Lifeboat Foundation

University of Portsmouth joins leading AI researchers at DeepMind to help engineer faster acting enzymes for recycling some of the worlds most polluting single use plastics.

The University’s Centre for Enzyme Innovation (CEI) has used DeepMind’s ground-breaking AI system to make strides in their research on circular recycling.

This will make solar the cheapest type of clean energy.

The biggest challenge with solar power is that it can be produced only during the day. This is also one of the major reasons why many people and industries abstain from investing in solar panels because they are not a stable source of power. However, 26-year-old innovator and entrepreneur Ben Nowack claims to have developed a method that would allow solar energy production during the night as well.

Continue reading “This 26-year-old engineer plans to generate solar power at night using space mirrors” »

Studies say that by combining historical accident data with road maps, satellite imagery, and GPS, a machine learning model is trained to create high-resolution crash maps, we might be getting ever so closer to safer roads. Technology has changed a lot over the years such as GPS systems that eliminated the need to memorize streets orally, sensors and cameras that warn us of objects that are close to our vehicles, and autonomous electric vehicles. However, the precautions we take on the road have largely remained the same. In most places, we still rely on traffic signs, mutual trust, and the hope that we’ll reach our destination safely.

With a view to finding solutions to the uncertainty underlying road accidents, researchers at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have been working with the Qatari Center for Artificial Intelligence to develop a deep learning model that can predict high-resolution maps of accident risks. The model calculates the number of accidents predicted for a specific future time frame using past accident data, road maps, simulations and GPS traces. Thus, high-risk zones and future crashes can be identified using the map.

According to reports by homelandsecuritynewswire.com, maps of this type have been captured so far at much lower resolutions, resulting in a loss of vital information. Former attempts have relied mostly on hystorical crash data, whereas the research team has compiled a wide base of critical information, identifying high-risk areas by analyzing GPS signals that provide data on traffic density, speed, and direction, along with satellite imagery that provides data on road structures. They observed that highways, for example, are more hazardous than nearby residential roads, and intersections and exits to highways are even more dangerous than other highways.

UNSW engineers have built a new high-speed motor which has the potential to increase the range of electric vehicles.

The design of the prototype IPMSM type motor was inspired by the shape of the longest railroad bridge in South Korea and has achieved speeds of 100,000 revolutions per minute.

The maximum power and speed achieved by this novel motor have successfully exceeded and doubled the existing high-speed record of laminated IPMSMs (Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor), making it the world’s fastest IPMSM ever built with commercialized lamination materials.

Most of the world’s greatest wind power resources are offshore – often a long way offshore, where the water’s so deep that it’s impractical to build typical fan-on-a-stick wind turbines with bases sunk deep into the sea floor. Floating wind, at this stage, is so vastly expensive to build, deploy and maintain that it ends up costing two to three times as much per kilowatt-hour of energy as fixed-bottom offshore installations.

There’s a huge opportunity here for technological advancement, and companies like Norway’s World Wide Wind are proposing some pretty radical ideas in the space. A lot of the energy cost comes down to the size, weight and materials involved in the structure of the turbine, along with the logistical issues and specialized equipment needed to build, install and maintain the things.

Continue reading “T-Omega re-thinks floating offshore wind turbines for huge cost savings” »

Grass lawns need to be replaced.

The united states of America, is the 2nd highest CO₂ emitting country in the world and has the third largest population with approximately 330 million people.

Continue reading “How the suburbs are restoring biodiversity back to America” »

Humanity has left its mark on the Earth, from cities of steel to mountains of styrofoam. The latter is proving to be a problem, as many of the synthetic materials we produce don’t degrade in anything approaching a human timescale. Scientists have long sought to develop better plastic recycling methods, and the answer might be crawling around in the wild. Researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia say that a beetle larvae (it looks like a worm in larval form) may hold the key to eliminating polystyrene from the environment.

Styrofoam, technically known as polystyrene, is one of the most common types of plastic, accounting for 7–10 percent of all the non-fibrous plastics produced. You probably encounter it frequently in packing materials where the material’s foam conformation is adept at absorbing impacts. The solid version of polystyrene can be used to make transparent containers, disposable utensils, and more. However, polystyrene carries a recycling ID of 6, meaning it’s difficult to process and is not accepted at most curbside pickups.

Scientists have long searched for microbes or insect enzymes that could help break down durable plastics like polystyrene, and a beetle known as Zophobas morio might have it. It’s a species of darkling beetle, and the larval form is more commonly known as a superworm. They look like larger mealworms and are often used as a food source for insectivorous animals. In addition to being a high-protein, low-carb snack, this creature’s gut carries a unique mixture of bacterial enzymes that can digest polystyrene. The researchers reported that darkling beetle larva can subsist entirely on a diet of polystyrene — they can even grow while eating a pile of plastic.

The new district will create over 4,000 jobs.

Architectural practice URB has been commissioned to engineer the world’s largest Urban Tech District along the Al Jaddaf Creekside in Dubai. “Rising population, urbanization and impacts of climate change are increasing the need for cities to be resilient, liveable and smart. Thus the creation of sustainable cities is no longer a choice, it has become a necessity. This requires planners with experience in designing and delivering sustainable communities,” says URB on its website.

The new construction will join the global transition towards achieving net-zero carbon goals and become home to top-tier entrepreneurs, establishing Dubai as an urban center for innovation and empowering a unique tech ecosystem to unfold in the emirate and across the world. It will also feature several commercial and educational facilities. population, urbanization and impacts of climate change are increasing the need for cities to be resilient, liveable and smart. Thus the creation of sustainable cities is no longer a choice, it has become a necessity. This requires planners with experience in designing and delivering sustainable communities, says URB on its website.

Even in the driest climates, though, there is a considerable amount of moisture in the air. The researchers note that even in places like the Sahel desert, relative humidity is still around 20 percent on average. So they set about finding a way to use this untapped water resource to produce hydrogen.

Their device consists of a water harvesting unit that houses a sponge soaked in a water-absorbing liquid that can pull moisture from the air. On either side of this reservoir are electrodes that can be powered by any renewable energy source. When a current runs through the circuit, the water is split via electrolysis into its constituent oxygen and hydrogen atoms, which can then be collected as gas.

The team showed that the device could run efficiently for 12 consecutive days and produced hydrogen with 99 percent purity. What’s more, the device continues to work in relative humidity as low as four percent.