environment

We've seen remote-operated submarine robots deployed to shut down the Deepwater Horizon wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill--with mixed results. Now researchers at MIT are proposing surface robots that autonomously collect and process oil. Could they help in the next oil disaster?

The prototype Seaswarm robots move on the water as a fleet. They have large conveyor belts covered with reusable nanowire mesh that absorbs oil. Designed to be 16 feet long by 7 feet wide, the robots are small enough to clean estuaries and shallow waters, but can also tackle large slicks.

As the belt rolls into the body of each robot, the mesh is heated, separating the oil, which is then burned off. As it rolls out of the head, the mesh is ready to absorb more oil. Powered by solar panels, the robots can run on only 100 watts, and could operate for weeks on the water without any need for maintenance.

The researchers, including MIT Senseable City Lab Director Carlo Ratti, estimate that a fleet of 5,000 Seaswarm robots working for one month can clean up surface oil the size of the Gulf spill.

At the heart of the prototype is a nanomaterial fabric developed by MIT's Francesco Stellacci and collaborators that can absorb up to 20 times its weight in oil. It looks and feels like paper, and acts like a paper towel.

Described in a 2008 Nature Nanotechnology report, the fabric consists of minute wires made of potassium manganese oxide. It only absorbs hydrophobic liquids like oil, and repels water. Apparently, it can be immersed in water for months and will be dry when removed. … Read more

It's not often here at Crave that we get to write about frog eggs and robot noses in the same story, so when we saw this report in the latest issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, we smelled an opportunity.

The paper detailing the research is called "Highly sensitive and selective odorant sensor using living cells expressing insect olfactory receptors." Loose translation: take specially treated frog eggs, inject some insect RNA, put the concoction into a fluidic sensor, and stick the device up a robot's nose to give the bot a sense of … Read more

Many say we shouldn't put our heads in the sand when it comes to climate change. But what about putting them in giant balloons that protect us from pollution?

Such an odd contraption, called "La Parole," is currently on display at the Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg in Germany as part of "Climate Capsules: Means of Surviving Disaster." Two people at a time can stick their heads into the inflatable structure to share a common visual and audio space away from contaminants, storms, and aggressive solar radiation.

The exhibit, meant to explore the impact … Read more

Plastiki, a boat constructed of discarded soft-drink bottles, arrived Monday in Sydney, Australia, completing an 11,000-mile journey across the Pacific Ocean intended to draw attention to the way humans treat the environment.

The 60-foot catamaran set sail from Sausalito, Calif., just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, on March 20. Buoyancy was provided by more 12,000 recycled 2-liter bottles donated by Waste Management, which were washed, cleaned, and pressurized before being installed in the boat's twin pontoons.

Banking heir and expedition leader David de Rothschild runs the Adventure Ecology educational organization and is the mastermind behind the … Read more

A Chinese government fund has told a U.N. panel it supports project developers that earn carbon offsets under a lucrative Kyoto Protocol program, and rejects the idea that they are overcompensated.

Chinese project developers rejected key grounds for a review of Kyoto's clean development mechanism (CDM), and the China CDM Fund supported them, confidential papers showed a week before a U.N. panel decides whether to launch a formal review of the program.

The projects are the most lucrative under the CDM, which allows rich countries to buy offsets from carbon-cutting projects in the developing world as a … Read more

BP moved ships and workers back to a Gulf of Mexico oil spill as a storm diminished on Saturday, but work to permanently seal the blown-out well could be delayed at least a week.

Ships and rigs working to drill a relief well intended to halt the leak for good were expected back in place on Sunday, but reconnecting the piping to the well could delay the operation seven to nine days, officials said.

Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, head of the U.S. spill response, said the launch of a "static kill" operation to plug the … Read more

Global sales of electric vehicles are set to rise this year due to worries about security of oil supply, the environment and fuel costs, UK consultancy J.D. Power said on Friday.

Global sales of electric cars are expected to reach 940,000 units this year compared with 732,000 units last year, with the number jumping to 3 million in 2015, J.D. Power analysts said in a report.

The uptake of battery powered cars is seen as key to fighting climate change by cutting carbon emissions, as well as a way to wean economies off imported or difficult … Read more

After a month and a half at sea, British ocean rower and environmental campaigner Roz Savage made landfall Friday in Papua New Guinea, completing her three-stage trip and becoming the first woman to row solo across the Pacific Ocean.

"It's still sinking in that I've actually done it," Savage, 42, said in an e-mail Friday.

She set off in her 23-foot boat from Tarawa in mid-April on the final leg of her Pacific voyage. In total, she spent about 250 days alone at sea, rowing more than 8,000 miles and taking an estimated 2.5 … Read more

Greenpeace activists on Wednesday cloaked Dell headquarters in Texas with a banner directed at founder Michael Dell that read, "Michael, What the Dell? Design Out Toxics! - Greenpeace."

The publicity stunt was timed with the Wednesday release of Greenpeace's 15th quarterly "Guide to Greener Electronics" (PDF).

The environmental activist group gave a low score to computer manufacturing giant Dell for its failure to make good on a promise to eliminate toxins like PVC plastics and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from its products.

Greenpeace gave the company low points in its July 2009 guide for missing … Read more