by Ian Gunsolus edited by Mimi Hang and Ariane Vartanian Did you know that there are nearly 70,000 different types of soil in the United States?1 With the abundance of natural beauty that we see …
sustainability
What Can One Hotel Do to Be Sustainable?
by Miriam Krause Let’s face it, staying in a hotel can be pretty wasteful. All those take-out containers for food, those little soaps in cardboard boxes (or plastic wrap!) that get used three times before …
Sustainable Nano on Open Access Sustainably
by Rigoberto Hernandez This post is part of our ongoing series of public-friendly summaries describing research articles that have been published by members of the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology. Dr. Rigoberto Hernandez (one of the …
Why Don’t We Recycle Styrofoam? – Speaking of Chemistry video
by Miriam Krause This post is part of our occasional “How is that sustainable?” series. You can see our previous post on paper vs. plastic here. This spring, New York City banned the use of …
Nano-Crystalline Metals and Sustainability
by Alex Bryant You’ve read a lot on this blog about how nanoparticles provide amazing opportunities for developing new materials. Over the next few years, we will have incredible advances in sustainable energy, biology, and …
Sustainable Lamps Powered by Algae
by Joe Buchman edited by Ariane Vartanian Have you ever thought about lighting up the streets using algae? I know I certainly hadn’t before researching for this post, but there are some scientists who have …
Is triclosan safe? What you should know about this antibacterial chemical
by Eric Melby Back in January, I wrote a post about the potential hazards of traditional cleaning chemicals. Based on questions and comments from friends and family, I am going to continue on that path, …
Solar Roads: the Science, Potential, and Lingering Questions
by Julianne Troiano There are many ways to reduce our carbon footprint and move towards protecting the environment, but what if we could do this while also preventing automobile accidents, clearing snow without salt and …
Cleaning without chemicals? Part I – The use and hazards of traditional cleaning chemicals
by Eric Melby This is part one of a two (maybe three…definitely four at the most) part series What motivated me to explore the chemical world of cleaning? Is it possible to have nice smelling …
New Nanomaterial for Increased Energy Efficiency – Friday Video
by Lee Bishop A research group at Drexel University has developed a set of material that show promise in increasing the energy storage capacity and charge/discharge speeds of lithium ion batteries. Batteries with greater storage capacity …