All posts tagged: produced

Carbon-neutral hydrogen can be produced from farm waste

Carbon-neutral hydrogen can be produced from farm waste

Published by skeptic

Farm waste could be turned into hydrogen fuel ImageryBT/Shutterstock Hydrogen could be made using agricultural waste under a new production process that uses less energy than existing methods and emits no greenhouse gases. The novel process turns bioethanol into clean hydrogen and acetic acid, a substance found in vinegar that is also used in the chemicals, food and pharmaceutical industries. Most hydrogen is produced from natural gas; the process is energy-intensive and expensive. Hydrogen can also be produced from water using renewable electricity, but this approach is even more expensive than using natural gas. Graham Hutchings at the University of Cardiff, UK, and his colleagues have developed an alternative method that relies on a catalyst made of platinum and iridium to extract hydrogen from bioethanol and water, without releasing any carbon dioxide. The bioethanol used in the process can be made from waste plant material, Hutchings says. “We don’t make CO2, and so we are not making something that is an environmental burden,” says Hutchings. “We are taking a biologically sustainable source of carbon and …

The Junky’s Christmas: William S. Burrough’s Dark Claymation Christmas Film Produced by Francis Ford Coppola (1993)

The Junky’s Christmas: William S. Burrough’s Dark Claymation Christmas Film Produced by Francis Ford Coppola (1993)

Published by José

Back in 1993, the Beat writer William S. Bur­roughs wrote and nar­rat­ed a 21-minute clay­ma­tion Christ­mas film odd­ly pro­duced by Fran­cis Ford Cop­po­la. And, as you can well imag­ine, it’s not your nor­mal hap­py Christ­mas flick. Nope, this film – The Junky’s Christ­mas – is all about Dan­ny the Car­wiper, a junkie, who spends Christ­mas Day try­ing to score a fix. Even­tu­al­ly he finds the Christ­mas spir­it when he shares some mor­phine with a young man suf­fer­ing from kid­ney stones, giv­ing him the “immac­u­late fix.” There you have it. Hap­py hol­i­days.… If you would like to sign up for Open Culture’s free email newslet­ter, please find it here. Or fol­low our posts on Threads, Face­book, BlueSky or Mastodon. If you would like to sup­port the mis­sion of Open Cul­ture, con­sid­er mak­ing a dona­tion to our site. It’s hard to rely 100% on ads, and your con­tri­bu­tions will help us con­tin­ue pro­vid­ing the best free cul­tur­al and edu­ca­tion­al mate­ri­als to learn­ers every­where. You can con­tribute through Pay­Pal, Patre­on, and Ven­mo (@openculture). Thanks! Relat­ed Con­tent  The “Priest” They Called Him: …

Helpful virus could save billions of gallons of wastewater produced by the oil and gas industry

Helpful virus could save billions of gallons of wastewater produced by the oil and gas industry

Published by skeptic

Ramón Sánchez (pictured right), a doctoral candidate within UTEP’s chemistry program, has identified a novel method for treating bacteria in ‘produced water’ through the use of bacteriophages. Ricardo Bernal, Ph.D., (pictured left) is an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UTEP and Sánchez’ doctoral advisor. (CREDIT: UTEP) The oil and gas industry generates vast quantities of wastewater, also known as produced water. A 2022 report by the Texas Produced Water Consortium estimates a staggering 168 billion gallons annually in the Permian Basin alone. This massive waste stream presents a significant challenge due to its complex chemical composition, making traditional treatment methods difficult and expensive. Bacteriophages, or phages for short, are viruses that specifically target and infect bacteria. Often lethal to a single bacterial species, phages hold immense potential for a rapid and cost-effective approach to treating produced water on an industrial scale. Ramón Antonio Sánchez, the study’s lead author and a doctoral candidate in UTEP’s chemistry program, emphasizes the potential impact. “If successful, this could revolutionize the way the oil and gas industry manages …

Russian journalist held over videos produced for Navalny’s team

Russian journalist held over videos produced for Navalny’s team

Published by skeptic

Moscow —  A Russian journalist has been detained on “extremism” accusations for helping to create YouTube videos for the team of late opposition figurehead Alexey Navalny, Moscow courts said Saturday. Konstantin Gabov, who according to media reports worked for Russian television channels Moskva 24 and MIR as well as Belarusian news agency Belsat and occasionally for the Reuters news agency, will remain in pre-trial detention until at least June 27, the courts’ press service said on Telegram. He is accused of “taking part in the preparation of photos and videos to be published on the YouTube channel NavalnyLIVE,” one of the platforms used by Navalny’s team, the courts said. Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic, died in murky circumstances in his Arctic prison in February. His movement is designated as “extremist,” exposing its staff and supporters to prosecution. Most of Navalny’s allies are in exile or serving lengthy prison sentences. In March, photographer Antonina Kravtsova was also held on “extremism” accusations after frequently covering Navalny’s trials for SOTAvision, one of few media organizations …

NASA Ponders Why Gas Produced by Life on Earth Is Leaking Out of Mars at Night

NASA Ponders Why Gas Produced by Life on Earth Is Leaking Out of Mars at Night

Published by skeptic

The plot thickens. Emission Control NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover has made consistent and puzzling findings while roaming the barren surface of the planet’s Gale Crater: mysterious puffs of methane gas that only appear at night and vanish during the day. Over the years, the rover’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument has repeatedly detected significant concentrations of the gas, sometimes spiking to 40 times the usual levels — and scientists are still trying to figure out the source, as NASA details in a new blog post. It’s an especially intriguing finding, given that living creatures produce methane here on Earth, giving the findings special significance as NASA scans the Red Planet for signs of subterranean life. But while we’re still far from being able to tell once and for all if Mars was once — or perhaps still is — teeming with life, NASA researchers are hard at work investigating the phenomenon. Planetary Indigestion NASA planetary scientist Alexander Pavlov conducted a series of experiments, replicating the current conditions in Gale Crater today and finding that temperature …

Who Produced The Princess Diaries?

Who Produced The Princess Diaries?

Published by Sam

In quite the blow to millenials, the Anne Hathaway classic The Princess Diaries is approaching its 23rd anniversary later this year. The Disney film was Anne’s first time in a leading role, which she described to People magazine as being a “very, very magical” experience. As well as being the future Oscar winner’s first big break, you may have forgotten that it also starred Mandy Moore as mean girl Lana Thomas, while Sandra Oh played Vice Principal Gupta! An iconic cast, we’re sure you’ll agree. However, it turns out there was a bit of a surprising A-lister who worked on the film as a producer. The singer on The Princess Diaries production team While the dazzling cast was front-and-centre of the film, behind the scenes in production was no other than Whitney Houston. The I Wanna Dance With Somebody singer, who also produced the Princess Diaries sequel, kept this somewhat under-wraps with even Netflix tweeting in 2018: “Excuse me, but I have to call everyone I’ve ever met and yell at them for not telling …

The Guardian view on rising poverty levels: political attacks on the poor have produced penury | Editorial

The Guardian view on rising poverty levels: political attacks on the poor have produced penury | Editorial

Published by skeptic

Poverty is a political choice – one that Conservative governments have much to answer for. Since 2010, Tory administrations have chosen to have a significant percentage of our population impoverished, including, especially, our country’s children. The Child Poverty Action Group’s analysis of official data last week showed that a third of those between infancy and adulthood – 4.3 million children – were in relative poverty, up from 3.6 million in 2010-11. Even by the government’s preferred measure, absolute poverty, the share of children in penury rose in 2022-23 by its highest rate for 30 years. No principle of economics says such a degree of immiseration should prevail in one of the richest countries in the world. The reason for this extraordinary rise in poverty? The most obvious explanation is the low level of benefits and the restrictions on accessing support. Benefit levels have fallen by 8.8% in real terms since 2012. Cutting back on welfare produces more poverty, not less. There is money. But not specifically for the poor. Ministers tout tax cuts worth £9 a week …

Why the Writing Produced by Generative AI Feels Counterfeit

Why the Writing Produced by Generative AI Feels Counterfeit

Published by skeptic

Source: Gerard Siderius / Unsplash The Industrial Revolution mechanized production, replacing the artistry of skilled craft with the monotony of productive repetition. There is an inevitable logic, but also a kind of magic, in the evolution from streamlined controls and efficiencies in material industries to generative AI’s use of “neural networks,” intricate webs of interconnected nodes designed to mimic the function and structure of the human brain and to learn from data in ways that “rule-based” systems cannot, a streamlining of controls and efficiencies in information processing, machine learning, and creative AI generativity. There are many goods, literally and figuratively, produced by such innovation. Generative AI is revolutionizing not only the digital realm but also how we conceive, design, and produce computer chips and countless physical products, print circuit boards, analyze thermal transfer and distribution in electronics systems, and enable scenario simulations that explore alternate possibilities, test assumptions, and improve problem-solving. Yet, when it comes to the art of the written word, there is a difference between generative AI’s conjuring and the authentic generative potential …

Lifechanging cancer drug produced from plant found only in rainforests

Lifechanging cancer drug produced from plant found only in rainforests

Published by skeptic

In nature, the compound EBC-46, also known as tigilanol tiglate appears in the seeds of the pink fruit of the blushwood tree, Fontainea picrosperma. (CREDIT: Creative Commons) Researchers at Stanford University have found a fast and reliable way to make a powerful substance that fights cancer in the lab. This substance, called EBC-46, has been hard to get because it only comes from one plant found in a small part of the rainforest in Northeastern Australia. EBC-46, also known as tigilanol tiglate, works by helping the body’s immune system attack tumors in one spot. This causes the blood vessels in the tumor to break, which ultimately kills the cancer cells. Because it was so successful in treating cancer in dogs, EBC-46 is now being tested on people in clinical trials. EBC-46, a complicated substance, was hard to make in a lab because its structure was tough to replicate. But, clever scientists from Stanford figured out a way to change a common plant material into EBC-46 for the first time. PhD students Edward Njoo, David Fanelli, …

New Ceramics and Pottery Reality TV Show Produced By Seth Rogen Debuts

New Ceramics and Pottery Reality TV Show Produced By Seth Rogen Debuts

Published by skeptic

A new reality competition television show starring pottery and ceramics, guest-judged and executive produced by Seth Rogen, debuted yesterday on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Titled The Great Canadian Pottery Throw Down, the show features 10 amateur potters in weekly challenges, testing their skill and techniques, to determine the eventual winner. Canadian actress Jennifer Robertson is the host. Ceramicists Brendan Tang and Natalie Waddell serve as judges. Tang, an accomplished multidisciplinary artist, was shortlisted for the Sobey Art Prize and was a finalist in the Loewe Foundation’s International Craft Prize; museums that hold his work include the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the Seattle Art Museum. Related Articles Waddell is a ceramic artist and educator based in Toronto who completed the Sheridan College Ceramic Craft and Design program in 2003. Prior to The Great Canadian Pottery Throw Down, Rogen’s interest in ceramics became such a phenomenon that it prompted a profile in the New York Times in 2021. The feature detailed how Rogen developed his affinity for pottery during the pandemic, “posting endless photos …