Tag: Chemistry

Can Swapping Out Traditional Fishing Equipment Save Our Seas?

350 million metric tons of plastic are produced globally every year.  To put this into perspective, here’s a brief list of things that weigh ONE ton: a walrus,…

Are your houseplants feeling stressed? MIT engineers peak into the nerve-wracking lives of plants.

Some of us have been blessed with a green thumb while others have difficulty with their plants lasting the week.  To be fair to so-called “black-thumbed” readers, it’s…

Saltwater, Steam, and Solar Power: The Trifecta for Clean Water

Climate change continues to be at the forefront of many scientific endeavors, and so too does the ever-approaching threat of freshwater shortages.  Modern technology is able to convert…

Controlling Chemistry: A Nanoscopic Approach to Clean Energy

A major concern plaguing the shift towards sustainable and renewable energy is how much the transition will cost.  This is particularly important when considering batteries, water electrolyzers (used…

Can Thickening the Atmosphere Reduce the Effects of Climate Change?

It’s a race against time when it comes to climate change.  Global warming is directly related to the increase in power, or magnitude, of natural disasters around the…

Is Coffee the Cure to River Pollution in the Textile Industry?

For many of us, our mornings begin with grabbing a cup of joe on our way out the door, discarding the used coffee grounds without a second thought…

Drinking Water from Salt Water: A New Approach to Desalination

Desalination, the process of removing salt from water, is a practical way to provide drinking and irrigation water to communities who have lost their primary water source.  More…

Copper-Catalyst Forces Co-Workers Carbon Dioxide and Water to Work Out their Differences and Make Renewable Energy

Everyone has that coworker they’d rather walk on shattered glass than talk to.  For the infamous greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, that coworker is water.   Now I know what…

McDonald’s Secret Menu: Used Cooking Oil for 3-D Printing?

What do you do with the oil you used to cook dinner?  Perhaps you haphazardly swirl it around with soap and dump it down the drain, or you…

One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s… Graphene?

Graphene is the material of an alchemist’s dreams.  The seemingly weak graphite found in a pencil is transformed into the strongest material known to mankind, albeit through a…