sludge

Researchers have developed a simplified, sustainable method of converting sewage sludge from wastewater treatment into high-value activated carbon that can be used in a wide range of industrial and residential applications.After you flush the toilet, drain the sink, or do the laundry, the wastewater travels through the sewer system to a wastewater treatment facility. This results in leftover solid waste – sewage sludge – that can contain heavy metals, chemicals, and pathogens. Given its high pollutant content, the large…

Have you ever tried to watch a cooking show, a Minecraft playthrough, a pleasing montage of a person cutting through kinetic sand and a video narrating a Reddit confessional—all at the same time? A new video format taking over TikTok and other social media platforms embraces this jam-packed visual experience.More online creators are producing multiframe videos dubbed “sludge content,” or “overstimulation videos.” Such videos collage several different kinds of unrelated clips together, such as scenes from TV shows, video…

Twelve sites around the world have been proposed as golden spike locations for the Anthropocene, a new geological epoch, including Beppu Bay in Japan. Beneath the seawater in Japan's Beppu Bay lie layers of seemingly unremarkable sediment and sludge that tell the story of how humans have fundamentally altered the world around them. …

I woke up one day last year and realized I no longer listened to music. Instead I just listened to sludge—a blur of indistinguishable songs that imitated my music taste. My sludge addiction sprang from Spotify’s algorithmically curated playlists, which promised to help me focus or find music tailored to my tastes. The app’s design was always nudging me in that direction, so I dutifully followed. It was so easy! Searching for good music takes time. But at a tap, these playlists drip-fed me endless pap that dissolved into…

Hello, it’s Monday, April 3, and here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:TOP STORIES Acres of L.A. County sewage sludge threaten to contaminate Tulare Lake floodwatersAt the western edge of the Tulare Lake Basin dwells a smelly industrial site the size of 150 football fields. Roughly eight times a day, its operations are replenished with a truckload of human waste from the residents of Los Angeles County.Since 2016, the Tulare Lake Compost facility has been converting Southland sewage sludge into high-grade organic…

Gamescom, the biggest gaming event in Europe, is here once again. Alongside it, we got another reveal-filled livestream organized by Geoff Keighley, the man behind Summer Game Fest Kickoff and The Game Awards. As the final big gaming showcase of the summer, Gamescom Opening Night Live gave developers another opportunity to highlight games they will release throughout the rest of 2022 and into early 2023.Thanks to leaks and teases from Geoff Keighley, we knew a lot of what will show up at Gamescom Opening Night Live.…

It’s no secret that despite the massive boon in online shopping and packages needing delivery, traditional mail service is struggling. No one writes nice letters to each other any more, but that could soon change as the Royal Mail in the UK is about to introduce some truly amazing postage stamps featuring heroes that pre-date email, texting, and Facetime.Everything ‘80s is cool and lucrative again, and while companies like Hasbro are making another mass fortune by re-releasing Transformers toys, the Royal Mail is instead…

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (NTU Singapore) have discovered a way to make biocement from trash, making it a greener and more sustainable alternative to ordinary cement. Biocement is a type of renewable cement that binds soil into a solid block by using bacteria to induce a hardening reaction. Biocement has now been made by NTU scientists using two common waste materials — industrial carbide sludge and urea (from mammalian urine). They invented a method for creating a hard solid, or…

The production of traditional Portland cement is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, as the ingredients have to be heated to very high temperatures. Such is not the case with a new biocement, however, which also incorporates waste materials.Developed at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, the biocement is made of two main substances – industrial carbide sludge, which is a byproduct from the production of acetylene gas, and urea, which is derived from the urine of mammals such as humans, cows or pigs.The…