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Rice fields using electric biochar
release more methane

Rice paddies take up about 9 percent of global agricultural land and pump out loads of methane, which is 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Adding electrically charged biochar, though it increases crop yield and has often been used for its sustainable properties, makes them even gassier. A new study, in Springer Nature Link, reveals that soils treated with graphene-enhanced biochar produce up to 70 percent more methane.

This is because biochar’s conductivity helps electrons move faster through dissolved organic matter — like giving soil a power boost. The extra electron flow enhances methane production.

This means biochar isn’t always a climate-friendly option. In rice farming, its electrical side effects could mean more greenhouse gas than less.

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Weird science

The Nobel Prize represents innovation, excellence and global impact in science, literature and peace. Serious stuff.

But there’s a whole other world of weird, wacky and often hilarious science out there getting its own recognition. Welcome to a night of awards honoring research that makes us “LOL” — the IG Nobels.

Founded in 1991 by Marc Abrahams, editor of the satirical magazine Annals of Improbable Research, a bimonthly publication “spotlighting genuine, improbable research culled from the entire world,” the Ig Nobels are awarded to scientific researchers whose projects will “first make you laugh, and then make you think.”

It’s quirky and weird and hilarious, but it’s still science. And Nobel laureates hand out the awards.

IMAGE: Shutterstock

Nature Magazine says this gala is “arguably the highlight of the scientific calendar,” calling the awards “a welcome antidote to the everyday seriousness and stuffiness of life in the lab, providing a rundown of mildly amusing, and sometimes frankly ridiculous, science.”

The projects may seem ridiculous, but the Ig Nobels ignite interest in our world and surroundings.

Among the first Ig Nobel laureates is Robert Klark Graham, honored in 1991 for creating a genius sperm bank of Nobel honorees and Olympians. The Smithsonian Magazine calls the idea racist, but the bank did initiate change within the fertility industry.

But enough with the serious — we’re here to have a laugh, so without further ado, observe the hilarious moments of the 35th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony.

IMAGE: Shutterstock

It was a night of humor that included a nutrition prize awarded for groundbreaking research into the preferred pizza toppings of rainbow lizards.

Like many humans, the lizards wisely prefer cheese, extra cheese but mostly four-cheese.

An Italian team was awarded the physics prize for solving the worldwide crisis of why cheesy pasta sauce sometimes gets lumpy and how to avoid such a catastrophe.

Cacio e pepe was the dish on the menu and the research determined the cheese lumped upon reaching 65 degrees Celsius.

The solution is surprisingly not to lower the temperature but to incorporate the exact starch concentration required to bind with the cheese proteins. Here is the final and scientifically researched recipe.

“We have plenty of physics tools at hand to study phase separations, so we decided to apply that expertise to pasta sauce,” Giacomo Bartolucci said in an interview with Physics Magazine. Why not, right?

The theme of digestion seemed to consume the night as research tipped its hat to whether eating Teflon would, like food, achieve satiety and contribute to weight loss, what happens to a nursing baby when the mother eats garlic, and if drinking alcohol can sometimes improve the ability to speak in a foreign language.

OTHER PRIZES AWARDED

LITERATURE:
Awarded to the late William B. Bean, who consistently recorded and analyzed the rate at which his fingernails grew over 35 years.

BIOLOGY:
Given for experiments into whether painting a cow with stripes like a zebra would deter biting flies (FYI, it does).

ENGINEERING DESIGN:
Honored a team from India for analysis into how the experience of using a shoe rack can be impacted by stinky shoes.

AVIATION:
Conferred to Columbian researchers who studied whether alcohol ingestion can impair bats’ ability to fly and echolocate.

The prizes aren’t the only hilarity of the Ig Nobel gala evening. Like most awards ceremonies, the night is stacked with traditions and performances.

For example, each year since 1996, the ceremony has featured a mini opera, sometimes including actual Nobel laureates in the cast. This year’s was titled “The Plight of the Gastroenterologist.”

Other traditions include the audience chucking paper airplanes at the stage; Miss Sweetie Poo, who interrupts any speaker who drones on too long with a high-pitched wail of “Please stop: I’m bored”; the winning prize of 10 billion Zimbabwean dollars (equivalent to U.S. $0.002); and the customary closing words, “If you didn’t win a prize — and especially if you did — better luck next year!”

This year’s ceremony was also available to watch via webcast with Japanese captions.

You’re welcome.

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SOLAR IMPACT


I

n a 1931 conversation with Henry Ford, Thomas Edison said, “We are like tenant farmers chopping down the fence around our house for fuel when we should be using nature’s inexhaustible sources of energy – sun, wind and tide. I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.”

And tackle that we did with photovoltaic cells made up of materials called semiconductors, typically silicon, that convert sunlight to energy.

A warming planet, however, reduces the efficiency of solar-energy technology. That’s because solar-panel efficiency drops by .5 percent every time the temperature rises by 1 degree Celsius.

Sun shining on a solar cell excites electrons to a higher energy level due to the charge it creates. But when the cell is hot from the start, electrons are already in this excited state, which in turn produces less electricity

So, what now?

Solar technology is becoming more efficient, however. Researchers are developing cutting-edge materials and manufacturing models; multi-layer photovoltaic cells that absorb light from different parts of the spectrum like ultraviolet, visible light and infrared; and advanced technology like perovskites, whose specific crystal structure is highly efficient at converting sunlight to electricity.

Chinedu Ekuma, a physics professor at Lehigh University, sees the problem, particularly in the warmest climates, and possible new solutions.

“With rising global temperatures, solar panels are at risk of losing efficiency as excessive heat decreases their ability to convert sunlight into electricity.

This can undermine solar energy’s effectiveness in regions experiencing prolonged heat waves, pushing researchers to innovate materials that perform well even under extreme environmental conditions,” Ekuma says.

Ekuma’s research, funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy, has produced a quantum material creating unparalleled solar-cell efficiency rates expected to contribute to next-generation, high-efficiency solar cells.

“Our newly developed quantum material, which incorporates intermediate band states, allows for a higher level of photon absorption and carrier generation. This innovation facilitates the generation of more than one electron per photon, pushing quantum efficiency beyond traditional limits, up to 190 percent, providing an exciting leap forward for photovoltaic applications,” Ekuma tells KUST Review.

This is especially significant because it implies the potential to exceed the Shockley-Queisser limit, which represents the theoretical maximum efficiency of a single-junction solar cell under standard conditions at 100 percent. In order to do so, the efficiency would have to exceed a maximum solar conversion efficiency of around 33.7 percent.

This limit exists because not all sunlight has the right energy to be converted into electricity. Some bounces off without being absorbed. Some is lost as heat or is relaxed into lower energy states that aren’t used. Some can’t maintain the excited electron state and defaults to its original states before it can be used. And some photons simply don’t have enough energy to boost the electrons.

Obstacles and applications

Ekuma’s team doesn’t foresee major obstacles to implementing their material into current solar energy systems. But scaling up to a commercial level of production and implementing the new material into existing technologies is going to take research and reduced cost, Ekuma says.

Ekuma’s material could pose solutions for countries where the temperatures are among the highest.
These places include the Middle East, where more energy is used for cooling than anywhere else on the planet.

The region has over 300 days of sunshine each year. According to Rystad Energy, it is expected to reach solar capacity of close to 23 gigawatts of power by the end of 2024.

Solar energy is expected to reach close to 50 percent of the regional power supply by 2050.

The Middle East and North Africa Region signed a pledge at the 2023 COP28 event hosted in Dubai to add 62 gigawatts of renewable energy over the following five years. Of that, 85 percent will be solar.

SOLAR IN THE UAE

The UAE has a number of solar energy projects in progress and aims to triple its clean-energy contributions by 2050.

The largest of four major projects is in the Al Dhafra region about 35 kilometers south of Abu Dhabi. The largest single-site solar power plant in the world spans more than 20 square kilometers of open desert. It was operationally ready in June 2023 and was inaugurated just ahead of the COP28 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai.

The plant, fitted with close to 4 million solar panels, can bring electricity to close to 200,000 homes and save 2.4 million tons of carbon emissions annually. This is equivalent to removing nearly half a million cars from the road for one year.

The panel efficiency broke records in January 2020 with its bi-facial technology. January in UAE is ideal for maximum solar panel efficiency as temperatures average 25 degrees Celsius, the optimal temperature for solar.

Summer months, however, can reach 50 degrees, reducing efficiency by 10 to 25 percent.

Khalifa University’s Samuel Sheng Mao says the UAE is continuously working to develop innovative solutions to combat the heat issue.

“An innovation and research and development center under Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is dedicated to testing and developing new solar technologies, including advanced cooling systems and materials adapted to the UAE’s climate. The park is involved in testing bifacial panels, advanced cooling techniques and integrating phase-change materials to enhance efficiency during extreme heat.

Mao is also director of the ASPIRE Research Institute for Sustainable Energy, where Khalifa University researchers have been developing concentrated solar power and thermal energy storage technologies. They have also developed a passive cooling technology to mitigate the thermal loads for next-generation solar cells, he says.

Solutions to improve efficiency also include thermal storage units that can be used during peak demand periods. This balances the load, takes strain off the main energy grid and allows for better distribution management.

One thing is for certain, as the world continues its hot trajectory, solar technologies research will have to keep pace.

“Continuous advancements in materials science and thermal management are expected to enhance the performance of solar panels further, making solar energy a more viable and sustainable option even in extreme climates,” Mao tells KUST Review.

UAE SOLAR ENERGY ADVANCEMENTS

JANUARY 2020
Record-breaking panel efficiency achieved using bi-facial solar technology. January’s average temperature of 25°C supports optimal performance.

JUNE 2023
The world’s largest single-site solar power plant in Al Dhafra becomes operational.

Covering 20 square kilometers, it features 4 million solar panels, powers 200,000 homes, and saves 2.4 million tons of carbon emissions annually.

NOVEMBER 2023
The Al Dhafra plant is inaugurated ahead of COP28 in Dubai.

ONGOING
Khalifa University and the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park focus on: advanced cooling systems and materials for extreme heat. Thermal storage, passive cooling, and next-gen solar cell technologies.

2050
UAE aims to triple its clean-energy contributions, with solar as a key pillar.

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Hope for people with kidney
cancer

Cancer treatments, for most who can have them, are typically limited to chemotherapy, radiation and/or surgery. But not all patients are candidates for all therapeutic options.

Some patients are elderly or have health conditions like heart issues, limited lung function or a complicated history of blood clotting. And while non-surgical options are sometimes effective in these cases, there are some cancers that are resistant to the other traditional treatments.

Renal cell carcinoma is typically treated with surgery and is well known to be resistant to chemo and radiation. But for those patients who are not ideal surgical candidates, some good news is on the horizon — a new study is aiming to improve patient outcomes by applying the treatments differently.

Radiation therapy is typically delivered from outside the body, so the study will adapt the treatment and target kidney cancer tumors from inside the body via microscopic beads called TheraSphere Glass Microspheres. These glass spheres produced by Boston Scientific contain a specific type of radiation called radioactive yttrium (Y-90).

The doctors running the study expect the beads to distribute 10 times the volume of radiation as external radiation.

The hope is that the volume of radiation and direct targeting of the tumor will destroy the cancer cells while protecting the surrounding organs.

The Phase 2 trial is being funded by Boston Scientific and being carried out by Researchers at London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute.

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Human cells are warming up to
self-destruction

Cellular processes are maintained by the function of proteins, which means finding ways to control protein function dictates the development of biotech tools.

This is incredibly difficult to do with precision. But it can be done with thermogenetics — a bit of heating or cooling of the protein to activate or deactivate it.

Researchers from Kanazawa University have achieved this heat-triggered on/off switch by combining two parts: caspase-8 (a protein that instructs cells when it’s time to die) and elastin-like polypeptides, or ELPs, which clump together when the temperature rises above 35-40 degrees Celsius.

Fuse these together and the result is a protein that stays quiet until things warm up, at which time the ELPs bunch up, dragging the caspase-8 molecules close enough to flip on the self-destruct signal.

By testing in human cell lines and adding a fluorescent “glow” reporter, the team was able to watch the process live. The heat was added with a precise infrared laser and cell death was triggered in single cells.

The results, published in ACS Nano, mean scientists now have a novel way to study and control cell behavior with pinpoint accuracy. This opens doors for therapies targeting certain cells (like cancer therapies) and leaving the others untouched.

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