Irène Joliot-Curie was a radiologist, activist and politician as well as the daughter of two of the world’s most famous scientists: Marie and Pierre Curie. Along with her husband, Frédéric, she discovered the first-ever artificially created radioactive atoms, paving the way for innumerable medical advances, especially in the fight against cancer. “Without the love of […]
Made up of sections of DNA, genes control the life processes of organisms, according to Nobelprize.org In 2012, American biochemist Jennifer Doudna along with French microbiologist Emmanuelle Charpentier developed “a methodology for high precision changes to genes. They used the immune defenses of bacteria, which disable viruses by cutting their DNA up with a type […]
Six decades ago, US President John F. Kennedy announced that the United States would put human beings on the Moon by the end of the decade. But it wasn’t until 2016 that Margaret H. Hamilton (b. 1936), a computer scientist and software innovator, was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work on […]
Marie Curie was a pioneer of modern science. Despite a career that was physically demanding and ultimately fatal, she discovered polonium and radium, championed the use of radiation in medicine and fundamentally changed the understanding of radioactivity. Marie Curie was born Marie Skłodowska in 1867 in Warsaw, Poland, to a family of teachers who believed […]
Companies have produced more than 7 billion tons of plastic since production first started to ramp up in the 1950s. Unfortunately, all manner of plastics, such as helmets, single-use bottles, bottle caps, windsurf boards and even Christmas trees, have been finding their way into waterways and, from there, into the ocean, since the beginning. Up […]
Mysterious and complex, fascinating and disturbing, artificial intelligence (AI) is the subject of much debate. Beyond the controversies, this technology, envisioned in the 1950s by British mathematician Alan Turing (1912-1954), is rich in practical applications in the domains of health, the environment, and industry, among others. So what is AI? AI brings together technical systems, […]
According to the WWF’s Living Blue Planet Report, more than half of the world’s coral reefs have died in the past 30 years due to climate change, overfishing and pollution. “Over 25 per cent of all marine species live in coral reefs, yet they cover an area about half the size of France.” Increasing pressure […]
Although wind energy production has mainly focused on wind turbines, they still present issues to do with noise generation, animal and bird migratory interference, maintenance, costs, and lack of infrastructure. But innovation has moved so quickly that the advantages of wind power have fomented unique, promising strategies for this clean energy. According to Energy.gov, the […]
In 2018, Virgin Atlantic announced the first use of food waste as jet fuel, by successfully completing the first transatlantic flight from Florida to London using a mixture of regular jet fuel and fuel made from discarded food. At the time, the mixture was only 5% ethanol food waste to 95% normal jet fuel, but […]
The world’s tallest building made from wood is called Mjøstårnet and is located in the Norwegian town of Brumunddal. Built in 2019 and measuring 85.4 meters tall, it dominates neighboring Mjøsa lake, more than 100 kilometers north of Oslo. It is a mixed use building containing apartments, offices and a hotel (with the apt name […]
