Wind turbines have come a long way in the last 25 years, and their bright clean spires still inspire hope that we may yet dodge the bullet of global warming. But, like all things in the real world, they have a downside. Because the blades are designed to be incredibly resilient for the twenty years or so of their working life, they are hard to dispose of at the end,and very often just end up in landfill.

Now a team of scientists at Tsinghua University[1] led by the ingenious Dr Bing Deng have found a way around all that. So today we showcase this encouraging report by Gaby Clarke and Robert Egan for Cell Press via the excellent Tech Explore website,[2] because it’s all rather hopeful. The idea was to use a technique called Flash Joule Heating, which blasts the old blades at 2000⁰ C , transforming them into Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Graphene (C).[3] [4] Both of which are excellent building materials, as astute readers will have already spotted. And note the key piece of learning, which the authors hand directly to a quote by Dr Deng:

This is more than recycling. It’s upcycling,” says Deng. “We’re turning something that has little value into something that’s worth much more.”

We look forward already to the new process being scaled up and applied at an industrial scale. But click on the hyper to find out the full details.

Well, there’s much to be happy about here, gentle readers. For one thing we still remember the gleeful sneers of those who opposed every aspect of wind turbines, and their finger-pointing at accumulating piles of old blades. That may suddenly be as out of date as their ideas on oil and coal. But at a deeper level we think the story shows how the calm application of the scientific method can actually solve many of our problems, if we are patient enough to use it. Isn’t that what this blog is all about?

[1]Tsinghua University

[2]Scientists give hard-to-recycle wind turbine blades a second life

[3]Silicon carbide – Wikipedia

[4] Graphene – Wikipedia

#global warming # Wind turbines # Tsinghua University #silicon carbide #graphene #upcycling #recycling #sustainability #climate change #engineering #chemistry

In the last blog we saw how King Henry II faced a problem like the one we have today: if everyone obeyed a single common set of laws, then things could only get better: but how, when everyone was attached to their ancient and extremely local, system?

Henry’s insight was not to abolish local courts and customs. Instead, he sent out Royal Justices in eyre: itinerant experts who stopped at different places to offer Assize courts.  These  judges  were not usually local landowners. They were royal servants, administrators, churchmen and lawyers chosen for their loyalty and competence. Acting in the King’s name, each travelled on regular circuits, sometimes  across several counties hearing disputes, bearing writs, investigating crime and supervising local officials. Their judgements might draw from the best aspects of local laws, from established practice or sometimes plain reason. But they were carefully recorded providing bodies of best practice by which future judges might be advised in their deliberations…

A Norman lord, an English freeholder, a townsman and a church institution might all possess different customs and privileges, but when a dispute entered the King’s jurisdiction it was increasingly handled according to common procedures. The question became less “What is the custom in this village?” and more “How does the King’s court deal with such a case?” A merchant from Yorkshire could sell fish in Somerset with growing confidence that local connections and customs would not be used against him. Such confidence is one of the foundations of prosperity. England would become the financial base of Henry’s wider empire. Yet that was eight centuries ago. Could the same principle of common rules work in the twenty-first century? In our next blog we shall ask not what ought to be done, but what might be possible. Always a good place to start from

Henry II of England – Wikipedia

#justinian #napoleon #statute law #common law #trade #finance # justice #cutom #history #society

NASA has been recruiting people who have The Right Stuff for nearly 70 years. Now they’re at it  again, to staff long term colonies on the Moon– and who knows, maybe even Mars-according to this excellent story by Kelly Aouga of the Guardian Yet it’s our job to look for the long term implications, gentle readers. And we think they may be very great indeed Maybe today, the 9^th November 2026 is the point at which humanity begins to fissure into two, three- and maybe more species. [1]

Consider the gravity of the situation. The Moon has only one sixth of the heavy stuff we enjoy down here. If long term colonies form, and start having children, then Moon humans will be taller, lighter boned, with huge eyes adapted to dim habitats, and perhaps living largely underground to avoid radiation. Above all ,anyone born and raised on the Moon will be far too fragile for any meaningful life on Earth-so they won’t try.  On Mars the gravity differential will be less: but we will still find Mars humans to be significantly different to Terrestrials, adapted to enclosed environments, their culture shaped by permanent scarcity and engineering discipline.  Cue searches for sexual partners and breeding patterns away and apart from the ancestral stock. And there will be other factors such as distance and cultural affiliation driving these populations into reproductive isolation long before it becomes biologically determined.

It has happened before: the leap from water to land was just as biologically momentous as the leap from land to Outer Space. But when the first amphibians crawled ashore in the Devonian . they just looked like the newts in your garden pond. They had no desire, and no wish, to be transformed into frogs, crocodiles, pterodactyls, birds, giraffes, rats, bats, cats or humans. But it happened just the same, because of the forces of Natural Selection on the original body plan. And notice, gentle readers-none of the new species co-operate much or get on very well together, do they? Perhaps that is a warning as well.

It was the late great Arthur C Clarke who first noted this trope. But we have found one website called Sentinel Mission which will give you a launch pad for further exploration. [2]

[1] Nasa seeks next generation of astronauts to live and work on the moon | Nasa | The Guardian

[2] How Would Space Colonization Change Humanity? A Clear Look at the Social, Economic, and Biological Impacts – Sentinel Mission

#vertebrates #devonian #evolution #space exploration #moon #space colonies #amphibians #human biology #kelly aouga #arthur c Clarke

Today we are showcasing an article by George Monbiot of the Guardian. It’s not that we always agree with everything he says, nor revere every word he writes. But we do read a lot of writers: and no one among them surpasses him for clarity, learning and above all fearlessness. Which means that we really ought to bring him to you gentle readers, so you can at the very least make up your minds for yourselves. And when his article touches on two of our most nurtured preoccupations, then our choice is complete. [1]

For George is deeply concerned with mink farms, which he believes present a particular risk in the emergence of the next major pandemic. Older readers will remember something called COVID-19: but George’s bête noire is the risk of another avian flu pandemic, that is to say our old friend the H₅N₁ variant (LSS passim)  which could be considerably worse. And George cites three reasons which worry him:

mink are fed on the offcuts of chickens, cows and other farm animals, in which new viral variants often develop; mink readily host both avian and human flu viruses, which can then exchange genetic material, turning a bird disease into a human one; and mink possess extremely high “zoonotic potential” – the ability to infect animals of other species, including human beings.

And being the good writer that he is, George widens out to make the case against many forms of similar farming and livestock management, and how they hold a sinister potential to affect Antibiotic Resistance, that other Favourite Cause of this blog and its myriad readers.

But once again we urge you to hit on the hyperlink and decide for yourselves, gentle readers. The feared plague has not happened yet. And while there are scientists, good legislators, veterinarians and honest journalists like George, it may yet be averted.

[1] The next global pandemic could be brewing on a mink farm in Utah – and little is being done to stop it | George Monbiot | The Guardian

[2] Avian influenza – Wikipedia

#mink farm #pandemic #avian influenza #health #food production #farming #virus antibiotic resistance  #medicine #factory farming #agriculture #george monbiot

We won’t spend too much time setting up the showcase for today’s blog. Because Nature Briefing does the whole thing much better, via this piece Bones might hold an anti-ageing secret, so we’ll let you read it and make a couple of our stock in trade observations at the end

The mechanical strain placed on the skeleton during physical activity might prompt bones to release proteins that slow ageing, a study in mice suggests. Researchers found that gently squeezing the legs of mice to simulate the movement of exercise triggered force-sensing cells called osteocytes to secrete molecules that rejuvenate immune cells and reprogram cells in other organs to a younger state. Mice that went through this faux exercise regime lived around three months longer on average than did mice that didn’t.

Science | 5 min read
Reference: Cell Metabolism paper

Just when we think we’ve found all the tricks, along comes another one: apparently our bones may have been quietly manufacturing anti-ageing signals all along. Which only goes to show. We know that regular physical activity reduces chronic inflammation, helps maintain muscle and bone, improves the body’s response to insulin and keeps the heart and blood vessels in better working order. [2] Which leads us to another thought: why are all those bans on cars, speed restrictions and pedestrian areas really such bad ideas? Next time someone starts banging on about them in the pub, you’ll know why they’re wrong.

[2] Benefits of exercise – NHS

#health #transport #cars #skeleton #exercise #fitness #bone #pollution