material

Fighting climate change. That’s about solar panels, ditching meat, flying less, and driving an electric car, right? Absolutely, but that’s only half the story. For a lot of product designers, sustainability is becoming the key focus of their creative process. They’re on a mission to find new ways to replace some of the most common (and most carbon intensive) materials and components with new, green alternatives. And that’s good news for the planet, because radical breakthroughs in zero-waste,…

A new image snapped by a spacecraft orbiting Mars could be enough to give one Lovecraftian nightmares.Far below the camera of ESA's Mars Express, a large, city-sized, unnamed crater gapes on the surface of the red planet, smears of dark material making it appear like an enormous eye gazing out to the stars. Yet the purpose of the image is not to give you the cosmic shivers; satellite imagery can help us better understand the geology and history of Mars.  The crater, measuring 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) across, sits in a…

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore researchers have found a new way to create cement from waste.Creating renewable biocement entirely out of waste materialCement is a binder, a substance used in construction that hardens, sets, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. When sand and gravel are combined with cement, concrete is produced. Cement is classified as hydraulic or non-hydraulic, with non-hydraulic cement not setting when water is present, while hydraulic cement needs a chemical reaction…

Child sexual abuse material (previously known as child pornography) can be a confronting and uncomfortable topic. Child sexual abuse material specifically refers to the possession, viewing, sharing, and creation of images or videos containing sexual or offensive material involving children. But less publicized is another form of child sexual abuse material: virtual child sexual abuse material (VCSAM). What’s virtual child sexual abuse material (VCSAM)? VCSAM is sexual content depicting…

Offenders can manipulate both real and fictitious images to produce VCSAM. Credit: John Williams RUS/Shutterstock Child sexual abuse material (previously known as child pornography) can be a confronting and uncomfortable topic. …

According to a new study, the raw material for evolution is much more abundant in wild animals than was previously known.The raw material for evolution is much more abundant in wild animals than was previously thought, according to new research from The <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>Australian National University</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>Founded in 1946, the Australian National University (ANU) is a…

Sales of electric cars accelerated last year but the availability of critical raw materials such as lithium risked slowing the sector’s growth, a report has warned. At 6.6 million last year, electric vehicle sales more than doubled and they now account for one in 10 new cars sold, according to the International Energy Agency’s annual report on the sector. China alone accounted for half of those sales. Electric vehicle sales continue to soar, rising by 75 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the same…

The battery industry revenues may exceed $168 billion by 2030 but severe global shortages are highly likely from 2025, a new report said on Monday. The battery industry is set to be one of the most significant over the next 10 years. A compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14 percent is expected by 2030, mostly driven by sales of lithium-ion batteries. However, according to data and analytics company GlobalData, extraction of raw materials will not meet soaring demand unless capital markets change course in the face of…

Spintronic computing artistic concept illustration.<span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>Columbia University</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>Columbia University is a private Ivy League research university in New York City that was established in 1754. This makes it the oldest institution of higher education in New York and the fifth-oldest in the United States. It is often just referred to as Columbia, but its official…

The crystal structure of a layer of graphyne, not to be confused with graphene. Credit: Yiming HuCU Boulder scientists have successfully synthesized graphyne, which has been theorized for decades but never successfully produced.For over a decade, scientists have attempted to synthesize a new form of carbon called graphyne with limited success. That endeavor is now at an end, though, thanks to new research from the University of Colorado Boulder.Graphyne has long been of interest to scientists because of its similarities…