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☆ UK scientists found a way to slash nearly 90% of carbon emissions from the country's steel industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Now, researchers at the University of Birmingham have developed a process to clean up the most carbon-intensive part of the steelmaking process: blast furnaces. Currently, coking coal and iron ore are fed into furnaces and heated to sky-high temperatures to create liquid iron, which is then refined into steel. About 70% of steel used around the world for buildings, cars, and household appliances is made this way. For every metric ton of steel produced, nearly two metric tons of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, according to the World Steel Organization. Kildahl described it as a "closed-loop" system that captures and recycles carbon dioxide to trigger the chemical reactions that convert iron ore into steel.

☆ A 300 million-year-old fossilized fish has the world's 'oldest preserved vertebrate brain.' It offers new clues about evolutionary history, say scientists.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Isobel Van Hagen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Scientists discovered the fossilized brain of a vertebrate in a 319-million-year-old fossil. The rare finding offers new insights into the evolution of extinct bony fish related to the salmon. The finding suggests a more complex brain evolution pattern, allowing researchers to define better "how and when present-day bony fishes evolved." Researchers believe the extinct ray-finned fish would have been about six to eight inches long, and its brain and associated nerves are roughly an inch long. The ancient fish is on loan to scientists from the Manchester Museum in England.

☆ Steelmaking Is Trying to Make Itself Greener and Researchers May Have Found a Way
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Yusuf Khan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Steelmaking is one of the most carbon-intensive industries in the world, but researchers may have found a way to make it greener. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ Pro Sustainable Business A weekly look at environmental, social and governance issues and strategies for corporate decision makers. The system essentially creates a closed loop where the carbon split using the perovskite is put back into the system. “After five years, this system would save the U.K. steel industry £1.28 billion [equivalent to $1.57 billion], while reducing UK-wide emissions by 2.9%,” Ms. Kildahl said. For example, H2 Green Steel in Sweden is looking to cut carbon emissions by using hydrogen as a fuel source.

☆ Rare cosmic collision acted like one of the ‘factories of gold’ in the universe
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The gamma-ray burst, called GRB 211211A, lasted about a minute. Gamma-ray bursts are considered among the strongest and brightest explosions in the universe, and they can range from a few milliseconds to several hours in length. An artist's illustration of GRB 211211A shows the kilonova and gamma-ray burst (right) and ejected material from the explosion (left). After determining that a kilonova created the infrared light, astronomers grew even more puzzled by the gamma-ray burst’s duration. Gamma-ray bursts caused by these rare explosions have only ever been observed to last less than two seconds, but this signal lasted for at least one minute.

☆ AT 2022cmc: Rare cosmic event beamed light at Earth from 8.5 billion light-years away
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

But the rare cosmic event actually occurred 8.5 billion light years away from Earth, when the universe was just a third of its current age — and it has created more questions than answers. This graphic shows how a tidal disruption event might look in space. Carl Knox/OzGrav/Swinburne University of TechnologyWhen a star is torn apart by a black hole’s gravitational tidal forces, it’s known as a tidal disruption event. Observing more events like this could reveal how black holes launch such powerful jets across space, according to the researchers. “Scientists can use AT 2022cmc as a model for what to look for and find more disruptive events from distant black holes.”

[1/3] Members of the pro-Ukrainian Chechen battalion check an area, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Bakhmut, Ukraine November 11, 2022. Maga, his nom-de-guerre, is part of a unit of Chechen fighters helping Ukraine battle Russian troops in eastern Ukraine. "We're not fighting just for the sake of fighting," said Maga, who declined to give his real name for security reasons. That has not extinguished hope among Kadyrov's opponents, including Chechens fighting Russian forces in Ukraine, that the authoritarian "power vertical" which Putin has built could crumble if Moscow lost in Ukraine. "The armed forces of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria are being renewed here today," he told the Ukrainian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Oct. 24.

☆ Could the Middle East run out of water? How the UAE gets around the problem
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The Middle East and North Africa are rich in oil and gas, but it's witnessing a shrinking supply of one of earth's most critical resources: water. Twelve of the 17 most water-stressed countries in the world are in the region, according to 2019 findings from the World Resources Institute. The Middle East "has very limited conventional water resources, and some of the groundwater resources are saline," meaning they're often unusable or need to be desalinated using expensive, energy-intensive technology. So how can the Middle East make better use of the limited water it has? CNBC zoomed in on the UAE, which produces the most desalinated water in the world and attracts millions of tourists yearly with its lush green resorts and golf courses — in the middle of the desert.

LONDON — Even for a country that prides itself on pageantry, it was an occasion of majestic splendor. Yet, the ceremony and solemnity of the state funeral are already giving way to an unavoidable realization: The grandeur that marked Queen Elizabeth II's funeral and was seen by billions across the world is not the reality of the country that most woke up to Tuesday. Britain is facing myriad crises, from spiraling costs for food and fuel to an energy crunch that could cause blackouts this winter. “This has been 10 days of Britain being in suspended animation,” said Scott Lucas, a professor of American studies at England’s University of Birmingham who specializes in British and American politics. “The Brits are going to get an immediate shock and an immediate dose of reality.”

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