Chicago Council on Science and Technology and the Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Center present
Just in time for opening day!
Dr Alan Nathan spent a career doing experimental nuclear physics, where he studied the high-speed collisions of subatomic particles. Continue reading “The Physics of Baseball”
By Jeff McMahon, Opinion, Forbes
Originally published at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2017/03/26/how-captured-co2-could-provide-the-energy-storage-solution-everyone-is-looking-for/#2a73db95ddef
Scientists in China and the United States are working on a novel way to kill two birds with one stone: capturing carbon-dioxide pollution to use in an energy-storage system that can back up clean sources like solar and wind.
Compressed air is already employed in one of the cheapest forms of energy storage. When windmills are spinning and the sun is shining, excess energy is used to compress air that later, when the air is still and the sky dark, is blasted through turbines mixed with natural gas. But that method produces a lot of waste heat and its own carbon footprint.
Geological storage of carbon dioxide has the potential for significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
While the fundamental scientific underpinnings of CO2 storage build on a century-long exploration of the physics of multiphase flow in porous media, there are aspects that remain unexplored and warrant further investigation. Continue reading “Recent Advances in CO2 Storage Science and Technology”
By Patrick M. O'Connell, Chicago Tribune
Originally published at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-trump-scientists-chicago-met-20170319-story.html
In Illinois coffee shops and theaters, scientists and science fans gather to plan a march. At government offices they fret about the appointment of Cabinet leaders who hold skeptical views on climate change. And in labs they worry about the freeze on their research projects.
The regional science community has felt apprehension since the early days of Donald Trump’s presidency — concerns that further crystallized Thursday with the release of the administration’s budget proposal. Trump seeks deep cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency and other areas of federal government that rely on scientific research.
Continue reading “Local science community rallies around opposition to Trump, plans march”
How do fish and other marine species find forever homes? How long do they remain drifters?
Adults spawn and release eggs that hatch into larvae that temporarily join the drifting communities of the open ocean, plankton. What happens from there is not easy to study–larvae are tiny; almost invisible, and the ocean is huge. Continue reading “Tales From the Sea: How do Baby Fish and Other Marine Species Find Forever Homes?”
How do fish and other marine species find forever homes? How long do they remain drifters?
Adults spawn and release eggs that hatch into larvae that temporarily join the drifting communities of the open ocean, plankton. What happens from there is not easy to study–larvae are tiny; almost invisible, and the ocean is huge. In this talk you will learn about the unique strategies and characteristics that fish and invertebrates use to increase their odds of survival as they search for a coral reef. For example, baby lobsters hitch rides on and make meals of floating jellyfish, as they surf the current. Baby fish may stay together as a group by grunting, and many species can follow signals from the sun, stars, wind and waves to find the right home.
Continue reading “Tales From the Sea: How do Baby Fish and Other Marine Species Find Forever Homes?”
