In a remarkable breakthrough, scientists have found a way to generate electricity using a bacterial enzyme that harvests hydrogen from the air around us. This groundbreaking discovery could pave the way for a brand new era of clean energy.
The team from Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute at Monash University in Australia discovered that certain bacteria use hydrogen from the atmosphere as a source of energy in environments that are low in nutrients.
In their Nature publication, they describe how they were able to extract an enzyme called Huc from a bacterium known as Mycobacterium smegmatis. Huc can convert hydrogen gas into an electric current.
The great news is that the bacteria that produce enzymes like Huc are common and can be grown in large quantities. This means that the enzyme could be a sustainable source of energy for humanity. Imagine a world where electricity is generated out of thin air! It’s like something out of science fiction, but this is science fact.
Good mail coming in hot from The Ocean Cleanup! They have just hit a major milestone by removing a whopping 220 tons of plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), which is a massive area in the ocean where currents and winds have brought together trillions of pieces of plastic.
The Dutch non-profit has been working hard in recent years, completing the test run of their new system 002/B which is capable of capturing multiple tons of garbage in one go. With their large booms that measure a mile and a half in length, they have been able to make significant progress in removing plastic from the ocean.
Using data on currents and winds, Bojan Slat, the CEO and Founder of Ocean Cleanup, believes that they can clean up the entire patch in just a decade.
However, the next challenge is finding uses or locations for all those billions of pieces of plastic. Currently, the recycling is done by hand with each piece of plastic separated by polymer type.
To address this issue, Slat has commissioned a line of sunglasses made from ocean plastic, which sold out quickly. Now, he is trying to partner with companies interested in using some of the GPGP waste streams for material supplies.
Get ready to say goodbye to boring old polystyrene packaging! An engineer from Delhi has come up with a super cool replacement made from "rice stubble" - that's the dead stalks left over after the rice season in India. And get this: millions of tons of it are burned every year! But not anymore, thanks to this genius idea.
The engineer, whose name is Dhupar, started a new company called Dharaksha Ecosystems to tackle the rice stubble problem. The farmers need it cleared off their land quickly after harvest, but it's not useful for stove fuel due to its high moisture content. So, what do they do with it? They burn it in massive pyres!
In Dhupar's factory, he turns 250 metric tons of rice stubble harvested from 100 acres of farmland in Punjab and Haryana into packaging. And get this - he pays the farmers a rate of $30 per acre for something they would usually burn! It's a win-win situation.
At first, Dhupar wanted to use mushrooms to biodegrade the rice stubble, but he found that the fungus left behind a metabolite that wasn't biodegradable. But then, and here’s the where the magic happens, he discovered that the filaments that make up the subterranean structure of the mushrooms, called mycelium, were acting as a binding agent, turning the baled stubble into something durable. Now, the mycelium-bound stubble is super cool and has some amazing properties! Baked in the oven, it becomes hard and fire-retardant. Plus, it can tolerate high moisture content and is anti-static.
How awesome is that?!
Dhupar's stubble packaging has already prevented over half a million pounds of polystyrene from entering landfills since its launch. And they sell around 20 metric tons of their product every month, making about $30.5k dollars per annum, mostly by selling to glassware companies.
💡Fun Fact:
What was Dhupar’s Inspiration?
His young nephew drew a picture of the world - yellow sun, green grass, brown and white mountains… and a grey sky. That’s when Dhupar realized “We shouldn’t live in a world where we have to explain to kids that the sky should be painted blue. It should be a given,” he told The Better India.
Back in 1872, the folks in Nebraska decided to have a bit of a party, and you know what the party was for? Planting trees! They celebrated the first-ever Arbor Day on April 10, and they got busy planting over a million trees.
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The articles are so awe inspiring and make me wonder why we humans are not sustainable development friendly? Dhupar is a case in point to be proud of apart from the many bacteria who are doing it naturally. We take so much from nature and give back nothing!
Thanks for writing such informative articles and bring to us the good work humans are involved in. It's a great platform for such lovely news. Way to go!!
Awesome read. Continue the good work and spread 'good news' across oceans and boundries.
The articles are so awe inspiring and make me wonder why we humans are not sustainable development friendly? Dhupar is a case in point to be proud of apart from the many bacteria who are doing it naturally. We take so much from nature and give back nothing!
Thanks for writing such informative articles and bring to us the good work humans are involved in. It's a great platform for such lovely news. Way to go!!