Quick Takes
NASA’s C-20A aircraft flew over Icelandic glaciers to map small deformations in the ice. Mark Simons, professor of geo-physics at Caltech in Pasadena, stated "This study will help scientists better understand the basic processes that control the fate of glaciers as climate changes. In so doing, this study contributes to our understanding of glacier behavior worldwide and will aid in improving our estimates of rising sea levels."
A new report done by the journal Nature Geoscience explains the true age of the Grand Canyon. Geologists have agreed that the Grand Canyon is varied in age. While certain areas are only five million years old, other regions reach as far back as 70 million years. Why is this so? Researchers believe that the main Colorado River is respon-sible for carving the newer areas, and many ancient dried rivers carved the deepest drops.
Researcher Abba Zubair from the Mayo Clinic is testing the growth of stem cells aboard the International Space Station. He believes they may grow faster in space then on earth due to the lack of gravity. While the ISS does not experience zero gravity, its freefalling state mimics it.
Carbon Dioxide to Carbon Monoxide
A study done the University of Delaware discovered a unique material that chemically changes Carbon Dioxide into Carbon Monoxide. This special catalyst, or a material which speeds up a chemical reaction, is called nano-porous silver. It has been proven to work three thousand times better than conventional polycrystalline silver. It also has an overall conversion rate of 92%. To create this chemical change, though, a small electric current must run through the silver. This electric charge, in addition with the internal properties of the silver, knock one Oxygen atom off of the Carbon Dioxide. This change creates the compound Carbon Monoxide, or CO. Why would scientist want to do this? The answer to this question lies in the a main use of CO— fuel. The Carbon Monoxide gathered by catalysts like nano-porous silver can be used to create clean synthetic fuels. Another question may be stirring in your mind. How do we get so much CO on the molecular level. This question is solved when you look at where this would be implemented— factories. Carbon Dioxide polluting factories could produce a significant amount of Carbon Monoxide while lowering the market’s CO2 emissions by forty percent! Nano-porous silver is the future of catalyst products.
CO2, as shown below, could be changed into CO with simple innovative technology.
© Grant Regen 2014