Good News Notes: “Imagine having the ability to purify water anywhere, any time, with one solar-powered device. While that may not be of key importance to many in wealthy nations, it is for the 785 million people around the world who, as of 2017, lacked access to clean drinking water. A group of researchers at the…
Tag: bacteria
Newly Discovered Symbiosis Could Power Carbon Removal in The Sea
Good News Notes: “Tropical rainforests are often called the lungs of our planet, sucking vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and puffing out oxygen in exchange. As it turns out, however, there are even bigger lungs in our oceans. Seagrass meadows are vast fields of underwater plants capable of capturing carbon 35 times faster than tropical…
Pratt students create compostable Strøm water filters from food waste
Good News Notes: “Pratt Institute graduate students Charlotte Böhning and Mary Lempres have designed a collection of carbon water filters made completely without fossil fuels, using waste from their own kitchens. The four-piece range, called Strøm, includes a sustainable substitute for Brita filter cartridges, purifying sticks that can be added into cups or bottles and a self-cleaning pitcher and carafe. Traditional…
Mussels can be a natural filter to remove microplastics from the ocean
Good News Notes: “In the waters of a marina near the Plymouth Marine Laboratory in England, a group of mussels are busy at work: filtering the water for microplastics. As the bivalves feed, they suck bacteria, algae, and anything else in their surroundings, including microplastics, out of the water and into their gills. When they…
Study suggests bacteria in cow’s stomach can break down plastic
Good News Notes: “Bacteria found in one of the compartments of a cow’s stomach can break down plastic, research suggests. Since the 1950s, more than 8bn tonnes of plastic have been produced – equivalent in weight to 1 billion elephants – driven predominantly by packaging, single-use containers, wrapping and bottles. As a result, plastic pollution is all-pervasive, in the…
The Farmer Trying to Save Italy’s Ancient Olive Trees
Good News Notes: “In early 2016, Giovanni Melcarne, an agronomist and the owner of an extra virgin olive oil farm in Gagliano del Capo, walked through the southern Italian countryside of Puglia. He was with a fellow olive-oil farmer who had called and told him there was something he had to see. The two approached a…
Super Enzyme That Eats Plastic: Better Ways to Recycle
Good News Notes: “A newly discovered ‘super-enzyme’ could finally mean effective recycling of plastic bottles and other materials, scientists say. The plastic-eating bacteria can digest plastic six times faster than current methods of chemically breaking it down. Scientists first discovered one enzyme several years ago, and the new “cocktail” replaces a previous version that had less…