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Airbnb is Setting Up 100,000 Refugees From Ukraine With Free Housing

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Good News Network
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Airbnb

Airbnb.org has announced it will offer free, short-term housing to up to 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine.

Airbnb’s co-founders have already sent letters to leaders across Europe, starting with those in Poland, Germany, Hungary, and Romania—offering support in welcoming refugees within their borders, and promising to work closely with governments to best support the specific needs in each country, including by providing longer-term stays.

This announcement is part of a larger movement by the company to support refugees and other displaced people around the world. Last month, the organization announced that it has provided housing to 21,300 Afghan refugees, and it has set a new goal of providing free, temporary housing to another 20,000 refugees from Afghanistan, Africa, the Middle East, Central and South America, and other regions.

RELATED: Ukrainian Soldiers Adopt Freezing Puppy –And Now ‘Rambo’ Stands Guard for Them (WATCH)

Over the past five years, Airbnb and Airbnb.org have connected more than 54,000 refugees and asylees—including from Syria, Venezuela, and Afghanistan—to temporary housing through Airbnb.org partners.

Last year, Airbnb.org also announced the creation of its Refugee Fund and has galvanized more than 4,000 donors to further support its work with refugees and asylum seekers worldwide.

“We know that Hosts and guests on Airbnb around the world are eager to stand up and assist this massive effort to help those fleeing Ukraine,” the company has stated.

MORE: Ukraine Receives Truckload of Starlink Terminals From Elon Musk For Uninterrupted Internet

Anyone who is interested in supporting this initiative, including by offering free or discounted stays, can go to airbnb.org/help-ukraine to get involved.

These stays will be funded by the company, donors to the Airbnb.org Refugee Fund, and the generosity of Hosts through Airbnb.org.

Featured image: Airbnb

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The Perfect Answer for Berlin’s Invasive Species Problem – Make Them Into Delicious Cuisine

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Andy Corbley
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Holycrab/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/holycrabberlin/
Holycrab!/Facebook

A Berlin food truck is opening people’s minds and mouths by feeding them a menu of invasive species with the slogan, “If you can’t beat them, eat them!”

Serving up Louisiana crawfish, baked nutria, Chinese crab, carp sandwiches, Nile geese, raccoon steak, and more, Holycrab! is helping control invasive populations and teaching folks that not every dinner has to consist of farm animals.

While humans have largely narrowed consumed animal proteins to less than ten species, invasive populations around the world cause trillions of dollars in damages, and perhaps a third of all extinctions.

Holycrab! started out when business consultants Lukas and Juliane Bosch learned that Louisiana crawfish were invasive in the city of Berlin. With crawfish being a local delicacy in the U.S. for its lobster-like taste, they soon joined forces with Berlin gourmet chef Andreas Michelus to devise a crawfish-based menu for a food truck, and started buying from a licensed fisherman.

MORE: Bangladesh’s ‘YouTube Village’ Has 4 Million Subscribers Watching Elderly Villagers Cooking Extravagant Feasts

Now the menu has grown to include raccoon, which are hunted to control the population. Nile goose with green sauce was added when farmers complained that the invasive geese were eating their watercress and sorrel crops (the chief ingredients of green sauce).

Holycrab!/Facebook

“We deliberately started with the food truck to try out new recipes and get the opportunity to talk to people.” Lukas Bosch told Michaela Haas, at Reasons to be Cheerful. “For instance, the Chinese mitten crab came from China to Germany about a 100 years ago on cargo ships. It’s grotesque how big they grow and thrive here. The Chinese pay gourmet prices for them because water pollution has made them a rarity in China.”

The couple was inspired by the “invasivore” movement led by University of Vermont conservationist Joe Roman, who maintains the Eat the Invaders website. There, one can find recipes for nutria, garlic mustard, Japanese knot weed, Asian shore crab, lion fish, and more.

RELATED: Covering Crops in Red Plastic Can Boost Yields Up to 37 Percent

Even in one of the most competitive food markets in Europe, Holycrab! picked up the 2020 Eat! Berlin Award. They cater events, too—teaching more people that they can eat to protect their ecosystems.

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Debut Episode of ‘LIVIN’ GOOD CURRENCY’ Podcast with GNN Co-Owner and Inspiring Guests

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Andy Corbley
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The Good News: A New GNN Podcast has launched today, called Livin’ Good Currency!

The Lesson: All of us are moving along a similar timeline towards the same end. Dying is an inevitable part of life, which gives every day an urgency. How we spend each hour—and whether its expenditure actually supported our ultimate goals—is constantly being altered based on our short-term wants and fears. In the same way that ‘money well-spent’ is its own reward, time well-spent (by doing good things in the world), is the ultimate reward—because time is what we all want more of.

Notable Excerpt: “If we on this show were able to give you $10 or $10 million, which one would you choose? Now what if I said that that $10 was attached to 60 years to live, and the $10 million was attached to 60 days to live? If you change the way you look at things, the way things look will change. The vast majority of us will pick the $10. So that means time is actually want we want more of.”

The Podcast: Livin’ Good Currency explores the relationship of time to our lives. It gives a simple, straight-forward formula that anyone can use to be present in the moment—and features a co-host who knows better than anyone the value of time (see below). How do you want to spend your life? This hour can inspire you, along with upcoming guests, to be sure you are ‘Livin’ Good Currency’ and never get caught running out of time.

Livin’ Good Currency cohosts Tony Samadani and Tobias Tubbs

The Hosts: Good News Network fans will know Tony (Anthony) Samadani as the co-owner of GNN and its Chief of Strategic Partnerships. Co-host Tobias Tubbs was handed a double life sentence without the possibility of parole for a crime he didn’t commit. Behind bars, he used his own version of the Livin’ Good Currency formula to inspire young men in prison to turn their hours into honors. An expert in conflict resolution, spirituality, and philosophy, Tobias is a master gardener who employs ex-felons to grow their Good Currency by planting crops and feeding neighborhoods.

See all the episodes on GNN — Subscribe to the Podcast:  On iTunes… On Spotify… On Amazon Music… Or Google Play.

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Giant Floating Solar Panel Flowers Replace Coal in Korea and Become Tourist Destination

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Andy Corbley
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The world’s largest floating PV plant is under construction at the Hapcheon Dam in South Korea. Republic of Korea Blue House YouTube

South Korea’s total land surface is not large. Instead of clearing what little real estate there is for renewable energy projects, 92,000 solar panels in the shape of plum blossoms now float on the gently bobbing surface of a southern reservoir.

The solar project on the 17-mile-long reservoir in Hapcheon is able to generate 41.5 megawatts, enough to provide power for 60,000 people—more than the total population of the county.

Floating solar photovoltaic (PV) is becoming a go-to method of renewable energy production in Asia, and a recent speech by President Moon Jae-in outlined floating solar as an important part of a total-renewables plan for the generation of 9.4 gigawatts of electricity in South Korea, or about the same as nine nuclear reactors.

“The three peaks of Hwangmaesan Mountain reflected on Hapcheon Lake form the shape of a plum blossom. Sprawled on the surface of this lake are photovoltaic panels that also resemble plum blossoms from an ink-and-wash painting,” said President Moon.

MORE: California Erects Solar Panels Over Canal to Save Huge Supply of Water From Evaporation

Hanwa, the company in charge of constructing the blossom panel arrays, suggests that demand for floating PV is expected to rise in the coming years—not only in Asia. Thailand has already built the world’s largest floating PV solar panel plant, which is about the size of 70 soccer pitches.

Pairing PV solar panels to water sources like canals, ground-level humidity, or reservoirs increases their efficiency by as much as 10%, as the surrounding water helps them remain naturally cooler. Bloomberg reports that they also help decrease hostile algae blooms.

RELATED: Solar Power Will Account for Nearly Half of New U.S. Electric Generating Capacity in 2022

$1.4 million, or around 4% of the total financing for the project, was fronted by Hapcheon locals. They were the first to be offered the chance at joining a 20-year, 10% annual return investment scheme, which should help generate useful income for elderly residents in an area where the average age is nearly 60.

(Featured photo by Republic of Korea Blue House / YouTube)

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“Peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm.” – Tatah Mentan

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Gaelle Marcel - Unsplash

Quote of the Day:  “Peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm.” – Tatah Mentan 

Photo: Gaelle Marcel

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

 

Working in Your ‘Off’ Hours Can Harm Your Motivation and Enthusiasm For Work

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The traditional 9-to-5 work week has been replaced in many cases by hybrid hours that fit your needs—but at what cost, if you do too much work?

But working a nontraditional schedule, and checking in during all hours of the day, night, and weekends, is not necessarily beneficial for the modern workforce, according to new Cornell research.

“Even if you’re still working 40 hours a week, you’re working during time that you’ve mentally encoded as time off, or as time that should be for a vacation—and that can make you feel suddenly that your work is less enjoyable,” said Kaitlin Woolley, Cornell’s SC Johnson College of Business.

“We had this feeling that sometimes the ability to work when we want to could also impact how we feel about our work,” Woolley said.

So, she and Laura Giurge, assistant professor of behavioral science at London School of Economic, started examining the effects that off-hours working (or studying) has on job satisfaction and motivation.

In one study, the researchers approached Cornell students studying in a campus library on President’s Day. They reminded half the participants that they were studying during a federal holiday; the other half did not receive this reminder. They then measured students’ intrinsic motivation for their schoolwork—asking them how enjoyable, engaging, interesting and fun they found their materials to be. Students who were reminded the day was a federal holiday reported that their work was 15% less enjoyable.

RELATED: 56% of Small Biz Owners Think Remote Working Has Made Them Better Leaders Says Poll

In another study, the researchers measured whether a simple calendar reminder on a federal holiday (MLK Day) would alter full-time workers’ perception of work enjoyment. They found that work was 9% less enjoyable on the holiday Monday, compared with a typical Monday, despite engaging in similar work-related activities on both days.

In the third study, participants were surveyed on a Tuesday, with no reminder that it’s a typical work day, then again on a Saturday. Some participants were reminded that it was Saturday, “a weekend day,” while others were given no reminder. Both groups reported lower levels of work satisfaction on the weekend day, although the effect was stronger in the reminder group.

Woolley and Giurge think part of this discrepancy has to do with the idea of “collective time off”—having free time when friends and family are also off.

“The real benefit of time off on the weekend or on holidays is that it’s not just that I have time off, but my family and friends have time off, too,” Woolley told the Cornell Chronicle. “And so, one thing that we suggest for managers is, can you create a ‘weekend shift’ so people feel like they’re in it together with other people?”

CHECK Out: Get Your US Taxes Filed Digitally for Free Using These Websites

The idea of “work-life balance” – setting boundaries between work and “play” times – has been a priority for many employers and employees recently. Woolley said it can be hard for workers who feel pressured to achieve to commit to striking that balance.

“It’s hard sometimes for workers who aren’t in a position of power, whereas I think managers have the responsibility to create that environment for their employees,” she said. “I do think people are becoming more aware of the importance of that, and shaping their jobs and their life choices to allow for it.”

Their results were published as, Working During Non-Standard Work Time Undermines Intrinsic Motivation, on Feb. 26 in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.

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City Trees and Soil Are Sucking More Carbon Out of the Atmosphere Than We Thought

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Hong Kong by Florian Wehde

(Original article by Jessica Colarossi, edited for length)

Hong Kong by Florian Wehde

Boston researchers have found that trees and soils on the outermost edges of forests and city parks may play a greater role in fighting climate change than previously imagined.

They may not have lungs like we do, but the soil and trees are breathing in and out all of the time. Trees take in carbon dioxide (CO2) and also store carbon in their trunks.

Forests actually store more carbon dioxide than they release, which is an incredible service to our planet: about 30 percent of fossil fuel emissions are eliminated when forests absorb them, an effect called the terrestrial carbon sink.

“We’re not feeling the full effects of climate change because of the terrestrial climate sink,” says Boston University biogeochemist and ecologist Lucy Hutyra.

But, what happens to the planet’s “lungs” when large forests are cut down into smaller patches, a process researchers call forest fragmentation.

“We think about forests as big landscapes, but really they are chopped up into all these little segments because of the human world,” says Hutyra, a BU College of Arts & Sciences professor of earth and environment. These alterations to forests create more areas called forest edges—literally, the trees at the outermost edge of a forest.

RELATED: Hedgerows Are 2,000 Times More Valuable For Ecosystems Than We Could Imagine

It has long been assumed that these forest edges release and store carbon at similar rates as forest interiors, but Hutyra and researchers in her lab at BU have discovered this isn’t true. In two recent research papers, Hutyra’s team found edge trees grow faster than their country cousins deep in the forest, and that soil in urban areas can hoard more carbon dioxide than previously thought. Their results challenge current ideas about conservation and the value of urban forests as more than places for recreation.

Breathing in CO2

In one of the most detailed looks at temperate forest edges to date, Hutyra and her research team, including collaborators at the Harvard Forest, examined the growth rates of edge trees compared to the rest of the forest.

Using data from the US Department of Agriculture’s Forest Inventory and Analysis program—which monitors tree size, growth, and land use across the country—Hutyra’s team looked at more than 48,000 forest plots in the Northeast United States. They found trees on the edges grow nearly twice as fast as interior trees—those roughly 100 feet away from the edge.

LOOK: Refugees in Cameroon Have Turned a Treeless Desert Camp Into a Thriving Forest

“This is likely because the trees on the edge don’t have competition with interior forest, so they get more light,” says Luca Morreale, a PhD candidate in Hutyra’s lab and lead author of the paper, published in Nature Communications. And the more a tree grows, the more carbon it is taking in.

This is good news, considering over 25 percent of the landscape in the Northeast United States is covered by an edge. But this doesn’t mean that more forest fragmentation is a solution for sucking more carbon out of the atmosphere; carbon storage along the edges of fragmented areas does not come close to offsetting the negative side effects of losing forests—like releasing carbon long stored underground back into the atmosphere.

According to Morreale and Hutyra, their study instead points to the need to better understand and conserve existing forest edges, which are typically seen as more disposable. “We are underestimating how much carbon is being taken up by temperate forest edges,” Hutyra says in Boston University’s news page, The Brink.

Breathing out CO2

CHECK Out: Mature Trees Will Increase CO2 Absorption By a Third – As Levels Raise on Earth

In a second related study, Hutyra teamed up with BU biologist Pamela Templer to study soils at the forest edge. Garvey found that not only does forest edge soil release more carbon than interior forest soil, but that the soil is acting dramatically differently in rural and urban forests.

“Soils contain wild amounts of bacteria, fungi, roots, and microorganisms, and just the way we breathe out CO2 when working and being active, they respire CO2, as well,” says Sarah Garvey, a PhD candidate in Hutyra’s lab and lead author of a paper on forest edge soils published in Global Change Biology. “With soil, there is more there than meets the eye.”

Visiting eight field sites every two weeks for a year and a half to measure the levels of carbon being released from the soils. They saw that in rural areas (with fewer people and buildings), warmer temperatures at the edge of the forest caused leaves and organic matter to decompose faster, forcing the soil microorganisms to work harder and release more carbon dioxide than their cooler, more shaded peers in the forest interior.

In urban forests, where the ground was significantly hotter and drier, those soils stopped releasing as much carbon. But the research, funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, also shows that urban soils, like those in Franklin Park, the largest public park in Boston, could have a greater capacity to store carbon than previously expected, says Garvey.

POPULAR: Madrid is Planting a Huge Forest Ring Around the City to Lower Heat Levels and Cut CO2 Emissions

Critical for our future

“Forests store almost half of their carbon below ground,” Garvey says. “Which is why understanding the relationships between the soil and the plant life is so vital to understanding the bigger picture of how forests store carbon for the long term.”

Cities and countries across the world are making commitments to plant more trees in an effort to curb the impacts of climate change. Factoring in the elevated amounts of carbon stored by forest edges should be taken into account.

Further research should help clarify whether preserving a place like Franklin Park, where there’s tons of foot traffic, is just as valuable to save as a remote forest where no one visits.

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The Top 50 Things to Come Out of Britain (Fish and Chips was Voted #1)

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David Attenborough and fish and chips named top British exports – SWNS license
David Attenborough and fish and chips named top British exports – SWNS license

Let’s face it: what would the world be like, without Monty Python and The Beatles?

Britain has produced a wealth of successful exports over the years, from foods and businesses to TV shows and celebrities.

A new survey of 2,000 adults chose the top 50 things to come out of Britain—and the top three are fish and chips, roast dinners, and David Attenborough.

The full English breakfast and Cadbury chocolate also finished high, alongside cheddar cheese and William Shakespeare.

The Worldwide Web, which was invented by a Brit named Tim Berners-Lee, along with The Beatles and Queen round out the top ten.

James Bond slipped in at number 11 and Sherlock Holmes landed at 19.

Several traditional British foods made their way into the top 50, with the sandwich (known as the invention of the Earl of Sandwich), afternoon tea and crumpets, and the KitKat all ranking highly.

Classic British TV shows Top Gear, Downton Abbey, and Doctor Who were popular, as were public figures such as the Royal Family, Sir Stephen Hawking, and David Bowie.

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A host of businesses were named as iconic British exports, including Marks & Spencer department stores, Twinings Tea, and Dyson (vacuums), alongside the car brands MINI, Rolls-Royce, and Aston Martin.

Besides being a source of pride, the survey commissioned by Santander UK and carried out via OnePoll found that 85% of Brits believe exports are crucial to the future of the UK economy—and 58 percent of business owners believe the ‘future is bright’ for British businesses operating internationally.

CHECK OUT: Hydration May Be the Recipe for Happiness: Poll Reflects Benefits, The More Water You Drink

THE TOP 50 BRITISH EXPORTS

1. Fish and chips
2. Roast dinners
3. Sir David Attenborough
4. Full English breakfast
5. The Worldwide Web
6. Cadbury chocolate
7. Cheddar Cheese
8. William Shakespeare
9. The Beatles
10. Queen
11. James Bond
12. BBC
13. The sandwich (said to be invented by the 18th-Century Earl of Sandwich)
14. Sir Stephen Hawking
15. Afternoon tea
16. The Royal Family
17. Marks & Spencer (M&S)
18. Rolls-Royce cars
19. Sherlock Holmes
20. David Bowie
21. Aston Martin car
22. Digestive biscuits
23. Yorkshire Tea
24. Crumpets
25. Monty Python
26. Kit Kat
27. MINI cars
28. The pasty
29. Dyson vacuum cleaners
30. Sir Elton John
31. Rolling Stones
32. Doctor Who
33. Land Rover cars
34. Marmite (a yeast-based condiment)
35. Bentley cars
36. Ed Sheeran
37. Tetley tea
38. Sir Charlie Chaplin
39. Dr Martens shoes
40. Adele
41. Dame Helen Mirren
42. Downton Abbey
43. George Michael
44. Stan Laurel
45. Triumph Motorcycles Ltd
46. Twinings tea
47. Sir Andy Murray
48. Henry the Vacuum Cleaner
49. Top Gear
50. Spice Girls

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“A person is a continually changing constellation of potentialities, not a fixed quantity of traits.” – Carl R. Rogers

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By Luke Stackpoole

Quote of the Day:  “A person is a continually changing constellation of potentialities, not a fixed quantity of traits.” – Carl R. Rogers

Photo: Luke Stackpoole

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

New Cancer Therapy Completely Destroys Advanced Ovarian and Colorectal Tumors in 6 Days

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Rice University bioengineer Omid Veiseh by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University
Rice University bioengineer Omid Veiseh by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University

A new cancer therapy has completely destroyed advanced ovarian and bowel tumors in just six days.

Clinical trials are expected to begin in the next few months, after results on mice were described as “very exciting”.

Pinhead-sized drug ‘factories’ were delivered to give continuous, high bursts of a protein that boosts the immune system.

“We just administer once, but they keep making the dose every day, where it’s needed until the cancer is eliminated,” said co-author Dr. Omid Veiseh, of Rice University in Houston, Texas, whose family friend died of the deadly disease.

“Once we determined the correct dose—how many factories we needed—we were able to eradicate tumors in 100% of animals with ovarian cancer and in seven of eight animals with colorectal cancer.”

The tiny beads have a protective shell containing cells engineered to produce interleukin-2. They could be used to fight the most lethal cancers, including those of the pancreas, liver and lungs.

They can be implanted with minimally invasive surgery, and could be tested on human patients by autumn, so they can get them into hospitals as quickly as possible.

POPULAR: Immunotherapy Drugs So Effective that Tumors Disappear in Weeks for Head and Neck Cancer Patients in Landmark Trial

For the mixture, the team chose only components that had previously proven safe for humans.

The drug-producing beads were placed next to tumors in lab rodents and within the lining of the abdominal cavity, a sack-like lining that supports the intestines, ovaries, and other abdominal organs, and limits exposure elsewhere.

“A major challenge in the field of immunotherapy is to increase tumor inflammation and anti-tumor immunity while avoiding systemic side effects of cytokines and other pro-inflammatory drugs,” said co-author Professor Amir Jazaeri, of Texas University.

“In this study, we demonstrated that the ‘drug factories’ allow regulatable local administration of interleukin-2 and the eradication of tumor in several mouse models, which is very exciting.”

RELATED: Magnesium May Prime the Immune System to Fight Cancer and Infections

Interleukin-2 is a cytokine, a protein the immune system uses to recognize and fight disease, which has been approved as a cancer treatment by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Lead author Amanda Nash, a graduate student in Dr Veiseh’s lab, said the beads provoke the strongest immune response to date.

“If you gave the same concentration of the protein through an IV pump, it would be extremely toxic.

With the drug factories, the concentration we see elsewhere in the body, away from the tumor site, is actually lower than what patients need to tolerate with IV treatments. The high concentration is only at the tumor site.

CHECK Out: Experimental Treatment in Spain Puts 18 Cancer Patients in Complete Remission

Ms. Nash said it opens the door to the same general approach to treat cancers of the pancreas, liver, lungs and other organs.

If a different cytokine is needed to target a specific form of cancer, the beads can be loaded with any immuno-therapeutic compound.

The bead’s outer shell shields its cytokine-producing cells from immune attacks, as they are made of materials the immune system recognizes as foreign objects, but not as immediate threats.

Dr. Veiseh said, “We found foreign body reactions safely and robustly turned off the flow of cytokine from the capsules within 30 days.

In the research, published this week in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances, they also showed they could safely administer a second course of treatment should it become necessary in the clinic.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers, while ovarian is particularly lethal because it is usually only diagnosed in the late stages.

Avenge Bio, a Massachusetts-based startup co-founded by Dr Veiseh, has licensed the cytokine-factory technology from Rice.

Watch a Rice U. video below:

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Your Inspired Weekly Horoscope From Rob Brezsny’s ‘Free Will Astrology’

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Our partner Rob Brezsny provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free preview of the book is available here.)

Here is your weekly horoscope…

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of March 5, 2022
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Pastor and activist Charles Henry Parkhurst (1842–1933) said, “All great discoveries are made by people whose feelings run ahead of their thinking.” The approach worked well for him. In 1892, he discovered and exposed monumental corruption in the New York City government. His actions led to significant reforms of the local police and political organizations. In my astrological opinion, you should incorporate his view as you craft the next chapter of your life story. You may not yet have been able to fully conceive of your future prospects and labors of love, but your feelings can lead you to them.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
“I not only bow to the inevitable,” wrote Aries author Thornton Wilder. “I am fortified by it.” Wow. That was a brazen declaration. Did he sincerely mean it? He declared that he grew stronger through surrender, that he derived energy by willingly giving in to the epic trends of his destiny. I don’t think that’s always true for everyone. But I suspect it will be a useful perspective for you in the coming weeks, Aries.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Vive la différence! Hooray for how we are not alike! I am all in favor of cultural diversity, neurodiversity, spiritual diversity, and physical diversity. Are you? The coming weeks will be an excellent time to celebrate the bounties and blessings that come your way because of the holy gift of endless variety. The immediate future will also be a perfect phase to be extra appreciative that your companions and allies are not the same as you. I encourage you to tell them why you love how different they are. Now here’s poet Anna Akhmatova to weave it together: “I breathe the moonlight, and you breathe the sunlight, but we live together in the same love.”

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Gemini singer-songwriter Bob Dylan said, “I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom.” I think that will be a key theme for you in the coming weeks. Dylan described the type of hero I hope you aspire to be. Be alert! You are on the cusp of an invigorating liberation. To ensure you proceed with maximum grace, take on the increased responsibility that justifies and fortifies your additional freedom.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
“I’d rather be seduced than comforted,” wrote author Judith Rossner. What about you, Cancerian? Do you prefer being enticed, invited, drawn out of your shell, and led into interesting temptation? Or are you more inclined to thrive when you’re nurtured, soothed, supported, and encouraged to relax and cultivate peace? I’m not saying one is better than the other, but I urge you to favor the first in the coming weeks: being enticed, invited, drawn out of your shell, and led into interesting temptation.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
A woman from Cornwall, UK, named Karen Harris was adopted as a little girl. At age 18, she began trying to track down her biological parents. Thirty-four years later, she was finally reunited with her father. The turning point: He appeared on the “Suggested Friends” feature on her Facebook page. I propose we make Karen Harris your inspirational role model. Now is a favorable time to find what you lost a while ago; to re-link with a good resource that disappeared from your life; to reclaim a connection that could be meaningful to you again.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa told us, “Meditation is not a matter of trying to achieve ecstasy, spiritual bliss, or tranquility.” Instead, he said that meditation is how we “expose and undo our neurotic games, our self-deceptions, our hidden fears and hopes.” Excuse me, Mr. Trungpa, but I don’t allow anyone, not even a holy guy like you, to dictate what meditation is and isn’t. Many other spiritual mentors I’ve enjoyed learning from say that meditation can also be a discipline to achieve ecstasy, spiritual bliss, and tranquility. And I suspect that’s what Virgo meditators should emphasize in the coming weeks. You people are in a phase when you can cultivate extraordinary encounters with that all fun stuff. If you’re not a meditator, now would be a good time to try it out. I recommend the books Meditation for Beginners by Jack Kornfield and How to Meditate by Pema Chödrön.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Comedian Fred Allen observed, “It is probably not love that makes the world go around, but rather those mutually supportive alliances through which partners recognize their dependence on each other for the achievement of shared and private goals.” That’s an unromantic thing to say, isn’t it? Or maybe it isn’t. Maybe it’s very romantic, even enchanting, to exult in how our allies help us make our dreams come true—and how we help them make their dreams come true. In my astrological opinion, the coming weeks will be an excellent time to focus on the synergies and symbioses that empower you.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
“It’s never too late to have a happy childhood!” declare many self-help gurus. “It’s never too early to start channeling the wise elder who is already forming within you,” declare I. Oddly enough, both of these guiding principles will be useful for you to meditate on during the coming weeks. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you’re in an unusually good position to resurrect childlike wonder and curiosity. You’re also poised to draw stellar advice from the Future You who has learned many secrets that the Current You doesn’t know yet. Bonus: Your Inner Child and your Inner Elder could collaborate to create a marvelous breakthrough or two.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
“A myriad of modest delights constitute happiness,” wrote poet Charles Baudelaire. That will be a reliable formula for you in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. You may not harvest any glorious outbreaks of bliss, but you will be regularly visited by small enchantments, generous details, and useful tweaks. I hope you won’t miss or ignore some of these nurturing blessings because you’re fixated on the hope of making big leaps. Be grateful for modest delights.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
I found out some fun facts about renowned Capricorn poet Robert Duncan (1919–1988), who was a bohemian socialist and trailblazing gay activist. He was adopted by Theosophical parents who chose him because of his astrological make-up. They interpreted Robert’s dreams when he was a child. Later in life, he had an affair with actor Robert De Niro’s father, also named Robert, who was a famous abstract expressionist painter. Anyway, Capricorn, this is the kind of quirky and fascinating information I hope you’ll be on the lookout for. It’s time to seek high entertainment as you expedite your learning; to change your fate for the better as you gather interesting clues; to be voraciously curious as you attract stimulating influences that inspire you to be innovative.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
“I always strive, when I can, to spread sweetness and light,” said P. G. Wodehouse. “There have been several complaints about it.” I know what he means. During my own crusade to express crafty, discerning forms of optimism, I have enraged many people. They don’t like to be reminded that thousands of things go right every day. They would rather stew in their disgruntlement and cynicism, delusionally imagining that a dire perspective is the most intelligent and realistic stance. If you’re one of those types, Aquarius, I have bad news for you: The coming weeks will bring you invitations and opportunities to cultivate a more positive outlook. I don’t mean that you should ignore problems or stop trying to fix what needs correction. Simply notice everything that’s working well and providing you with what you need.

WANT MORE? Listen to Rob’s EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, 4-5 minute meditations on the current state of your destiny — or subscribe to his unique daily text message service at: RealAstrology.com

(Zodiac images by Numerologysign.com, CC license)

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Bangladesh’s ‘YouTube Village’ Has 4 Million Subscribers Watching Elderly Villagers Cooking Extravagant Feasts

By
Andy Corbley
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Facebook Page - Around Me BD
Facebook Page – Around Me BD

South Asian villagers are discovering that the world has an insatiable appetite for YouTube cooking shows—especially when the chefs are making food for an entire village.

YouTube channels like Village Food Secrets (with 3.5 million subscribers) and Village Cooking Channel (15 million) are garnering billions of views.

The advent of these “oddly satisfying” niche videos, featuring teams of men and women preparing gargantuan feasts, are transforming rural village economies—creating employment and building entrepreneurial, as well as technological, skills among the participants.

Because meal time is often about connecting with people as much as it is about receiving nutrients, the advent of growing internet access in Bangladesh gave people a different kind of opportunity for interpersonal connection.

Take Delwar Hussein, the creator of AroundMeBD social channels (BD stands for Bangladesh). He now employs 50 people to make videos of his neighbors in Shilmuria preparing huge meals, like a 650-pound water buffalo, a 140-pound fried tilapia curry, or a 320-pound vegetable hodgepodge—which are then served to hundreds of children and adults.

As with most of the poorest parts of the world, high-speed internet access is often obtainable only through the nearly-ubiquitous internet café.

Every week, Hussein takes a 6-12 hour bus from the village of Shilmuria to the capital city of Dhaka, where he uses the café run by his nephew and business partner, Liton Ali Khan, to edit and upload the footage of the colossal meals.

 

Connecting food and people

It wasn’t always food, but rather the noisy and colorful streets of Dhaka where Khan and Hussein launched their media empire, which now consists of 6 YouTube channels with a combined total of more than 5 million subscribers. It was Khan originally who filmed wet markets and colorful garment districts, managing to generate 20,000 subscribers before switching to the idea of food.

“At first we thought of it as a picnic, like we will cook and eat the food and make videos about it,” Hussain told Rest of World. “We never anticipated that these videos would be able to generate millions of views in such a short period of time.”

RELATED: The Way to a Man’s–And Woman’s–Heart Really IS Through Their Stomach

The massiveness of the dishes is meant to depict the generosity of rural life. As more ad revenue came in through the channel, the budget allowed for the expense of acquiring large game species to feed even neighboring villages. Around $3,500 is spent every month on fish alone, and another $175 for transporting the food to the village.

They were able to buy the video crew several cameras, a panoramic drone, and enough revenue to provided for 50 employees, 17 of whom are women. Furthermore, the proceeds help pay for medical care for the grandmas and grandpas who do the cooking, and in the case of a forest fire, repair and replace damaged homes.

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“You know lots of people from different parts of the country as well as from abroad now come to see our activities,” Hussain said. “We have plans to build a gate to mark the entrance of our village and to install several wooden planks — indicating the direction towards our village — on the way from Khoksha, so that people have no difficulty finding us.”

A friendly warning before scanning these food channels: Some of the videos involving meat can be shocking if you’ve never seen such things. These are not wealthy people, and processing is done, normally, by a team of ladies in pink, by hand, on a tarp, with whatever’s available.

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“The people of future generations will win many a liberty of which we do not yet even feel the want.” – Max Stirner

By
Good News Network
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Zakaria Zayane

Quote of the Day: “The people of future generations will win many a liberty of which we do not yet even feel the want.” – Max Stirner

Photo: Zakaria Zayane

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Zakaria Zayane

Scientists Develop Breakthrough Method for Recycling Industrial Plastics at Room Temperature in 20 Minutes

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Good News Network
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Industrial plastics found in litter clean up - by Jasmin Sessler

A new and simple method for upcycling plastic waste at room temperature has been developed by a team of British researchers.

Industrial plastics found in litter clean up – by Jasmin Sessler

The researchers at the University of Bath hope the new process will help recycling become less energy intensive, and thus more economically viable.

While recycling rates are growing across Europe, traditional methods remain limited because the harsh remelting conditions reduce the quality of the material each time they’re recycled.

But this new rapid chemical recycling process for polycarbonates can be completed in 20 minutes at room temperature.

Using a zinc-based catalyst and methanol, they were able to completely break down commercial poly(bisphenol A carbonate) (BPA-PC) beads that make up a widely-used class of thermoplastics commonly utilized in construction and engineering.

The waste can then be converted into its chemical constituents, namely bisphenol A (BPA) and dimethyl carbonate (DMC), helping to preserve its quality for reuse over an infinite number of cycles.

Also important, BPA recovery prevents leakage of a potentially damaging environmental pollutant, whilst DMC is a valuable green solvent and building block for other industrial chemicals.

RELATED: Scientists Discover How to Destroy Toxic PFAS – the ‘Forever Chemicals’

Promisingly, the zinc catalyst is also tolerant to other commercial sources of BPA-PC (e.g. CD) and mixed plastic sources, increasing industrial relevance, whilst being amenable to other plastics, like poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), at higher temperatures.

The team has also demonstrated a completely circular approach to producing several renewable plastic derived from waste PET bottles—poly(ester-amide)s (PEAs) and their terephthalamide monomers. These materials have excellent thermal properties and could potentially be used in biomedical applications, for example drug delivery and tissue engineering.

Lead researcher Professor Matthew Jones, at the University of Bath’s CSCT, said, “It’s really exciting to see the versatility of our catalysts in producing a wide range of value-added products from plastic waste.

MORE: 75% of People Worldwide Want Single-Use Plastics Banned, According to New Global Survey

“It’s crucial we target such products, where possible, to help promote and accelerate the implementation of emerging sustainable technologies through economic incentives.”

First author of the paper, Jack Payne from the CSCT, said, “Whilst plastics will play a key role in achieving a low-carbon future, moving forward, it’s imperative we source plastics from renewable feedstocks, embed biodegradability/recyclability at the design phase and diversify existing waste management strategies.”

“Such future innovation should not be limited to emerging materials but encompass established products too.

“Our method creates new opportunities for polycarbonate recycling under mild conditions, helping to promote a circular economy approach and keep carbon in the loop indefinitely.”

Presently, the technology has only been demonstrated on a small scale, however, the team is now working on catalyst optimization and scaling up the process (300 mL) with collaborators at the University of Bath.

This research has been published in ChemSusChem.

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Ukraine Receives Truckload of Starlink Terminals From Elon Musk For Uninterrupted Internet

By
Andy Corbley
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@FedorovMykhailo twitter social embed starlink ukraine

Elon Musk has sent a truckload of necessary equipment for his Starlink service to Ukraine, at the request of a government minister.

With the country’s telecommunications infrastructure under attack by the Russian air force, maintaining connectivity to the internet is challenging.

Starlink is a satellite internet service which Musk’s company SpaceX has pioneered to provide universal internet access to the world through saturating low Earth orbit with hundreds of tiny satellites.

The Starlink hardware includes a satellite dish that connects to a wireless router. All that is needed is a standard wall plug for power.

MORE: Former Marine Drove 1,000 Miles to Ukraine Border in Minibus Loaded with Supplies, Toys, and Blankets for Refugees

It took Elon just 10 hours following the request of Ukrainian Vice Minister Mykhailo Fedorov to ensure the service was active across all of Ukraine, and to prepare a shipment of additional Starlink terminals, which arrived on Feb. 28th.

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A Hobbit House-Style Visitor Center Has Been Cleverly Built Into a Hill

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Good News Network
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SWNS
SWNS

A Danish visitor center has been cleverly built into a hill.

The Skamlingsbanken in Kolding—which resembles a Hobbit house or even the setting for Teletubbies—is located in a place of cultural significance.

Architects CEBRA explain the glacial landscape “holds a central place in Danish history, and over time it has been a setting for debates about democracy, the border country, and women’s suffrage.”

In the past, Skamlingsbanken—due to its undulating landscape with hollows and hills—was a natural gathering point sheltered from the wind, and many civil gatherings and festivals, therefore, took place right here.

Carsten Primdahl, partner and architect at CEBRA, says, “Skamlingsbanken connects the past with the present and the future, and one of the project’s main ambitions has been to actualize the place’s remarkable history and nature into a contemporary context.

“The new visitor center is a modern arena for democratic culture and recreates Skamlingsbanken as a setting for important debates and education about the things that concern us, e.g., climate change.

SWNS

“At Skamlingsbanken we have created a place where visitors will gain knowledge about our democracy and nature through a diversity of experiences.”

The center is designed as a natural and integrated part of the undulating landscape and from the overall design to the small details, visitors will experience an architecture that finds its origin in Skamlingsbanken’s unique nature and history.

RELATED: This Cabin’s Flexible Design Can Open To Nature or Enclose into Cozy Space Again (Watch)

It is located on the highest point in Southern Jutland and consists of an old grazing landscape. Several native species are rare, and during the development of the visitor center, it has been crucial to protect the site’s flora and fauna.

In collaboration with the biologist, Mette Keseler List from Kolding Municipality, a special grass mixture based on local species was developed and spread on and around the building.

The mixture provides optimal conditions for the local herbs, and together with the reuse of natural peat from the building site, the project thus supports the continued development of the unique local nature and biodiversity.

SWNS

“The visitor center is an architectural interpretation of the glacial landscape. It is not a destination itself, but part of an overall narrative. The building is a portal—to the significant history and the local nature—and forms a natural starting point for hikes in the area, where a network of paths flows through both building and landscape. From here visitors are guided into the landscape or inside the center to the exhibition, the teaching facilities, or the café,” says Carsten Primdahl.

MORE: Visit ‘Fortlandia’ Where Designers Have Built Odes to Childhood Fort-Building in Austin, Texas

CEBRA say, “The main attraction at Skamlingsbanken is nature itself. When visitors enter the exhibition space, they will experience moving through the hill and its many hidden stories. The corrugated back wall is plastered with clay, and the rest of the interior is characterised by local materials like wood, terrazzo with fieldstones and, calm, earthy colour tones.”

Skamlingsbanken officially opened in 2021. It is hoped an easing in pandemic restrictions will allow it to fully open in 2022.

CEBRA are currently working on a project that will further develop the experience for visitors with an exhibition project in the landscape surrounding the visitor center. The project is expected to be realized within the next few years.

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Ukrainian Soldiers Adopt Freezing Puppy –And Now ‘Rambo’ Stands Guard for Them (WATCH)

By
Andy Corbley
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FreedomNews.tv / YouTube, Fair use
YouTube, Fair use

It’s not all doom and gloom in the trenches in Ukraine—sometimes it’s head pats and belly rubs of gratitude.

That’s the scene for one platoon of Ukrainian troops that adopted a stray dog.

“We took him into our post, and he stayed with us,” one soldier told FreedomNews.TV. “We felt sorry for him. It was freezing outside.”

They decided to name him Rambo.

“He is security. That’s his job,” said one man, gesturing at an 8-inch tall puppy curiously hopping around, wondering what the camera crew was doing.

The soldiers said that little Rambo was so small when they found him that he fit right in the palm of their hand.

Beyond Rambo, a number of adult dogs also frequent the trenches. Warming themselves near the cabins at night and wandering about during the day, they all, the soldiers explain, can hear if a stranger is coming and give alert.

MORE: Sneaky Cat Swings on Handle to Open Door For All His Friends (WATCH)

This isn’t the first time Ukrainian soldiers have been filmed taking care of stray dogs.

GNN reported last year on a BBC documentary about the guards that keep watch over the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, and the dogs that live there. Over time, some have become the soldiers’ companions, offering that most ancient of deals between man and nature: food and shelter in exchange for excellent senses of smell and hearing.

“They give us joy,” said one of the guards. “For me personally, this is a kind of symbol of the continuation of life in this radioactive, post-apocalyptic world.”

(MEET Rambo in the video below.)

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“Sometimes life leaves a door a little open, and you walk through it. But sometimes it locks the door and you have to find the key.” – Gayle Forman

By
Good News Network
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Michael Barón

Quote of the Day: “Sometimes life leaves a door a little open, and you walk through it. But sometimes it locks the door and you have to find the key.” – Gayle Forman

Photo: Michael Barón

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

Michael Barón

California Erects Solar Panels Over Canal to Save Huge Supply of Water From Evaporation

By
Andy Corbley
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Solar AquaGrid
Solar AquaGrid

Could covering California’s irrigation canals save it from the current drought? Some scientists and engineers think so, and they also believe it could meet the state’s entire renewable energy commitments.

A proof of concept and pilot project in Turlock Irrigation District called Project Nexus will cover a mile-long stretch of canal in five megawatts worth of solar panels that will hopefully demonstrate increased renewable power generation, water quality improvements, reduced vegetative growth in the canals, and reduced water evaporation.

This is building on a 2021 Univ. of California Merced and UC Santa Cruz research team study which estimated that covering all the state’s canals with panels could prevent 65 billion gallons of fresh water loss through evaporation.

Formed in 1887, Turlock was the first irrigation district in California, and provides irrigation water to 4,700 growers who farm about 150,000 acres in the San Joaquin Valley. The project is due to break ground this year and finish up in 2024.

As GNN reported in 2021, this concept has already been proven to work in the Indian state of Gujarat, where the cooler temperature of the moisture beneath the panels cooled them down, resulting in a small but significant increase in power generation.

RELATED: These Solar Shingles on Your Roof Could Be Producing Energy With Simple Installation

Roger Bales, part of the UC Merced paper, argued recently in the Smithsonian Magazine that covering the thousands of miles of California canals with panels would generate 13 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity: half of what the state would need to entirely decarbonize by its self-imposed 2045 deadline.

MORE: Solar Power Will Account for Nearly Half of New U.S. Electric Generating Capacity in 2022

“California grows food for an ever-increasing global population and produces more than 50 percent of the fruits, nuts and vegetables that U.S. consumers eat,” writes Bales. “Building these [canal] solar arrays could prevent more than 80,000 acres of farmland or natural habitat from being converted for solar farms.”

Making sense on all levels, Project Nexus is tremendously exciting, and Bales explains that other similar projects are in the making.

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Scientists Engineer Bacteria to Eat CO2 and Release Valuable Acetone and Isopropyl That are Carbon-Negative

By
Andy Corbley
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Andy Sproles_ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy no restrictions engineered microbe showm in light blue
Engineered microbe showm in light blue/Andy Sproles,ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Scientists have discovered a way to genetically engineer bacteria that will consume carbon oxide and carbon dioxide before converting them to two widely used chemicals, acetone and isopropanol, thereby turning the whole process carbon negative.

Used in a wide-vide variety of products from hand sanitizer to light bulbs, and almost always made of virgin fossil fuels, the global market for acetone and isopropanol is more than $10 billion, with acetone producing two metric tons of CO2 per ton of acetone. The bacteria the scientists removed came to 1.78 kg of emissions from the atmosphere per kg of acetone produced and 1.17 kg of emissions per kg of isopropanol.

Michael Jewett, a chemist at Northwestern University, partnered with the large bio-ethanol firm LanzaTech to pioneer this new method of green chemical synthesis.

He and his colleagues found previous industrially-utilized bacteria strains to engineer an individual strain of clostridium autoethanogenum, a kind of bacterial creature called an acetogen that feeds on acetate through fermentation.

By the end of their work, they had created an acetogen that consumed industrial emissions like CO2, converting it into acetone or isopropanol at a high efficiency of around 3 grams per liter per hour, with almost no alternative byproducts.

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Using bacteria to ferment sugars is a common and less carbon-intensive production method for ethanol. The researchers took their unique acetone and isopropanol-producing bacteria strains and worked with LanzaTech’s ethanol production facility to test out whether their idea could work in the real world.

A new way

“Our vision for commercialization is to transform established ethanol-producing gas fermentation facilities that LanzaTech already operates into product flexible production plants,” Jewett told GNN via email.

“Specifically, LanzaTech is already successfully operating two commercial plants converting emissions from the heavy industry into ethanol, with to date over 30 million gallons of ethanol produced and over 150,000 tons CO2 avoided.”

RELATED: World’s Biggest Factory to Suck Carbon from the Sky and Store it For Millions of Years Turns on in Iceland

“By swapping the ethanol-producing microbe currently deployed in our commercial gas fermentation facilities with a new microbe programmed for acetone or propanol production, we can instantly increase the range of products that an individual facility can make. This product flexibility will enable plant operators to make market-based decisions on which products to focus on at any time,” said Jewett.

This is particularly relevant for two reasons. The first is that since these chemicals are used to make paint, nail polish remover, varnish, ketone supplements, resins, epoxies, paint thinner, terpenes, lens cleaners, sanitizing pads, rubbing alcohol, fuel additives, and in the processes of screening for lymph node tumors and DNA extraction, the market demand can change rapidly. A perfect example of this was the run on hand sanitizer in many nations during the first COVID-19 wave.

MORE: Decarbonization Tech Instantly Converts Carbon Dioxide to Solid Carbon

Secondly, the flexibility offered by fermentation allows the use of the same bioreactor infrastructure for multiple conversions—for example, ethanol, acetone and isopropanol—and stands as a key benefit over traditional chemical manufacturing where plants are typically purpose-built for a single conversion process, which means companies can save the millions normally spent on building new plants for new chemicals.

It’s the stuff of chemical engineering dreams, and Jewett’s work promises to be a boon to the emissions-heavy industry.

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