Advert turns air into drinking water

Just outside Lima, Peru, a billboard provides drinking water to whomever needs it - mainly, its neighbours.

The billboard serves a dual purpose, acting to draw students to the newly established engineering university UTEC

The panel produces clean water from the humidity in the air, through filters.

Researchers at the University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC) in Lima and advertising agency Mayo Peru DraftFCB joined forces to launch it.

UTEC says it wanted to put "imagination into action" and show that it is possible to solve people's problems through engineering and technology.

"A billboard that produces drinking water from air," says the billboard up high. And it does what it says on the tin: so far, the billboard has produced over 9,000 litres of drinking water - 96 litres a day.

The panel is strategically located in the village of Bujama, an area south of the capital city that is almost a desert, where some people have no access to clean water.

Access to all

Despite tough conditions with little rain, air humidity reaches 98%, says UTEC.

"The panel traps humidity in the air and transforms it into water. It's that simple," said Jessica Ruas, a spokesperson from the university.

"There is a lot of water. It is right there in the sea, but it is not suitable for drinking purposes, and costs a lot of money to process it."

Ruas says the system might become a wider solution for the problem.

The billboard has become something of a local attraction as well as a local resource

Internally, the panel consists of five devices that extract water vapour from the air using a condenser and filters."It doesn't have to come in the shape of a billboard, but ingenuity is key to development".

Water is stored in tanks at the top of the structure. Once filtered, it flows down a pipe connected to a tap, accessible to everybody.

The internal system costs some US$1,200 (£790) to set up.

On the publicity side, the panel itself seeks to attract the "creative minds that Peru needs" to the young UTEC, which was founded only a year ago.

"We want to change the minds of future engineers and inspire them," said Ms Ruas.

The neighbours have given the billboard a warm welcome. It has become a local attraction for and motorists and an indispensable part of life in the local village.

"We hadn't realised how big the impact would be," said Ms Ruas.

From BBC

World Water Day-2013

World Water Day is held annually on March 22 as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the 

sustainable management of freshwater resources. NASA scientists and 

missions study Earth's water and provide data used by decision makers to 

help address critical water resource issues. Image credit: UN-Water.

Each year on March 22, the member states of the United Nations observe World Water Day to focus attention on the importance of freshwater and to advocate for the sustainable management of Earth's precious freshwater resources. In December 2010, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2013 as the United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation. The objective of the year is to raise awareness of the potential for, and value of increased cooperation in relation to water. 

From http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-113

Amazing Hiriko

Have you ever driven through a city centre and spent ages looking for somewhere to park?

In many urban areas, there simply isn't enough space for all the cars that people want to use.

And it doesn't just create parking problems - it also means inevitable traffic jams.

The Hiriko is an electric car that folds up to reduce in length from 100 down to a mere 60 inches - the width of an ordinary car

That the Hiriko electric car prototype is small is obvious to anyone. Perhaps less obvious is that, in parking, the Hiriko becomes even smaller. Thanks to a folding mechanism that tucks the rear of the car in under the chassis, the Hiriko's length can be reduced to the width of an ordinary automobile. The result? It's possible to park three Hirikos in a single parking bay.

The Hiriko is an evolution of MIT's CityCar project, in collaboration with Denokinn (the Basque Center for Innovation) and a consortium of Spanish businesses. The word Hiriko itself derives from the Basque words hiri (town or city) and kotxe (car) - so the name is in essence merely an English to Basque translation.

Electric Car News put the price of the Hiriko at £11,000 (US$17,430), which broadly agrees with other figures that have been suggested, though it may be that the car is more popular with city authorities hoping (perhaps clamoring) to introduce fleets of Hirikos for inner-city hire schemes. In any case the electric cars are expected to take to the streets in 2013. The car was unveiled at the end of January by president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso.

From BBC and Gizmag

Watch this video and find out how these problems can be solved. This car is really amazing technologically speaking, because it not only is electric but, as its name suggests, it folds!

Thousands of prawns washed up on beach in Chile

Investigators are baffled after thousands of langoustines were washed ashore in Chile's central Concepcion province. There are so many crustaceans that it makes the entire beach appear red in colour. Marine experts have begun an investigation into sea conditions, hoping to rule out an environmental crime

Fishermen claim nearby power stations are heating the waters after hundreds of dead crabs also washed up in the same area at the weekend.

Gregorio Ortega said: "I'm 69 years old and started fishing when I was nine but, as a fisherman, I never saw a disaster of this magnitude."

The dead sealife appeared in Coronel, some 330 miles south of the Chile capital, Santiago.

Environment prosecutor Ana Maria Aldana said: "We're going to be collecting as much evidence as possible to determine if this is an environmental crime.".

The Bocamina 1 and 2 power plants are owned by companies Endesa and Colbun respectively.

A spokesman for Endesa said the company was aware of the issue and would issue a statement later.

An official at Colbun declined to comment.

Chile imports 97% of its fossil fuels and depends largely on hydropower for electricity.
From Mirror News

Coral reefs: Underwater pharmacies

Coral reefs - often known as the “rainforests of the seas” – are one of the most bio-diverse habitats on the planet.

These kaleidoscopes of colour and life cover less than 0.1% of the planet but are home to a quarter of all marine species.

As a result, it’s a crowded place to live and underwater warfare reigns as animals vie for space and food.

Since many of the creatures on the reef are stationary, many have evolved chemical defences to protect themselves from predators.

These potent weapons may also hold the key to new medicines to treat everything from cancer and Alzheimer’s disease to viruses and arthritis.

Scientists have already collected and identified thousands of these compounds and are bringing treatments to market.

But coral reefs face an uncertain future putting this undersea medicine cabinet at risk. 
From BBC

Eighty-six elephants killed in Chad

Poachers in Chad in Africa have killed 86 elephants in less than a week.

The tusks were removed from the animals in order to be sold, because of the high prices that ivory can fetch.

It is the worst killing spree of elephants for a year - in early 2012 up to 650 elephants were killed in the neighbouring country of Cameroon.

The animal charity, International Fund for Animal Welfare, says people from across the globe need to take action to stop the ivory trade.

From CBBC News

World's Weirdest : Frog Father "Spits Out" Young

Really weird!

Mouth-Birthing Frog to Be Resurrected?

Just amazing!

Back From the Dead?

Photograph from ANT Photo Library/Science Source

In this file photo, a tiny froglet can be seen in the mouth of its mother, the southern gastric-brooding frog Rheobatrachus silus. (Related: "Resurrecting the Extinct Frog with a Stomach for a Womb.")

In this novel form of parental care, the female swallowed her fertilized eggs. Her stomach then stopped producing acid, becoming a makeshift womb. Later, she regurgitated fully formed froglets. (Watch a video of a frog father spitting out his young.)

Two species of gastric-brooding frogs made their homes in creeks in a relatively small area of tropical forest in Queensland, Australia: R. silus and the northern gastric-brooding frog, R.vitellinus.

The species were discovered in 1973 and 1984, respectively, but by the mid-1980s they had both disappeared, possibly due to habitat degradation, pollution, and disease, including chytrid fungus.

A few specimens of gastric-brooding frogs are preserved in Australian museums, leading scientists to ponder whether the animals could be reborn. (Related pictures: "Extinct Species That Could Be Brought Back.")

Now, scientists with the Lazarus Project have started to revive R. silus using cloning technology—the first attempt to revive any vanished species and a play to "get over this idea that extinction is forever," project leader Mike Archer told National Geographic.

Archer was speaking at Friday's TEDx Conference on DeExtinction at National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C.

As part of the project, Archer and colleagues have implanted a "dead" cell nucleus from a frozen gastric-brooding frog into a fresh egg from a distantly related frog species, the great barred frog.

During five years of experiments, the team has been able to get some of the eggs to spontaneously divide and grow into early embryos. (Related: "How to Resurrect Lost Species.")

Although none of the embryos survived more than a few days, genetic tests confirmed that the dividing cells contain genetic material from the extinct frog, according to the team.

Archer, of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, isn't sure why they can't get past the embryo stage, but he suspects it may have to do with how the scientists are handling the eggs-a process that his team is working on right now.

"We're all very optimistic that we're going to get this frog hopping glad to be back in the world."

—Brian Howard and Christine Dell'Amore

From  National Geographic

Largest concentrated solar power plant opens in Abu Dhabi

The oil-rich state of Abu Dhabi has officially opened the world's largest concentrated solar power plant.

Shams 1 - which means 'the sun' in Arabic - uses advanced parabolic trough technology to harness the light from over 250,000 mirrors.

From BBC

Description

Parabolic trough

Shams 1 is a 100 MW concentrating solar power station which uses parabolic trough technology. It will displace 175,000 tons of CO₂ per year and its power output will be enough to power 20,000 homes. The station will consist of 258,048 parabolic trough mirrors, 192 solar collector assembly loops with 8 solar collector assemblies per loop, 768 solar collector assembly units, and 27,648 absorber pipes. It covers an area of 2.5 square kilometres (1 sq mi).

The basic and detailed engineering have been developed by AG Ingeniería. The project is consulted by Fichtner Consulting Engineers.The equipment is designed and delivered by Foster Wheeler.The power station is equipped by Abengoa Solar's ASTRO collectors. The 125 MW steam turbine is provided by MAN Turbo, parabolic glass mirrors are provided by Flabeg, PTR 70 absorber tubes are provided by Schott AG, and Therminol heat transfer fluid is provided by Solutia.

In October 2010 it was reported that because of "substantial" atmospheric dust, solar radiation received by Shams' solar collectors was less than expected and more collectors would be required.

From Wikipedia

Whatis CITES?

CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

Widespread information nowadays about the endangered status of many prominent species, such as the tiger and elephants, might make the need for such a convention seem obvious. But at the time when the ideas for CITES were first formed, in the 1960s, international discussion of the regulation of wildlife trade for conservation purposes was something relatively new. With hindsight, the need for CITES is clear. Annually, international wildlife trade is estimated to be worth billions of dollars and to include hundreds of millions of plant and animal specimens. The trade is diverse, ranging from live animals and plants to a vast array of wildlife products derived from them, including food products, exotic leather goods, wooden musical instruments, timber, tourist curios and medicines. Levels of exploitation of some animal and plant species are high and the trade in them, together with other factors, such as habitat loss, is capable of heavily depleting their populations and even bringing some species close to extinction. Many wildlife species in trade are not endangered, but the existence of an agreement to ensure the sustainability of the trade is important in order to safeguard these resources for the future.

Because the trade in wild animals and plants crosses borders between countries, the effort to regulate it requires international cooperation to safeguard certain species from over-exploitation. CITES was conceived in the spirit of such cooperation. Today, it accords varying degrees of protection to more than 30,000 species of animals and plants, whether they are traded as live specimens, fur coats or dried herbs.

CITES was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of IUCN (The World Conservation Union). The text of the Convention was finally agreed at a meeting of representatives of 80 countries in Washington, D.C., the United States of America, on 3 March 1973, and on 1 July 1975 CITES entered in force. The original of the Convention was deposited with the Depositary Government in the Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish languages, each version being equally authentic.

CITES is an international agreement to which States (countries) adhere voluntarily. States that have agreed to be bound by the Convention ('joined' CITES) are known as Parties. Although CITES is legally binding on the Parties – in other words they have to implement the Convention – it does not take the place of national laws. Rather it provides a framework to be respected by each Party, which has to adopt its own domestic legislation to ensure that CITES is implemented at the national level.

For many years CITES has been among the conservation agreements with the largest membership, with now 177 Parties.