Dandelion News - July 15-21
If you like these weekly compilations, please consider tipping me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my Dandelion Doodles! (June Doodles are late because I bit off a little more than I could chew with the whalefall and I've been having a really hard time with life, but I'm working on it as best I can and it should be ready soon!)
1. Plastic waste could be cheaply recycled using water and oxygen
“Researchers have found a way to break down everyday plastic waste into valuable chemicals using nothing but water and oxygen, with no catalyst needed. Stirring melted plastic into water scatters it into microscopic droplets, and the chemistry that cuts the tough polymer chains begins on its own. […] The same approach handled a messy range of real waste [… and] ran just as well in tap water and seawater as in purified lab water[….]”
2. A Brazilian bay’s surprise shark nursery sparks conservation project
“A fishing community in Brazil’s southeastern Ilha Grande bay once saw the blacktip sharks […] as potential food. That perception has shifted, at least in part thanks to scientists who discovered that a nearby cove is frequented by dozens of pregnant blacktip sharks, prompting efforts to protect the area. […] The scheme also aims to start environmental education activities in schools so that sharks will come to be seen as part of the region’s natural heritage.”
3. Defying Trump, Baltimore Rugby Players Refuse To Comply With Trans Sports Ban Demand
“[... T]he new rules stipulate complaints about trans athletes can only come from an opposing team. As The Banner reports: “The Capital Union teams decided not to tell on one another, rendering the ban functionally meaningless in regionwide games.” [...] Countless other rugby teams are also speaking out against the ban, including the Golden Badgers of Golden, Colorado—a Division 1 team, meaning it competes at the most elite level.”
4. How a community is helping sea turtles hatch in the Philippines
“When they find a nest, the eggs are dug up, counted, placed carefully in a bucket and brought to a hatchery. In past seasons, researchers found that most, if not all, nests left “in situ” on the beach were eaten by dogs or flooded by the tide. [...] In the early mornings or evenings, researchers and local patrollers take the hatchlings that surfaced that day, sometimes a hundred at once, and place them on the shore, where they begin their race to the West Philippine Sea.”
5. Researchers unlock new path for ultra low-cost solar by swapping out scarce and costly metal in PV cells
“An international team of researchers has successfully built the first high-performance, commercial-scale tandem solar cell that does not rely on indium, a scarce and expensive metal, replacing it instead with [tin oxide,] a material that is far more abundant and costs one per cent as much. [...] “Remarkably, we scaled this technology up to a 207.9 cm2 mini-module, obtaining an outstanding certified efficiency of 31.0 per cent.””
July 8-14 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)
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