Scientists have discovered a reliable way to extract renewable energy from ordinary seawater. The research team, from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne’s Laboratory of Nanoscale Biology in Switzerland, employed a natural process called osmosis, where a fluid permeates through a membrane from one side to another.
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An Asian studies expert and amateur satellite tracker have voiced their concerns over the possibility that China’s Tiangong-1 space station may be de-orbiting without control from the ground. The station, launched in 2011, was a temporary testbed for the technologies for Tiangong-2, a permanent station scheduled to be launched in September of this year. Beijing’s original plan was to de-orbit the spacecraft in 2013, but Tiangong-1, Chinese for "Heavenly Palace 1", remained in orbit after that date, conducting long-term endurance tests of the now unmanned station’s components.
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Adding to the ongoing reports of mystery sounds being heard around the world, the city of Alhambra, California, has been plagued by the sounds of mysterious explosions since February of this year. To date, emergency services have received 114 reports regarding the phenomenon, where witnesses report hearing a loud explosion, strong enough to rattle windows, but no resulting flash, smoke or fire can be seen: “No one has seen the cause of the booms, smelled it or found remnants of fireworks,” according to Alhambra City Manager Mark Yokoyama, “and the calls we get don’t have enough specificity for us to find the source.”
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A new study has highlighted a disaster that is brewing for countries in Africa due to the issue of global warming: the study’s climate models show that extreme heat waves may become an annual occurrence detrimentally impacting both life expectancy, and crop production in as little as two decades. With much of the continent lying within tropical latitudes, the heat experienced by Africa is infamous; with heat-caused drought, and famine already being an all-too common occurrence.
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