Good News Notes: “On Gotland, the largest island in Sweden, fresh water is scarce. At the same time, residents are battling dangerous amounts of pollution from agriculture and sewer systems that causes harmful algal blooms in the surrounding Baltic Sea. These can kill fish and make people ill. To help solve this set of environmental…
Tag: Switzerland
New snail species are the world’s smallest, tinier than grains of sand
Good News Notes: “Scientists have discovered two new snail species the size of a grain of sand—the tiniest known land snails on Earth. “It’s amazing how small they are—we wouldn’t have expected that,” says Adrienne Jochum, a researcher with Natural History Museum Bern in Switzerland. The new record-holder’s diminutive nature is reflected in its scientific name, Angustopila…
‘Ocean battery’ targets renewable energy dilemma
Good News Notes: “A wind turbine sitting idle on a calm day or spinning swiftly when power demand is already met poses a problem for renewables, and is one researchers think can be tackled under the sea. In one vision, offshore wind farms could use seawater to essentially store energy until it’s needed, helping wean humanity off fossil fuels….
Boat owners use drones to create global database on plastic pollution
Good News Notes: “AnimaMundi Ocean Data Solutions, DJI and Lagoon are using drones to build a comprehensive database of plastic waste on coastlines throughout the world. AnimaMundi is a not-for-profit organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. Its proprietary technology interprets photo and video records to extract a single-use plastic bottle count. The information can be captured via an app using…
ABB helps Zume offer compostable food trays
Good News Notes: “Switzerland-based ABB Robotics says it has signed an agreement to collaborate with California-based packaging maker Zume to supply robotic cells designed to boost Zume’s production of what Zume calls 100 percent compostable packaging “made from plant-based agricultural material.” “ABB robots will automate production, enabling the scale and speed required to make Zume’s…
Striatus 3D-printed bridge “establishes a new language for concrete”
Good News Notes: “Holcim CEO Jan Jenisch explains how 3D-printed concrete bridge Striatus aims to showcase how to build with less material without compromising performance in this video Dezeen produced for the building materials company. Striatus is a 16-metre-long 3D-printed concrete footbridge built by Block Research Group at Swiss university ETH Zurich and the Computation and Design Group at Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA CODE), in collaboration with concrete…
World’s largest carbon-capture plant Orca opens in Iceland
Good News Notes: “The world’s largest direct air carbon capture and storage plant has started operating in Iceland, run by Swiss company Climeworks. Named Orca, the plant sucks carbon dioxide directly from the air and buries it as rocks deep underground, using technology from Climeworks‘ Icelandic partner Carbfix. Orca has the capacity to remove 4,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the…
Hi-tech wooden flooring can turn footsteps into electricity
Good News Notes: “Scientists have developed technology that can turn footsteps into electricity. By tapping into an unexpected energy source, wooden flooring, researchers from Switzerland have developed an energy-harvesting device that uses wood with a combination of a silicone coating and embedded nanocrystals to produce enough energy to power LED lightbulbs and small electronics. …
Cement battery could turn buildings and bridges into gigantic energy-storage devices
Good News Notes: “Researchers in Switzerland have come up with a clever way to store energy in cement that could turn entire buildings into batteries. The advance, reported in the journal Buildings, could be a way to reduce the carbon footprint of future infrastructure. Buildings are some of the largest energy consumers in the world. Globally, they use…
3,000-Year-Old Submerged Settlement Discovered in Switzerland
Good News Notes: “Archaeologists surveying Switzerland’s Lake Lucerne have discovered the remains of a submerged Bronze Age village. As Swissinfo.ch reports, the new finds suggest that the area around the lake was settled 2,000 years earlier than previously thought. Though researchers have long searched for proof of early habitation in the Lucerne region, a thick layer of mud had obscured…