Plants that are found on the sides of roads that show a high frequency of traffic are usually seen to be sickly looking. They never quite achieve their optimum height as per the species or even grow as much as they would in foliage in the woods. Scientists have always said that the emissions from the vehicles on the road pollute the area so badly that the plants end up stunted.

Researchers at the University of Surrey are looking into another aspect of this by studying hedges that are planted on the edge of roads with an aim to reduce air pollution in the region. Hedges are a much more hardy plant species and study showed interesting results. The researchers studies areas which had only hedges as well as some which had a combination of hedges, trees and shrubs.

It was found that the areas with just hedges were the most effective at reducing air pollution. There was a 63% reduction in black carbon in these areas. Also the ultra fine and sub micron particles were also reduced in the size in the area. This science experiment suggests that it may be better to plant hedges near roads than trees or shrubs.

Most funerals are heavy on their carbon footprint. With burials there are a number of chemicals used in the embalming liquid and wood is used for the coffins. The area for the burial is also earmarked and not available as a resource to the living people of the planet. In case of cremations, the accelerants used to aid the spread of fire also have a heavy chemical release into the atmosphere.

Jamie Pedersen is now hoping to offer residents of Washington an alternative which would be a lot healthier to the planet. The idea is to allow human bodies to undergo composting so that they are gently broken down into the soil. This mineral rich soil would then be able to sustain new life. The Democratic state senator is sponsoring a bill in the legislature to this effect.

The obvious green benefits aside, there is also a huge financial benefit for the family left behind. It is likely that the human composting system will be $2000 cheaper than the regular burial. Here’s wondering of this science experiment will ever come to life. It may be green, but will it soothe emotions of the bereaved family?

Exploring new worlds is not quite as easy as shown in science fiction movies and popular culture. Take the icy moon of Jupiter, Europa for example. In the Arthur Clark series it was very much populated and easily explored. In real life, that’s not quite the case. The icy shell of the moon makes it very difficult to reach the sub surface ocean.

The Galileo spacecraft sent by NASA was able to make a number of passes of Europa as it flew past through the years 1995 to 2003. Most of our knowledge of the moon is based on the observations that were recorded during these fly pasts by Galileo. The researchers are convinced that the ocean on Europa either has flourishing microbial activity today, or will reveal signs of the same from now extinct microbial life.

In order to find it, they are working on a nuclear powered tunnel bot that will be able to dig it’s way through the outer ice and head into the ocean. The researchers at the University of Illinois, Chicago, are performing a concept study for such a bot. This is one science project that still needs a whole lot of work to be done before it can be implemented.

Ever cried when you lost a pet? Then you need to read on about how this science project can change the way you think.

Juice is a popular dog when it comes to Chinese movies. The one foot tall mutt is getting older and his illustrious career is still at the peak. This is what prompted the owner of this stray mongrel to have him cloned. Beijing based He Jun wants the nine year old dog to be immortalized and asked for the Sinogene biotech company to clone him.

Sinogene is credited with successfully cloning a beagle in May 2017. It then offered it’s pet cloning services at a cost of 380,000 yuan to pet owners. This is about 55,065 dollars. They eventually have plans to move into genetic editing for the pets as well as per the company CEO Mi Jidong.

He Jun approached them to clone his dog, Juice and was recently presented with Little Juice or Zhizhi as he is known in Chinese. The two month old clone is doing well and his nine year old original DNA donor seems to be adjusting to the addition in his life well. So far He Jun has no plans for Little Juice to join the Chinese film and television industry, but he says the pup shows a lot of potential.

Most pets have a tough time dealing with the noise of fire crackers. Let’s understand why this happens. A normal conversation takes place at about 60 decibels. The person who shouts could reach maybe 80 decibels, and in case of a fire cracker explosion the sounds are marked at 150 decibels and higher.

As a human being, the sounds are bad enough, but to the sensitive ears of a dog? It’s plain torture given that they have a hearing four times better than that of human beings. The loud sound causes stress and anxiety besides leading to temporary hearing loss which can be frightening to the animal. This has been proved by a number of scientific studies.

What’s the solution? A number of pet owners tend to sedate their dogs when they know that a firecracker display is likely to occur. However it’s not always the best solution. Now Ford, the car manufacturer has come up with something that may actually work better. An insulated dog house which the pet can retreat into when required to get away from the sounds of the fire crackers. The noise cancellation technology used in cars is being used for the dog houses as well. Here’s to ensuring a healthier way to keep your dog’s ears happy!

The iconic image of the planet Saturn surrounded by it’s icy rings may soon be a thing of the past. The gas giant has been witnessing rain falling from the rings onto the planet at the rate of about  a ton and a half per second. This means that at current rates the rings around Saturn will completely disappear in about 300 million years.

Interestingly the rings around Saturn are not relics from the original formation of the Solar System that took place 4.5 billion years ago. They developed within the last few hundred million years. The constant ring rain caused by the charged molecules from the rings colliding with  the magnetic fields of the planet is likely to cause the rings to expire.

The degradation of the rings are based on the current shifting seasons on Saturn. The process may take longer or lesser period of time depending on changes that may occur in the future. The whole study is based on observations taking place now. However the measurements of the rings of Saturn may prove to be an interesting science project for scientists studying them over the next few decades to determine how valid this theory is.

Shark infested waters make it difficult for human beings to enjoy the beach experience. Sharks have attacked teenagers this year on beaches along California and New York. The great white sharks are creeping closer and closer to the shores and making it dangerous for swimmers in the oceans. Given that they are one of the biggest and most dangerous predators in the ocean, it makes sense that humans stay away from them.

In Australia a 16 year old has come up with an app for the Smartphone that uses artificial intelligence to analyse 13 factors  that affect shark behavior. The kid from New South Wales has come up with the app to calculate the odds of being  attacked by a shark. A search and rescue group in Australia known as the Ripper Group has come up with a program that uses a drone as it scans for sharks in the ocean. These drones are among the best drones for beginners, thus they can be used by even an amateur who has the basic knowledge of its working as not all can be expert drone controllers. If seen the animal’s movements and swimming patterns are analysed.

Should they be closing in on human bathers in the ocean, the program scrambles an alert to life guards as well as drops inflatable devices to the swimmers in immediate danger. The system may not be fool proof but it does have an advantage of an early warning system compared to other science projects.

The human mind has an incredible capacity to grasp data. Facial recognition software being developed by various researchers is showing humans just how difficult it is to get a computer to do what human beings tend to do naturally. Think of the sheer number of people you are able to simply take one look at and correctly place an identity on them.

For the computer to do the same thing, it takes yards and yards or written code. While early humans did not have quite the same population to go through in terms of identification, they did need to be able to make out the difference between potentially harmful and useful plants and animals.

Today a human being can be blasted with an astonishing number of faces from real life and social media. The news helps us see more people than we would in our daily lives. Apparently it is possible for a human being to process many thousands of faces instantly, unlike a computer that is being programmed to do the same task.

Recent scientific studies at the University of York had scientists proclaiming that humans can recall at least five thousand faces in their lifetime. No small feat, especially when compared to a computer’s nascent abilities in the same field.

If you were to ride the rail line from norther Germany near Hamburg to Bremerhaven, it may be possible that you were riding the world’s first commercial hydrogen train. There are two trains on the route and seem to be what the future of trains will be. The train called Coradia iLint, has been developed by the French firm Alstom, has been pressed into service by Germany this September.

These Hydrogen Trains are fueled by hydrogen fuel cells that cause no carbon emissions and are considered much more environmentally friendly than conventional fossil fuel run trains. Also they steal a march over electric trains as they require no overhanging wires fueled by electricity to run. This makes it easily adaptable to different rail routes. It is also much cheaper to set up when compared to electrical train routes.

The inherent hydrogen cell generates the electricity required to run the train through a chemical reaction. They cause no pollution, including noise pollution as the reaction is a silent one. Imagine riding a train that makes no engine sounds. The state is extremely interested in this trial run in the north of Germany before implementing the trains all over the nation. This is a science project that literally delivers the future to us.

When you think about an airport, you naturally think about the people who work there. The entire process of getting from your cab to your flight has you meeting and interacting with many airport officials. However in the future, it may be possible to transit through an airport without interacting with a single human official. In fact Singapore’s Changi Airport may be the first in the world where airport bots will take over completely.

The airport has been judged the best airport in the world for six years by Skytrax. It is dedicated to making airports manned by robots a reality and has actually constructed an entire terminal to test these bots of the future in real time. As airports get bigger with the need to handle larger volumes of passengers, it is also required to ensure that these passengers get seamless service while they transit through the airport.

Singapore has a limited pool of  domestic talent to handle such a growing need. The city state also has an aversion to allowing too many ex-pats in the country. In this scenario, getting robots to do the work of humans may seem like the most practical alternative. The current science project in the test terminal will prove if it’s possible.