California Battery Plant Is One of World’s Largest and Will Store Solar Energy for LA’s High-Use Evenings

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Apr 19, 2024

Nova Power Bank in Menifee, California (Calpine)

In California, a renewable energy storage system will be one of the largest in the world when it comes online this summer.

The Nova Battery Bank, designed and built by Calpine, will be able to power 680,000 homes for 4 hours.

Why only 4 hours? The Nova Power Bank is envisioned as helping cope with peak demand, when Emily Precht, Calpine strategic origination manager, says millions of Californians are coming home from work, plugging in their EVs, turning on their A/C units, washing dishes, etc.

Unlike natural gas or petroleum, renewable energy cannot be used beyond the very moment it’s generated. To improve on this technology, large banks of batteries can be filled with the charge from excess solar, wind, geothermal, tidal, or whatever, and then discharged when the need is greatest, ideally protecting California from blackouts, several of which it experienced in 2020.

The 680-megawatt lithium-ion battery bank will boost California’s renewable storage, which already equals about 55% of the nation’s total capacity, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

620 megawatts will be brought online this summer, with a further 60 in the summer of 2025.

Reuters reports that such large battery projects in the hundreds of megawatts are underway in “California, Florida, Australia, the United Kingdom, and China.”

“This plant will help stabilize the grid, especially for reliability purposes,” said Precht in a press conference. “Having something that saves the power from the middle of the day (and) moves it to a higher demand period will help make the grid more resilient.”

WATCH the story below from Reuters…

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Researchers Creates Nanogenerator Capable of Using Greenhouse Gas to Produce Electricity

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Andy Corbley

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Apr 19, 2024

The nanogenerator devised by UQ researchers uses greenhouse gas to produce electrcity.CREDIT DR ZHUYUAN WANGUQ — The nanogenerator devised by UQ researchers uses greenhouse gas to produce electricity - credit Dr. Zhuyuan Wang

The nanogenerator devised by UQ researchers uses greenhouse gas to produce electricity – credit Dr. Zhuyuan Wang

University of Queensland scientists had a remarkable eureka moment when they accidentally turned the most common greenhouse gas into electricity.

By using positive and negative ions of different sizes, the team created electricity from CO2, and now believes that their ‘nanogenerators’ could help improve the reputation of the simple molecule.

Now thoroughly demonized, it pays to remember that carbon dioxide contains two oxygen molecules and one carbon molecule, which rank among the most fundamental building blocks of the universe and are used in human society for thousands of processes and purposes.

Univ. of Queensland research officer Dr. Zhuyuan Wang, from the Dow Center for Sustainable Engineering Innovation, was working on a nanogenerator that ran on a process called ion transport for three years when one day, according to Brisbane Times, he saw it was consuming CO2 in the laboratory air to make electricity.

“I double-checked everything and it was working correctly so I started dreaming about changing the world using this technology,” he told the Times.

MORE LIKE THIS: Clean Fuel Made by Pulling CO2 From Air and Plastic Waste–Powered Only by the Sun and Photosynthesis

“We could make a slightly bigger device that is portable to generate electricity to power a mobile phone or a laptop computer using CO2 from the atmosphere,” he said.

In the research project, Wang and his team needed to double check it was the CO2 that was powering the nanogenerator, so they sealed it in a box and pumped CO2 into it.

OTHER SUCH INVENTIONS: Dubai Company Buys Used Cooking Oil to Turn Into Biofuel for Cars Citywide to Reduce CO2 Emissions

The devices were just 4×6 centimeters, but the team theorized that a larger one could provide meaningful powerful supplies to office electronics.

Dr. Wang’s colleague, Xiwang Zhang, said they would continue to refine the technology through the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Green Electrochemical Transformation of Carbon Dioxide.

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Archaeologists Uncover Ancient City in Kingdom of Tonga That Rewrites History: ‘First City of the Pacific’

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Andy Corbley

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Apr 19, 2024

A laser scan shows the urban area that has been mapped - credit, supplied to the media by Philip Parton

A monumental discovery has been made on the island nation of Tonga, where the footprint of a large urban civilization from centuries past was uncovered using cutting-edge laser technology.

Consisting of almost 10,000 earthen mounds that today are hardly noticeable, it could be one of the first cities ever constructed in the Pacific.

With the introduction of aerial laser surveying, we’ve discovered that South and Central America could support urban centers with millions of inhabitants—more than anything archaeologists and historians thought possible 15 to 20 years ago.

That sort of urbanization seems even less likely on tropical archipelagos like Tonga, but there they are, just 12 kilometres from the current capital Nuku’alofa, in the eastern district of Tongatapu.

“Earth structures were being constructed in Tongatapu around AD 300. This is 700 years earlier than previously thought,” study author and Ph.D. scholar Phillip Parton at the Australian National University, told ABC News Down Under.

“As settlements grew, they had to come up with new ways of supporting that growing population. This kind of setup—what we call low-density urbanization—sets in motion huge social and economic change,” he added.

The mounds as they look today – credit, supplied to the media by Philip Parton

Insights into population centers in the Southern Hemisphere during the European Middle Ages are changing archaeologists’ understanding of the concept of urbanism. One tends, Mr. Parton argues, to imagine compact European cities from this time period—with windy cobblestone alleys and multi-tiered housing.

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT: Almost 500 New Mesoamerican Structures Discovered By Using Lasers

This is different kind of urbanism, one which may have been a template that spread across Oceania, and which may not be the only one of its kind out there.

“I’m sure that should my colleagues choose to pursue that, this won’t be the only example of a city to be found in the Pacific. I’m sure there’s plenty waiting for us,” Mr. Parton told Pacific Beat.

MORE OF THIS SORT OF ARCHEOLOGY: Hundreds of Mayan Cities and Towns with Ball Courts and Roads Discovered in LiDAR Survey in Guatemala

Mound building is typical of traditional urbanism across the Americas, and in areas where quarryable stone is lacking, soil tends to be the prefered building material.

Whether each of the mounds represents a dwelling, or whether a dwelling was built on top of a series of mounds to elevate the floor off the ground, Parton’s work didn’t extend so far as to inform us.

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Study Links Recreational Cannabis Use to Lower Risk of Cognitive Decline and Dementia-Related Diseases

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Andy Corbley

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Apr 19, 2024

Cannabis and its derivatives have already been shown to relieve short-term chronic pain, reduce inflammation 30x more robustly than aspirin, improve symptoms of Crohn’s disease, and show some efficacy in killing lung and pancreatic cancer cells, but a recent epidemiological look at cannabis use has linked it to dramatically lower rates of cognitive decline and dementia.

A new study published in the journal Current Alzheimer Research that looked at 4,744 American adults over 45 using self-reporting methods of calculating cognitive decline found those who used cannabis recreationally had a 96% lower chance of developing what they called ‘subjective cognitive decline.’

The researchers looked at all common methods of cannabis use, including smoking, vaping, dabbing, and consuming, as well as the frequency of use, which the scientists behind the study say has never been done before.

“The reason I think this study is so great is we looked at all the different dimensions of cannabis use. The fact that we included all three is a huge contribution to the research because I do not believe such a study has been done before,” Professor Wong told Neuroscience News.

“The main takeaway is that cannabis might be protective for our cognition,” Wong added. “We do not know if non-medical cannabis leads to better cognition or the other way around if those with better cognition are more likely to use non-medical cannabis.”

The study was interesting in that it looked at symptoms or degree of cognitive decline as determined by the patient. This is a common confounding factor in later diagnoses of clinical cognitive decline, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease, but also non-neurodegenerative disorders, including depression, anxiety, failing physical health, and, in some cases, certain personality traits.

ALSO CHECK OUT: White House Issues Unprecedented Pardons After FDA Finds Cannabis to Be More Like Tylenol Than Heroin

Another interesting aspect of the study was that it controlled for the use of medical-use cannabis and recreational-use cannabis. Much of the drive in America to decriminalize cannabis has been around medical-use cannabis, which is richer in CBD, or cannabidiol, a powerful plant therapeutic.

However, it was recreational-use cannabis, that is to say, cannabis cultivated not to maximize the plant’s production of CBD, but to maximize THC—the psychoactive compound in cannabis—which showed the protective effect on cognition, indicating that the psychoactive part of cannabis may be more therapeutic than previously thought.

MORE NEWS LIKE THIS: Cannabis Could Hold the Key to Preventing Neurodegenerative Diseases Like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s

Wong admits however that many users of recreational cannabis engage in it specifically to improve things like sleep or stress, both of which are linked to cognitive decline later in life.

As with all things scientific, more research is needed, but the study should be a fascinating drive to explore further.

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Good News in History, April 19

This Day In History

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Good News Network

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Apr 19, 2024

Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open - CC 3.0. Misty,

Happy 37th birthday to the Tennis ace Maria Sharapova, the only Russian, and one of only 10 women to have won the Career Grand Slam. She managed to earn a No. 1 world ranking at age 18 and spend time as the highest-paid female athlete in the world due to her considerable winnings. She’s also an Olympic silver medalist. READ a little about her story… (1987)

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“The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Quote of the Day

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Good News Network

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Apr 19, 2024

Quote of the Day: “The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Photo by: Abreil Studio

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

Canada Agrees 200 Islands Belong to the Indigenous Haida Nation

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Andy Corbley

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Apr 18, 2024

Islands in the Haida Gwaii - CC 2.0. Province of BC

In a historic “first-of-its-kind” agreement the government of British Colombia has acknowledged the aboriginal ownership of 200 islands off the west coast of Canada.

The owners are the Haida nation, and rather than the Canadian government giving something to a First Nation, the agreement admits that the “Xhaaidlagha Gwaayaai” or the “islands at the end of world,” always belonged to them, a subtle yet powerful difference in the wording of First Nations negotiating.

BC Premier David Eby called the treaty “long overdue” and once signed, will clear the way for half a million hectares (1.3 million acres) of land to be managed by the Haida.

Postal service, shipping lanes, school and community services, private property rights, and local government jurisdiction, will all be unaffected by the agreement, which will essentially outline that the Haida decide what to do with the 200 or so islands and islets.

“We could be facing each other in a courtroom, we could have been fighting each other for years and years, but we chose a different path,” said Minister of Indigenous Relations of BC, Murray Rankin at the signing ceremony, who added that it took creativity and courage to “create a better world for our children.”

Indeed, making the agreement outside the courts of the formal treaty process reflects a vastly different way of negotiating than has been the norm for Canada.

ANOTHER TRIBE RETURNS: Native American Tribe in Maine Gets Back Sacred Island Taken 160 Years Ago

“This agreement won’t only raise all boats here on Haida Gwaii – increase opportunity and prosperity for the Haida people and for the whole community and for the whole province – but it will also be an example and another way for nations – not just in British Columbia, but right across Canada – to have their title recognized,” said Eby.

In other words, by deciding this outside court, Eby and the province of BC hope to set a new standard for how such land title agreements are struck.

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PE Coach Pairs Unmotivated Students to Run with Shelter Dogs–Adoptions Soar

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Andy Corbley

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Apr 18, 2024

Members of the boys' cross-country team at Steinbrenner High School in Lutz, Fla., on one of their regular shelter dog runs in July 2023. supplied to the media by Allison Szponar

A California gym coach who was looking for ways to drum up motivation for the students on his cross-country running team as they went away for the summer break came up with a brilliant idea: pair them with shelter dogs.

It was eight years ago when GNN first reported on it, and ever since it has become a mainstay of the training program at St. Joseph High School in Santa Maria, California.

It became so much more, however, after a simple video of the kids running with the dogs went viral, causing athletic directors around the country to phone St. Joseph and ask how they organized the program.

Steinbrenner High School in Lutz, Florida, was the second school that picked up on the shelter dog runs, and others followed suit like Rock Island High School in Rock Island, Illinois; all because of the viral video that occasionally resurfaces on social media to the delight of thousands.

“It was 60 seconds of genuine, organic kindness,” St. Joseph cross country coach Luis Escobar, who filmed the video, told the Washington Post. “The world needs kindness.”

“The dogs want to go out and run; the kids love dogs, and they love running. It was a perfect marriage,” said Escobar.

Siblings Blake Peifer, 14, and Brady Peifer, 17 — both students at Steinbrenner High School with shelter dog Pantera during a run in June 2022. released to the media by Margaret Peifer.

For the original program, Escobar contacted a Santa Barbara animal shelter, which was totally on board. They ended up pairing athletes with dogs that needed to go running and giving them instructions on what to do. Most of the dogs weren’t in great shape, and so the running was capped at a mile.

In the video, this led to an iconic moment when a high schooler comes walking by the camera with a small dog named Fred, and remarks “Fred’s had it.”

As it turned out, the young man and his family decided to adopt Fred; the first of many such unions since the program’s launch, something which Escobar says is what he is most proud of.

On the other end of the country, the Humane Society of Tampa Bay has been working with Steinbrenner High for 7 years on their shelter dog run.

“Our three pillars of our cross-country team [are] gentleman, scholar, and athlete, and this really satisfies that gentleman area of caring for something that cannot care for itself,” Allison Szponar, the head coach of the team, told Fox 13 Tampa.

COMMENDABLE ADOPTION EFFORTS: Magician Performs Tricks for Shelter Dogs So Their Enthusiastic Reactions get Them Adopted–Watch

For the dogs, says staff member Glen Hatchel at the Society, the runs allow them to burn off loads of nervous energy, leaving them calmer and more adoptable when they get back to the shelter.

WATCH the original video below…

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Struggling Manatee Was Close to Dying but Florida Deputy Held it Afloat for 2 Hours

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Andy Corbley

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Apr 18, 2024

Deputy Jill Constant w manatee - Pinellas County Sheriff Department — Deputy Jill Constant saved a manatee - Pinellas County Sheriff's Department

Deputy Jill Constant saved a manatee – Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department

Despite weighing a tiny fraction of the creature’s massive bulk, a determined Pinellas County deputy leaped into shallow water to save a manatee struggling to breathe.

Cradling it in her arms for over an hour so it could get enough oxygen, Jill Constant saved the animal from becoming a victim of toxic red tide.

An officer from the Marine and Environmental Lands Unit, Constant has received many calls from concerned residents along the Intracoastal Waterway in southwest Florida who don’t understand subtle nuances of manatee behavior.

“It is normal for manatees to swim into culverts, or for groups to thrash around in shallow water and partially beach themselves during mating season,” Constant said.

This time though, the concerned resident had every reason for being so, and Constant didn’t waste a minute longer after arriving on scene in her boat.

“This manatee is going to die right in front of us and I’m not letting that happen! We docked the boat, I took off my equipment, and got in,” Constant said in a June 20 news release. “We stayed in the water for two hours holding its head up until it could be rescued.”

GENTLE GIANTS: How to Save An Elephant With CPR? Jump Up and Down on its Chest to Revive Her (Watch)

According to the release, the manatee was trying to beach itself on the rocks, unable to keep its own head above water to breathe. It was believed to be suffering from toxic exposure to red tide, an algal bloom that can cause a sickness akin to poisoning in manatees.

The irony of a terrestrial mammal leaping into the water to help an aquatic mammal breathe was that the manatee, who quickly grew agitated with Deputy Constant holding its head, began to try and drown her.

HUMANS RISKING LIVES FOR ANIMALS: ARK Becomes ‘Life Raft’ Saving Over 15,000 Animals from Ukraine With Rescue Partners in Germany

Despite fearing she would drown, the thrashing at least informed Constant that the beast was recovering its strength and would soon be able to swim itself to a cleaner, safer environment.

Florida is famous for its manatees, or sea cows, who are not shy of boats or people, and float with remarkable grace through the water feeding on seagrass. Record numbers of manatees have been swimming upriver to warmer freshwater springs to retreat from cold water.

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Millions of Birds Now Migrating Safely Through Darkened Texas Cities After Successful Lights Out Campaign

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Andy Corbley

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Apr 18, 2024

The Houston skyline darkend - Tendenci CC 3.0.

The Houston skyline darkened – Tendenci CC 3.0.

Texas is in the middle of the most important migratory pathway for birds moving up and down the Americas—nearly 2 billion birds, or 1 out of 3 in the US, will pass over Texas during their spring and autumn migrations.

To safeguard the over 400 species of birds that migrate through Texas, the Houston chapter of the Audubon Society and their partners in the state have been running the Lights Out! Texas campaign for two years, and they’re seeing remarkable results.

With the prestige that owning and operating a skyscraper confers, maybe it’s surprising to note that dozens of building managers have been convinced since 2022 to turn off non-essential outdoor lights.

“We issued the proclamation and they… found out, ‘oh, wow, I can do these simple things and it actually helps the birds when they’re migrating,’” Houston city hall spokesperson Sarah Osborne told KHOU 11.

“We’re seeing communities all across the state join in on this effort,” adds Anna Vallery a Conservation Specialist with the Houston Audubon.

Researchers working in Chicago and studying the effects of Lights Out campaigns and other phenomena impacting migratory birds found that reducing the reflections from exterior lighting on tall buildings worked to prevent 60% of all bird collision deaths.

Since most birds migrate at night by the light of the stars and moon, the shining lights of a city in the distance can attract them. But once lost in the photo-soup of a shining skyline like Houston or Fort Worth, they can become extremely disoriented, smash headlong into buildings whose glass is reflecting light from the city, and die.

Fort Worth is taking part in Lights Out! Texas, and the skyline looks decidedly different in this short CBS bulletin.

The Texas Audubon has all the information a resident might need to do their part, or organize municipal efforts, to help our winged brothers and sisters safely pass by.

A busy family of two working parents with kids going to school and after-school sports might scoff at the idea of spending time to ensure birds can navigate over their property safely, but at the end of the day it also saves money from reduced electricity usage.

Spring migrations last only about 70 days, from the start of March to the middle of June, with a slightly longer period during autumn migration of middle-August to the end of November.

WATCH a story below from local news…

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“Try to keep your soul young and quivering right up to old age.” – George Sand

Quote of the Day

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Good News Network

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Apr 18, 2024

Quote of the Day: “Try to keep your soul young and quivering right up to old age.” – George Sand

Photo by: clappstar (CC license)

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

Good News in History, April 18

This Day In History

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Good News Network

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Apr 18, 2024

The Peace Palace, The Hague, seat of the ICJ - CC BY-SA 3.0

80 years ago today, the inaugural hearing of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) also called the World Court, was held at the Peace Palace in The Hague, The Netherlands. The ICJ is the highest legal authority in the sphere of international law, but despite this most prestigious position, its decisions are unenforceable without mandates from the UN to pursue them. As a result, its history has been made up of landmark decisions that have altered the conduct of nations for decades, as well as decisions that are ignored and forgotten faster than the average news bulletin. READ how it shapes international behavior… (1946)

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Contest Gives Children Chance to Win the Field Trip of a Lifetime to Famous Landmarks–Celebrating America’s 250th

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Andy Corbley

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Apr 17, 2024

An organization wants to take 75 of the nation’s school kids on the field trip of a lifetime; to a dozen of America’s most famous monuments and places as part of a contest to celebrate the United States’ quarter-millenarium.

The Statue of Liberty, Yellowstone National Park, the Library of Congress, and the Golden Gate Bridge are just some of the landmarks America’s school kids can see. All they have to do is answer the question “What does America mean to you?”

“America’s Field Trip puts young people at the heart of our efforts and offers an opportunity for students to receive unforgettable experiences at our nation’s landmarks,” said Rosie Rios, chair of America250, in comments to Fox News Digital.

“We want to hear from students across the country: What does America mean to YOU?” she said, adding that the chance to win includes “free travel, lodging, and access to unforgettable field trip experiences at select historical and cultural sites across the country,” for 75 students and their designated chaperons.

America250 is an entity charged by Congress with planning for the big event, and the contest/awards are funded by Bank of New York Mellon, the nation’s oldest banking institution.

The contest is open for the next 30 days for students of all grade levels, with requirements and standards changing per age group. Second-place students will receive $500.

SOMETHING ELSE YOU MIGHT LIKE: Matchmaking ‘Magic’ at Philly’s Oldest Bar May Lead You to Find the Love of Your Life–Like Hundreds of Others

Along with the four landmarks above, winners will visit the Smithsonian Institute, a visit to the USS Constitution, Rocky Mountain National Park, Bank of NY Mellon, and a sunset cruise to Spectacle Island.

Winners will be announced in June 2024; field trips will start in mid-July.

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Saving Woman’s Son from Flying Hockey Puck, the 3 Reunite on Center Ice in Playoffs After Viral Video

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Andy Corbley

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Apr 17, 2024

imrs — Asia Davis's 4-year-old son, Nasir, holds the hockey puck that Andrew Podolak saved him from. (Asia Davis)

Asia Davis’s 4-year-old son, Nasir, holds the hockey puck that Andrew Podolak saved him from. (Asia Davis)

A fan at a Cleveland Monsters game reached over to block a puck that came screaming out of the ice towards the head of a 4-year-old boy named Nasir.

Sitting in bed that night, Nasir’s mother Asia Davis shuttered to think what would have happened if the fan hadn’t been there. She resolved to try and find the man on social media to offer another round of gratitude at least, or preferably a meal and tickets to another game.

Taking to TikTok, her video imploring the anonymous fan to contact her received more than 4 million views, and, sure enough, reached the feed of Andrew Podolak.

It was a hothouse that Thursday night when Davis, Nasir, and Podolak attended the Monsters’ game. If they won, it would send the team—the Columbus Blue Jackets’s official affiliate club for the AHL—into the playoffs.

With a minute to go, 33-year-old Davis took out her smartphone to record the hectic closing stages seconds before a player deflected a pass which came fizzing out into the crowd. Davis didn’t have time to react, whilst Nasir didn’t even see the puck. Fortunately, Podolak did, and diving from a seated position with his arms outstretched, blocked it from smacking into the boy’s head.

Davis told the Washington Post that the call was so close, ice crystals from the puck were covering Nasir’s hair.

“I owe that man lunch or dinner, another thank you,” Davis said in her video, “… because I cannot imagine my baby getting hit with that hockey puck.”

Senses numbed by adrenaline, she joked with Podolak at the time that he should be a goaltender, and asked him to pose for a photo with Nasir holding the puck which some kids in the seats behind had offered him.

YOU’LL DEFINITELY LIKE: College Wrestler Scores ‘Quadruple Leg’ Takedown Against a Grizzly Bear to Save a Friend

Leaving the arena though, the reality of what had happened set in and she began to feel sick. Calling the team, Davis asked if they could identify the man by his seat number. While they asked for some more time to find out, she made the TikTok video which did the trick.

Later on, Podolak, Nasir, and Davis were reunited in front of news cameras at a playoff game courtesy of the Cleveland Monsters. After recounting the story to the media, the three ceremonially dropped the puck for the match before adjourning to rink-side seats to watch the game.

MORE ANONYMOUS RESCUERS: Hero Surfer Rescues Stranded Deer in Ocean – Photographer Captures Moment

Davis admitted she was nervous, and so the three sat as they had done on the fateful Thursday night—with Nasir between them in case Podolak’s heroics were required again.

For his part, Nasir loved the whole experience, and sleeps with the puck that Podolak saved him from every night.

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The Car Fueled Entirely by the Sun Takes Huge Step Towards Production

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Andy Corbley

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Apr 17, 2024

One of the most hotly anticipated concept cars in recent history, the Aptera solar-powered car took a large step towards reality recently as the first-ever production-grade body arrived at the company’s headquarters in San Diego.

This three-wheeler is advertised as containing 34 square feet of solar paneling that actually powers the car as it drives or while it’s parked, but so many aspects are completely new in a commercial automobile designed for mass production that extra precautions and preparations are needed before it can hit the road.

“We had so much fun last week celebrating a company milestone—the arrival of Aptera’s first production body in San Diego,” the company wrote in a post on X. “Now Team Aptera is back to work finalizing the cable routing, connectors, and placement of components in preparation for our first [production-intent] builds.”

According to Elektrek, the company has ordered all the parts for its production-intent battery packs, and other non-structural components are currently being “validated” in Italy by the company’s supply partner.

The suspension, safety equipment, and drivetrain are yet to be finalized for production models. Still, the company has gone further than many before them, because the design they are currently finalizing is not meant to be an eye-raiser or science project, like some GNN has reported on.

When the PI-2 Aptera solar trike is finally ready, it will be because the company is producing 10,000 a year.

Despite looking as dramatic as any Pagani or Lamborghini, the Aptera’s tapered backside, aerodynamic body, and arched, dolphin-like undercarriage are all designed to reduce drag.

In fact, the detail paid to the reduction of drag and energy use borders on obsessive. But it’s through this ultra-efficiency that solar power, a relatively limited form of electricity generation, can actually become a useful feature for powering a car.

“We think energy should be used to turn your wheels—that starts with aerodynamics,” says Co-CEO Chris Anthony, in a video released by the company in 2021 announcing it was taking preorders.

“In a typical vehicle you use 60% of your fuel just pushing the air out of the way at highway speeds; so if you could take that aerodynamic drag down to 0, you’d instantly get 60% better fuel economy.

MORE INNOVATIVE AUTOS: Students Build World’s First Off-Road Solar-Powered SUV–and Drive it Across Morocco

“Instead of having 200-300 parts to the body, [the Aptera] have four parts to the main structure, and that makes it much easier to build, track, and assemble,” says Steve Fambro, the second co-founder of the company, in the same video.

The company says the Aptera’s solar panels will deliver 40 miles of range from charging per sunny day, but the car can be plugged in like any other EV. Aptera also maintains that its vehicle will have 1,000 miles of range because of this perfect aerodynamism, low-weight, and efficient drivetrain.

SHARE This Update To A Most Remarkable Solar Powered Car With Your Friends…

After Scenic Waterway Declines, Government Sides with Activists to Intervene on the Wye River’s Behalf

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Andy Corbley

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Apr 17, 2024

The River Wye from Symonds Yat Rook - CC 2.0. Anguskirk

The fourth-longest river in the UK is declining due to farming pollution, but the government has appointed several former and current MPs to organize its rescue—armed with £35 million.

The River Wye is classified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, as well as a Special Area of Conservation, while the lower half where it runs through the Wye Valley in Wales is classified as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Nevertheless, the river is heavily polluted by agricultural runoff, and a recent assessment by Natural England found that the status of the river is “declining.” Running through Herefordshire, some 10 million chickens are reared every year in poultry operations in the area, and excess nutrients from farming along the banks have caused algae blooms that are removing oxygen and diminishing the water quality.

In March 2023, a High Court claim was brought against the UK Environment Agency by environmental charity River Action for failing to take action to protect the Wye from environmental pollution.

Though this case has yet to be settled, Jesse Norman, the Conservative MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire, took action to try and reverse the downtrend of water quality.

Home to otters, kingfishers, white-clawed crayfish, herons, and the Atlantic salmon, the Wye is recognized as critical for not only British conservation but also by the EU as valuable for the whole continent.

MORE BRITISH WATER: Volunteers Plant One Million Moss Cuttings to Restore Bog and Improve Water Quality in England

“The challenge is now for us all, including farmers, Welsh Water, Herefordshire Council, wildlife and environmental groups… to respond quickly and decisively to make it happen,” Norman told the BBC.

The £35 million will be given to farmers as incentives to prevent runoff, particularly of chicken manure, into the river with the planting of buffer zones: thick and diverse strips of greenery along field and farm boundaries that catch fertilizer and manure before rains can wash it into the Wye.

MORE RIVER RESTORATION: An Unloved English Field Restored to Beautiful Brook as Part of a Large Project to Glorify the River Ise

They will also reimburse farmers for the purchase of incinerators to remove chicken manure and poultry waste on-site.

Some campaigners believe the actions are not enough, and are more like a bandage rather than a cure for the problem.

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Good News in History, April 17

This Day In History

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Apr 17, 2024

The first generation Mustang - Kroelleboelle CC BY-SA 3.0.

60 years ago today, Americans got their first glimpse of Ford’s new sporty car. The Mustang first appeared in showrooms at the 1964 World Fair in New York City for a retail price of $2,368 (equivalent to $23,263 in 2023). Because it was introduced four months before the usual start of the 1965 production year, it is affectionately known as the “Ford 1964-1/2. READ a bit about the famous car’s earliest designs… (1964)

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Pyrite May Be Known as Fool’s Gold, but It Actually Contains a Kind of Green Gold: Lithium

By

Andy Corbley

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Apr 16, 2024

Pyrite, or 'fool's gold' - CC 3.0. Benjamint444, Wikimedia

Appalachian mining country seems an unlikely place to find a potential breakthrough in renewable energy, but samples of mine tailings in West Virginia have turned up plenty of lithium contained inside fool’s gold.

The team of scientists behind the discovery described it as “previously unheard of” and they hope that lithium extracted this way could mean a sustainable, steady supply of the rare earth element that currently has to be mined.

Because of its extreme reactivity, lithium is a great material for batteries, used for storing excess energy generated from solar panels and powering the millions of electric cars sold worldwide every year.

Demand for lithium has skyrocketed recently as countries attempt to transition to greener energy sources, and though massive deposits are present in the Lower 48, American lithium would still have to be extracted via environmentally harmful mining.

A research team from West Virginia University wanted to discover new stores of lithium. In particular, they were interested in whether waste streams from previous industrial operations such as mine tailings or drill cuttings could serve as a source of lithium without generating new waste.

This is already common in the gold mining industry, with companies like DRDGold and its subsidiary Far West Gold Recoveries, treating old slime dams and sand dumps around South Africa’s gold fields to extract gold that’s been missed, making over $1 billion net in the most recent fiscal year.

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Scientists studied 15 middle-Devonian sedimentary rock samples from the Appalachian Basin in the US and found plenty of pyrite inside shale that contained lithium.

“This is unheard of,” said lead researcher and Ph.D. student Shailee Bhattacharya. “But it is promising because it hints at the possibility that certain shales could be a lithium source that doesn’t require new mines.”

The study, due to be presented at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) 2024 General Assembly, found that lithium was more likely to be found in sulfur-rich pyrite, although further research will be needed to establish why this is.

MORE LITHIUM FINDS: World’s Known Lithium Reserves Up 40% After Colossal Discovery in India Turns Up 5.9 Million Tons

“Organic-rich shale may show potential for higher lithium recovery because of the curious interaction between lithium and pyrite,” Ms Bhattacharya said.

“I am trying to understand this association, but the hope is, with lithium discovered in pyrite, we can talk about sustainable energy without using a lot of energy resources.”

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Bioengineered Corneas Stand to Cure Blindness For Millions of People Around the World

By

Andy Corbley

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Apr 16, 2024

Professor Sutton at work - credit Stefanie Zingsheim, University of Sydney

In an interview with the Brisbane Times, an Australian ophthalmologist and biotech entrepreneur lays out his vision for a world in which curing blindness in millions of people worldwide is easy and can be done with a bit of cell replication and a 3D printer.

Professor Gerard Sutton is co-founder of Bienco, which he claims now possesses a product—both physical and intellectual—that will soon be able to mass-produce natural corneas for transplantation into the blind.

Cornea transplantation is the most common way of restoring lost sight, but it’s a very technical procedure that relies on donors. The thin see-through “windscreen” of the eyeball, damage or disease to the cornea is a major cause of non-hereditary blindness worldwide.

In the interview, Sutton’s voice shrinks as he recalls a trip he took to Myanmar in 2004 when he was hoping to help the situation of blindness from the previous civil war by training surgeons to perform cornea transplants. On ice, he said, he had brought along four donated corneas from the NSW Eye Bank.

On his arrival at the clinic set to host him, 1,000 people were waiting, thanks to a small article in a local paper. Out of a thousand blind men and women, he had to select four who would be the most suitable for transplant: he picked young people.

This was a transformational experience, and when paired with a follow-up trip to Cambodia where a similar situation occurred, Professor Sutton realized he needed to do something more: something “out of left field” that would allow him to send as many corneas to these parts of the world as was needed.

“At present, there is only one donor cornea available globally to treat every 70 people requiring a corneal transplant,” said Professor Damien Harkin who is a part of Bienco’s staff based at the Queensland University of Technology. “Through laboratory cultivation we estimate that a single donor cornea could provide treatment for 30 people.”

One of Bienco’s manufactured corneas – credit Stefanie Zingsheim, University of Sydney

Bienco’s artificial corneas are based on collagen, the proteins that make hair, skin, nails, and connective tissue. This tends to create opaque tissue, like our skin, and so the first challenge was to make collagen see-through.

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Once this was done, Sutton and the other members of Bienco like Harkin had to figure out how to apply the many layers of collagen to make a cornea structure that could be transplantable.

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In 2021, Sutton managed to convince the Medical Research Future Fund set up by the treasurer of Australia to back Bienco to the tune of AUD$35 million.

Armed with this unprecedented injection of cash, Sutton believes they are “three to four years” from achieving their goals and making Australia the center of bioengineering on Earth.

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In Time for Tax Day: 10,000 Ancient Bamboo Slats Reveal Meticulous Details of Governance from Famous Period

By

Andy Corbley

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Apr 16, 2024

Jiandu, or bamboo slats. credit - Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Jiandu, or bamboo slats. credit – Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

An ancient trove of literary records, the kind that simply does not come about in Western archeology, was found in an old well in central China.

Dating back to the year 220 CE, 10,000 bamboo slats covered in Chinese characters reveal a wealth of information about how a nearby town was governed during the Three Kingdoms Period.

This was the backdrop upon which the greatest literary masterpiece of Chinese civilization was written: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which tells the story of the lords and soldiers of three Chinese states as they campaign against one another in a prolonged period of strife dating back to the end of the Qin Dynasty.

These bamboo relics were made in the kingdom of Wu, as they bear a reference to the name of the era Jiahe, which marked the rule of the first king of Wu, Sun Quan, a principal character in the book.

Discovered in a pair of old water wells, a press release from the Institute of Archaeology from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences details that the records contained on the bamboo include information about household registration, farming, mining, and other economic activities in the town of Dutou.

Known as Jiandu in Chinese, slats of bamboo were the primary instrument for writing in the region for thousands of years before the invention of silk paper and eventually rice and wood paper. 300,000 jiandu have been recovered from various periods of ancient Chinese history.

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Along with the fact that so much of ancient Chinese writing is recoverable and has been recovered, much of it is in a language that is still spoken today, and which can be read without much scholastic effort. It would be like reading Egyptian hieroglyphs, cuneiform tablets, or Mayan carvings in Roman Latin or Shakespearean English.

MORE CHINESE ARCHEOLOGY: 76,000 Gold and Silver Artifacts Recovered from Chinese River Charts Infamous 17th Century Warlord’s Conquests

The Dutou slats record with meticulous detail the system of taxation levied on the town by the central government, and where those resources would be allocated. The settlement of Dutou is part of a multi-complex area of excavations carried out during recent road repair according to Kevin McSpadden for South China Morning Post.

Over 300 infrastructural elements were identified, including roads, moats, tombs, houses, and metallurgical workshops.

SHARE This Discovery With Your Friends Who Love A Bit Of Chinese History…

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