Microwave oven cooks up solar cell material

University of Utah metallurgists used an old microwave oven to produce a nanocrystal semiconductor rapidly using cheap, abundant and less toxic metals than other semiconductors. They hope it will be used for more efficient ...

Study finds mounting mercury threat in Peru Amazon

A study of mercury contamination in a southeastern Peruvian jungle area ravaged by illegal gold mining found unsafe levels of the toxic metal in 78 percent of adults in the regional capital and in 60 percent of fish sold ...

Chinese New Year fireworks harm health, study finds

This Sunday, people around the world celebrated Chinese New Year with firework displays and sparklers, but new research confirms this tradition could seriously harm peoples health. An international team of scientists have ...

Novel materials shake ship scum

Just as horses shake off pesky flies by twitching their skin, ships may soon be able to shed the unwanted accumulation of bacteria and other marine growth with the flick of a switch.

E-waste recycling—at whose expense?

Computers, tablets and mobile phones are all popular consumer products. The lifespan of these devices is usually short, between two to four years. Shakila Umair, researcher at KTH, travelled to Pakistan to see how these common ...

Nanofibers clean sulfur from fuel

(Phys.org)—Sulfur compounds in petroleum fuels have met their nano-structured match. University of Illinois researchers developed mats of metal oxide nanofibers that scrub sulfur from petroleum-based fuels much more effectively ...

page 12 from 16