A man-made leaf absorbs carbon dioxide and water and releases oxygen.
There are many challenges with space exploration. One inconvenient fact – the lack of oxygen in much of the universe – poses a real challenge to making off world exploration and living a reality. (Videos)
Lack of oxygen throughout the universe is one of the persistent challenges of manned space exploration. Trees and other plant life do us a real solid by taking in our bad breath and changing it back to clean, sweet O2 here on Earth. (Video)
NASA is taking steps that could lead to colonization of other planets.
NASA is working on plans to make water, oxygen, and hydrogen on the surface of the Moon and Mars. It is vital that we find a way of extracting these vital gases and liquids from moons and planets if we ever want to colonize other planets, rather than transporting them from Earth (which is prohibitively expensive, due to Earth’s gravity). The current plan is to land a rover on the Moon in 2018 that will try to extract hydrogen, water, and oxygen — and then hopefully, Curiosity’s successor will try to convert the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into oxygen in 2020 when it lands on Mars.
Jeabyun Yeon, a South Korean designer, just unveiled a conceptual scuba mask that would allow divers to breathe underwater without oxygen tanks. The mask, called the Triton, consists of two branching arms designed to serve as “gills” that extract oxygen from the water and deliver breathable air directly into their wearer’s lungs. Instead of hauling around heavy scuba equipment, swimmers could simply bite down on a plastic mouth piece.
You may soon breathe underwater by injecting oxygen into your bloodstream.
Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital have designed microparticles that can be injected into your bloodstream to quickly oxygenate your body. Even if you can’t/aren’t breathing. And it can keep people alive for 15 to 30 minutes. It’s one of the best medical breakthroughs in recent years, and one that could save millions of lives every year.
Patients who can’t breathe need oxygen quickly to avoid cardiac arrest and brain injury is a big problem. Unfortunately, attempts in the early 1900s to intravenously supply this essential gas failed to oxygenate the blood and often caused dangerous air bubbles. Current treatments, such as blood substitutes, breathing masks, and tubes, aren’t always effective as well since they still rely on the lungs to function or require time to properly administer.
IBM has built a battery that needs oxygen to live.
In an effort to build a battery capable of powering a car for 500 miles, IBM has designed a battery that produces power by taking in oxygen and then recharges by expelling oxygen. Such a battery can be significantly smaller and lighter than traditional lithium ion batteries, providing a much longer life per square inch since it is driven by the outside air. (Video)
The military’s Meal Ready to Eat (M.R.E.), or those freeze-dried packages full of gummy pastes and freeze dried dreck that soldiers carry into the field is getting a much-needed upgrade. It’s not better tasting dehydrated foods or better freeze-drying technology. Rather, the U.S. Army has developed the world’s most cutting edge sandwich, one that can be served fresh after sitting on the shelf for two full years.