The next clean energy source? Snow.

Researchers from UCLA invent a device that generates electricity from a rather unusual source.

Photo credit: Bryce Evans on Unsplash
  • UCLA scientists have invented a cheap, flexible, and simple device called snow-TENG that generates electricity when it comes into contact with snow.
  • Scientists have known that snow carries an electrical charge for several decades, but this device is one of the first to capitalize on that effect.
  • The researchers believe that snow-TENG could be used in movement-tracking applications or as a simple weather station that requires no battery to operate.
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Dubai to build the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant

Can you make solar power work when the sun goes down? You can, and Dubai is about to run a city that way.

Photo credit: MARWAN NAAMANI / AFP / Getty Images
  • A new concentrated solar plant is under construction in Dubai.
  • When it opens next year, it will be the largest plant of its kind on Earth.
  • Concentrated solar power solves the problem of how to store electricity in ways that solar pannels cannot.
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Researchers announce molecular surgery — no cutting, no scarring

Doctors may be able to painlessly reshape cartilage with the technique.

Photo credit: SHAH MARAI / AFP / Getty Images
  • The application of electrical current can temporarily soften cartilage, allowing it to be manipulated before re-hardening.
  • The technique promises to eliminate cutting, scarring, pain, and recovery time.
  • So far it's been tested on just one bunny who now has one straight ear and one bent one.
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New study: Melanin conducts enough electricity to enable implantable electronics

What gives us color now may give rise to our cyborg future.

Image source: PandP Studio / Shutterstock
  • Eumelanin is a mildly conductive type of melanin that produces dark pigmentation in hair, eyes, and skin.
  • Researchers have just found a way to boost its conductivity without adding foreign materials.
  • Eulemanin may be useable as a coating for implanted devices the body won't reject.
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7 climate change projects that are changing the game

While there's plenty to be worried about, it's important to remember that we're making progress, too.

Photo by NASA on Unsplash
  • If we do nothing, global temperatures could rise as high as 10 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
  • Fortunately, humanity is hard at work at keeping temperature increases below the 2 degrees Celsius mark.
  • These 7 projects are just a snapshot of what humanity is collectively doing to fight back and beat climate change.
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