Scientists in China and the United States are working on a novel way to kill two birds with one stone: capturing carbon-dioxide pollution to use in an energy-storage system that can back up clean sources like solar and wind.
Compressed air is already employed in one of the cheapest forms of energy storage. When windmills are spinning and the sun is shining, excess energy is used to compress air that later, when the air is still and the sky dark, is blasted through turbines mixed with natural gas. But that method produces a lot of waste heat and its own carbon footprint.
In Illinois coffee shops and theaters, scientists and science fans gather to plan a march. At government offices they fret about the appointment of Cabinet leaders who hold skeptical views on climate change. And in labs they worry about the freeze on their research projects.
The regional science community has felt apprehension since the early days of Donald Trump’s presidency — concerns that further crystallized Thursday with the release of the administration’s budget proposal. Trump seeks deep cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency and other areas of federal government that rely on scientific research.
How do fish and other marine species find forever homes? How long do they remain drifters?
Adults spawn and release eggs that hatch into larvae that temporarily join the drifting communities of the open ocean, plankton. What happens from there is not easy to study–larvae are tiny; almost invisible, and the ocean is huge. In this talk you will learn about the unique strategies and characteristics that fish and invertebrates use to increase their odds of survival as they search for a coral reef. For example, baby lobsters hitch rides on and make meals of floating jellyfish, as they surf the current. Baby fish may stay together as a group by grunting, and many species can follow signals from the sun, stars, wind and waves to find the right home.
It will be the 138th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s birth on March 14.
Einstein once wrote to Freud: “[Great men] have little influence on the course of political events. It would almost appear that the very domain of human activity most crucial to the fate of nations is inescapably in the hands of wholly irresponsible political rulers.”
According to popular media, there seems to be a new cure/treatment/fad for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) every few months. But sadly, the number of patients keeps rising, as does the fear and desperation of family, friends, and those at risk.
Dr. Herman Brenner White was the first African-American physicist hired by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. He is also the first African American to have a scientific equation bear his name: the Stefansky-White Model for Neutrino Production. For Valentine’s day & Black History Month, Chicago Council on Science and Technology Artist in Residence Aaron Freeman talks with Dr. White about the intersection of particle physics and romantic love.
