How The Sci-Fi Generation Saved The World!
Posts tagged Environment
Carbon Nanotubes
While not being particularly new to science, carbon nanotubes remain one of the more interesting and versatile new materials. At their basic level all they are is an allotrope of carbon in the shape of a cylinder, typically made by rolling a single atom thick sheet known as graphene or by deposition of carbon atoms. They also occur naturally in flames. The importance of carbon nanotubes lies in their incredible strength but also incredibly low density which gives them a specific strength (force per unit area divided by density or N·m·kg?1 for short) ~310 times greater than high carbon steel. Carbon nanotubes also have the predicted ability to carry an electrical current density that is 1000 times that of traditional conductors such as copper along with also being superb thermal conductors. The longest carbon nanotube to date clocks in at 18.5 cm (7.3 inches or 84% the width of a soccer ball) with the greatest length to width ratio being 132,000,000:1.
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- Tim De Chent, If the world’s population lived in one city… via Per Square Mile
So, if we can move past the haphazard historical, cultural, and biological reasons that people live where they currently are, we could pick a few hundred places in the world where there are good reasons to live, and move all the people to those places. Places with reliable water, equitable climates, available farmland. And then we can rewild the rest of the world.
1 out of 6 species from Finding Nemo in danger of extinction
Unless conservation efforts are stepped up, many marine species will be introduced to future generations not in an aquarium, but by Pixar. A recent paper, which looked at the conservation status of the families of species that appeared in Finding Nemo, has some pretty stark findings. Many of the animals from the beloved movie, such as Sheldon the seahorse, Bruce the shark, Crush the sea turtle, Mr. Ray the eagle ray, and Nigel the pelican, are listed as threatened by the authors of the study. More troubling, we’re critically lacking in information for many beloved marine species. We may not now how precarious the ocean situation is until species or even entire families start disappearing.
Consumers need to face up to their throw-away tech-habit and expect at-home recyclable materials in their gadgets.
Recently, we have been watching a number of electronics concepts being shared around the web which have been cased in cardboard. These paper-based ideas look like novelty items but I believe that these actually point to a sustainable future.
More from Piers Fawkes in a thoughtful piece on PSFK:Piers Fawkes: For A Green Future, Electronics Need To Be Disposable @PSFK
A Wilson Chamber, also known as a cloud chamber, is used for detecting subatomic or electromagnetic waves that are energetic enough to detach electrons from atoms or molecules(called ionizing radiation). At it most basic, one of these chambers consists of a sealed environment containing a liquid cooled below its freezing point without becoming a solid(supercooled), supersaturated(contains more of the dissolved material than could be dissolved by the solvent under normal circumstances) water or alcohol vapor. When an alpha or beta particle interacts with this vapor, the vapor becomes ionized leaving a mist or condensation trail.
