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Sean Nash

New fabric makes urban heat islands more bearable | ScienceDaily - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...240613161204.htm

HSR HSR-2025 science environmental engineering physics biology potential research idea

shared by Sean Nash on 15 Jun 24 - No Cached
  • This year has already seen massive heatwaves around the globe, with cities in Mexico, India, Pakistan and Oman hitting temperatures near or past 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).
  • In tests under the Arizona sun, the material kept 2.3 degrees Celsius (4.1 degrees Fahrenheit) cooler than the broadband emitter fabric used for outdoor endurance sports and 8.9 degrees Celsius (16 degrees Fahrenheit) cooler than the commercialized silk commonly used for shirts, dresses and other summer clothing.
  • "You can save a lot of cooling, electricity and energy costs because this is a passive process," Sui said.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Spectrally engineered textile for radiative cooling against urban heat islands. Science, 2024; 384 (6701): 1203 DOI: 10.1126/science.adl0653
    • Sean Nash
      Sean Nash on 15 Jun 24
       
      I'm not yet convinced of the feasibility of this one, but this might provide a spark for someone. Some types of materials engineering like this is done on a nanoscale, which may not be the best for what we can do... but I believe there is space here for exploring composite materials with different properties to engineer better outcomes than what we're currently dealing with.
  • Sean Nash on 15 Jun 24
     
    "With applications in clothing, construction and food storage, the new textile reduces heat from both the sun and thermal radiation from nearby buildings"
Kylie John

Extreme solar storm generated aurorae-and 'surprise' | Science | AAAS - 0 views

www.science.org/...generated-auroras-and-surprise

HSR HSR-2025 environmental space sun

shared by Kylie John on 26 May 24 - No Cached
  • Although this weekend’s storm didn’t appear to take out any satellites, it may shorten some of their life spans.
    • Kylie John
      Kylie John on 26 May 24
       
      I just find it interesting that these solar storms effect satellites
Sean Nash

New fabric cools people in sweltering cities - 0 views

www.anthropocenemagazine.org/...ople-cool-in-sweltering-cities

HSR HSR-2025 science statistical analysis engineering physics chemistry potential research idea

shared by Sean Nash on 02 Jul 24 - No Cached
  • researchers have designed a new wearable fabric to help people beat the heat in urban settings. The material, reported in the journal Science, could find use in clothing, cooling facades for buildings and cars, and for food storage and transport.
  • Existing cooling fabrics reflect sunlight and also wick away sweat to cool a person via evaporation. More recently, researchers have designed cooling fabrics that rely on the principle of radiative cooling: the natural phenomenon in which objects radiate heat through the atmosphere straight into outer space.
  • But radiative cooling fabrics made so far are designed to work when laid horizontally as opposed to vertically, as they would be when worn.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • researchers at the University of Chicago made a new three-layer fabric. Its wool bottom layer wicks heat from the skin to the middle layer, which is made of silver nanowires that block heat from coming in. The top layer selectively emits heat into the atmosphere.
  • In tests conducted in the urban heat island of Chicago and under blistering Arizona sun, the material stayed 2.3°C cooler than sports cooling fabrics and 8.9°C cooler than commercial silk used for summer clothing.
  • Sean Nash on 02 Jul 24
     
    Materials science is certainly a nifty bit of engineering. This is the second time I've seen this study mentioned. Look interesting enough to dig into various materials and how they might be combined to serve a key purpose?
Sean Nash

Mysterious Underwater Acoustic World of British Ponds Revealed in New Study | Current S... - 1 views

currentsciencedaily.com/...sh-ponds-revealed-in-new-study

hydrophone sound survey pond potential research idea biology physics computer science environmental science HSR HSR-2023 HSR-2025

shared by Sean Nash on 11 Jun 24 - No Cached
  • The previously hidden and diverse underwater acoustic world in British ponds has been revealed by a team of researchers at the University of Bristol.
    • Sean Nash
      Sean Nash on 11 Jun 24
       
      So... my immediate thought is: How cool would it be to do this here? One thing we DO have: PONDS. See if this *sounds* interesting. Get it? ;)
  • Acoustic monitoring has been shown to effectively survey birds and monkeys in rainforests, and marine mammals in the oceans. However, freshwater environments have remained largely unexplored despite their diverse soundscapes.
    • Sean Nash
      Sean Nash on 11 Jun 24
       
      BOOM. Again, "relatively unexplored" is super exciting verbiage to me. Acoustics. Hydrophones. Is this feasible? Is the equipment affordable? If not, could we borrow one? Dig into it. What are the possibilities?
  • analysis of the audio files revealed clear daily acoustic activity cycles in each pond
    • Sean Nash
      Sean Nash on 11 Jun 24
       
      Aside from the exploratory surveys you would do just to see "what's out there" and assess what we CAN learn from listening to a pond, you could make it experimental by comparing ponds you've assessed the health of by other means. In other words, do acoustic comparisons between two ponds correlate with what you find by doing a macroinvertebrate sampling? I really LIKE the possibilities in this one!
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Typically, a nocturnal chorus is made by aquatic insects that compete to attract mates by producing strange scratching sounds as they rub their genitals against their abdomens. During the daytime, however, aquatic plants dominate the underwater orchestra with rhythmic whining and ticking sounds produced as tiny oxygen bubbles are released by plants respiring in the hot sun.
  • Using this acoustic method, the presence of species, and a determination of ecological health, can be inferred simply by listening to the natural world without disturbing the environment or harming the plants and animals within it.
    • Sean Nash
      Sean Nash on 11 Jun 24
       
      Here is the obvious value proposition if you could work this out.
  • Publication: Jack A. Greenhalgh, et al., Diel variation in insect-dominated temperate pond soundscapes and guidelines for survey design, Freshwater Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1111/fwb.14092.
    • Sean Nash
      Sean Nash on 11 Jun 24
       
      BEST THING YET: Here is the FULL TEXT of the actual research paper!
    • Sean Nash
      Sean Nash on 11 Jun 24
       
      Here is the FULL TEXT of the actual research paper!
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