Displays Controlled By Flexible Fins & Liquid Droplets More Versatile & Efficient Than LED Screens
Engineers inspired by the morphing skins of animals like chameleons and octopuses
university of illinois
Renewable Solar Energy Can Help Purify Water & The Environment
Chemists led by Beckman researcher Xiao Su have demonstrated that water remediation can be powered in part — and perhaps even exclusively — by renewable energy sources.
High-Res Maps Of Entire Polar Regions Provide Clues For Climate Researchers
Four more years of high-resolution imagery data have been released to show the polar regions in stunning detail, thanks to a hard-working team of researchers at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. The new images have been added to eight years of previous data, which introduce the most detailed polar region … [continued]
Machine Learning Could Speed Up Search For New Battery Materials
To discover materials for better batteries, researchers must wade through a vast field of candidates. New research demonstrates a machine learning technique that could more quickly surface ones with the most desirable properties. The study could accelerate designs for solid-state batteries, a promising next-generation technology that has the potential to … [continued]
US Funding For Solar PV + Agriculture & Small Innovative Solar PV & CSP Projects
This fifth round of US DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office projects involve solar PV plus agriculture and small innovative solar PV and CSP projects.
Solar Panels + Agriculture: You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet
More good news for renewables: US Energy Department hatches plan to pepper US farms with crop-friendly solar panels.
Photosynthesis Differs in Rice Varieties — Natural Diversity Could Boost Yields
Rice is a direct source of calories for more people than any other and serves as the main staple for some 560 million chronically hungry people in Asia. With over 120,000 varieties of cultivated rice (Oryza sativa) across the globe, there is a wealth of natural diversity to be mined by plant scientists to increase yields. A team from the University of Illinois and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) examined how 14 diverse varieties photosynthesize—the process by which all crops convert sunlight energy into sugars that ultimately become our food.
NASA To Provide $6 Million For Electric Aircraft Research At Univ. Of Illinois
NASA will pay $6 million dollars over the next three years to support electric aircraft research at the University of Illinois. The NASA-backed program is called CHEETA — the Center for Cryogenic High-Efficiency Electrical Technologies for Aircraft. Phillip Ansell, a principal investigator for the project, and an assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Urbana-Champaign, answered some questions about the work for CleanTechnica.
Large-Scale Wind & Solar Development Could Reshape The Sahara
A new study published this week has revealed the possibility that large-scale development of wind and solar in the Sahara Desert could result in increases to local temperature, precipitation, and vegetation, resulting in overall beneficial environmental changes.
New “Artificial Leaf” Solar Cell Upcycles Atmospheric CO2 For Sustainable Fuel
A new one-pot “artificial leaf” solar energy harvesting system grabs CO2 from the air, converts it into fuel like magic (or like nanoscience, whatever).
