The black mineral stain commonly found on rocks turns out to be a very simple and effective catalyst for replicating what photosynthesis does – splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. The discovery, reported in Nature Chemistry, was made by scientists from Monash University, Australia, with the assistance of researchers at the University of California – […]
Tag Archives | economy
Far out: measuring GDP from orbit
Outer space offers a new way for measuring economic growth, according to a new working paper by three Brown University economists. In their paper, J. Vernon Henderson, Adam Storeygard and David N. Weil suggest a new framework for estimating a region’s gross domestic product (GDP) by using satellite images of the area’s nighttime lights. (Pic: […]
Candy-Munching Bacteria Prodigious Hydrogen Producers
Bioscientists at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom have demonstrated a reactor that uses hydrogen-producing bacteria and sugar waste to generate electricity via a fuel cell. The researchers involved say the technology could also be used to power hydrogen-fuelled vehicles. Interestingly, the project used waste products, in this case diluted nougat and caramel […]