Category Environment/Geology

Crash Test Cameras

2017 edition of NASA Spinoffs. NASA innovations we use in our daily lives. Here are some of our favorite things we bet you didn’t know use space technology.
1.Crash Test Cameras: Parachutes are a key part of the landing system for many of our spacecraft, but before we send them into orbit — or beyond — we have to make sure that they’re going to work as designed. One important component of testing is a video that captures every millisecond as the chute opens, to see if it’s working and if not, what went wrong. Integrated Design Tools built a camera for us that could do just that: rugged and compact, it can film up to 1,000 frames/s and back up all that data almost as fast...

An illustration of a nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dot like those being tested at Rice University for use as catalysts to reduce carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into valuable hydrocarbons. Courtesy of the Ajayan Group

Graphene quantum dots may offer a simple way to recycle waste CO2 into valuable fuel rather than release it into the atmosphere or bury it underground, according to Rice University scientists. Nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (NGQDs) are an efficient electrocatalyst to make complex hydrocarbons from carbon dioxide, according to the research team led by Rice materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan. Using electrocatalysis, his lab has demonstrated the conversion of the greenhouse gas into small batches of ethylene and ethanol.

NGQDs worked nearly as efficiently as copper, w...

Examining local conditions and global patterns at the same time allows scientists to zoom in on regions of high concern (at 30 km resolution), such as areas with complex geography influencing the regional climate, and zoom out on the surrounding areas (at 120 km resolution) that may not need such a detailed analysis. In this way, variable resolution modeling can get a better picture of global climate with minimal computational expense. Credit: MPAS modeling courtesy of the authors at PNNL

Local rain in Asia might cause global splash. That’s what scientists at PNNL found when they discovered connections between rain in Asia and the southern hemisphere’s jet stream, an atmospheric current influencing weather across the globe...

Acute effects of air pollution on pulmonary hemodynamics: new evidence from both population and individual level studies

Authors recommend limiting physical activity in heavily polluted areas. Air pollution limits blood vessel function in the lungs, according to a study in more than 16,000 patients presented today at EuroEcho-Imaging 2016.1 “This is the first human study to report an influence of air pollution on pulmonary vascular function,” said lead author Dr Jean-Francois Argacha, a cardiologist at the University Hospital (UZ) Brussels, Belgium. “This is a major public health issue for people living in polluted urban areas where exercise could damage the lungs and potentially lead to decompensated heart failure.”

Promoting a safer environment appears to be as important as controlling c...