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Up until now, scientists have always considered that the only possible way of producing plastic, one of the main materials in our civilization, is through modifying and altering fossil fuels, primarily oil. But now, a team of South Korean scientists has managed to produce the compound for the first time without using... |
23 November 2009
03:27 GMT |
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The economic factor is one of the main things that dictate whether an oil well will be opened or not, economists say. Experts at the Rice University have recently entered a new research effort, aimed at producing a nanometer-thick layer of graphene that would constitute an additive for average drilling bits. The inno... |
27 October 2009
10:37 GMT |
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Removing oil or grease stains from kitchen and bathroom countertops, mirrors and garage floors with nothing but water may seem like a thing of science fiction, but the tools to do this are already in the works. At the latest American Chemical Society (ACS) annual meeting, in Washington DC, experts have showcased a ne... |
17 August 2009
03:44 GMT |
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Until recently, geologists and scientists believed that hydrocarbons (oil and natural gas) were formed only from living microorganisms that were compressed in the upper layers of the Earth's crust, and heated with high temperatures from the upper mantle. Now, a new research comes to show that it may be, indeed, ... |
27 July 2009
06:04 GMT |
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Bringing down the Olympic Games world record is not an easy feat, as proven by the fact that the times obtained in 1932 were only improved by 2008 with 0.6 seconds. This feat was accomplished mostly due to rigorous training exercises and an advancement in training technology. Now, a new scientific study conducted on ... |
29 June 2009
14:01 GMT |
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Over the past couple of years, the necessity of finding sustainable alternative fuels to replace coal, oil, and natural gas for the next decades has become abundantly clear to everyone with a bit of common sense. Researchers from various universities and institutes have taken it upon themselves to come up with soluti... |
25 June 2009
06:01 GMT |
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Losing weight successfully and managing to keep it off is quite an accomplishment and, as most of us probably know about now, it’s not necessarily something anyone can boast about. However, even those who can have another thing to worry over, namely, stretch marks which are more visible as the weight lost is gr... |
18 June 2009
15:31 GMT |
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According to geological estimates, between 30 and 35 percent of the world's undiscovered oil deposits are found in the Arctic, alongside 13 percent of the globe's natural gas reserves. With the effects that global warming has on the North Pole, the ice barriers that once made it impossible to even consider ... |
29 May 2009
19:01 GMT |
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A new type of material, developed by experts at the Northwestern University, has the potential to revolutionize a number of chemical applications, its inventors say. The black and brittle sponge-like structure is freeze-dried, like the ice cream astronauts eat, and has the ability to remove the chemical mercury from ... |
18 May 2009
06:56 GMT |
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Denmark has in its coastal waters a fairly significant amount of oil, but the shape, location, and formation method of the deposits have been anyone's guess until recently. A team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen has come up with an explanation of how the oil is placed under the ocean floor, and,... |
11 May 2009
10:58 GMT |
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Hair can suffer extreme damage from regular workout sessions, hairstylists point out, especially if we don’t pay more attention to it than we would under normal circumstances. So, instead of looking and feeling gorgeous, we could end up with just looking gorgeous from the neck down because of dull, brittle hair... |
5 May 2009
15:11 GMT |
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Despite the fact that oil is the “engine” of modern economy, few people know how it's made, deep down inside the ground, under intense pressure. Not even scientists are exactly sure what materials existed deep in the crust before oil started forming, although some agree that tiny microorganisms that ... |
17 March 2009
04:07 GMT |
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One of the main arguments brought by critics to renewable energy such as solar and wind power is that these methods of generating electricity are very expensive, and that continuing to produce the needed amounts of power from oil and coal is justified by the lower costs, especially in the crippled economy. Now, new a... |
16 March 2009
07:25 GMT |
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What would you say if you walked on the street and the air smelled like coffee instead of burned gas? Although the very few people who can't stand the smell of coffee (assuming there are any) may be disappointed, for those who aim at having waste turned into fuel, good news is here: coffee and biofuels just beca... |
16 December 2008
15:31 GMT |
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Italian archaeologists have uncovered an ancient pottery factory, where the oil lamps that were most used throughout the old Roman empire had been produced. As with most findings in this field of research, the discovery has been made accidentally, during excavation works carried in order to raise a residential comple... |
6 December 2008
23:01 GMT |
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The current state of the global economy has evolved in such a manner that oil prices, which reached as much as 147 dollars per barrel about three months ago, have now been cut in half by decreased demand. The same level of production implies that more oil is stocked by distributors, instead of being sold. Lower deman... |
30 October 2008
06:24 GMT |
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The long underwater pipelines that are to be built in Australian waters aim at eliminating the need for oil extraction platforms being set in dangerous areas for primary oil processing. With the new pipes, the large reserves of natural gases will be transported directly to refineries situated on Australia's coas... |
11 October 2008
04:32 GMT |
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Peak oil (lowering oil supplies), once ignored as a problem for a distant future, is bound to happen soon. Although this fact is far less known, copper, phosphorus and some rare chemical elements face the same impending doom. Actually, it's us who are facing it. You may not be aware of what the disappearanc... |
13 September 2008
07:41 GMT |
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We are living in a civilization based on oil. It is an issue that makes us extremely vulnerable. That's because of the global "Peak Oil." The oil production follows a bell curve. Its peak is the moment when oil has been 50% depleted. After the peak, oil production decreases while its price starts to go up.Many s... |
10 May 2008
06:48 GMT |
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Weighing a massive 60 tons and with the dimensions of a small house, the UT-1 Ultra Trencher is now the biggest underwater robot ever made to be used for installing subsea cables for telecommunications and pipelines used in the oil industry. UT-1 Ultra Trencher is 7.8 meters long, 7.8 meters wide and 5.6 meters tall,... |
24 March 2008
06:59 GMT |
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Now that's really unexpected! I always thought that the first pollution-free city will be build in the United States, not in the middle east. I guess this should be an example for a country that considers itself the most technologically advanced in the world, but is still being the biggest carbon dioxide emitter... |
22 January 2008
05:15 GMT |
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Fish oil is the childhood nightmare for many of our grandparents. And while fish oil supplements could be recommended for some cardiac patients, others could experience negative effects, as found by a meta analysis carried out at St. Michael's Hospital and University of Toronto and published in the Canadian Medi... |
15 January 2008
04:32 GMT |
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We live in an oil dominated world: who gets it holds the power. That's why the western world is struggling to find new fuels that would free it from an oil-and-gas based economy, which renders them vulnerable to the blackmail of some oil-and-gas rich countries, like many in Middle East, Russia or Venezuela, wher... |
12 December 2007
14:06 GMT |
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The oil spill wipes out life on its way; the tidal areas are depleted of life. A large array of sea species, from marine mammals (cetaceans, seals, otters) to sea birds, turtles, fish, crustaceans, and mollusks lose their habitat. The petroleum attacks directly the animals and plants, both physically and chemically. ... |
12 December 2007
07:02 GMT |
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There are over 200 species of plants linked to the existence of underground ore deposits. Plants usually need in low amounts metals for their metabolism. If there is too high the amount encountered in the soil, the plants depose the absorbed excess in their tissues. Sometimes, the deposits can be so big, that when th... |
21 November 2007
10:06 GMT |
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The Black Sea is already considered one of the most polluted seas in the world. In the last 40 years it turned into a sort of depository for half of Europe, a place for depositing huge amounts of phosphorus compounds, mercury, DDT, oil and other toxic wastes coming from the 160 million people inhabiting its shores. T... |
16 November 2007
02:50 GMT |
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That was the greatest ecological disaster on the sea: in 1978 the tanker "Amoco-Cadiz" contaminated with 280,000 tonnes of crude oil the coasts off Bretagne (Western France). More "famous" is the ecological catastrophe produced by Exon Valdez in 1989 on Alaska's shores. During the 1991 Gulf War, about one millio... |
30 August 2007
14:31 GMT |
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Plastic is everywhere around us, and nowadays we almost drink from nothing else than plastic containers. It's so fancy to carry with you a plastic bottle and drink your water / juice / soda little by little. But while US bottled water sales are going up by an annual 9.7 %, on a market estimated at approximately ... |
16 August 2007
07:06 GMT |
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This is a dwarf among elephants: the pygmy elephant of Borneo is one meter (3 feet) shorter than its mainland Asian elephant counterparts and remarkably tame and passive. Now, these gentle creatures are menaced by the shrinking and fragmentation of their habitat, the forests.A new research made by the World Wide Fund... |
13 August 2007
03:06 GMT |
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Do you think that olive oil in the Mediterranean diet is the best? Well, it appears that you are wrong. A new research has found that fish oil, rather than vegetable oil in the diet, reduces the formation of chemicals called prostanoids, which in big amounts cause inflammation in many tissues and organs. "Prostanoids... |
30 July 2007
03:03 GMT |
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Scientists believe there's a chance to solve the problem of future oil and natural gas shortages, by creating new reserves in a short time that could be regarded as just a flash compared to how much is believed to take for oil to form underground.Although there is no effective way of doing that just yet, Jennif... |
20 July 2007
11:17 GMT |
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Tiny drops of an oily mixture can propel themselves in water, without external influences or fuel sources and could one day produce synthetic life in the form of artificial cells that will be able to move independently through living bodies.A special mixture of oil in the form of tiny globules, placed in water, were... |
20 July 2007
09:56 GMT |
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A simple experiment produces some puzzling results and no scientific explanation for the phenomenon has been found until recently. This one can be safely performed at home and you don't need expensive equipment.First you must pour clean water onto a small, almost flat, plate. No need for distilled water, as reg... |
18 July 2007
04:18 GMT |
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Sometimes the suicide bombers have more noble intentions than 72 virgins. They can save the whole colony, like in the case of the cabbage aphids that have developed a type of mustard oil "bomb" that helps them keep the predators away, as revealed by a new research. This is the first time when aphids have been found t... |
12 July 2007
05:13 GMT |
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The Mediterranean cuisine considers olive oil one of the healthiest types of food. Now it appears it has a hidden quality: it can even fight the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), as found by a team from the University of Granada, Spain, headed by Professor Andrés García-Granados, senior lecturer in Organic Chemistr... |
10 July 2007
05:24 GMT |
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Pumpkin seed oil is a specialty used in the Styria region of Austria and the Lower Styria, in Slovenia. Although used for centuries by the local population, a weird property of this oil could not be explained until now.This oil seems to change color for no apparent reason, depending only on the container. The visco... |
10 July 2007
04:04 GMT |
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Plastics are durable and degrade very slowly. One of the main advantages of this material is the low price and incredible versatility, which led to a rapid expansion of plastic compounds in almost all industry areas.The problem is that it's made of oil and should petroleum prices continue to rise, so will the c... |
27 June 2007
03:31 GMT |
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Nowadays, people turn to nature in their attempt of transitioning from certain technological processes: glucose is going to replace oil to produce fuel and different chemicals. And apparently, plastics, too. Glucose is the main energetic molecule used by plants and animals, the first sugar plants get by photosynthes... |
18 June 2007
04:24 GMT |
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Everybody knows potatoes, some people love them, some people don't. But for the junk food addicts, there are some good news: future bags of chips may actually be made of potatoes, thus bringing the potato out of the bag and into the bag. A new study by the University of Maine's Margaret Chase Smith Policy ... |
7 June 2007
16:26 GMT |
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Nanotechnology has found yet another application in our lives and helps us recover some of the most precious works of art from as early as the Renaissance. It's a new development and a simple and cheap method for cleaning up paintings.The new method works like a nano scrub, using oil-in water nanocontainers to ... |
15 May 2007
07:48 GMT |
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Bacteria come from hell. They can survive in the toughest environments. Now a team at UC Riverside has found in the Rancho La Brea tar pits in midtown Los Angeles, California, hundreds of new bacterial species that live in heavy oil and natural asphalt!Inside the 28,000 years old mix of soil and heavy oil, the bacter... |
11 May 2007
04:14 GMT |
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Oil-based fuels can be costly.And in a few years, the production could become insufficient. That's why on the island of Bougainville (the largest on the Solomon archipelago, Papua New Guinea), the locals have chosen a more effective solution for fueling cars and generators: coconut oil. Currently, there are a l... |
9 May 2007
09:09 GMT |
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A new material is considered a breakthrough in lubricants for auto motors, as it will greatly improve the durability and lubrication efficiency, far beyond the capabilities of current oil-based lubricants.It is called CNSC (Carbon NanoSphere Chains) and it's produced by CleanTechnology International Corp, who ... |
9 May 2007
07:27 GMT |
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A synthetic alternative to imported petroleum-based fuel is what the U.S. Military - through the DARPA programs- is searching for these days, to power their 21st Century vehicles.It will probably use the same chemical technology Germany used to produce its gasoline during World War II.Sasol Technology's Delanie... |
24 April 2007
06:31 GMT |
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That's it. The World's natural abundance tap is going to turn off.Between 2008 and 2018, the world will experience a last year of high oil production followed by a constant drop, as it is depicted by a new model made by Fredrik Robelius, a Swedish physicist and petroleum engineer at the University of Uppsal... |
18 April 2007
05:46 GMT |
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Palm oil has been regarded as the best solution for obtaining an ideal biofuel: a cheap, renewable alternative to fossil fuels that would be also a solution for global warming. Thus, energy companies converted generators and energy production from palm oil increased. But new researches are increasingly pointing that:... |
2 April 2007
04:37 GMT |
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We look at the Middle Ages and we tend to think that precarious hygiene and "skunk" scent characterized the human kind till relatively recent times. Wrong. A new exhibition in Rome reveals to us how people during the Bronze Age employed refined and sophisticated perfumes, typically a mix of natural spices and olive o... |
28 March 2007
07:16 GMT |
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The melting of the polar ice caps due to global warming has accelerated something perhaps unexpected: an international race for oil, fish, diamonds and shipping routes. The frozen north may look barren and uninhabited now, but the latest reports reveal that the northern ice cap is warming faster than the rest of the ... |
26 March 2007
07:21 GMT |
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Hydrogen may be the fuel of the future. Unlike oil, hydrogen burns much more easily and is totally not contaminant as the only waste product is water. And water, as the hydrogen source, is unlimited. But current technologies do not permit hydrogen use, which is highly explosive. "One of the bottlenecks for bringing h... |
15 March 2007
05:27 GMT |
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