Network of rapid EV chargers planned for London

The Energy Saving Trust and Transport for London (TfL) have announced a new initiative to identify potential sites for rapid electric vehicle charging points across the capital. The scheme organisers say one of the aims of their programme is to help businesses expand their use of cleaner vans and light lorries throughout Greater London. >> Read the Full Article

Uncontrolled Trash Burning Significantly Worsens Air Pollution

Unregulated trash burning around the globe is pumping far more pollution into the atmosphere than shown by official records. A new study led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research estimates that more than 40 percent of the world's garbage is burned in such fires, emitting gases and particles that can substantially affect human health and climate change. >> Read the Full Article

Catching Fog

"This is one of the best beers that I have ever tried," says Andrés Barrera. My friend is enjoying a craft beer called Atrapaniebla — Spanish for fog catcher — an ale made with water condensed from mountain fog on two fog catchers. The microbrewery that produces it, located in Peña Blanca (some 360 kilometres north of Santiago, the Chilean capital), is one of the first Chilean enterprises to make use of fog-catching technology; others use it to water tomato and aloe vera crops. "Water from fog catchers has less nitrite and nitrate than the drinking water in the north of Chile, which is good for beer," says Miguel Ángel Carcuro, 29-year-old co-owner of the microbrewery that makes Atrapaniebla. Of course, while beer is nice, water is essential and fog catchers can be a great way to provide this sometimes scarce commodity. Carcuro's interest in this technology stems from teenage travels with his father, who showed him a hill above the bay of Chungungo, where there were the remains of fog catchers that had until recently provided water for 100 families. >> Read the Full Article

Verizon On Track to Be No. 1 Solar-Power Producer Among U.S. Communications Companies

Verizon announced today that it will invest nearly $40 million to expand the on-site green energy program that it launched in 2013. This year, Verizon will install 10.2 megawatts of new solar power systems at eight Verizon network facilities in five states – California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. This investment nearly doubles the amount of renewable power generated by solar energy systems installed at six Verizon facilities last year. >> Read the Full Article

The Magnitude 6.0 NAPA earthquake

A strong earthquake hit the Napa valley yesterday. The US Geological Survey has provided a detailed summary of the quake and the possibilities of both strong aftershocks and the remote potential of an aftershock stronger than the quake (Magnitiude 6.0) The earthquake occurred within a 70-km-wide (44 miles) set of major faults of the San Andreas Fault system that forms the boundary between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates. The persistent northwestward movement of the Pacific plate relative to North America primarily causes right-lateral slip across the major faults, but also causes deformation between the major faults. The ongoing complex deformation field is revealed by modern geodetic surveys and earthquake patterns as well as the regional geologic structure. >> Read the Full Article

How Cutting Emissions Pays Off

Lower rates of asthma and other health problems are frequently cited as benefits of policies aimed at cutting carbon emissions from sources like power plants and vehicles, because these policies also lead to reductions in other harmful types of air pollution. But just how large are the health benefits of cleaner air in comparison to the costs of reducing carbon emissions? >> Read the Full Article

How Geckos can walk on the ceiling

Ever wonder how lizards like Geckos can walk up walls and even across the ceiling? Is it sticky feet, anti-gravity, or what? Researchers at Oregon State University have developed a model that explains how geckos, as well as spiders and some insects, can run up and down walls, cling to ceilings, and seemingly defy gravity with such effortless grace. This ability, outlined today in the Journal of Applied Physics, is a remarkable mechanism in the toes of geckos that uses tiny, branched hairs called "seta" that can instantly turn their stickiness on and off, and even "unstick" their feet without using any energy. >> Read the Full Article

Electricity from silk cocoons?

Researchers in India say they have developed a prototype of an energy-harvesting device from the cocoons of a domesticated species of silk moth. They hope to put the technology to practical use while also tackling waste materials from the silk processing industry. >> Read the Full Article

How did sea life end up living in outer space?

Russian astronauts, or cosmonauts, have discovered living organisms clinging to the exterior of their International Space Station. The microscopic creatures were discovered during a space walk to clean the surface of the vessel, and they’ve reportedly been identified as a type of sea plankton. But scientists have no idea how they got there. >> Read the Full Article

Do we really need to kill wild animals that attack or threaten humans?

In Italy, a man foraging for mushrooms was attacked when he happened upon a mother bear and her cubs. Part of a reintroduction and conservation program in Italy's northern Dolomites, the bear, named Daniza, was ordered to be captured and possibly killed. This has sparked social media outrage, prompting those on twitter to hashtag #iostocondanzia (I'm with Danzia). The outrage stems from a revelation that when mauling victim Daniele Maturi happened upon the bear, he did not immediately leave, but rather hid behind a tree to watch him. It is said the bear only charged when it spotted him watching from behind a tree (like a predator would do, thus provoking the bear). >> Read the Full Article