Expanding cities across the Northern Hemisphere are pushing crop cultivation into drylands and tropical ecosystems. Most people expect farming to remain rooted in the most fertile regions as cities grow. Instead, growing metropolitan areas pave over prime soils, forcing agricultural operations to relocate into hot tropics and water-stressed arid plains.
Environment & Sustainability
Rock, air, water, climate, ecosystems, and the systems of a changing planet.
Engineers designed hollow metal-organic cages that pull toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances out of contaminated water. Standard water treatment filters rely on massive piles of solid materials that physically stick to pollutants and generate heavy heaps of waste. Instead of relying on bulk surface contact, these discrete cages swap their own internal ions to chemically trap incoming pollutant molecules.
A platinum catalyst on a zeolite support converts 99.99 percent of nitrous oxide emissions into harmless products using methane gas at 150 degrees Celsius. Treating this inert greenhouse gas normally requires harsh industrial conditions and temperatures exceeding 400 degrees Celsius. The reaction works because platinum nanoparticles capture single oxygen atoms from the pollutant and quickly transfer them to methane fuel.