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Did you know that Oxford University is older than the Aztec Empire?!

Teaching at Oxford began in 1096, while the Aztec civilization is generally considered to have started with the founding of Tenochtitlán in 1325

Innovation

A Zero-Emissions Fuel

A team from MIT has developed a chemical reaction that could allow ships and submarines to generate zero-emissions hydrogen power using aluminum pellets and seawater.

By making a few adjustments, the researchers managed to produce a significant amount of hydrogen gas, a potential alternative to fossil fuels for heavy machinery like construction equipment, trains, and planes. One of the key modifications involved adding coffee grounds, and aluminum from old soda cans. Hydrogen is being tested in various applications as it has zero carbon emissions, with water as the only byproduct.

However, concerns exist about the safety of transporting large quantities of hydrogen gas due to its volatile nature. Aly Kombargi, a Ph.D. student in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, and his team proposed using seawater as the hydrogen source and aluminum pellets as the onboard fuel, similar to how coal was once used in steamships.

"This is particularly useful for maritime applications like boats or underwater vehicles, as seawater is readily available," said Kombargi, the lead author of the paper detailing the experiment.

The reaction involves dropping pure aluminum into water, which generates hydrogen gas. To reduce costs, aluminum soda cans can be used, but they must be pretreated with a rare alloy called gallium indium. This is necessary because the non-pure aluminum in soda cans forms a protective oxide layer that prevents the reaction. The alloy can be recovered if protected by a barrier of ions, which seawater naturally provides.

Initially, the process took about 2 hours, but by experimenting with different substances, the team discovered that coffee grounds, specifically the imidazole found in caffeine, reduced the reaction time to just 5 minutes.

With this approach, the researchers estimate that 1 gram of pre-treated aluminum pellets can generate 1.3 liters of hydrogen in just 5 minutes. According to MIT, the team plans to test the system in marine and underwater vehicles, and they have calculated that a reactor holding about 40 pounds of aluminum pellets could power a small underwater glider for approximately 30 days using seawater to generate hydrogen to power a motor.

Olympics

Gymnastics Finals… And Much More

Today we have a good mix of events, including the Gymnastics Finals which had some amazing conclusions.

Starting off, we have had some great track and field events recently.

Here is a match from women’s freestyle wrestling following 20-year-old American Amit Elor. This is her first Olympics, however, she has already won 8 world titles and is expected by many to dominate in her weight class.

Here we will end it off with the gymnastic finals. According to the commentators, Zou Jingyuan parallel bars routine was the most impressive in the history of men’s parallel bars.

Japan's Shinnosuke Oka on the high bar is incredible. And his landing…

Italy’s Alice D'amato definitely earned her gold with that routine.

And congratulations to Rebeca Andrade for winning gold in the floor routine finals and becoming Brazil’s most decorated Olympian.

Simone Biles’ silver routine is still well worth the watch, and so is Jordan Chiles bronze win.

Chiles’ win was extra emotional for her as the initial count had a mistake in it landing her in 4th place, but it was corrected shortly after. This is her reaction.

Here is a bonus compilation from the skeet competition:

Science

Electric Butterflies

A new study has revealed that the electrostatic field generated by butterflies and moths in flight enables them to attract pollen grains from flowers across air gaps several centimeters wide.

Researchers from the University of Bristol found that the static electricity carried by butterflies and moths varies among species, influenced by their ecology, including the type of flowers they visit, whether they are diurnal or nocturnal, and their habitat. The findings, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, suggest that this electric field enhances their efficiency and effectiveness as pollinators.

While it was known that animals like bees and hummingbirds use static electricity to collect pollen, it was unclear if this applied to butterflies and moths. "We set out to test this idea," says lead author Dr. Sam England from Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences, "to see if butterflies and moths also accumulate charge, and if so, whether this charge is enough to attract pollen from flowers onto their bodies."

The study examined 269 butterflies and moths across 11 species from five continents, each in different ecological niches. This allowed the researchers to compare the static charge and determine if ecological variables influenced it.

Dr. England explains, “We’ve discovered that butterflies and moths accumulate so much static electricity when flying, that pollen is literally pulled through the air towards them as they approach a flower,"" This means they don't need to touch flowers to pollinate them, which makes them highly efficient pollinators.

Mind Stretchers

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Spelled forwards I’m what you do every day, spelled backward I’m something that scares. What am I?

Yesterday’s Mind Stretchers:

Remover of regrets, old and new, looked for by many but found by a few. What am I?

• Redemption!

No one got redemption specifically, but many people did answer with “forgiveness”, which is also fitting.

Albert Knox was the first to give that answer, so he gets the shout-out.

Be the first to send us the correct answer for today’s mind stretcher for a shout-out with the answer tomorrow. Just send us the answer and your name to [email protected]

If you have any uplifting stories and experience you might want to share, send those over to [email protected] for the chance to be featured.