Image via WikipediaBreathing in air pollution from traffic fumes can raise the risk of potentially deadly blood clots, a US study says.
Exhaust fumes contain small particulates
Exposure to small particulates - tiny chemicals caused by burning fossil fuels - is known to increase the chances of heart disease and stroke.
But the Harvard School of Public [...]
If scientists are to be believed, a new fuel may turn driving into a really sweet experience.
Researchers have developed a “revolutionary” process for converting plant sugars into hydrogen, which they claim could be used to cheaply and efficiently run vehicles.
According to the researchers, the conversion process involves combining plant sugars, water and a cocktail of [...]
Only up to powering light bulbs so far, “salt power” is a tantalizing if distant prospect as high oil prices make alternative energy sources look more economical.
Two tiny projects to mix sea and river water — one by the fjord south of Oslo, the other at a Dutch seaside lake — are due on [...]
It’s a road less travelled. Metalled roads, cobbled streets and dirt paths are now passé with a road in Kerala being constructed now with plastic waste.
A research centre in Kerala is paving a small stretch of road with plastic waste as part of its experiment to put to good use the huge amount of [...]
The Nanosolar company is working to build the world’s largest solar cell factory in California (slated to be in full production in 2008), and the world’s largest panel-assembly factory in Germany.
………………………………….
They have successfully created a solar coating that is as thin as a layer of paint, while at the same time reducing the cost of [...]
If the U.S. makes a massive switch from coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power plants to solar power plants, it is possible that 69 percent of the U.S.’s electricity and 35 percent of its total energy could be solar-powered by 2050.
…………………………….
This would require the creation of a vast region of photovoltaic cells in the [...]
With oil prices rising, interest in ethanol, a plant-based gasoline additive, has skyrocketed. But the rising demand for ethanol has a downside: it takes about 300 million gallons of water to make 100 million gallons of ethanol each year, says the Renewable Fuels Association.
….
In Illinois, the second largest ethanol producer in the country after Iowa, [...]
: Breathing dirty air even for an hour could have long-term harmful effects on brain, according to a new study.
……………..
The study replicated what city traffic wardens might expect to inhale
A team of researchers at Zuyd University in Holland has carried out the study and found that nanoparticles present in exhaust fumes, which reach the [...]
Despite their green intentions, buyers of blended biofuel may not be getting quite what they are paying for.
Chris Reddy, an environmental chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, has developed a test which reveals the proportions of biodiesel and conventional diesel in the fuel mix.
It works by detecting the radioactive isotope [...]
BOSTON — He predicted the fall of the Soviet Union. He predicted the explosive spread of the Internet and wireless access.
Now futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil is part of distinguished panel of engineers that says solar power will scale up to produce all the energy needs of Earth’s people in 20 years.
There is [...]
At the top of many personal wish lists you might find a new car or a Caribbean vacation. But scientists have compiled a global wish list of 14 things that would make life better for everyone.
A committee of scientists and engineers gathered by the National Science Foundation met several times over the last year [...]
MONTEREY (CALIFORNIA): A scientist who mapped his genome and the genetic diversity of the oceans said on Thursday that he is creating a life form that feeds on climate-ruining carbon dioxide to produce fuel.
Geneticist Craig Venter disclosed his potentially world-changing “fourth-generation fuel” project at an elite Technology, Entertainment and Design conference in Monterey, California. [...]
A new strategy developed by researchers at Georgia Tech (US) to capture, store and eventually recycle carbon from vehicles, could lead to emission-free cars in the near future.
This new method prevents the harmful pollutant carbon from finding its way from a car tailpipe into the atmosphere.
Though technologies to capture carbon dioxide emissions [...]
Breathing car exhaust fumes can trigger heart disease and increase the risk of strokes, say researchers.
The study found that the chemicals released during the burning of petrol and other fuels weakened the heart’s ability to pump effectively and can lead to irregular heartbeats.
Dr John Incardona, a biologist and toxicologist at the West Coast [...]
HAMBURG: The refrigerator of the future will run on heat, not costly electricity, according to a team of innovative scientists in Germany.
The research could be a boon in hot countries where fridges and air-conditioning systems are vital, said the group of young scientists, who are working on at the Innovationszentrum Wiesenbusch Gladbeck (IWG), [...]
WASHINGTON: Want to live a more environmental friendly life but don’t know how? Well, all you need to do is follow eight simple steps.
The steps have been detailed by the Environmental News Network, which states that following these really will let you do your bit for the environment.
Below are listed eight easy ways [...]
LONDON: World temperatures will cool slightly in 2008, but it will remain among the top 10 hottest years on record, British weather experts predicted on Thursday.
The impact of a strong La Nina climate pattern over the Pacific will help keep temperatures down, according to the annual forecast by the Met Office and the University [...]
STOCKHOLM: A Swedish company plans to harness the body heat generated by thousands of commuters scrambling to catch their trains at Stockholm’s main railway station and use it for heating a nearby office building.
Real estate firm Jernhusen AB believes the system can provide about 15% of the heating needed for a 13-storey building being [...]
The Environment Agency has called for more information to be made available on the health and environmental risks posed by low-energy light bulbs.
It says because the bulbs contain small amounts of mercury, more information about safe recycling is needed.
………………..
…..Low-energy bulbs contain a small amount of mercury
It also wants health warnings printed on packaging and [...]
SCHARWOUDE (NETHERLANDS): If you’ve ever blistered your bare feet on a hot road you know that asphalt absorbs the Sun’s energy. A Dutch company is now siphoning heat from roads and parking lots to heat homes and offices.
As climate change rises on the international agenda, the system built by the civil engineering firm, Ooms [...]
Global climate change is “very likely” to have a human cause, an influential group of scientists has concluded.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said temperatures were probably going to increase by 1.8-4C (3.2-7.2F) by the end of the century.
It also projected that sea levels were most likely to rise by 28-43cm, and [...]
WASHINGTON: The fourth report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which labelled human activities “the prime cause of global warming,” has been named the topmost revelation of the year.
Scientists behind the report warned that unhindered emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide might lead to catastrophic and unstoppable changes, including droughts, [...]
ROCHESTER: Catching his breath at a fitness club, Matt McHugh took a gulp of water from his trusty, hard-plastic Nalgene bottle and pondered the idea of switching to an alternative made of glass, stainless steel or another kind of plastic.
Worries about a hormone-mimicking chemical used in the trendy sports accessory led a major Canadian [...]
WASHINGTON: A solution of white vinegar and water is the best natural way to clean computers, according to a report. Experts recommend the cleaning of computers on monthly basis, but many people just do not known from where to begin.
While there are a variety of measures to clean out old files from the hard [...]
WASHINGTON: Scientists at the University of Arkansas have signalled the end of future clean energy woes by exploring supercritical methanol as a method of converting chicken fat into biodiesel fuel.
The researchers say that the findings may develop commercially viable fuel out of plentiful, accessible and low-cost feedstocks and other agricultural by-products. R E Babcock, [...]
British farmers can meet the nation’s demand for both food and fuel crops, argues Peter Kendall, president of the National Farmers’ Union. In this week’s Green Room, he says UK agriculture already has enough capacity to fill fuel tanks and dining tables.
……………………………..
Fields of gold: Farmers can grow food and fuel crops, Mr Kendall says
Farmers [...]
The Nanosolar company is working to build the world’s largest solar cell factory in California (slated to be in full production in 2008), and the world’s largest panel-assembly factory in Germany.
……………………….
They have successfully created a solar coating that is as thin as a layer of paint, while at the same time reducing the cost of [...]
SAN FRANCISCO: Nasa’s Voyager 2 spacecraft has found that our solar system is not round but is “dented†by the local interstellar magnetic field of deep space, space experts said on Monday.
The data was gathered by the craft on its 30-year journey into the edge of the solar system when it crossed into a [...]
BALI: More than 3,000 flying foxes dropped dead, falling from trees in Australia. Giant squid migrated north to commercial fishing grounds off California, gobbling anchovy and hake. Butterflies have gone extinct in the Alps.
While humans debate at UN climate change talks in Bali, global warming is already wreaking havoc with nature. Most plants and [...]
WASHINGTON: With arid zones expanding worldwide, scientists have created transgenic plants able to survive extreme drought and thrive on far less water in an encouraging potential boon to food production, new research showed on Monday.
The discovery could have important implications for food production and maintaining yields amid adverse conditions. “We hypothesized that it is [...]