Application Area: Sustainability
156 Results for 'Sustainability'
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Technologies 12
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cold-SNAP: Eco-friendly air conditioning
As average global temperatures steadily climb, the worldwide demand for air conditioning is expected to triple by 2050. Conventional air conditioners, while now cheap to manufacture, still rely on low-efficiency mechanical vapor compression to cool and dehumidify air, making them one of the largest consumers of energy in industrialized countries. An alternative cooling method called... -
RAPID: Testing for Food Contaminants
Contamination of food by microorganisms such as certain bacteria, viruses and fungi is a constant concern, with even miniscule amounts of certain species posing a risk for foods to become unsafe and spoiled during storage. Current safety and quality tests are often not sensitive enough to detect rare species, and because they first require the... -
Nanoarchitectures for Air Purification
Illnesses caused by air pollution are the third-leading cause of death in developing nations, and over 5 million people worldwide die every year from air pollution exposure. Catalytic converters, the most widely used air purification devices, convert the toxic gases and pollutants produced by fuel combustion into benign chemicals before the exhaust is released into... -
Gene Drives
Since the 1940s, researchers have thought of using gene drives to eradicate populations of pests and disease vectors, and to reduce or eliminate invasive species that wreak havoc on natural ecosystems. The idea of a gene drive stems from nature itself, where in sexually reproducing organisms a certain version of a gene is preferentially passed... -
Dynamic Daylight Control System
In the U.S. alone, commercial and residential buildings account for more than 40 percent of the total energy consumption – mostly for lighting. What’s more, the deep building layouts that are typical in the U.S. have led to a complete reliance on artificial lighting systems that are less desirable than natural daylight. Many of the... -
Putting Biofilms to Work
A team at the Wyss Institute sees biofilms as a robust new platform for designer nanomaterials that could treat inflammatory bowel diseases, clean up polluted rivers, manufacture pharmaceutical products, fabricate new textiles, and more. A novel protein engineering system called BIND, which stands for Biofilm-Integrated Nanofiber Display, could be the essential ingredient in tomorrow’s probiotic...
News 111
Multimedia 33
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Video/AnimationSoft Robotic Gripper for JellyfishIn order to study jellyfish and other fragile marine life without damaging them, researchers at the Wyss Institute and Baruch College developed an ultra-soft gripper to gently grasp jellyfish and release them without harm. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University -
Video/AnimationRomu: A Robot for Environmental ProtectionResearchers at the Wyss Institute have developed a robot designed to drive interlocking sheet piles into the ground to help stabilize soil. Teams of such robots could help combat erosion, restore damaged landscapes, and facilitate sustainable land management in a variety of settings. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard -
Video/AnimationLight-driven fine chemical production in yeast biohybridsWyss Institute Core Faculty member Neel Joshi explains the concept of yeast biohybrids and how they can be used to harvest energy from light to drive the production of fine chemicals. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University -
Video/AnimationSoft Robotic Arms: Giving Biologists a Delicate, Deep-sea ReachWhat good is a soft robotic hand without a soft robotic arm to move it? Wyss researchers have now created a soft, modular underwater arm that can help marine biologists study hard-to-reach organisms in the deep sea. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University -
Audio/PodcastDisruptive: Soft Robotics for Deep Sea ExplorationThe deep ocean is the least explored environment on Earth, and scientists estimate that many thousands of species are yet to be encountered. Marine researchers depend on tools primarily developed for the military or the oil and gas industry to study and capture undersea organisms. Many of them are extremely fragile, some thousands of years... -
Video/Animation3D-Printed Soft GrippersWhat’s the easiest way to pick up soft-bodied sea creatures? 3D-printed soft robots. Watch as an interdisciplinary team of marine biologists, engineers, and roboticists create custom-made soft grippers on-board the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s R/V Falkor, allowing them to safely sample many types of delicate sea life in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA). Credit: Wyss Institute...