Tag: methane

Impact Lab > methane
Analysis, Business, Energy, Food, Science & Technology News

Calysta, Inc. believes natural gas can feed the world

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Alan Shaw, CEO Calysta, right and Josh Silverman, the chief scientific officer.

Methane, the primary component of natural gas, can be gobbled up by protein-producing microbes. The protein biomass is converted into things like food for farmed salmon or chemicals or other products, according to Ian Shaw, CEO of Calysta Inc., and Josh Silverman, the chief scientific officer. That salmon, of course, is an important source of protein that could serve a growing human population.

 

 

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Analysis, Big Problems, Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Education, Health & Fitness, Historical Perspectives, Human Behavior, Humor, New Discoveries

The danger of farting in space

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Space gas has its consequences.

Humans produce two flammable gases: hydrogen and methane. Flammable gases accumulate in an enclosed space and can ignite. Astronauts are humans who spend lots of time in enclosed space. The logic is irrefutable. So, what’s the risk to farting astronauts?

Between 1968 and 1971, researchers Edwin L. Murphy and Doris H. Calloway published three, count ‘em, three studies on flatulence. The 1969 paper was about astronauts and their farts, specifically a study to determine the level of flatulence produced by difference astronaut space diets. Picturing how the study went brings into focus the many indignities astronauts face for their shot at space travel…

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Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, Ecological Products, Food, Great New Product, Green Friendly, New Discoveries, New Inventions

Microbial home: fuelling the kitchen with methane from waste

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Harnessing wast for power.

This concept design for a “microbial home” centered around a methane digester hub that feeds gas from your food into various appliances has a nice, bodgy, Rube Goldberg feel. We can call it methanepunk (not perfect, but better than “fartpunk”)…

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Animals, Breakthrough Thinking, Ecological Products, Green Friendly, Health & Fitness

Dog Poop Powers Lights In City Park

poo power
Conceptual artist Matthew Mazzotta has created a street lamp that uses
methane gas from feces collected at a dog park in Cambridge, Mass.
Environmentalists are going gaga for a street lamp in Cambridge, Mass., that is powered by dog poop.

The lamp, a shining example of how humans can make use of an underutilized and perpetually renewable energy source — feces — is the brainchild of Matthew Mazzotta, a conceptual artist who studied at the nearby Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who wanted to give back to the community…

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Breakthrough Thinking, Business, Science & Technology News

A Safer and Less Expensive Way to Move Natural Gas

lng-tanker

LNG tanker

A new transport method involving ice crystals could make it practical to get natural gas from remote areas, with no worries about explosions.  Storing and shipping natural gas by trapping it in ice–using technology being developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy–could cut shipping costs for the fuel, making it easier for countries to buy natural gas from many different sources, and eventually leading to more stable supplies worldwide.

 

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Big Problems, Global Warming, Health & Fitness, Science & Technology News

EPA Declares Greenhouse Emissions Endanger Human Health

EPA Declares Greenhouse Emissions Endanger Human Health

Total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions were 7,282 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent in 2007, an increase of 1.4 percent from the 2006 level.The U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency on Friday declared that greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide endanger human health and welfare, clearing the way for possible U.S. regulation.

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Breakthrough Thinking, Green Friendly, Nanotechnology, Science & Technology News

How Microbes Can Fuel America In The Future

How Microbes Can Fuel America In The Future 

Scientists Use Tiny Organisms to Create Fuel, Viruses to Make Batteries

For millenniums, microbes have been a staunch technological ally. They have leavened our bread and cured our cheeses. Now, engineers are asking them to convert carbon dioxide into fuel and to build a new generation of batteries. Some of the smallest life forms with which we share the planet are helping us cope with the energy challenges of the 21st century.

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Science & Technology News, Space

Does A Twin Earth Exist?

Does A Twin Earth Exist?

Artist’s conception shows a hypothetical twin Earth orbiting a Sun-like star.

Does a twin Earth exist somewhere in our galaxy? Astronomers are getting closer and closer to finding an Earth-sized planet in an Earth-like orbit. NASA’s Kepler spacecraft just launched to find such worlds. Once the search succeeds, the next questions driving research will be: Is that planet habitable? Does it have an Earth-like atmosphere? Answering those questions will not be easy.

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Animals, Big Problems, Breakthrough Thinking, Current Events, Great New Product, New Viewpoints

India To Allow Cow Urine As Soft drink

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Cow Urine Shampoo Hasn’t Made It Past Drawing Board

The bovine brew is in the final stages of development by the Cow Protection Department of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), India’s biggest and oldest Hindu nationalist group, according to the man who makes it.Om Prakash, the head of the department, said the drink – called “gau jal”, or “cow water” – in Sanskrit was undergoing laboratory tests and would be launched “very soon, maybe by the end of this year”.

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