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Innovations - Global

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This working group is focused on discussions about innovations.

The mission of this working group is to focus on discussions about innovations.

Members

Corey Watts Kathy Gilbeaux Maeryn Obley mdmcdonald Miles Marcotte Norea

Email address for group

innovations-global@m.resiliencesystem.org

Fighting cancer and Ebola with nanoparticles

CNN  by

In medicine, finding a substance that attacks cancerous tumors without destroying the healthy tissue around it has long been the Holy Grail.

From targeted remedies such as monoclonal antibodies to surgery, cancer has still managed to elude a treatment that discretely and separately attacks it alone.

Nanotechnologies, however - the manipulation of matter at a molecular and even atomic scale to penetrate living cells -- are holding out the promise of opening a new front against deadly conditions from cancer to Ebola.

According to Dr Thomas Webster, the chair of chemical engineering at Northeastern University in Boston, research into medical nanotechnology is gaining pace and the medical establishment is starting to sit up and pay attention.

Read complete story.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/25/tech/webster-nanoparticles-cancer-mci/

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Fighting cancer and Ebola with nanoparticles

CNN  by

In medicine, finding a substance that attacks cancerous tumors without destroying the healthy tissue around it has long been the Holy Grail.

From targeted remedies such as monoclonal antibodies to surgery, cancer has still managed to elude a treatment that discretely and separately attacks it alone.

Nanotechnologies, however - the manipulation of matter at a molecular and even atomic scale to penetrate living cells -- are holding out the promise of opening a new front against deadly conditions from cancer to Ebola.

According to Dr Thomas Webster, the chair of chemical engineering at Northeastern University in Boston, research into medical nanotechnology is gaining pace and the medical establishment is starting to sit up and pay attention.

Read complete story.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/25/tech/webster-nanoparticles-cancer-mci/

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Are electricity-eating bacteria the next big thing in green fuel?

By Michael Keller - Published August 20, 2014
 
Editor's Note: This story is republished with permission from Txchnologist, a digital magazine that follows innovation in science and technology.

There's a large and growing list of renewable energy projects pumping out cleaner electricity these days. Photovoltaic panels produce direct current and solar concentrators drive steam turbines using sunlight. Wind turbines churning out megawatts of power dot the landscape of many countries. Other projects are looking to light communities through tides, running rivers and even the heat of the Earth.

http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2014/08/20/are-electricity-eating-bacteria-next-big-thing-green-fuel?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRojv6jKZKXonjHpfsX56%2BwrUKK%2BlMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4FRMBnI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFSLHEMa5qw7gMXRQ%3D

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Global Village Construction Set in 2 Minutes from Open Source Ecology

Global Village Construction Set in 2 Minutes from Open Source Ecology on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/16106427

huffingtonpost.com - September 10, 2012

Watch Open Source Ecology Founder Marcin Jakubowski discuss the prospects for an open source, do it yourself civilization. Then read Isaiah Saxon's follow-up blog post on that idea . . .

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

(ABOUT - Open Source Ecology)

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Strawberry Trees Offer Free Public Solar Charging for Gadgets

submittted by Margery Schab   

      

Strawberry Energy

treehugger.com - by Derek Markham - March 14, 2014

In a bid to bring more renewable energy choices to the public, while educating people on the benefits of solar power, one Serbian startup is building public solar charging stations that will energize mobile gadgets and serve as a social hub.

The vision of Strawberry Energy is to make renewable energy sources more accessible for all people, and to show that solar power and other clean energy solutions aren't just abstract concepts, but are instead practical and desirable. The way they're helping to get that message across is through their public solar charging stations, dubbed Strawberry Trees, which offer free charging for mobile devices, and in some cases, free WiFi.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Germany CEOs Lament Lost Innovation as Fracking Angst Rises

      

BMW Chief Executive Officer Norbert Reithofer uses the term “German Angst” to explain the paradox of the country’s innovation ability on one hand and its reluctance to embrace technological change on the other. 
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

bloomberg.com - by Sheenagh Matthews - June 10, 2014

Germany has rejected genetically modified crops, nuclear power and magnetic levitation trains. Now, the country that invented the modern car and X-ray technology is adding fracking to the list of innovations it’s wary of.

Business leaders had lobbied for the extraction method, which injects water and chemicals underground, to lessen Germany’s dependence on Vladimir Putin’s Russia where a third of its natural gas supply is derived. Last week, the government started preparing a law to limit fracking to rare cases, unlike in the U.S. where the practice is widespread.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Emily Penn - Pangaea Exploration - Apple - Apps We Can't Live Without

Emily Penn - Pangaea Exploration - featured in the latest Apple commercial - (in the link below - starting at 1:11)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBSU9KaCYP4&feature=youtu.be&t=1m11s

About Us - Pangaea Exploration

Mission

We believe that the depth, complexity and sheer inertia of the threats to our oceans is significant. Practical solutions and the resources to implement them do still exist. The central challenge is our collective will to act, to care. We also believe that our ultimate success depends on a future generation of inspired conservationists.

We have a two part mission

1. To actively strengthen the health of marine life through Exploration, Conservation and Education work.

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New cheap, environment-friendly solar cell developed

The tin-based perovskite layer acts as an efficient sunlight absorber that is sandwiched between two electric charge transport layers for conducting electricity to the outside world.Image: The tin-based perovskite layer acts as an efficient sunlight absorber that is sandwiched between two electric charge transport layers for conducting electricity to the outside world.

economictimes.indiatimes.com - May 5th, 2014 - Mercouri G. Kanatzidis

In a breakthrough, scientists have developed a new low cost, efficient and environment-friendly solar cell that uses tin instead of the hazardous lead.

Researchers from Northwestern University are among the first to create a solar cell that uses a structure called perovskite, with tin as the light-absorbing material instead of lead.

"Exculding the use of lead is a quantum leap in the process of creating a very promising type of solar cell called a perovskite," said Mercouri G Kanatzidis, an inorganic chemist with expertise in dealing with tin.

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Scientists Discover How to Generate Solar Power in the Dark

Andres Gutierrez/AP

Meet 'photoswitches,' a breakthrough set of materials that act as their own batteries, absorbing energy and releasing it on demand.

theatlantic.com - by Todd Woody - April 15, 2014

The next big thing in solar energy could be microscopic.

Scientists at MIT and Harvard University have devised a way to store solar energy in molecules that can then be tapped to heat homes, water or used for cooking.

The best part: The molecules can store the heat forever and be endlessly re-used while emitting absolutely no greenhouse gases.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Nature Chemistry - Templated assembly of photoswitches significantly increases the energy-storage capacity of solar thermal fuels

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Researchers Harness Sun's Energy During Day for Use at Night

Tom Meyer's new system generates hydrogen fuel by using the sun's energy to split water into its component parts. After the split, hydrogen is sequestered and stored, while the byproduct, oxygen, is released into the air. Credit: Tom Meyer

phys.org - January 14, 2014

Solar energy has long been used as a clean alternative to fossil fuels such as coal and oil, but it could only be harnessed during the day when the sun's rays were strongest. Now researchers led by Tom Meyer at the Energy Frontier Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have built a system that converts the sun's energy not into electricity but hydrogen fuel and stores it for later use, allowing us to power our devices long after the sun goes down.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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