Surfactants have a wide range of applications within households, such as soap, dishwashing liquid and cosmetics. But the current production process is carbon-intensive and waste water flows containing surfactant can be harmful to the environment. But recently a student team from France has been developing a greener alternative that could replace current surfactant chemicals. Made…
Increasing electricity prices and fluctuations in the availability of renewable energy inspired some creative thinking around alternative ways to generate power. Now a pioneering company in sustainable energy solutions, is finding its feet with a growing fanbase and a bunch of new installations at universities and innovation centres globally. Can footstep generated energy light up…
The 2016 Paris Agreement set the amibitious goal of achieving global net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and limiting temperature rise to 1.5 deg C. With the temperature increase limit almost breached this year, analysts and commentators have already set to work digesting the outcomes of the latest climate COP. Some progress is better than none…
Development of fusion energy has been frustratingly just over the horizon for decades. But a New Zealand physics engineering research company delivered on its promise this week by creating first plasma with an edgy reactor design. Now the challenge is to scale the technology. OpenStar Technologies joins the ranks of stellar ventures mythically founded in…
With an estimated 1 million plant and animal species currently facing extinction, member countries of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) devised a framework with 23 targets aimed at stemming the loss of nature by 2030. That was two years ago. This week representatives from 196 nations will reconvene in Cali, Colombia at…
A complex plant alkaloid extracted from the humble daffodil has been demonstrating some extraordinary curative properties in humans. Now with the help of a $4 million investment and a collaborative research project with Lincoln University in New Zealand, the same compound is being investigated as a feed additive to reduce methane emissions from livestock. The…
Human impacts such as over-fishing, climate change and pollution are causing sea urchins to thrive, leading to the destruction of kelp and desertification of the sea floor in places. The dramatic worldwide loss of kelp forests means fewer safe birthing grounds for many species of fish. But marine eco-farmers Urchinomics are working to turn around…
With electric and hydrogen powered vehicles not yet making a substantial impact in logistics and travel, airlines, ship owners and road freight companies have lately been pulling back from commitments to net zero emissions. The big energy companies are also rethinking their sustainable fuels strategies. But with the cost of installing solar energy dropping and…
For over 250 years, a trade route has existed spanning Europe, The Middle East, South Asia and Australasia. Explorers, navigators, scientists and entrepreneurs first set out in earnest from Europe in the latter part of the 18th Century, informed only by sketchy maps drawn up by their predecessors over one hundred years beforehand. Now as…
The notion of metal-organic frameworks conjures up visions of cybernetic organisms self-described as “living tissue over a metal endoskeleton” from a certain well known science fiction franchise. But there’s nothing fictitious about this astounding field of materials science. For Professor Ed Lester from the University of Nottingham, the carbon transition has delivered renewed interest in…
