Tag: #9

Not seeing the forest for the trees? We’ve all been there. Traditionally air rescue services have had it tough finding people who have lost their way in forests, as vegetation can obscure thermal imaging cameras. Now a deep-learning algorithm developed by a trio of researchers may provide a solution. Images of a given area are taken by drone and...

Cabbage, potatoes and carrots – a sustainable diet involves eating vegetables, right? There’s more to it than that. An American female-led startup is bucking the trend and making food from seaweed, working with farms run exclusively by women. Seaweed, also known as kelp, is climate-positive as it sequesters carbon dioxide. It is also a ‘zero-input’ food, meaning it needs...

Condoms, car tires and balloons have one thing in common. Elastic rubber. The material comes mainly from the latex on rubber trees and is currently shipped globally without much concern for the environment or the Southeast Asian plantations where it grows. For some time dandelions have been considered a renewable alternative, above all a Russian variety, which despite its...

Maintaining healthy muscles can help keep our weight, blood-sugar and cholesterol levels in check. But what about those who are unable to exercise because of injury, disease or old age? A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore has discovered the existence of a protein existing in muscles which can be used to stimulate growth when subjected...

The world doesn’t switch off, and more than ever we need innovative solutions for sustainable energy. Can the sun’s energy be used to generate electricity 24 hours a day, on a global scale? The answer is yes, using solar cells from space permanently inclined towards it. If coated with an ultra-light and strongly reflective membrane, thousands of satellites in...

The scent of a joss stick or freshly baked apple pie – certain smells evoke memories. No one knows this better than a group of European scientists, historians and technologists, who have taken it upon themselves to identify aromas that would have been smelled between the 16th and early 20th centuries. Funded by the 2020 Horizon program, the first...