Original source :
http://listverse.com
Posted : August
2014
Author : Petros
Absalon
Not all that
glitters is gold. In fact, some of the most amazing and revolutionary
achievements on the horizon are also the most stomach-churning.
10 Diaper Electricity
The Japanese are
known for having longer life spans. Centenarians are more common among them
than anywhere else in the world, and people over the age of 65 make up
one-quarter of their entire population. With an almost negative birth rate and
the elderly population growing each year, the sale of adult diapers is at an
all-time high. Disposing of these used diapers can be quite a problem, since
they don’t degrade easily and occupy precious space in the garbage dump.
Incinerating them uses up too much fuel and damages the environment. Luckily, a Japanese
company called Super Faiths has designed a new technology that efficiently
solves the problem of diaper disposal. The diapers are first placed inside a
machine that kills pathogens, after which they are used as a clean fuel for
electricity production. The Super Faiths system reduces carbon dioxide emission
by 40 tons per year. Several hospitals and elderly care facilities are now
using the technology, which saves them money on their electricity bills while
reducing their carbon footprint.
9 Sewage As Artificial Snow
The winter sports
industry is big business. In the United States alone, it generates
up to $66 billion and thousands of jobs every year. However, with global
warming in full swing, ski resorts have been feeling the heat. Dwindling
snowfall has become such a problem that experts predict only half of the 103
ski resorts in America
will remain open for the next 30 years. With no immediate
answer to climate change on hand, the resorts needed a quick and (literally)
dirty solution to their problem. One trick they have up their sleeves is
snow-making machines, but making artificial snow requires huge amounts of water
and electricity. Since a large part of America is also suffering from
droughts due to the changing weather patterns, the use of freshwater is not
viable. That’s why some have turned to sewage water. Although the water
is first treated to remove harmful impurities before it passes through the
snow-making machines, not everyone is pleased with the sewage snow, since it
still contains traces of chemicals and other impurities that may cause health
issues. Unfortunately, resorts feel they are left with no other options.
8 Feces-Powered Cars
Owning a car can be
quite a hassle nowadays. With the unrest in the Middle
East, the economic downward spiral of recent years, and the
gradual depletion of our oil fields, the cost of gasoline has risen by leaps
and bounds, not to mention the very serious environmental impact caused by
using oil as an energy source. With these problems
in mind, our best scientists are looking for alternative energy sources to
power our cars. Some have suggested electricity, but since a good portion of
our electricity still comes from coal and petroleum, the quest for a more sustainable
power source continues. In the midst of this crisis, at least one person has
thought, “Why not use something that people produce in abundance for free?”
This marvelous leap of logic gave us poop power. Generating power
from feces require the manufacturer to first collect some sewage and then
remove the solids from the liquids. The solids, or biosolids, are then
bombarded with microbes that eat the solids and expel gases (mostly methane and
carbon dioxide). The methane then passes through a machine that separates the
hydrogen atoms from the carbon atoms. Since hydrogen is highly flammable and
burns cleanly, it is a highly effective alternative to fossil fuel. The Orange County
Sanitation District’s Fountain Valley waste
facility in California
has already tested this new technology and produced excellent results,
prompting the car industry to speed up their production of hydrogen-powered
cars. In 2005, Hyundai plans to release a vehicle that runs on hydrogen power
with more efficient engines that can run smoother and longer, at 483 kilometers
(300 mi) per tank. Other major automobile manufacturers are following in their
footsteps. “Wait a minute,”
you might ask, “isn’t hydrogen dangerous?” Not quite. Hydrogen may be safer
than gasoline in our cars. In a car crash that causes a ruptured tank, gasoline
pools on the ground, where it can easily be ignited. On the other hand,
hydrogen simply evaporates. Hydrogen is also nontoxic and environmentally
friendly, unlike gasoline.
7 Fungus Houses And Packaging
Naturalists have
dreamed of the day we can grow our buildings like plants, and it looks like
that day may not be far away. Researchers have found a viable material grown
from fungus that may soon replace concrete. The amazing new material comes from
the thin white fibers, called hephae, that function as its roots. These tiny
filaments branch underground and form an amazing network called mycelium. When
fungi are packed thickly together, the mycelium forms a tight and compact mass
that, when dried and processed, can be used as bricks. What is left is a
product that is stronger than concrete, nontoxic, and even resistant to fire
and mold. One company has
already started using this new technology to make buildings that are literally
grown from the ground up, including this cool-looking tower. Better yet, the
material can be used for a broad range of other purposes like replacing
plastics and Styrofoams as packaging material, furniture, and even some
automotive parts. This will not only reduce our carbon footprint but give us a
better product that is cheaper, free of toxic chemicals, and more durable.
Products made from this material are even landfill-friendly, since it is
biodegradable with the presence of the right microbes.
6 Snail Poop Flooring
Recycling can only
do so much. After four to six trips to the recycling plant, paper can no longer
be used. The pulpy remains of the paper are essentially worthless, so they’re
tossed into the garbage dump. However, a Dutch designer named Lieske Schreuder
may have an innovative solution to the problem: snails and their feces. It
works because snails eat vegetation, like mushrooms, grass, and plant bark.
Since paper is mainly made out of wood fiber, the snails love nibbling it away. Schreuder was
experimenting with snails when she observed that the feces of snails that were
fed colored paper was tinted the same color, since its body rejects the
pigments. She also found that snail poop, when pressed and dried, can be turned
into tiles perfect for flooring. Employing thousands of snails and
experimenting with a variety of colors, Schreuder has produced a wide array of
tiles in vibrant hues. This technology extends the useful life of paper with
minimal ecological damage and puts snails to good use.
5 Urine Energy Drinks
One particular
problem for astronauts living in space is their drinking water. Since rockets
can only carry a limited amount of cargo to space, water is a scarce resource
up there, so our space explorers are forced to recycle in strange ways. Space
stations already have a complicated system in place to convert the astronauts’
urine, sweat, respiratory moisture, and laundry water into something drinkable.
That might sound gross, but the quality of this water actually far exceeds what
we drink here on Earth. But drinking
nothing but recycled water for months on end can be tedious. For some variety,
as well as a dose of much-needed minerals, NASA developed a new system that
converts urine into an energy drink. With a process called forward osmosis, the
urine is forced through a membrane that separates the water from the gross
stuff before mixing it with sugar and other standard energy drink ingredients. Since this process
requires no electricity, works with any liquid, and involves user-friendly
equipment that can be packed in a single bag, its practical application is
seemingly endless. Soldiers can carry it with them during missions, allowing
them to carry fewer supplies into battle and keeping them there as long as it
takes to get the job done. Adventure-seekers can also bring it with them on
trips where drinkable water is scarce. It could even be sent to areas
experiencing natural disasters or other emergencies, where water supplies are
damaged or polluted.
4 Natural Vanilla Flavoring
As far as flavors
and fragrances go, vanilla is as iconic as chocolate and coffee. But unlike
those extracts, which come from tree seeds, vanilla comes from orchid pods of
the genus of the same name. Growing orchids is not as easy as growing trees, as
they are more vulnerable to the whims of the weather and the ravages of pests.
Due to the low supply and high demand for vanilla, businesses who wanted to
keep their prices down began looking to food scientists for cheaper sources. Vanillin, the
organic compound primarily responsible for vanilla’s distinctive flavor and
fragrance, was first synthesized on a large scale during the 1930s from lignin,
which is derived from pine tree pulp. In recent decades, synthetic vanillin has
been produced from petrochemicals, which are generally not viewed in a positive
light. The market for vanillin alternatives was wide open. The first naturally
sourced alternative, aside from wood pulp, was castoreum, which is taken from
the anal scent glands of beavers. This substance is actually used for an alarming
number of commercial purposes, including raspberry and strawberry flavoring. It
is even used in cigarettes for that distinctive odor. However, since the beaver
population is dwindling and extracting castoreum from a beaver without killing
it is hard work, this substitute never really took hold in the vanilla
industry. Despite many major
setbacks, though, a green solution to the vanilla dilemma has finally been
identified, thanks to Mayu Yamamoto of the International Medical Center of
Japan. She designed a method for creating vanillin out of an abundant,
environmentally friendly, and renewable resource: cow dung. It turns out that
lignin is abundant in cow poop, and as an added bonus, the process of
extracting it is far cheaper and takes less time than traditional methods and
sources. She was even awarded an Ig Nobel prize for her research.
Unfortunately, the vanilla industry doesn’t seem too keen on using it in their
products, dashing any hope we might have for vanilla cow dung milkshakes in the
near future.
3 High-Tech Future Food
As of 2012, the
world population clocked in at more than seven billion. By 2024, we will reach
eight billion, and nine billion by 2050. Barring any cataclysmic event that
will substantially reduce our population, all those extra people to feed will
put considerable strain on the environment and further reduce already scant
resources. With this in mind, some people are starting to look for alternative
food sources to help stave off future hunger. One of the most
promising (and also the most disgusting) alternative food sources currently
being studied is insects. To their credit, they are good sources of nutrition,
and they can be bred quicker and cheaper than cows or pigs. Raising livestock
is also ecologically harmful, since cattle release an astonishing amount of
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, making bugs a greener choice. Some parts of
Asia and Africa already have little critters
on the menu, but for the rest of the world, the thought of putting a creepy
crawly in our mouths is a daunting prospect. Researchers from London South
Bank University
are working on adding new technology into the mix with the hope of easing the
public’s anxiety about eating bugs. In the procedure they’ve developed, the
bugs are first ground into powder and then combined with other ingredients,
after which the mixture is processed through a 3-D printer, resulting in cool
and enticing edible designs. They hope that changing the appearance of the food
from ghastly bugs to hip-looking treats will leave consumers with a better
impression, encouraging them to try bugs as part of their daily diet.
2 Foreskin Everything
Throughout human
history, foreskin and the question of whether to keep it or lop it off has been
a contentious issue. The Romans adored foreskin, even condemning a consul to
death for having himself circumcised. The Greeks, too, were fans, known to tie
them up during the Olympic games because the sight of the tip of the penis was
considered offensive. The descendants of Abraham, on the other hand, preferred
having them snipped off to signify their covenant with God, and Christians soon
followed this tradition. One story in the Bible even tells of God trying to
kill Moses because his son was uncircumcised. The debate continues to this day
as scientists argue the merits of both positions. What this has to do
with scientific advancement mostly concerns what happens to foreskin after it’s
removed. For the most part, it’s just thrown out with the trash. Sometimes,
though, foreskin is saved for the many useful purposes it can serve, especially
if it comes from a newborn baby. Scientists can use newborn foreskin to grow up
to four acres of new skin that can be used for skin grafts. Taking a burn
patient’s own skin can be a painful procedure that often doesn’t furnish the
needed amount of skin, so newborn foreskin is now a common addition.
Furthermore, foreskin cells are less likely to cause infection and be rejected
by the patient’s body than other kinds of donated skin. The benefits of
baby foreskin don’t stop there, either. It’s also a common ingredient in
anti-aging products that promise to keep wrinkles away. Foreskin is a good
source of fibroblast cells, which produce the skin-firming proteins collagen,
elastin, and hyaluronic acid. Anti-aging products created from foreskin are so
effective that one even got Oprah’s seal of approval.
1 Vaccines From Aborted Fetuses
In the early ’60s,
a seemingly insignificant event changed the world and saved countless lives.
Two women, one from England
and one from Sweden,
decided to have abortions. What made this unfortunately common event notable is
that certain cells taken from the fetuses were sent to two research facilities,
Medical Research Council and the Wistar Institute, respectively. The cells were
used as the foundation for vaccine research that produced vaccines for rubella,
polio, rabies, chickenpox, hepatitis A, and many more. More than 40 years
later, these two sets of fetal cells are still used in research for life-saving
medicines. Creating vaccines
for viruses rather than bacteria is tricky, since viruses only grow inside
cells. Adult human cells for are not viable for such research, since cells from
organs that are already fully developed can only replicate about 50 times
before they die. Fetal cells, on the other hand, are essentially immortal, with
the ability to replicate seemingly indefinitely. They are also sterile, making
them ideal research material.
~Blog Admin~
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