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Category: sustainability – Page 11

Science’s ‘Gollum effect’: PhDs bear brunt of territorial behaviour

Almost half of the scientists who responded to a survey have experienced territorial and undermining behaviours from other scientists — most commonly during their PhD studies1. Of those affected, nearly half said that the perpetrator was a high-profile researcher, and one-third said it was their own supervisor.

Most of the survey respondents were ecologists, but the study’s organizers suspect that surveys focusing on other disciplines would yield similar results.

The gatekeeping behaviours that the study documents “damage careers, particularly of early-career and marginalized researchers”, says lead author Jose Valdez, an ecologist at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research in Leipzig. “Most alarming was that nearly one in five of those affected left academia or science entirely.”

Lightweight plastic mirrors drop cost of solar thermal energy by 40%

Researchers in Australia are working on a way to lower the cost of producing solar thermal energy by as much as 40% with the help of shatterproof rear-view mirrors originally designed for cars.

That could be huge for agriculture and industrial facilities which need large amounts of heat for large-scale processes at temperatures between 212 — 754 °F (100 — 400 °C). That addresses food production, drying crops, grain and pulse drying, sterilizing soil and treating wastewater on farms; industrial applications include producing chemicals, making paper, desalinating water, and dyeing textiles.

A quick refresher in case you’re out of the loop: solar thermal energy and conventional solar energy (photovoltaic) systems both harvest sunlight, but they work in fundamentally different ways. Solar thermal setups capture the Sun’s heat rather than its light, use reflectors to concentrate sunlight onto a receiver, and convert solar radiation directly into heat energy. This heat can be used directly for heating buildings, water, or the aforementioned industrial processes.

AI optimizes land use policy, finding hidden keys for better land use

Using global land use and carbon storage data from the past 175 years, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and Cognizant AI Labs have trained an artificial intelligence system to develop optimal environmental policy solutions that can advance global sustainability initiatives of the United Nations.

The AI tool effectively balances various complex trade-offs to recommend ways of maximizing carbon storage, minimizing economic disruptions and helping improve the environment and people’s everyday lives, according to a paper published today in the journal Environmental Data Science.

The project is among the first applications of the UN-backed Project Resilience, a team of scientists and experts working to tackle global decision-augmentation problems—including ambitious sustainable development goals this decade—through part of a broader effort called AI for Good.

“Light Out, Power Up”: Carbon Nanotubes Discovered Emitting More Energetic Light Than They Absorb in Groundbreaking Quantum Breakthrough

IN A NUTSHELL 🌟 Scientists at Japan’s RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics have discovered that carbon nanotubes can emit more energetic light than they absorb. 🔍 The phenomenon, known as up-conversion photoluminescence (UCPL), occurs even in pristine nanotubes, defying previous theories requiring structural defects. ☀️ This discovery holds potential for enhancing solar energy efficiency by.

New zinc batteries clock 1,400 cycles at 99.8% efficiency using AI

Researchers in Singapore have achieved a breakthrough in rechargeable battery technology by solving one of the most persistent challenges in zinc-ion batteries, with the help of artificial intelligence.

Dendrites, tiny needle-like structures that form during charging and cause short circuits, have long posed an issue in zinc-ion (Zn-ion) battery technology by compromising battery safety and shortening their lifespan.

Finely-tuned TiO₂ nanorod arrays enhance solar cell efficiency

A research team led by Prof. Wang Mingtai at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a finely tuned method for growing titanium dioxide nanorod arrays (TiO2-NA) with controllable spacing without changing individual rod size and demonstrated its application in high-performance solar cells.

Their findings, published in Small Methods, offer a new toolkit for crafting nanostructures across clean energy and optoelectronics.

Single-crystalline TiO2 nanorods excel at harvesting light and conducting charge, making them ideal for solar cells, photocatalysts, and sensors. However, traditional fabrication methods link rod density, diameter, and length—if one parameter is adjusted, the others shift accordingly, often affecting device efficiency.

Tesla’s Supercomputer Will DWARF Everything

Tesla is developing a terawatt-level supercomputer at Giga Texas to enhance its self-driving technology and AI capabilities, positioning the company as a leader in the automotive and renewable energy sectors despite current challenges ## ## Questions to inspire discussion.

Tesla’s Supercomputers.

💡 Q: What is the scale of Tesla’s new supercomputer project?

A: Tesla’s Cortex 2 supercomputer at Giga Texas aims for 1 terawatt of compute with 1.4 billion GPUs, making it 3,300x bigger than today’s top system.

💡 Q: How does Tesla’s compute power compare to Chinese competitors?

A: Tesla’s FSD uses 3x more compute than Huawei, Xpeng, Xiaomi, and Li Auto combined, with BYD not yet a significant competitor. Full Self-Driving (FSD)

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