| Design team taps WKU student
A college senior from Western Kentucky has been selected to work on a global design project to create a wind-powered water purifier to benefit impoverished areas that lack electricity. Zach Pearl, who is studying mechanical engineering at Western Kentucky University, is part of the five-member team contributing to the project from around the world. "Something like this could possibly be used where there isn't a safe source of drinking water," Pearl said. "This could save lives." The research is still in early stages, he said, but the group is using computer-generated conceptual drawings to examine the possibility of harnessing wind power. It's not Pearl's first attempt to design a water purification system. Last year he was part of a team that created a water purification system powered by pedals on a bicycle.
Cheap, Clean Drinking Water Purified Through Nanotechnology
ScienceDaily (Feb. 26, 2008) Tiny particles of pure silica coated with an active material could be used to remove toxic chemicals, bacteria, viruses, and other hazardous materials from water much more effectively and at lower cost than conventional water purification methods, according to researchers writing in the current issue of the International Journal of Nanotechnology. .
Rx: 2 lab-tested chicken soups
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Did you know... that bad nutrition can turn on viruses? Certain viruses can be activated to spread disease if you lack vitamin E and/or selenium, rich in whole grains, seafood, garlic and Brazil nuts, say U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers. Vitamin alert! A typical one-a-day vitamin-and-mineral pill boosted certain immune responses in older people by 64 percent, according to researchers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. This should lower the risk of colds and other infections, they said.
Breathe deeply: Cleaner air starts with you
In this third Green Living installment of Health & Wellness, the focus is on the air around us. This is fitting, since part one focused on water conservation and part two discussed ways to protect soil. The triple punch of conserving water, protecting soil and purifying air will yield the most effective reduction on your carbon footprint.
Carbon dioxide has earned its bad reputation for being a greenhouse gas that is running rampant. Excess CO2 creates an insulating blanket that prevents heat from the sun from bouncing off the surface of the planet back out into space, causing a cascading accumulation of side effects.
It is true that the composition of our atmosphere fluctuates over time, and in the distant past when there was more CO2 in the air, plants were more abundant and animals were bigger.
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