One of the first major studies on non-exhaust emissions from rail vehicles shows that a lot of particulate matter contaminated with heavy metals is produced especially along railway lines. In addition to exhaust emissions, abrasion emissions from tyres and brakes have become increasingly important when assessing the environmental impact of traffic. However, the focus here was on road vehicles; rail was hardly considered. In a study commissioned by the German Centre for Rail Transport Research (DZSF), researchers from the Institute…
Sustainable and affordable building materials are therefore more in demand than ever. This is where the “ZEROES” project comes in: The project partners Betonwerk Büscher, Rohstoffbauwerke and project management Fraunhofer UMSICHT are pursuing the goal of reducing CO2 emissions in the production of mineral building materials. A central approach is the use of carbonates as binders or fillers in concrete and sand-lime bricks. The project partners met on July 3, 2024 for the official kick-off at Fraunhofer UMSICHT in Oberhausen….
A global research team led by Texas Engineers has developed a way to blast the molecules in plastics and other materials with a laser to break them down into their smallest parts for future reuse. The discovery, which involves laying these materials on top of two-dimensional materials called transition metal dichalcogenides and then lighting them up, has the potential to improve how we dispose of plastics that are nearly impossible to break down with today’s technologies. “By harnessing these unique…
A new way to store carbon captured from the atmosphere developed by researchers from The University of Texas at Austin works much faster than current methods without the harmful chemical accelerants they require. In new research published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, the team developed a technique for ultrafast formation of carbon dioxide hydrates. These unique ice-like materials can bury carbon dioxide in the ocean, preventing it from being released into the atmosphere. “We’re staring at a huge challenge —…
Norway’s long, rugged coastline – more than 28,953 kilometers long, including the fjords – suffers from plastic pollution even though it is so remote. It’s a problem plaguing all nations of the world. Plastic items from around the world are continuously washing ashore on Norwegian coastlines. This reflects a much larger systemic issue facing the nations of the world. Scientists have long reported the consequences of plastic pollution and the urgent need for intervention, but global plastic production and consumption…
DFKI researchers are in the finals of XPRIZE Rainforest. Researchers from DFKI Niedersachsen, together with doctoral students from the Applied Artificial Intelligence department at the University of Oldenburg, have reached the finals of XPRIZE Rainforest, a global competition that promotes innovative technologies for researching and conserving biodiversity in tropical rainforests. As part of the Brazilian Team, they are developing an AI-system that filters out the acoustic signals that ecologists need to determine species diversity from a large number of audio…
New device measures greenhouse gas captured in building material quickly and easily. A new device can measure carbon dioxide captured in concrete more simply and in a third of the time of current methods. Researchers at the University of Tokyo worked with engineers in industry to create the boxlike device called the concrete thermal gravimetry and gas analyzer. The device heats concrete samples to almost 1,000 degrees Celsius, causing the CO2 within to be released so it can be measured….
WLAN routers made from aluminum, equipped with a versatile multifunctional surface, and made according to the newest EU ecodesign standards: That is the objective of a German-Polish consortium of research and industry partners. With much less plastic used in the design and its circuit boards substantially brought down in size, the proposed routers offer far greater resource efficiency and circularity. WLAN routers are a ubiquitous and inevitable part of today’s connected world. As radar technology and case designs continue to…
Galveston Island was used as an example to predict damage that would occur as a result of hurricanes of varying intensities. Beginning annually on June 1, hurricane season poses a major threat to Texas coastal communities, causing both physical and financial damage to the areas they hit. This damage can be staggering; when Hurricane Harvey hit in 2017, it cost Galveston $132.73 billion in damages. Texas A&M University researchers have collaborated to understand the impacts of storm surge floods before…
The depths of the Weddell Sea are home to diverse biotic communities. Moreover, as climate change progresses, this ice-ladden region could offer a refuge for ice-dependent algae and fauna. In the new EU project WOBEC, the AWI, as the coordinator of a consortium of eleven institutions, will establish the basis for systematic, long-term observations of potential changes in this unique ecosystem. The project, which has been allocated ca. 1.9 million euros of funding, will develop a strategy for monitoring changes…
Even the German Bight is warmer than ever before. Researchers around the globe are sounding the alarm: ocean temperatures are the warmest ever recorded. In 2023, the North Sea also experienced dramatic record highs, as readings taken by the Alfred Wegener Institute’s Biological Institute Helgoland indicate. As data from the time series “Helgoland Reede” also reveal: it’s not the first year in which the German Bight experienced marine heatwaves. The high temperatures and extreme weather events are a product of…
Irrigation with treated wastewater and sewage sludge brings tire additives into the leafy vegetables. Car tires contain hundreds of chemical additives that can leach out of them. This is how they end up in crops and subsequently in the food chain. Researchers at the Center for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science at the University of Vienna and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have now detected these chemical residues in leafy vegetables for the first time. Although the concentrations were low,…
A fungus living in the sea can break down the plastic polyethylene, provided it has first been exposed to UV radiation from sunlight. Researchers from, among others, NIOZ published their results in the scientific journal Science of the Total Environment. They expect that many more plastic degrading fungi are living in deeper parts of the ocean. The fungus Parengyodontium album lives together with other marine microbes in thin layers on plastic litter in the ocean. Marine microbiologists from the Royal…
Emperor penguins are an endangered species. Scientists are protecting the largest of all penguins by monitoring their numbers precisely and investigating which factors affect their population. A team led by researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) has now developed a reliable method that can predict the number of breeding pairs and chicks and serve as an early warning system for climate change in the Antarctic Ocean. The research team has published its findings in the journal “Nature Communications”. Monitoring the global…
A team from Graz University of Technology has analysed the risk and damage potential of hydrogen vehicles in tunnels and derived recommendations. Their conclusion? Any damage would be extensive, but its occurrence is unlikely. In addition to electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered vehicles are also seen as an alternative to conventionally powered vehicles. However, an increase in the number of such cars with fuel cells (fuel cell electric vehicles – FCEVs) would also result in completely new hazard scenarios, especially in tunnels….
MERIAN Expedition MSM129 continues long-term observations in the Labrador Sea. As a crucial part of the global ocean conveyor belt, the Atlantic Ocean transports heat northwards – a process that stabilises the Earth’s current climate. If this heat transport is reduced, a tipping point in the climate system could be crossed, leading to severe changes in global climate. A key region for the global conveyor belt is the North Atlantic, in particular the oceanic processes in the Labrador and Irminger…
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