Featured image: A fuel cell built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This one burns methanol, but others produce energy with hydrogen or natural gas, sorting various byproducts (even such as carbon!) in the meantime. (Courtesy Creative Commons)
This week, it’s our privilege to host Dr. Luca Mastropasqua, a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and the GECOS group at Politecnico Di Milano. His research focuses on carbon capture, which can sift carbon out of the emissions of industrial plants before it pollutes the atmosphere. Luca’s research does this not via the mainstream filtering process (which uses energy) but via fuel cells (which provide energy). Hear how this technique may reduce the emissions of fossil fuels by about 90%, and how it dovetails nicely into using molecular hydrogen for energy storage!
In other news:
- Stick insect eggs may be acid-resistant enough to travel in the bellies of birds and other animals, enabling long-distance travel for an otherwise landbound creature.
- The Great Barrier Reef is currently in a lot of trouble from climate change, but it has suffered extreme die-off events in the past, too—just nothing close to as bad as what’s coming this century.
- Animal and plant properties have been combined in a new artificial cell, allowing energy from photosynthesis to be used directly.
The playlist is available on WPRB.com or below.
