Anthropocene Magazine

While electric vehicle sales are slowly taking off around the world, the majority of cars on the roads still run on gasoline. And those gas-powered cars are extremely inefficient. Their engines only use a quarter of the fuel’s energy to turn the wheels, with the rest wasted as heat and released via an exhaust pipe. Researchers have now created a device that could recover some of that wasted heat. https://lnkd.in/gbCBJwVE

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Reducing the use of climate-warming inhaled gases can cut emissions associated with surgical anesthesia in half, according to a new analysis. What’s more, the study found no impact on patient safety or comfort associated with the changes. https://lnkd.in/gNMqdsKd

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Latest Articles Stories about sustainability and climate that move the conversation from alarm and outrage to discussions about practical paths to the future we all want. Let the best of Anthropocene come to you. Sign up for our free newsletters Success! https://lnkd.in/gVUS2nvi

A new study finds that even as mariculture expands globally, the industry could actually decrease its current biodiversity impact by 30%—if they get smarter about where they farm. https://lnkd.in/g72davWR

Rocks are one of nature’s tools for trapping carbon dioxide from air and permanently locking it away. The silicate minerals found in certain rocks react with carbon dioxide and convert it into solid carbonates. But the process, known as weathering, takes tens of thousands of years. https://lnkd.in/gwuPmNMg

While roadside restoration is touted as a way to provide more habitat for native species, living along roads can do more harm than good. Florida scrub-jays that nest along a highway die in greater numbers than they reproduce, according to new findings published in the April issue of Conservation Biology.

Researchers at King’s College London have found a way to break down plastics into their building blocks for recycling. The process takes less than 40 hours and uses an enzyme commonly found in bio-based laundry detergents. The advance reported in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science could lead to an efficient way to recycle the single-use plastic called polylactic acid (PLA). https://lnkd.in/gzpB8uR9

The little red and brown termite Syntermes dirus might be less than an inch long. But it can literally move mountains. The Brazilian insect as the chief architect of earthen mounds as much as four meters tall that carpet a section of eastern Brazil the size of Virginia. There, 90 million mounds represent earth moving equal to 900 of Egypt’s Great Pyramid. https://lnkd.in/gtEwqTj4