Category: Science

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This German Train Only Emits Water

With the climate change debate heating up around the world, it’s no surprise that some countries are looking for more and better ways to cut carbon emissions from the transportation sector.

The train, dubbed the Coradia iLint, was developed over the course of just two years and runs on hydrogen fuel cellls combined with a lithium-ion battery to run its engine.

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Germany launched world's first Hydrogen powered train today . Two bright blue Coradia iLint trains, built by French TGV-maker Alstom, on Monday began running a 62 mile (100km) route between the towns and cities of Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervoerde and Buxtehude in northern Germany – a stretch normally plied by diesel trains . Hydrogen trains are equipped with fuel cells that produce electricity through a combination of hydrogen and oxygen, a process that leaves steam and water as the only emissions. Excess energy is stored in ion lithium batteries on board the train. . The Coradia iLint trains can run for about 600 miles (1,000km) on a single tank of hydrogen, similar to the range of diesel trains. #quizx #sustainabletransportation . #hydrogen #hydrogenpowered #locomotive #automobile #train #travel #industry #technology #sustainability #cleanenergy #lithiumbattery #germany?? #france #coradiailint #energy #electricity #alstom

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Right now, Germany alone employs 4,000 diesel trains, but the iLint is expected to change that – and to drastically reduce the country’s carbon emissions in the process.

The trains have hydrogen fuel tanks on the roof and huge lithium ion batteries as part of their engines; they can travel 500 miles per day at speeds of up to 87 miles per hour. They give off only steam as a byproduct, and the only sound you’ll hear on board or as they whoosh past is the wheels and the air resistance.

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#zeroemissions #train that runs on just #steam and condensed #water has successfully completed its first test run in #Germany. The Coradia #iLint is the world’s only #fuelcell #passengertrain, according to its French makers Alstom, who design #environmentallyfriendly rail solutions. Testing was carried out on the company’s own track in Salzgitter, Lower Saxony, with passenger test runs set to begin at the start of 2018. “This test run is a significant milestone in environmental protection and technical innovation,” said Didier Pfleger, vice president of Alstom in Germany and Austria. “With the Coradia iLint and its fuel cell technology, Alstom is the first railway manufacturer to offer a #zeroemission alternative for mass transit trains. “Today our new traction system, so far successfully proved on the test ring, is used on a train for the first time – a major step towards cleaner mobility in Europe.” The Coradia iLint, which is silent and can reach speeds of up to 140 km/h, is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, which produces electrical power for the traction. It is set to run on the Buxtehude-Bremervörde-Bremerhaven-Cuxhaven line in Lower Saxony. The Coradia iLint is the first low floor passenger train worldwide powered by a #hydrogenfuelcell, which produces electrical power for the traction. This zero-emission train is silent and only emits steam and condensed water. #CoradiaiLint is special for its combination of different innovative elements: a clean energy conversion, #flexibleenergy storage in batteries, and a smart management of the traction power and available energy. Based on Alstom’s flagship Coradia Lint diesel train, Coradia iLint is particularly suited for operation on non-electrified networks. It enables sustainable train operation while maintaining high train performance. “This test run is a significant milestone in environmental protection and technical innovation. With the Coradia iLint and its fuel cell technology, Alstom is the first railway manufacturer to offer a zero-emission alternative for mass transit trains. Today our new traction system, so far successfully proved on the test ring, is used on a train for the first time ??⬇

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Alstom (the company that builds the iLint), issued the following statement:

“Alstom is proud to launch a breakthrough innovation in the field of clean transportation. It shows our ability to work in close collaboration with our customers and develop a train in only two years.”

Hydrogen power works when hydrogen is burned with oxygen to produce huge amounts of energy. NASA has used liquid hydrogen and oxygen to propel rockets since the 1970s, but cost (and probably political lobbying) has kept it from being widely used in the consumer market until very recently.

There’s also the fact that in order to get hydrogen, you have to use electricity to split water into its constituent elements – and if you’re using electricity from a coal plant, hydrogen doesn’t wind up being that clean of a fuel. But if you’re using wind power, it can be totally emissions free!

Now, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway are all interested in buying some iLint trains of their own, and I can only assume more countries will follow.

Maybe there is some hope for the future after all.

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Russia Confirmed That the Cold War–Era Ex-Bioweapons Lab That Stores Samples of Smallpox Recently Exploded

Well, that’s not good…

Samples of the highly contagious (but eradicated) disease smallpox only exist in two laboratories in the world. As a relic of the Cold War, one is in the United States, and the other is in Russia – and the one located in Russia recently weathered an explosion.

The smallpox sample, along with cultures of anthrax and ebola (and other deadly pathogens), is housed at the Virology and Biotechnology Center in Novosibirsk. The lab was once in the service of developing bioweapons during the Cold War, and it still remains tightly secured. The walls around it are reinforced concrete, high-tech fences and motion detectors help with patrolling the perimeter, and even though a scientist died 15 years ago after an accident with Ebola, the facility is generally considered to be safe.

That is, it was before part of the facility exploded during regularly scheduled repair work.

The facility leadership put out a statement (translated from Russian):

“There was an explosion of a gas cylinder with a fire on the 5th floor of a six-story reinforced concrete laboratory building in the sanitary inspection room being repaired. No work with biological material on the body was carried out. One person was injured, building structures were not damaged.”

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Russia releases #smallpox #virus ???

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The employee suffered burns on his legs, and doctors confirm that no biohazards were found outside the facility, and that there is no threat to the general population.

If smallpox were to escape this facility or the one in the United States, containment would be a hard row to hoe.

The disease, caused by the variola virus, was a horrific scourge, killing 300 million people in the 20th century alone. It was declared eradicated in 1979 following a global vaccination program, with the final death coming from a terrible accident in 1978.

It claimed the life of Janet Parker, a medical photographer who came into contact with a sample of the disease in a Birmingham Medical School laboratory.

The head of the lab, one Henry Bedson, committed suicide due to the guilt of releasing the deadly disease.

Once free of the disease, world powers made the decision to destroy all cultures except for those at the two secure laboratories for posterity (or bioweapons…again, Cold War). The last samples of the disease still reside there today.

Except for the live virus scientists fear could emerge from the thawing Siberian permafrost.

That, it would see, is a problem for another day.

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A Corpse on a Body Farm Was Caught Moving

This can safely be filed under: Nightmare Fuel.

Apparently, corpses don’t stop moving for up to a year after death, due to the various decomposition processes they go through.

Which makes me wonder how many of those bells rang at Victorian gravesides even though the people in the coffins were, in fact, dead.

Yikes.

The research that brought you this lovely tidbit of macabre information comes from an Australian body farm (a place where scientists study how bodies decompose in order to improve forensic techniques.

In a time-lapse video containing images taken every 30 minutes over a period of 17 months, researchers saw movement for far longer than they expected to – over a year and a half in some cases. In an interview with ABC News Australia, the authors said they believe the movements were mostly the result of drying ligaments.

“What we found was that the arms were significantly moving, so that arms that started off down beside the body ended up out to the side of the body.”

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So from Obesity TV programmes I go straight onto food!!: This is an amazing "5 Stages of Decay Cookie" by Claire Ratcliffe for the special Halloween event I'm holding at Barts Pathology Museum where I work: "Delicious Decay – The Edible Body Farm!!! The event (Friday night 28th and all day Saturday 29th) will feature edibles – savoury and sweet – based only on human decay and decomposition. The point is to raise awareness for the need, in the UK, for a Body Farm (or Taphonomy Research Facility) that actually uses human remains, like the one in Tennessee. We use pigs at the moment and they're consistently unreliable. That's why I'm working with @conjurers_kitchen (amazing food artist) and Dr Anna Williams (Forensic Anthropologist) to make this incredibly realistic. We even have the scents used to train cadaver dogs and a make up artist to make you look "decomposed"! www.deliciousdecay1.eventbrite.co.uk and www.deliciousdecay2.eventbrite.co.uk (I'll talk about the 5 stages in another post ?⚰) #humanremains #decomposition #remains2beseen #ediblebodyfarm #decay #deliciousdecay #taphonomy #bodyfarm #anthroplogy

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They’ve yet to publish their study, but hope their findings will continue to add to a body of research that helps police solve murders, among other things.

“This research is very important to help law enforcement to solve crime and it also assists in disaster investigations. It’s important for victims and victims’ families, and in a lot of cases it gives the victim a voice to tell their last story.”

Just an FYI: Body farms exist all over the world, and they depend on body donations from people looking to assist science after they’ve expired.

I say you might as well be helpful. Either way, you’re just going to be decomposing.

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A Tree-Planting Search Engine Saw a 1150% Increase in Use After the Amazon Rainforest Fires

Step aside, Google. An eco-friendly search engine saw a 1150% increase in daily downloads in a single day after the Amazon rainforest fires.

Ecosia is a search engine that uses 80 percent of its profits from advertisements to plant millions of trees in Brazil, Ethiopia, and other emerging economies, Business Insider reports. The website claims to have planted 65 million trees to date – an impressive number.

Usually, Ecosia sees about 20,000 downloads per day. But recently, large swaths of the Amazon went up into flames in an urgent environmental disaster. As more people became aware of what was going on, people began using Ecosia en masse in an attempt to help combat the damage.

Photo Credit: iStock

On August 22, the company experienced 250,000 downloads in a single day, but the record-breaking moment was bittersweet for Ecosia.

“We had our team meeting and people were, on the one side, very happy because of the numbers but also very sad because of the forest fires,” Christian Kroll, Ecosia’s chief executive, told Business Insider. “So it’s both exciting and a tragic occurrence.”

The sudden burst in popularity is largely thanks to word-of-mouth. The app is frequently mentioned by Instagram and Twitter users who are spreading the word about the rainforest fires. Ecosia is now the top-ranked iOS app in Brazil.

Photo Credit: iStock

The Amazon rainforest experienced over 72,000 fires this year so far, an 83 percent increase from 2018. This is partly because of dry weather, and party because Brazil’s new president, Jair Bolsonaro, has walked back a decade’s worth of environmental protections. His actions have given cover to thousands of illegal farmers and ranchers to light fires to burn down forest to create more arable land for them to use. It’s a difficult situation because many of them have no other way to earn income, but the damage they’ve done to the forest – and thus to the world – is enormous.

Christian says he was inspired to start Ecosia after learning about environmental damage during his travels to South America and Nepal.

“In my opinion, planting trees helps people and the environment at the same time,” he said. He’s right.

He founded Ecosia in 2009, but it doesn’t do all that search work on its own. It partners with Microsoft’s search engine Bing to power its search results and display ads.

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Enjoy These Photos of Spiders Wearing Water Droplets as Hats

The Butterfly Babe takes amazing images of all sorts of creepy crawlies. But of all the bugs out there, perhaps the most adorable (it’s an arachnid, technically) are these tiny jumping spiders wearing droplets of water as hats.

Posted by Butterfly Babe on Sunday, September 8, 2019

Yes, I just used the word “adorable” when describing spiders, and once you see these pictures, you’re not even going to be able to argue.

Posted by Butterfly Babe on Sunday, September 8, 2019

Posted by Butterfly Babe on Sunday, September 8, 2019

Jumping spiders are part of the family Salticidae, which is the largest family of spiders. They have amazing vision (look at those eyes!) and, as their name suggest, jump when hunting or in response to a perceived threat.

Posted by Butterfly Babe on Sunday, September 8, 2019

Chances are, there are some of these spiders near you right now (maybe they’re even sporting this fashion right on your porch!). They live in all manner of climates, from tropical forests to deserts – even on the slopes of Mount Everest.

Posted by Butterfly Babe on Sunday, September 8, 2019

They’re active, capable hunters (maybe they disarm the prey with their cute fashion choices!) and often nab prey by jumping several times the length of their own bodies.

Posted by Butterfly Babe on Sunday, September 8, 2019

The spiders are smart as well as cute; their expressive faces hiding brains capable of learning. They’ve been shown to recognize and remember colors, and they use the ability to make themselves better hunters.

Posted by Butterfly Babe on Sunday, September 8, 2019

Which is all interesting, but my favorite thing about them is still the water droplets on their heads in these pictures.

Posted by Butterfly Babe on Sunday, September 8, 2019

Is there a spider haberdashery? Is it pure, sweet chance? Are they saving a drink for later? I need to know more!

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A New Heinz Bottle Shows You the Best Way to Pour Ketchup

A heap of ketchup in a puddle next to a hot serving of fries is about as close to heaven as you can get. But why is it so hard to get the stuff to come out of the bottle?

Photo Credit: Flickr

This is the question ketchup lovers have been asking for about 150 years.

Folks, we may finally have the answer—and from Canada, no less.

Thank you, neighbor. We owe you one.

This issue is the angle of the bottle. To illustrate the solution to consumers, Heinz Canada and creative group Rethink Canada distributed Heinz Ketchup bottles with oddly placed labels. When consumers turned the bottle so the label was right side up, the bottle aligned with the perfect angle at which to pour the tangy condiment.

Watch the video below for a demonstration:

Brian Neumann, senior brand manager at Kraft Heinz Canada, told AdAge Magazine:

This year, we have focused our marketing on reinforcing the emotional connection fans have with the brand in clever and ownable ways. We’re always thinking of fun, cheeky ways we can highlight the iconic and timeless nature of the product to give our consumers a smile.

Fun and cheeky is the perfect description of their effort to show us the best way to get to Heinz’s tomatoey goodness – and it’s also what we in the south think of our northerly neighbors.

Now, for the bad news. The helpful bottles are in limited production…i.e. only for Toronto.

Photo Credit: Pexels

But one of the foodie nerds at Food & Wine hacked that. Go run and get your protractor (I think I mentioned “nerd.”) and tip your bottle somewhere between a 35 and 45 degree angle. Make sure to verify the measurement because that is the sweet-ketchup-spot for optimum pouring performance.

Here is my hack on their hack: Paint the protractor red, write your name on it and decorate with stickers. Fasten the loop piece of Velcro on one side of the protractor and the hook piece inside your cabinet door. Hang your customized protractor inside the cabinet. Your very own scientific ketchup pouring angle indicator will be ready whenever you need it.

As they say in some parts of Canada, “Voila!”

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This Artist Uses Illustrations to Try to Tackle Some of Society’s Problems

And though there are a hundred different ways to discuss the impact of what’s wrong with the world, art is one of the most poignant and, for many people, the most relatable without being preachy.

If you’re an art lover, or someone who enjoys pretty, scathing commentary, these 18 images are going to take your breath away.

18. Well, that’s an awful image to consider.

17. Why have we let governments do this to people forever?

16. There won’t be anything else for penguins to live on, soon.

15. My heart is breaking.

14. I’d like to be able to break this addiction, myself.

13. How often do we stop and wonder what the other person is thinking?

12. And everyone loves turtles, you know?

11. Heartbreaking to think of what’s happening in the Arctic.

10. I wonder how many people would notice?

9. A few companies have recently vowed to stop these practices – about time.

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Companies get away with using cheap labor and inhumane working conditions by manufacturing their products in countries with little regulation. It‘s our job to take responsibility and be conscious buyers. If we learn that a product is made under unethical conditions then choose not to buy from that company. Although it may take more time, doing research into the sources of your food, clothing and products is a crucial step in raising awareness and promoting better labor regulations. Read more at www.huffingtonpost.com/sophia-armenkas-/wake-up-teen-consumers_b_8363126.html #iconeo #consumelocal #fairtrade #inhumane #responsibility #awareness #conscious #ecofashion #ethicalbrand #ethical #sustainableliving #sustainablefashion #fashionblogger #ecology #consuming #creativeart #creativehappylife #creativeminds #helpinghands #manufacturing #ecofriendly #humanity #savetheplanet #bekind #kindness #kindnessmatters #empathy #loveoneanother #slowfashion #ethicallymade

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8. It’s not subtle but it does make its point.

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80% of plastic in our oceans is from land sources. For example: ?Litter dropped on the street doesn‘t stay there. Rainwater and wind carries plastic waste into streams and rivers. ? Plastic you put in the bin ends up in landfill. When rubbish is being transported to landfill, plastic is often blown away because it‘s so lightweight. From there, it can eventually clutter around drains and enter rivers and the sea this way. ? Many of the products we use daily are flushed down toilets, including wet wipes, cotton buds and sanitary products. Microfibres are even released into waterways when we wash our clothes in the washing machine. They are too small to be filtered out by waste water plants. (source: www.wwf.org.uk) #iconeo #plasticpollution #endplasticpollution #plasticfree #plasticocean #noplastic #zerowaste #seabird #cleanoceans #oceancleanup #recycling #sustainable #sustainability #ecofriendly #ecodesign #ecofashion #singleuseplastic #stopsucking #illustrationart #oceanart #adobeillustrator #illustrationartist #illustration #contemporaryart #creativeart #wwf

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7. You wouldn’t do that, would you?

6. How much stuff do we need, really?

5. Another one that’s straight to the point.

4. They need us as much as we need them.

3. There’s more than one way to do almost everything.

2. Talk to your neighbors.

1. A literal representation of the Earth in a few short years.

 

These illustrations definitely did their job because they made me think (and also feel sad and guilty and like it’s time to do something – past time).

If you loved them, make sure and follow the artist – Steffan Kraft, who also goes by the name Iconeo – on Instagram and Facebook.

How did they make you feel? We’d love to hear about it!

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10 Mothers Explain Why They’d Never Circumcise Their Sons

You probably know that there’s a polarizing debate on whether or not to circumcise newborn infants.

These women are against circumcising and have strong opinions supporting their cases.

Their reasoning may make you think twice about the topic.

1. Yeah, is there REALLY a reason for this??

Photo Credit: Whisper

2. More nerves than the what???

Photo Credit: Whisper

3. Yeah, circumcision is COSMETIC. For real!

Photo Credit: Whisper

4. Mom knows best!

Photo Credit: Whisper

5. Well, who cares what she thinks? Really…

Photo Credit: Whisper

6. Who gives you hate??

Photo Credit: Whisper

7. No regrets!

Photo Credit: Whisper

8. This. Right. Here!

Photo Credit: Whisper

9. Agreed!

Photo Credit: Whisper

10. It shouldn’t be a big deal at all.

Photo Credit: Whisper

What do you think? Still believe in circumcision? Think it’s horrible?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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Tailgating the Car Ahead of You Through Endless Lights Won’t Help You at All

Gridlock is the worst, isn’t it? You’ve already sat though one light cycle, and with this long line of cars also waiting to get through, it looks like you may be sitting through another one. But although it’s tempting to ride the guy’s bumper in front of you through the light, science says that won’t help you at all.

Photo Credit: Flickr

Tailgating is never a good idea. But when you’re desperate to make it through a red light, doesn’t it make sense to minimize the space between you and the next car?

With all the collisions that happen at intersections, researchers from Duke University and Virginia Tech wanted to put the desire to squeeze through a traffic light on someone else’s tail to the test. Their study, which wound up showing some surprising results, was published in the Journal of Physics in November of 2017.

For the test, researchers had volunteers sit in 10 Chevrolet Impalas lined up at a red traffic light on a test road. The cars were at varying distances from each other. When the light turned green, drivers were told to accelerate at a “normal and comfortable fashion.” Meanwhile, a drone recorded their speeds.

Photo Credit: Needpix

When researchers analyzed the film, they found the tailgating cars took as long to get through the light as the cars stopped up to 25 feet behind the car in front. How does that work?

To explain, the researchers compared the findings to melting ice. The extra energy, or “latent heat,” it takes to get ice to begin melting is like the amount of time it takes a car to accelerate from a full stop. Cars close to the bumper of the car in front of them have to wait until the entire line of cars begins to melt to accelerate safely.

In the words of the researchers, “the ‘temperature’ (kinetic energy) of the vehicles cannot increase until the traffic ‘melts’ into the liquid phase.”

Photo Credit: Flickr

Which means that it takes more time for a tailgater to accelerate, while a driver who stops further back can accelerate faster – and they both wind up moving at the same pace.

Who knew? So stop tailgating and enjoy the ride. We’ll all get to where we’re going eventually.

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Some Plants Can Hear When They’re Being Eaten and They Fight Back

Ready to be weirded out? There are some plants that can hear when they’re being eaten.

Yes, they can actually hear the chomp, chomp of a caterpillar munching.

If I were a plant I would be losing my mind!

Photo Credit: Unsplash, Bankim Desai

How can we tell?

Scientists have long known about vibrations affecting plants. Think about your elementary science project where you talked to your plants or played music for them and compared their growth to that of a “control” plant. Remember that? Well, sound is really just vibrations that get carried through the air.

Two researchers from the University of Missouri wanted to dig deeper into this effect. So Rex Cocroft and Heidi Appel brought in some insects to help them out.

In their study, they used caterpillars known to eat “Arabidopsis thaliana, a small flowering plant related to cabbage and mustard.” This plant was chosen due to its known production of mustard oil.

Arabidopsis plant
Photo Credit: iStock

“A caterpillar that eats nothing but mustard oil plants can get poisoned if the levels get too high,” Appel told Farm Journal.

Interesting…

The next step was to set up a small vibration microphone to pick up the munching sounds of the caterpillars having lunch. Next, they played back these sounds for the poor Arabidopsis and, lo and behold, the plant began to excrete more mustard oil than typical when it wasn’t “under attack.”

“This indicates that the plants are able to distinguish feeding vibrations from other common sources of environmental vibration,” Cocroft said.

In addition to the oils, the plant produced more anthocyanins, a specific chemical that gives its flowers a red color.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

What does this mean?

While it does take time for the plant to build up the oil (a few hours to days), the researchers stated that one should think of it as the plant going to war. If the caterpillar keeps eating, it will be poisoned, leaving it dead. The oil is the plant’s defense mechanism.

“This research also opens the window of plant behavior a little wider, showing that plants have many of the same responses to outside influences that animals do, even though the responses look different,” he said.

Smart plants…I think I’ll become a strict carnivore.

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