023

Cleaning water affected by acid mine drainage is an expensive process, which makes it difficult for rural communities to remediate local waterways. Rural Action, an Appalachian-based nonprofit, has a project called True Pigments that aims to fund the water treatment process by selling pigments made from iron oxide extracted from the mine drainage.

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Saving the planet through passive cooling: New ceramic and glass radiative coatings offer stability and scalability

By Guest Contributor / December 12, 2023

Radiative coatings can passively cool buildings without the use of mechanical refrigeration equipment. Two recent papers describe the development of ceramic and glass radiative coatings that demonstrate resistance to environmental stimuli and potential for mass production.

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Growing the built environment—ceramic tiles fabricated via microbial activity

By Lisa McDonald / December 8, 2023

Microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) is a biomimetic process that can be used to grow bioceramic products, such as columns and bricks, in an environmentally friendly manner. Researchers at the University of Cape Town fine-tuned the MICP process to create ceramic tiles that demonstrate mechanical properties on par with conventionally fired ceramics.

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Waste glass as packaging material for high-power automotive lighting applications

By Lisa McDonald / December 5, 2023

Collecting waste glass is only the first step in creating a circular glass recycling system—there must also be end-use markets for the collected glass. A recent open-access study showed that waste glass could be used as packaging material for high-power automotive lighting applications, such as headlamps and side turn lamps.

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