Iron-Air Batteries Powered by Rust Could Revolutionize Energy Storage By Using Only Iron, Water, and Air

Iron-air batteries for stable power – Credit: Form Energy

Edited with permission of EarthTalk® and E – The Environmental Magazine, Dear EarthTalk: What’s new regarding more efficient batteries that can help usher in a new age of renewable energy?

Batteries are everywhere—in your phone, your car—even the artificial organs many depend on for life. Fortunately, new innovations have increased the efficiency and sustainability of our ubiquitous batteries.

One of the most novel innovations unveiled recently is the iron-air battery system which usees rust to produce energy in a sustainable way.

The iron-air system from Form Energy is built from safe, low-cost, abundant materials—iron, water, and air—and uses no heavy or rare-earth metals. The company touts that approximately 80% of its components are sourced domestically from within the United States.

As air passes through the cathode (the negatively-charged portion of the battery) and reacts with the liquid, a water-based electrolyte, ions subsequently latch onto the positively-charged iron anode, producing rust. The movement of ions through this rust produces electricity, a process that can be repeated by continually un-rusting the battery after each reaction.

Form energy co-founder and Chief Scientist Yet-Ming Chiang notes the economic viability of iron-air batteries for large-scale usage: “Air is still free and iron is one of the most widely produced, lowest cost materials in the world.”

In Minnesota, a 1.5 megawatt pilot project was shown to be able to power 400 homes for 100 hours. It also successfully completed UL9540A safety testing, demonstrating the highest safety standards with no fire or thermal threats across all scenarios.

Besides iron-air batteries, solid-state batteries are what George Crabtree, director of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, believes to be “very likely… the next big thing at the commercial level.”

Solid-state batteries use electrolytes like argyrodite, garnet and perovskite that are more efficient than liquid-electrolytes in nearly all aspects: they’re lighter, take up less space and can hold more energy per unit of mass. These qualities make them effective for electrical vehicles and grid-scale energy storage.

However, researchers like University of Houston professor Yan Yao, who recently developed a glass-like electrolyte, are still looking for materials that fulfill all four factors for viability in the market: low-cost, easy-to-build, having a high degree of mechanical stability, and chemical stability.

With lithium-based batteries being so ubiquitous, some scientists are looking to improve on the existing model rather than supplanting it entirely. Batteries made out of lithium-sulfur, for example, exhibit four times greater energy density than traditional lithium batteries due to their usage of light, active materials.

Ultimately, innovations in batteries are a cornerstone to shaping a more sustainable future, making renewable energy more reliable and energy grids more stable.

EarthTalk® is produced by Roddy Scheer & Doug Moss for the 501(c)3 nonprofit EarthTalk. See more at emagazine.com. To donate, visit Earthtalk.org. Send questions to: question@earthtalk.org.
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Rapid BP fluctuations may signal risk of brain degeneration in elderly

(Photo: AI generated image/IANS)

New Delhi, (IANS) Older adults whose blood pressure fluctuates widely may indicate a greater risk of brain shrinkage and nerve cell injury, according to a new study.

The study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, reveals that short-term “dynamic instability” in blood pressure -- moment-to-moment changes measured over just minutes -- is linked to loss of brain tissue in regions critical for memory and cognition, as well as to blood biomarkers of nerve cell damage.

“Our findings show that even when average blood pressure is normal, instability from one heartbeat to the next may place stress on the brain,” said Daniel Nation, from the University of Southern California’s Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.

“These moment-to-moment swings appear to be associated with the same kinds of brain changes we see in early neurodegeneration,” added the Professor of Gerontology and Medicine.

While high average blood pressure has long been known to increase the risk of dementia, this study focuses on blood pressure variability, or how much blood pressure rises and falls over short time periods.

Recent evidence suggests that such fluctuations can strain small blood vessels in the brain and reduce their ability to deliver steady blood flow.

In this study, the researchers combined two complementary measures: Average Real Variability (ARV) and Arterial Stiffness Index (ASI).

ARV captures how much systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading) changes between each heartbeat, while ASI reflects how flexible or stiff the arteries are as they respond to those changes in pressure.

Together, these measures indicate how much blood flow changes over a short period of time, or what the researchers call “blood pressure dynamic instability.”

"This study suggests that excessive fluctuations could be a sign of vascular ageing that contributes to brain injury,” Nation explained.

The team conducted MRI scans of 105 community-dwelling older adults between the ages of 55 and 89 who were generally healthy and had no major neurological disease.

Participants with both high ARV and high ASI were found to have smaller hippocampal and entorhinal cortex volumes -- brain regions vital for learning and memory, also the first affected by Alzheimer’s disease.

Blood samples showed that the same individuals also had higher levels of neurofilament light (NfL), a blood-based marker that rises when nerve cells are damaged.The findings open a new window into how cardiovascular changes contribute to cognitive decline and may offer novel prevention strategies. Rapid BP fluctuations may signal risk of brain degeneration in elderly | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com
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First Antidote for Carbon Monoxide Poisoning 'Cleans' Blood in Minutes

A plug-in carbon monoxide detector – credit Fastily CC 4.0. BY-SA

It’s invisible, it’s lethal, and it’s been with us for decades, but carbon monoxide poisoning can now be fought with the first-ever antidote that rapidly removes the toxic molecule from the bloodstream.

Carbon monoxide or CO, poisoning accounts for 50,000 emergency room visits in the US each year and causes about 1,500 deaths, each one being lamented as a shameful waste and tragic oversight.

Currently, the only treatments for CO poisoning are oxygen-based therapies, which help the body eliminate the toxic gas. However, even with treatment, nearly half of survivors suffer long-term heart and brain damage. This has created an urgent need for faster, more effective interventions.

In a study published by University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) in PNAS, the research team developed a new engineered protein-based therapy called RcoM-HBD-CCC, which acts like a sponge to soak up carbon monoxide from the blood.

RcoM (short for “regulator of metabolism”) is a natural protein isolated from the bacterium Paraburkholderia xenovorans which uses it to sense minute levels of carbon monoxide in its environment.

The researchers engineered a version that is highly selective, grabbing CO without interfering with oxygen or other important molecules in the bloodstream like nitric oxide, which is vital for the regulation of blood pressure.

In tests on mice, the new therapy worked quickly to remove CO from red blood cells and was safely flushed out of the body through urine.

CO is known commonly as the “silent killer,” because this odorless, invisible gas, typically released from combustion sources, including stovetops, propane heaters, car exhausts, and firewood, poisons in a gradual manner that isn’t immediately obvious to the victim.

In healthy bodies, oxygen inhaled from the air binds to the protein hemoglobin on the surface of red blood cells, which then ferry the oxygen to all the tissues of the body. CO however, competes with oxygen for hemoglobin. It enters the bloodstream and binds to hemoglobin with a 200 to 400-fold greater affinity than oxygen. That means CO hogs most of the hemoglobin seats, so not enough oxygen molecules can get a ride to the tissues that need them.

Currently, the only available treatments for carbon monoxide poisoning involve giving 100% pure oxygen, sometimes under pressure in a hyperbaric chamber.

All too often, patients are not transported, diagnosed, and treated in time to reverse the effects of CO poisoning, which can cause lasting cardiac and neurological injuries or even death.

Infused in the bloodstream, scavenger hemoproteins like RcoM-HBD-CCC rapidly bind to carbon monoxide molecules, reducing the time it takes to clear half of the carbon monoxide in the blood to less than a minute, compared to more than hour with pure oxygen therapy and five hours without any treatment.

A potential drawback the researchers were aware of is that so-called “scavengers” like RcoM also have an affinity for oxygen, and so may uptake the nitric oxide mentioned earlier. This can cause wild and potentially unsafe changes in blood pressure, but RcoM-HBD-CCC caused no such side effects.

“Unlike other protein-based treatments, we found the compound caused only minimal changes in blood pressure, which was an exciting finding and raised the potential for this new molecule to have clinical applications,” said study corresponding author Mark T. Gladwin, MD, Dean of UMSOM.

“This has the potential to become a rapid, intravenous antidote for carbon monoxide that could be given in the emergency department or even in the field by first-responders.”Future studies will likely include more pre-clinical research to determine the safe and effective dosage range for RcoM-HBD-CCC in treating carbon monoxide poisoning. It could also form the basis for new research in other fields, including as an oxygen delivery therapy or blood substitute. This could include hemorrhagic shock, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), severe anemias, and the preservation of organs for transplantation. First Antidote for Carbon Monoxide Poisoning 'Cleans' Blood in Minutes
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Six Baby Cheetahs Born in the Richmond Zoo's Prolific Breeding Program – 167 Cats Since 2013 (WATCH)

Six cheetah cubs with their mother –Courtesy of Metro Richmond Zoo

At a zoo in Richmond, a raucous litter of cheetah cubs is delighting onlookers having spent the summer months growing in secret.

One of the largest litters born at the zoo, the three-month-old cubs are hitting milestones and progressing well towards adolescence.

Named after African capitals, such as Lusaka, Kampala, and Cairo, the cubs were born in April but were kept hidden away to develop in peace through their most sensitive period with mother Zuri.


Sprinting, jumping on each other, and investigating every object in their enclosure, they seem well on their way to becoming the world’s fastest land animal.

“Some are shy; one is bold and brave — that’s Lusaka,” said Kristina Coonley, a lead zookeeper at the Metro Richmond Zoo, Virginia. “[Cairo] is always the last one out and the last one to come in.”

Though just the 99th most populated city in America, the Richmond Zoo nevertheless boasts one of the country’s most prolific and successful cheetah breeding program for purposes of conservation. Zuri’s litter of 6 takes the total number of captive-born cubs in the program’s history to 167 since 2013.

Coonley told the Washington Post that the Cheetah Conservation Center looks carefully and genetics and disposition when deciding which of their cats are suitable for breeding. Zuri is 5 years old, and has already mothered one litter. Her partner was Ramses, a 13-year-old sire of 25 other cubs.

Though losing out on conservation column inches to the likes of the lion and tiger, cheetah are considered Vulnerable by the IUCN. With around 6,500 individuals across the whole of Africa, a relic populations in Iran, and a diminishing introduced population in India, they are the most at-risk of the African big cats because of their need for space befitting the world’s greatest sprinters.It’s no bad thing then that the Metro Richmond Zoo has seen even bigger litters than these 6, with a resident female last year bringing 9 little mohawked babies into the world. Six Baby Cheetahs Born in the Richmond Zoo's Prolific Breeding Program – 167 Cats Since 2013 (WATCH)
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Researchers Blown Away After Finding Jaguar Population up 30% Across Mexico

A jaguar on the Piquiri river – credit, Charles J. Sharp from Sharp Photography CC 4.0. BY-SA via Wikimedia

Imagine sitting in southern Texas and knowing that in less than a day you could drive to se the world’s third largest cat.

That is absolutely the reality in Mexico today, following a second national jaguar population census which found this charismatic cat is actually increasing in numbers across the country, reaching around 5,300 animals.

Gerardo Ceballos and colleagues conducted the first census in 2010, hoping to grasp more or less the gravity of the risk of extinction faced by the jaguar. They were estimating they’d find around 1,000 in the whole of Mexico.

But rather than the risk of extinction, their results conveyed a different narrative. They found four-times as many cats as they expected.

“It was a great surprise, terrific news,” Ceballos said. “Obviously 4,000 means the species is still in danger of extinction, but 4,000 is a lot better than 1,000.”

Then in 2025, Ceballos completed a second survey, employing over 50 national and local research institutions and community leaders, who together set up 920 motion-activated camera traps.

Staggered again, the count showed that in 15 years, jaguar numbers had increased 30%. It turns out that even though the twenty-teens saw hundreds of thousands of acres of forest cleared, there were almost as many jaguars in Mexico as there are cheetahs on the entire African continent.

“The fact that the country has managed to maintain and increase its population over the last 14 years is extraordinary,” Ceballos told the Guardian. “For me it’s great news for the country. Mexico and the world need good news.”

The populations came in as follows: the Yucatán peninsula region had the most (1,699), followed by the south Pacific area (1,541), north-east and central Mexico (813), the north Pacific (733) and the central Pacific coast (540).

The jaguar is a compact, muscular predator, with exceptionally strong jaws that allow it to pierce the shells of turtles and the hides of crocodilians. They’re good tree climbers, avid swimmers, and will even hunt in the water. Like tigers, it employs a stalk and ambush hunting strategy, and is considered peerless in terms of its catch rate.

In short, and by comparison, the jaguar is maybe the most versatile and adaptable of any of the big cats.

This gives the animal an advantage in the gradually shrinking forests of Mexico.Ceballos told the Guardian that the spotted hunter would face multiple threats, including from the continued construction of new highways across Mexico, as well as habitat loss and zoonic diseases being passed to them via livestock which they occasional poach. Researchers Blown Away After Finding Jaguar Population up 30% Across Mexico
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