Scientists have experimented for decades with a class of catalysts known as zeolites that transform alcohols such as ethanol into higher-grade hydrocarbons.
As ORNL researchers were developing a new type of zeolite-based conversion technology, they found the underlying reaction unfolds in a different manner than previously thought."
The researchers'analysis found that this energy-consuming intermediary step is not necessary for the conversion to happen.
Instead, an energy-producing"hydrocarbon pool"mechanism allows the zeolite catalysts to directly produce longer hydrocarbon chains from the original alcohols."
and requires energy. We showed this step doesn't occur, and that the overall reaction is slightly exothermic."
The research, supported by DOE's Bioenergy Technologies Office, has implications for the energy efficiency and cost of catalytic upgrading technologies proposed for use in biorefineries.
Uncovering the mechanism behind the reaction helps support the potential economic viability of ORNL's direct biofuel-to-hydrocarbon conversion approach."
"Our method of direct conversion of ethanol offers a pathway to produce suitable hydrocarbon blend-stock that may be blended at a refinery to yield fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel or commodity chemicals,
#US licensing of new rare earth recycling approach A new rare earth recycling technology developed by the US Department of energy's Critical Materials Institute (CMI) has been licensed to US Rare earths,
organic solvents and neutral extractants to'selectively recover'up to 90%rare earths. Lab tests indicate a high success rate for recovering a'highly pure form'of neodymium
CMI director Alex King credits close collaboration with industry as key to making technology transfer happen'well ahead of traditional time frames'.
'The recycling of critical materials from e-scrap was limited previously by processing technologies that are inefficient, costly and environmentally hazardous, notes Ramesh Bhave,
who led the recycling R&d project. The team's new and simplified process eliminates many of these barriers,
'Our single-step process to recover rare earth elements from scrap magnets is more environmentally friendly
The recycling of electronic waste will provide a'competitive source'of neodymium, dysprosium and praseodymium for growing the clean tech sector-including electric vehicles, according to Kevin Cassidy, ceo of US Rare earths, Inc I
#USDA and EPA set nation's first food waste reduction goals Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack and Environmental protection agency (EPA) Deputy Administrator Stan Meiburg announced the United states'first-ever national
food waste reduction goal, calling for a 50-percent reduction by 2030. As part of the effort, the federal government will lead a new partnership with charitable organizations, faith-based organizations, the private sector and local,
state and tribal governments to reduce food loss and waste in order to improve overall food security and conserve our nation's natural resources."
"The United states enjoys the most productive and abundant food supply on earth, but too much of this food goes to waste,
"says Vilsack.""An average family of four leaves more than two million calories, worth nearly $1, 500, uneaten each year.
Our new reduction goal demonstrates America's leadership on a global level in in getting wholesome food to people who need it,
protecting our natural resources, cutting environmental pollution and promoting innovative approaches for reducing food loss and waste."
"According to the U s. Department of agriculture (USDA) and EPA, food loss and waste in the U s. accounts for approximately 31 percentr 133 billion poundsf the overall food supply available to retailers and consumers and has far-reaching
impacts on food security, resource conservation and climate change. Food loss and waste is single largest component of disposed U s. municipal solid waste,
and accounts for a significant portion of U s. methane emissions. Landfills are the third largest source of methane in the United states. Furthermore,
experts have projected that reducing food losses by just 15 percent would provide enough food for more than 25 million Americans every year,
helping to sharply reduce incidences of food insecurity for millions.""Let's feed people, not landfills.
By reducing wasted food in landfills, we cut harmful methane emissions that fuel climate change, conserve our natural resources,
"Today's announcement presents a major environmental, social and public health opportunity for the U s, . and we're proud to be part of a national effort to reduce the food that goes into landfills."
USDA and EPA launched the U s. Food waste Challenge, creating a platform for leaders and organizations across the food chain to share best practices on ways to reduce,
recover, and recycle food loss and waste. By the end of 2014, the U s. Food waste Challenge had over 4, 000 active participants,
well surpassing its initial goal of reaching 1, 000 participants by 2020. In addition to the U s. Food waste Challenge, USDA has unveiled several food loss reduction initiatives over the past few years
including an app to help consumers safely store food and understand food date labels, new guidance to manufacturers on donating misbranded or sub-spec foods,
and waste cost effective. USDA will build on these successes with additional initiatives targeting food loss and waste reduction throughout its programs and policies.
In addition, USDA is launching a new consumer education campaign through its Center for Nutrition policy and Promotion with information on food loss and waste facts and reduction tips.
Moreover, a new section on Choosemyplate. gov will educate consumers about reducing food waste to help stretch household budgets.
institutions, restaurants, grocery stores, and moreo set their own aggressive goals for reducing food loss and waste in the months ahead.
Organizations such as the Consumer goods Forum, which recently approved a new resolution to halve food waste within the operations of its 400 retailer
and manufacturers members by 2025, are helping to lead the way. h
#Brain training app could help people with schizophrenia Scientists at Cambridge university said tests on a small number of patients who played the game over four weeks found they had improvements in memory and learning.
The game,"Wizard",is designed to help so-called episodic memory--the type of memory needed to remember where you left your keys several hours ago,
or to remember a few hours later where you parked your car in a multi-storey car park. Schizophrenia is a long-term mental health condition that causes a range of psychological symptoms,
ranging from changes in behavior through to hallucinations and delusions. While some psychotic symptoms can be treated reasonably well with medication
patients often still have debilitating problems with memory and cognitive function, meaning they struggle to get back to work
or stay in education. There is increasing evidence that computer-assisted training can help people with schizophrenia overcome some of their symptoms, with better outcomes in their daily lives.
This study, published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, found that 22 patients who played the memory game made significantly fewer errors
and needed significantly fewer attempts to remember the location of different patterns specific tests. They also improved their scores on the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale
which doctors use to rate the social, occupational and psychological functioning of adults. Importantly, the patients also said they enjoyed the game
and were motivated to play it across the eight hours of cognitive training. The researchers said this was important,
since lack of motivation is a common feature of schizophrenia.""We need a way of treating the cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia, such as problems with episodic memory,
but slow progress is being made toward developing a drug treatment, "said Barbara Sahakian from the department of psychiatry at Cambridge university."
"This proof-of-concept study...demonstrates that the memory game can help where drugs have failed so far.
even those patients with a general lack of motivation are spurred on to continue the training. g
was approved for oral use as a prescription adjunctive therapy in the treatment of epilepsy, the company said on Monday.
In the healthcare industry, these printers are used by dentists to create replicas of jaws and teeth as well as some finished dental implants and orthopedic surgeons have tested them to make customized hip replacements.
British scientists have used also 3d printing to create personalized replica models of cancerous parts of the body to allow doctors to target tumors more precisely y
#Eco-friendly 3d printed supercar Kevin Czinger of Divergent Microfactories has spent most of his career in the automotive industry.
One day he realized that no matter how fuel efficient or how few tailpipe emissions the modern car has,
the business of car manufacturing is destroying the environment.""3d printing of metal radically changes that.
By looking at 3d printing not for that overall structure but to create individual modular structures that can be combined,
that 3d printing transforms everything, "said Czinger during an interview with Reuters in Silicon valley. According to Czinger, 3d printing transforms everything by changing the way the structural components of cars are fabricated.
Currently cars are pieced together on long assembly lines inside large factories that use massive amounts of energy.
Even the most fuel efficient car has a large carbon footprint before ever leaving the plant. Czinger and his team's approach was to take the large plant out of the equation.
To accomplish this they printed the modular pieces that are used to connect carbon rods that make up the Blade's chassis."The 3d printed chassis is only 102 pounds
and has the same strength and safety protection as a frame made out of steel,
"said Brad Balzer, the lead designer on the project. By using carbon fiber instead of steel or aluminum for the body,
the entire vehicle only weighs 1400 pounds (635kg), giving it twice the weight to horsepower ratio of a Bugatti Veyron.
The Blade is fitted with a 700 horse power engine that runs on natural gas, reducing its carbon footprint even further.
Balzer says designing an eco-friendly speed demon supercar as their first prototype was intentional.""We focused a lot on the aesthetics of this car
because it is very important to capture the people's imaginations, especially when we are talking about the core enabling technologies,
"he said. The core enabling technology, the ability to print out car components that can be assembled easily,
is what Kevin Czinger hopes will revolutionize car manufacturing. He says electric cars are a step in the right direction,
but alone they won't be enough to curb greenhouse emissions given the projected rise in demand for cars globally
unless the way they are manufactured changes.""By constructing a car this way it has less than one third of the environmental
and health impact than the 85 hours all electric car for example has added, "he. Czinger and Balzer are starting small
but they believe their new 3d printing method for car manufacturing will have a huge impact on how the cars of the future are built t
#New tidal energy system could help POWER UK, say developers A British company, in conjunction with Oxford university researchers, believes it has devised a way to overcome this obstacle by creating a new type of horizontal axis turbine that can be used underwater at depths of up to 30 meters, at an economical cost.
Conventional propeller-type turbines are like underwater wind turbines and the number of suitable sites for them are reduced vastly by the size of their large blades,
limiting their use to waters at least 30 meters deep. The THAWT (Transverse Horizontal Axis Water turbine) technology
by contrast, is designed for deployment in shallower, lower velocity, tidal waters. Developed by Oxford university's Department of Engineering science in conjunction with Kepler Energy,
THAWT uses a stressed truss configuration with carbon composite hydrofoil blades. Put simply, as the water flows past the fence a head of water is produced that increases the turbine's efficiency.
The phenomenon is called a'blockage'of the turbines and gets larger in proportion to the length of the fence.
Guy Houlsby, professor of civil engineering at Oxford university, says their design is an improvement on the vertical Darrieus wind turbine used in some turbine systems."
"The original Darrieus turbine has blades that are parallel to the axis of rotation, and that means that the loads in the blades are carried entirely by bending of the blades.
That results in very high stresses,"said Houlsby.""The redesign that we've done changes the blades
so that they form this triangulated structure, and that's a very stiff and very strong structural form.
And that means that the loads in the blades are carried principally by axial forces and that means that the stresses are much lower."
"Kepler says their design has minimal moving parts in the water, while its generator and other electrical equipment are installed in dry columns,
increasing their reliability, efficiency, and shelf life. The generating units consist of two sets of blades sitting on three columns with a single generator in between."
"The water flows at right angles to the axis of the turbine so, as the turbine turns, lift is generated by these blades,
"explained Houlsby. Peter Dixon, chairman of Kepler Energy, says the patented turbine is the most efficient yet designed.
According to Dixon,"the rotor is suited to lower velocity, shallower waters, which are areas where you can't put conventional axial flow turbines,
because to make them powerful enough you need to make them very big in diameter
and if you make them very big in diameter they're going to stick out of the water.
So this turbine goes places other turbines cannot and generates electricity at an economical cost."
"A one kilometer (0. 6 mile) long tidal energy fence, capable of creating 30 megawatts at peak performance,
has been proposed for installation in the Bristol Channel, a major inlet and river estuary between England and Wales.
Some experts believe that if the tides flowing in and out of the channel are harnessed correctly,
they could supply up to five percent of the energy requirements of the UK.""The design we have at the moment
which is a chain of these turbines in the Bristol Channel, and if we can build up to say ten kilometers worth,
or six hundred megawatts and just to visualize that that's like one small nuclear reactor's worth of electricity being generated from the tides in the Bristol Channel,
with each rotor having a 25 year design life and the columns and electricity connectors 100 years.
It could also have positive knock-on effects for Britain's carbon fiber manufacturing industry. He says that THAWT's electrical output would be equal to that of a nuclear power station, without any of the risk,
and because the blades move at a relatively slow speed there is no danger to fish swimming through the Fence in addition,
tidal lagoon system, consisting of circular retaining walls embedded with turbines which capture the tide's energy."
"A lagoon generates maximum at the turn of the tide when a tidal turbine like ours is actually static, not turning,
so together they constructively interfere, as the scientists would say. Very effective...it's very advantageous to have said both
A scale prototype of THAWT has been stress tested successfully twice at Newcastle University. The developers say the system could be used in waters off France and many Asian countries, such as Japan, China, the Koreas, Indonesia, India,
#Japanese engineer develops world's first'car in a bag'Pocket-sized personal transporters could soon be seen on the streets of Tokyo.
A Japanese engineer has developed a portable transporter small enough to be carried in a backpack that he says is the world's first'car in a bag'.
'Twenty-six-year-old Kuniako Sato and his team at Cocoa Motors recently unveiled the lithium battery-powered"Walkcar"transporter,
which is the size of a laptop and resembles a skateboard more than a car. The slender Walkcar is made from aluminum
and weighs between two and three kilograms (4. 4 to 6. 6 pounds), depending on whether it is an indoor or outdoor version.
Sato expects to see many other uses for his transporter, as he says it has enough power to help people push wheelchairs with ease.
The lightweight aluminum board is stronger than it looks and can take loads of up to 120kg (265 pounds.
It reaches top speeds of 10 kilometers per hour (6. 2 miles per hour), for distances of up to 12 kilometers (7. 4 miles) after three hours of charging.
while simply stepping off stops the vehicle. To change direction, the user just shifts their weight.
Best of all, there is no need to find a parking space, because it fits into a small bag when not in use.
Sato said his studies in electric car motor control systems sparked the idea for the new kind of ride."
since I was doing my masters in engineering specifically on electric car motor control systems, "he told Reuters. Sato says he is confident that Walkcar goes beyond bulkier devices such as the Segway or Toyota's Winglet."
"Maybe I just see it that way, but it seems to me that the U s. is always the one
Sato says customers will be able to reserve their own Walkcars from autumn 2015 on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter.
#Electronic skin sensors to control mobile gadgets A skin-worn sensor that turns the human body into a touch sensitive surface for controlling mobile devices has been developed by scientists in Germany. iskin is made from biocompatible silicone rubber
with pressure-sensitive sensors that are stuck to the skin of the users, allowing them to use their own body to control mobile devices.
Developed by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics and Saarland University, the experimental system has been produced in different shapes and sizes to suit various locations on the body, such as the finger,
forearm and even behind the earlobe. The sensor is capable of detecting touch input pressure even
when being stretched or bent. With the current prototypes; wearers can answer incoming calls, play music and adjust volume.
A roll up keyboard for use with a smart watch has also been designed. iskin's thin,
soft and flexible design presents new possibilities for mobile interaction that have not been possible with existing hardware, according to co-developer Martin Weigel."
"Current electronics are mostly using rigid components which are very uncomfortable to wear on the body
But our sensor is a flexible and stretchable sensor, so it can cover many locations.
So, we have a much larger input space than current electronics allow for, "he said. The prototype is based on advances in so-called'electronic skin'that allow robots to better sense their environment,
as well as more humanlike prostheses that can sense contact, pressure and temperature. iskin's makers saw this as an ideal platform for on-body interaction for mobile computing."(
"The) technology is initially coming from robotics where it's used to give robots kind of a feeling similar to the human body, to human skin.
However, we are the first to look into how we can use it on the body to control mobile devices;
The base material is polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), an easy-to-process silicone-based organic polymer. Conductive carbon black powder is added to the liquid silicone before it is spread flat by a thin-film applicator.
After creating the tattoo-like designs on a computer, a laser cutter traces out the design
which makes up the sensor. This is then sandwiched between two clear sheets of silicone.""The sensor is made out of biocompatible silicone and carbon-doped silicone.
So there are carbon particles inside the silicone which make it conductive so we can use it for electronics,
"explained Weigel. The stickers are attached to the body using a medical-grade adhesive that can be peeled easily off after use without hurting the skin.
The current prototypes are wired to a computer, although the technology could evolve to use integrated microchips.
Weigel also hopes that it could one day be possible to incorporate an energy harvesting system that would power iskin via the wear's body.
While they have no immediate plans to develop this iskin prototype further the team hope it will inspire future research on electronic skin for human computer interaction n
#Google to become Alphabet Inc in shakeup Google Inc (GOOGL. O) announced a major shake-up of its operating structure on Monday, creating a holding company called Alphabet
which will contain subsidiaries to separate its core web advertising business from newer ventures like driverless cars.
The move appeared to be an attempt to let the search engine giant focus on its more creative and ambitious projects,
while investors cheered the potential for more financial disclosures of its disparate business segments.""It suggests that in all likelihood,
Google is not going to slow the pace of their experimental processes like self driving cars, "said Michael Yoshikami,
head of Destination Wealth Management which has $1. 5 billion under management. The surprise news sent shares of Google up as much as 7 percent to $708 in after hours trading."
"They are aware that they've got this hodgepodge of companies. Maybe it's better to sort them out a bit
and make it clearer which ones are bringing in the bacon and which ones are science projects and
which ones are said long term bets Roger Kay, an analyst at Endpoint Technologies Associates. The Mountain view-based company co-founded by Larry page
and Sergey Brin in 1998 has grown to more than 40,000 employees worldwide. Google's planned structure resembles the way companies like Berkshire hathaway
and General electric are organized, with a central unit handling corporate-wide activities such as finance and relatively independent business units focused on specific areas.
Under the new corporate structure the Google unit will encompass the core search engine traditionally associated with the company as well Google maps and Youtube.
The company's new ventures such as Calico, which focuses on longevity, and connected home products maker Nest will be managed separately.
Alphabet Inc will replace Google as the publicly traded entity and all shares of Google will automatically convert into the same number of shares of Alphabet, with all of the same rights."
"This new structure will allow us to keep tremendous focus on the extraordinary opportunities we have inside of Google,
"said current Google CEO Larry page in a blogpost. Analysts also said the new structure could herald a new era of fiscal discipline and transparency in some of its more experimental and opaque business units.
In a SEC filing, Google said the new arrangement will take effect later this year and that it will likely result in two reportable, financial segments."
"For example, if a unit is doing well or badly they can dial it up or down,
they can form partnerships or different companies,"said Kay, the Endpoint Technologies Associates analyst. The shuffle also looked to have the markings of Ruth Porat, who joined Google as its chief financial officer in March from Morgan stanley. In Google's recent quarterly conference call, Porat repeatedly emphasized keeping expenses under control.
Porat will serve as the CFO of both Alphabet and Google. Page will serve as the CEO of the newly created holding company and Sundar Pichai,
a long-time Google executive who most recently served as the company's senior vice president of products, will head Google.
The company's current directors will become directors of Alphabet. Google cofounder Brin will become president of Alphabet,
and Eric Schmidt will be executive chairman. Analysts said the move, which was mainly about transparency
and accountability, could be followed by more structural changes in the future.""This may be step one of several steps,
"said Morningstar analyst Rick Summer r
#Google redesigns iconic logo for the fifth time Google Inc unveiled a redesign of its iconic logo on Tuesday,
the fifth such modification since the search engine giant started in 1998, the company said in a blog post.
The revamped logo, displayed as a Google Doodle on its homepage, spells'Google'in a sans-serif typeface,
similar to the one being used by Google's newly created holding company, Alphabet. bit. ly/1evu49a) The compact version of the logo, used to identify most of its apps,
bids farewell to the little blue"g"icon and replaces it with a uppercase"G"colored in blue, red,
yellow and green to match the full logo. The new brand identity"aims to make Google more accessible and useful to our users,
"the company said in a blog post explaining the logo. bit. ly/1jvgik1) The new logo comes three weeks after the company's surprise move to create a holding company called Alphabet to pool its many subsidiaries
and separate the core web advertising business from newer ventures like driverless cars s
#Nine of world's biggest banks join to form blockchain partnership Nine of the world's biggest banks including Goldman sachs
and Barclays have joined forces with New york-based financial tech firm R3 to create a framework for using blockchain technology in the markets,
the firm said on Tuesday. It is the first time banks have come together to work on a shared way in
which the technology that underpins bitcoin-a controversial, web-based"crytocurrency"-can be used in finance.
Over the past year, interest in blockchain technology has grown rapidly. It has attracted already significant investment from many major banks
which reckon it could save them money by making their operations faster, more efficient and more transparent.
The new project, the result of more than a year's worth of consultations between R3, the banks and other members of the financial industry, will be led by R3 CEO David Rutter, formerly CEO of electronic trading at ICAP
Electronic Trading, one of the world's largest interdealer brokers.""We held several roundtables...to deeply consider what the possible implications of the blockchain were,
and what it could possibly do to save money, and time, and to create a better paradigm for the world of Wall street and finance,
"Rutter told Reuters on Tuesday. Those that have signed up to the initiative so far are JP MORGAN, State street, UBS, Royal bank of scotland, Credit suisse, BBVA and Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
The blockchain works as a huge, decentralized ledger of every bitcoin transaction ever made that is verified
and shared by a global network of computers and therefore is virtually tamper-proof. The Bank of england has dedicated a team to it
and calls it a"key technological innovation"."The data that can be secured using the technology is restricted not to bitcoin transactions.
Two parties could use it to exchange any other information, within minutes and with no need for a third party to verify it.
Rutter said the initial focus would be to agree on an underlying architecture, but it had not yet been decided
whether that would be underpinned by bitcoin's blockchain or another one, such as one being built by Ethereum,
which offers more features than the original bitcoin technology. Once that had been agreed on, Rutter said,
the first use of the technology might be the issuance of commercial paper on the blockchain."
"I think that these technologies will probably be post-trade, "he said.""I think savings are in the settlement side,
in post-trade in issuance, but not in exchange trading or OTC trading any time in the near future."
"He added that R3 will soon announce a few more banks joining the project.""These new technologies could transform how financial transactions are recorded,
reconciled and reported all with additional security, lower error rates and significant cost reductions,"said Hu Liang, Senior vice president and head of Emerging Technologies at State street, in a statement e
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