Category: Science and Tech

What Are Snowflakes?

Have you ever wondered what snowflakes actually are? You probably already know that each and every snowflake is unique, and at the same time every single one has 6 points. And that is probably the extent of your knowledge. Well let’s see if we can add to that a few additional interesting facts.

The beginning of a snowflake’s life comes when a tiny piece of dust or dirt is swept up into the atmosphere by the blowing wind. The snow crystal begins to form as ice collects around the dust or tiny piece of dirt. When snow crystals stick together, they become actual snowflakes.

Snowflakes come in four basic shapes: an elongated needle; a long and hollow six-sided prism; a thin and flat plate with six sides; and a complex star with six points.

The temperature of the atmosphere when the snowflakes are forming is what determines the ultimate shape. As the flakes continue to grow in the atmosphere they get heavier until they fall from the sky, eventually joining us here on earth for us to enjoy their delightful shapes and the way they transform the world from its ordinary appearance to a magical winter wonderland.

Charging Cars on the Go

The technology surrounding the development of electric cars continues apace. The latest idea to increase convenience and efficiency comes from entrepreneurs in New Zealand. They have developed what they are calling the “power pad” which has the ability to wirelessly charge electric vehicles which are parked on top of it. It can even do the same for vehicles in motion.

The developers, Halo IPT, envision their pads being installed in garages, driveways, and parking lots and busily charging up cars with cords. But ultimately they would like to see their pads actually imbedded in the very roads the cars travel on, hopefully charging cars on the go by the year 2020.


“Continuous induction charging, which we call dynamic in-motion charging, could be used to create ‘e-ways’ — motorways with dedicated charging lanes, set with charging pads spaced at regular intervals,” said Halo’s Helen Fitzhugh. “As the electric car drives over the pads, it picks up enough charge to ensure that the driver always leaves the e-way with more power than when he or she began the journey.”

Potato Peels Become Sunglasses with Help from New-Fangled Bacteria

Bioplastics are beginning to make headlines because they can be the answer to some hard to solve problems, for instance, can we make potato peels into sunglasses? Well, with newly developed bacteria, the answer to that question could very well be ‘yes.’

It turns out that we already know how to turn natural substances into valuable products; it is just that the process we are using now is inefficient. But according to researcher Jean-Paul Meijnen, bacteria can be ‘trained’ to change all the main sugars found in garden waste into high-quality and environmentally friendly products called bioplastics.


The best raw materials for processing waste into plastic are the biological wastes which remain after food production, for example lignocellulose. Lignocellulose is the joining of lignin and cellulose, the materials that make leaves and stalks of plants rigid. Hydrolysis breaks down these substances into individual sugar molecules which the bacteria can use to form chemicals which are the basic substances of bioplastics. The ideal relationship would be for people or animals to consume the fruit of the plant, for instance maize, while the unused portion, the waste, which is the lignocellulose, becomes the raw material for the production of bioplastics utilizing the newly ‘trained’ bacteria.

What is Mist?

Mist is actually thousands of small water droplets or ice crystals held in the air, close to the earth’s surface. In reality, mist and fog are types of clouds, but the term ‘cloud’ generally implies that the body is floating in the atmosphere as opposed to hovering just above the ground. Also, the moisture in the mist or fog is most often from a local lake, ocean or marsh, while clouds are formed by moisture in the air. Mist can occur naturally, or as a manufactured phenomenon, such as in a sauna or with aerosol cans in the right humidity.  In nature, it is common in cold air above warmer water, or as a result of a volcanic eruption. It is most often found on shorelines, but it can be seen as high as mountain tops if extreme temperatures are low enough.

The difference between fog and mist is visibility. The occurrence is called fog when clear sight is obscured from one kilometer away, or less. The word ‘haze’ usually refers to murky air which is polluted by dust or other substances which effect visibility. When seen from far, haze has a dirty brown or yellow color, as opposed to mist which appears as bluish.

The Seahorse- An Incredibly Unique Fish

Seahorses are extraordinary fish, and not only because of their unusual horse-like appearance. They can be found in shallow tropical, temperate waters across the globe, and range from 0.6 to 14 inches long.

Seahorses are among the few monogamous fish- or fish that mate for life. What is possibly the most unique thing about seahorses is that they are one of the only species on the planet in which the male bears the offspring before their birth. Male horses have a pouch on their fronts, into which the female deposits her eggs. The eggs are fertilized internally, and are carried in the male until they hatch and are released as fully formed, tiny seahorses.

Seahorses are awkwardly shaped, and so have difficulty swimming. They often die of exhaustion during storms. In general, they propel themselves with a small fin on their backs which flutter up to 35 times per second.  Tiny fins on the backs of their heads are used for steering.

For the most part, seahorses anchor themselves to corals and sea grasses with their tails. They use their elongated snout-like mouths to suck small crustaceans and plankton that drift past. They can consume more than 3,o00 brine shrimp every day.

Fun Facts about Recycling

Since this week was the thirteenth anniversary of America Recycles Day, I wanted to remind you that there is a funny side to the whole recycling and e-waste discussion. For example,  did you know all the valuables you could take out of one million recycled cell phones?

How about: 75 pounds of gold, 772 pounds of silver, 33 pounds of palladium, and 35,000 pounds of copper! Maybe recycling cell phones could pay for itself – that’s a lot of precious metals…

The federal government has only just started to get involved in electronic waste recycling; most initiatives until now have been on the state level. But some corporations have committed themselves to this effort. HP is one such company.  To date, HP has made one billion ink cartridges out of recycled plastics they collected from their printing and imaging supplies.  The company estimates that their recycling of 160 million ink cartridges and 1.3 billion plastic water bottles – instead of using non-recycled plastic for their products – was the equivalent of taking 3,000 cars off the road for a year!

There is a lesson to be learned here: The more we, as individuals, recycle on  our own, and support the companies who recycle on a large scale, the greater impact we can have on keeping our planet green.