Collaborate Disseminate
Fiber optics are a great way to transfer huge quantity of data at lightning speed. Thanks to the property of total internal reflection, which allows light to flow through a glass fiber like fluid through a pipe, they can be used for communications at long distances and form the backbone …read more
A new study by the Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques (CRPG, CNRS/Université de Lorraine) in Nancy, France, suggests that Earth’s water may have come from stony meteorites present in the inner solar system rather than comets or ast… Continue reading Earth’s water may have come from meteorites closer to home
Access to clean, safe drinking water is a necessity that’s worryingly not being met in many parts of the world. A new study has used a material called a metal-organic framework (MOF) to filter pollutants out of seawater, generating large amounts of fre… Continue reading Highly efficient process makes seawater drinkable in 30 minutes
With storms constantly raging all over its surface and a Great Red Spot that’s been churning for centuries, Jupiter could be known as the storm capital of the solar system. Now NASA’s Juno mission has discovered two new quirks of these storms – shallow… Continue reading Strange lightning and “mushball” rain could rage in Jupiter storms
You’d be hard pressed to find a hacker or maker who doesn’t have a soft spot for the tantalizing buzz and snap of a high voltage spark gap, but it remains the sort of project that most of us don’t take on personally. There’s a perceived complexity in building a …read more
Modern Mars is a barren world, drier than any desert on Earth. But geological evidence shows that this wasn’t always the case – in the distant past the Red Planet had flowing water. It’s long been thought that ancient Mars was warm and wet, but a new s… Continue reading Ancient Mars may not have been “warm and wet” but covered in ice
We’ve seen various collapsible water bottles in the past, from crushable flasks to fillable accordions. Bulgarian startup DiFold believes it has an even better version, creating a brand-new bottle that relies on the ancient art of origami. Its Origami … Continue reading Origami reusable water bottle smashes down to pocket size
Earth is a famously watery planet, but where exactly it all came from is a mystery. Now, researchers in Japan have suggested a new origin story, by showing that water – and petroleum – can form inside clouds of organic matter, at high temperatures and … Continue reading Interstellar organic matter might be a major source of Earth’s water
Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands have drawn inspiration from a tiny tentacled marine creature to produce a centimeter-scale robot that is powered by magnets and light. With the ability to grab and release objects und… Continue reading Coral polyp-inspired robot cleans up using magnets and light
Providing clean drinking water in regions where the resource is scarce is a huge challenge, and one that we’re seeing plenty of inventive solutions to. A research team from the US Army and the University of Rochester is throwing a new possibility into … Continue reading US Army’s gravity-defying aluminum panel purifies water with sunlight