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A future without power lines?
Fuel cell electrodes built with stainless steel are stronger, easier
to manufacture, and cheaper than ceramic electrodes. This new
kind of solid oxide fuel cell could generate electricity as cheaply
as the most efficient gas turbine. On-site, pollution-free electricity
from fuel cells could serve neighborhoods and industry without the need
for long-distance power lines.
Slow wetting
in a hot bath
The standard equation for how a drop of liquid wets a solid surface doesn't
work when the liquid is molten metal and the surface is hot. Why not?
It's been a mystery for 200 years. Now Berkeley Lab researchers have been
awarded $50,000 for discovering the answer. A hint: ridges
riffle running metal.
Crops suffer
as climate changes
Total annual precipitation and extreme precipitation events, like blizzards
and tropical storms, are steadily on the increase. As the climate changes,
precipitation will increase even more. Over the next 30 years crop
damage could double in the nation's Corn Belt, adding an additional
$3 billion a year to the cost of agriculture.
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