muchkinstudies - Tumblr blog

[muchkinstudies]

Desalination system could produce freshwater that is cheaper than tap water

MIT engineers and collaborators developed a solar-powered device that avoids salt-clogging issues of other designs.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News

Engineers at MIT and in China are aiming to turn seawater into drinking water with a completely passive device that is inspired by the ocean, and powered by the sun.

In a paper appearing today in the journal Joule, the team outlines the design for a new solar desalination system that takes in saltwater and heats it with natural sunlight.

The configuration of the device allows water to circulate in swirling eddies, in a manner similar to the much larger “thermohaline” circulation of the ocean. This circulation, combined with the sun’s heat, drives water to evaporate, leaving salt behind. The resulting water vapor can then be condensed and collected as pure, drinkable water. In the meantime, the leftover salt continues to circulate through and out of the device, rather than accumulating and clogging the system.

The new system has a higher water-production rate and a higher salt-rejection rate than all other passive solar desalination concepts currently being tested.

The researchers estimate that if the system is scaled up to the size of a small suitcase, it could produce about 4 to 6 liters of drinking water per hour and last several years before requiring replacement parts. At this scale and performance, the system could produce drinking water at a rate and price that is cheaper than tap water.

“For the first time, it is possible for water, produced by sunlight, to be even cheaper than tap water,” says Lenan Zhang, a research scientist in MIT’s Device Research Laboratory.

The team envisions a scaled-up device could passively produce enough drinking water to meet the daily requirements of a small family. The system could also supply off-grid, coastal communities where seawater is easily accessible.

Zhang’s study co-authors include MIT graduate student Yang Zhong and Evelyn Wang, the Ford Professor of Engineering, along with Jintong Gao, Jinfang You, Zhanyu Ye, Ruzhu Wang, and Zhenyuan Xu of Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.

Keep reading.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr!

[muchkinstudies]

Adriatic Sea by Mauro Roberto Scalabroni

[muchkinstudies]

I have this stupid fear when I need to face writing the analytical section. It is like I am not good enough and my results are not as nice as the ones in literature. I feel the pressure of trying to do so well all the time.

[muchkinstudies]

working from home 🌷 sadly due to some personal issues i haven’t been able to edit my new videos or post as much as i thought i would. started reading Dandelions by Thea Lenarduzzi. hope everyone is having a nice friday ✨

[muchkinstudies]

08.01.2023 • sunday

spent the day writing my reports. i was studying in my dorm but then my friend invited me to her place so we spent hours together baking, studying, talking and just chilling. it was very nice<3. she gave me my new year’s gift and i gave her hers!!

p.s. i’m really loving this doodling on the pics thing, can you tell?

[muchkinstudies]

My fave laptop, fave subjects and the pursuit of a multidisciplinary field. Doing my postgraduate in nanotechnology has its perks.

[muchkinstudies]

Successfully crossed some stuffs on my to-do lists and labeled my stuffs for upcoming experiments. Came home and got some dinner.

[muchkinstudies]

Bacteria-shredding insect wings inspire new antibacterial packaging

Inspired by the bacteria-killing wings of insects like cicadas, scientists have developed a natural antibacterial texture for use on food packaging to improve shelf life and reduce waste. The lab-made nanotexture from an Australian-Japanese team of scientists kills up to 70% of bacteria and retains its effectiveness when transferred to plastic.

More than 30% of food produced for human consumption becomes waste, with entire shipments rejected if bacterial growth is detected. The research sets the scene for significantly reducing waste, particularly in meat and dairy exports, as well as extending the shelf life and improving the quality, safety and integrity of packaged food on an industrial scale.

Distinguished Professor Elena Ivanova of RMIT University said the research team had successfully applied a natural phenomenon to a synthetic material—plastic. “Eliminating bacterial contamination is a huge step in extending the shelf life of food,” she said.

“We knew the wings of cicadas and dragonflies were highly-efficient bacteria killers and could help inspire a solution, but replicating nature is always a challenge. We have now created a nanotexturing that mimics the bacteria-destroying effect of insect wings and retains its antibacterial power when printed on plastic. This is a big step towards a natural, non-chemical, antibacterial packaging solution for the food and manufacturing industry.”

Read more.

[muchkinstudies]

Ultrafast imaging of terahertz electric waveforms using quantum dots

Microscopic electric fields govern a remarkable variety of phenomena in condensed matter and their ultrafast evolutions drive plasmonics, phononics and highspeed nanoelectronics. Access to high-frequency electric waveforms is of crucial importance to diverse disciplines in nanoscience and technology, yet, microscopic measurements are still severely limited. 

In a new paper published in Light: Science & Applications, a team of scientists, led by Prof. Georg Herink from the University of Bayreuth, Germany, and co-workers from the University of Melbourne, Australia, has introduced a new THz microscope for imaging ultrafast electric waveforms encoded in the visible luminescence of nanocrystal probes. Strong electric fields modulate the emission yield of nanocrystals and enable the detection of THz near-field waveforms by microscopy of visible photons in the far-field.

The researchers generated ultrafast electric fields inside gold structures using intense Terahertz pulses. A layer of semiconductor nanocrystals covering the samples is excited by ultrashort visible pulses and shows modulated visible emission depending on the momentary local THz electric field. Fundamentally, this probing of electric fields via luminescence yield is enabled by the quantum-confined Stark effect in quantum dots, generating the contrast mechanism of the scheme termed Quantum-Probe Field Microscopy (QFIM). While scanning the temporal delay between THz excitation and optical pulses, an optical fluorescence microscope captures snapshots of the modulated local emission and generates movies of the local field evolution.

Read more.

[muchkinstudies]

Scientists develop biodegradable printed paper batteries

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed paper-thin biodegradable zinc batteries that could one day become an environmentally sustainable option for powering flexible and wearable electronic systems.

The NTU Singapore-developed zinc batteries are made up of electrodes (through which the electrical current leaves or enters the battery) screen-printed on to both sides of a piece of cellulose paper that has been reinforced with hydrogel.

Once the battery has been expended, it can be buried in soil, where it breaks down completely within a month.

In a proof-of-concept experiment described in scientific journal Advanced Science, the NTU team demonstrated how a 4cm x 4cm square of printed paper battery could power a small electric fan for at least 45 minutes. Bending or twisting the battery did not interrupt the power supply.

Read more.

[muchkinstudies]

I do work on my bed and end up sleeping most of the time.

[muchkinstudies]

Happiness is doing what I love in my own time. 

[muchkinstudies]

I wish I had parents that were more encouraging and didn’t belittle me when I was younger. I wish they hadn’t cut me down whenever I showed interest in things that they were not keen on. I wish I was somewhere else. I wish my brain would just shut down. 

[muchkinstudies]

I wish my brain would just shut down automatically. I am emotionally drained and physically tired of everyone and everything. There’s just too much noise and nobody seems to care enough. 

[muchkinstudies]

There are times that I wished I was born late 90′s, early 2000′s so that I will be exposed to coding. I love it so much. I hate being the filial eldest kid. It comes with so much baggage. I didn’t ask for this. I wished I had freedom to do what I want. I hate it here. 

[muchkinstudies]

Thought things were improving..

Nope they aren’t. My mother constantly berates me and insults me while I am trying to just live in the house and look for ways to survive because no one wishes to hire me. 3 years and still nothing. I have so much experience and skills under my belt and yet I’m just not the culture fit person I guess.

Meanwhile, my mother is getting worse emotionally and today was a perfect example of it where she yelled and got violent when I told her to leave the bathroom because I am showering and want my privacy. Her response to it is that she “can come in whenever she wants and that I rarely shower anyway.” No….my depression makes it very hard for me to be motivated to take care of myself…it was just today I finally had the energy to treat myself to a nice bath and it got ruined. Now I am trembling due to anxiety, my blood pressure is up, my…..certain death thoughts are back and I quite frankly believe I don’t deserve to be in this world..I’m just so done with this hellish existence.

All I wanted was a job so I can finally escape this prison…now imagine winter when I am truly stuck with her with no place to go. God have mercy on my pathetic soul…

If you are able, please support me so I can find a way to escape this hell…either though purchasing my stuff, or if you know someone who is hiring…I need salvation…please help me…

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cosmicfunnies

kofi: https://ko-fi.com/cosmicfunnies

gofundme: https://www.gofundme.com/f/5x8qvk-help-me-move-out-of-my-abusive-home?

My online store: (Back to school sale started and preorder for 2022 planners) https://www.cosmicfunnies.com

And if you wish to hire a graphic designer, I’d greatly appreciate it. Here is my portfolio:

https://jackiemoliner.myportfolio.com

Thank you..and have a nice day..

[muchkinstudies]

These tumblr noise filter on my pics ain’t bad at all. It is day 26, I am in the midst of a manuscript submission. Still filling up the details and I am still nervous af. Wish me luck!