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La formación de dióxido de azufre a partir de la oxidación del sulfuro de dimetilo (DMS) y por tanto, el enfriamiento de las nubes sobre los océanos, parece estar sobrevalorada en los modelos climáticos actuales. Esto concluyen los científicos del Instituto Leibniz para la Investigación Troposférica (TROPOS) de un estudio modelo sobre los efectos del DMS sobre la química atmosférica.

Solar cells made from an inexpensive and increasingly popular material called perovskite can more efficiently turn sunlight into electricity using a new technique to sandwich two types of perovskite into a single photovoltaic cell.

Perovskite solar cells are made of a mix of organic molecules and inorganic elements that together capture light and convert it into electricity, just like today’s more common silicon-based solar cells. Perovskite photovoltaic devices, however, can be made more easily and cheaply than silicon and on a flexible rather than rigid substrate. The first perovskite solar cells could go on the market next year, and some have been reported to capture 20 percent of the sun’s energy.

In a new study, Harvard University researchers find over 90 percent of potential new Canadian hydroelectric projects are likely to increase concentrations of the neurotoxin methylmercury in food webs near indigenous communities. 

The research forecasts potential human health impacts of hydroelectric projects and identifies areas where mitigation efforts, such as removing the top layer of soil before flooding, would be most helpful. The works uses factors such as soil carbon and reservoir design to forecast methylmercury increases for 22 hydroelectric reservoirs under consideration or construction in Canada.

¿Cómo maneja Ud. los desechos nucleares que serán radioactivos durante millones de años, evitando que las personas y el medio ambiente se vean perjudicados? No es fácil, pero el investigador de Rutgers, Ashutosh Goel, ha descubierto maneras de inmovilizar tales residuos, residuos de décadas de producción de armas nucleares, en vidrio y cerámica.

New findings suggest the rate at which CO2 is accumulating in the atmosphere has plateaued in recent years because Earth’s vegetation is grabbing more carbon from the air than in previous decades.

That’s the conclusion of a multi-institutional study led by a scientist from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). It’s based on extensive ground and atmospheric observations of CO2, satellite measurements of vegetation, and computer modeling. The research is published online Nov. 8 in the journal Nature Communications.