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Nuestro planeta se encuentra en el centro de dos inmensas donas concéntricas de potente radiación: los cinturones de Van Allen, que albergan un enjambre de partículas cargadas que son atrapadas por el campo magnético de la Tierra. 

While we’re a long way behind countries like the UK, there seems to be a growing momentum behind US offshore wind development—suggesting we might finally get serious about the incredible potential for this increasingly competitive technology. The latest such signal is an announcement from the Department of Interior proposing a lease sale for the 122,405-Acre Kitty Hawk Wind Energy Area.

¿Ha pensado alguna vez poner las aguas residuales en las plantas? Los científicos dicen que los lodos térmicamente acondicionados de una planta de tratamiento sirven como un excelente fertilizante para mejorar las propiedades del suelo. Esto fue publicado recientemente en la revista de acceso abierto Frontiers in Nutrition. ¿La principal ventaja sobre los fertilizantes comerciales? la reutilización sostenible de los recursos finitos esenciales y el fósforo.

Overfishing of large and top predatory fishes on Caribbean coral reefs substantially reduces the amount of nutrients stored and recycled within the ecosystem by fishes, new interdisciplinary research published today in Nature Communications concludes.

The study, by scientists at the University of Washington, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Smithsonian Institution and North Carolina State University, suggests that while avoiding local extinction of fish species is a conservation priority, management actions that preserve large fish groups such as sharks, groupers, snappers and jacks are needed to maintain an adequate flow of nutrients within ecosystems.

Lithium-ion batteries store a lot of energy in a small space, making them the energy source of choice for mobile electronic devices. Today, mobile phones, laptops, e-bikes and electric cars are all powered by such batteries. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now developed a type of battery that, unlike conventional ones, consists entirely of solid chemical compounds and is non-flammable.

Conventional lithium-ion batteries are not without their dangers: mobile phone batteries have exploded several times in the past, resulting in injuries, and only six months ago an entire row of houses burned down in the old town of Steckborn on Lake Constance. The blaze was caused by a model-making battery that allegedly caught fire due to being charged improperly.