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National Geographic
a day ago
- Automotive
- National Geographic
This Harley-Davidson took the world's first motorcycle ride powered by solar fuel
On May 4, Aldo Steinfeld of ETH Zurich rode through the Swiss Alps on the world's first motorcycle journey powered entirely by solar gasoline. The fuel, developed by Synhelion and produced at the DAWN plant in Germany, is created by using concentrated solar heat to convert water and carbon dioxide into synthetic gasoline. Video by Davide Monteleone and Manuel Montesano The bike motored along the shores of Switzerland's Lake Zurich thanks to a new type of sustainable energy. Photographs by Davide Monteleone On May 4, on a quiet street in Herrliberg, Switzerland, along the shores of Lake Zurich, Aldo Steinfeld went for a ride on his Harley-Davidson. The day was warm and sunny, with stunning panoramic views of the Swiss mountains, and Steinfeld was making the first motorcycle ride powered by fuel created by the sun. The fuel was manufactured at the DAWN plant in Julich, Germany, which is owned and operated by Synhelion, a company that Steinfeld co-founded to research ways to replace petroleum products with sustainable, synthetic fuels. The plant, located outside Dusseldorf, features an acre of mirrors that concentrate sunlight on a 'receiver' that sits atop a 66-foot tower. Biomass (mostly agricultural waste) and water are fed into a reactor in the tower, which uses the sunlight to drive a chemical reaction that creates a synthesized gas of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. A series of chemical reactions then liquefies this 'syngas' into liquid hydrocarbons. Captured in a temporary studio using high-speed flash and macro photography, these images explore the physical texture and movement of Synhelion's solar gasoline. Aldo Steinfeld fills up his motorcycle with solar fuel. Scientists say one major advantage to the energy source is that it can easily replace currently used liquid fuels like gasoline. Solar fuel's drawback is that it remains expensive to produce, but scientists working at Synhelion say technological advances will allow them to commericially produce the fuel by around 2040. The idea, explains Synhelion co-founder and co-CEO Philipp Furler, is to produce 'renewable fuels, such as solar jet fuel, diesel, and gasoline, which can directly replace fossil fuels and are fully compatible with conventional internal combustion engines, aircraft engines, and existing global fuel infrastructure.' Fossil fuels, he points out, release carbon dioxide not only during their use, but also during their production. In contrast, he says, 'We take water and carbon dioxide, and we revert it back with renewable energy into a synthetic fuel, thereby closing the carbon cycle.' According to Synhelion's calculations, he continues, 'Our renewable solar fuels are nearly carbon dioxide-neutral, emitting only as much carbon dioxide as was used to produce them.' A life cycle assessment performed by Synhelion and the university ETZ Zurich, shows a net carbon emissions reduction of at least 80 percent—potentially up to 99 percent with further process improvements—compared to conventional kerosene. Furler also says solar gasoline 'delivers the same range and engine performance as fossil gasoline.' The emissions from the fuel are equal to the amount of carbon dioxide captured during its production, making it fully carbon neutral. This ride marks a symbolic milestone in sustainable mobility, showing that solar fuels can seamlessly power conventional engines—without fossil fuels. All of which sounds fine on paper. But the proof is in the pudding, and while DAWN has been operational since late last summer and Synhelion has contracts to develop fuels for clients including the Lufthansa Group and Zurich Airport, nothing beats real-world testing. By late 2024, Synhelion was ready to take its fuel for a spin. Which is where Aldo Steinfeld and his Harley-Davidson came in. Steinfeld, professor at the department of mechanical and process engineering at ETH Zurich, was Furler's doctoral advisor, during which time the two men began to develop their concept of solar fuel production. In 2014, under Steinfeld's guidance, Furler and his fellow PhD students demonstrated the feasibility of making solar fuels on a very small scale when they produced a test tube in the lab using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. 'A huge effort and probably the most expensive kerosene ever,' Furler joked to National Geographic last year. Two years later, Furler, Steinfeld, and Gianluca Ambrosetti founded Synhelion, and in 2019, they produced carbon-neutral fuels from a small-scale demonstration project in the center of Zurich. Their goal is to produce 110,000 tons of fuel a year by 2030 and roughly a million tons by 2033. That's significantly less than the approximately 385 million tons of jet fuel alone that is currently consumed annually, but Synhelion aims to contribute roughly half of Europe's synthetic aviation fuel demand by 2040. (Several other companies are also at various stages of developing synthetic fuels.) "This historic demonstration marks a significant milestone, showcasing the first-ever industrial-scale production of sustainable fuels from water and carbon dioxide," says Jonathan Scheffe, a mechanical engineer at the University of Florida who's not involved with this solar fuel research. He says the unique advantage of solar fuel is that it can easily replace traditional fuels without major retrofits to machines. "This breakthrough has far-reaching implications, with potential applications not only in the light-duty transportation sector, such as the Harley-Davidson showcased here, but also in the heavy-duty shipping and aviation sectors, which will require highly energy-dense liquid fuels for the foreseeable future," says Scheffe. As with any industry, ramping up production of a new technology takes time, which makes public demonstrations of progress invaluable, both to satisfy investors and show the public that synthetic fuels are a reality. Which is why, on a Sunday morning, Steinfeld clambered on his beloved motorcycle and went for a ride. Transportation produces about 20 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. More sustainable fuel options can help reduce those planet-warming gasses. 'The ride was smooth and uneventful in the best sense—the Harley-Davidson performed as usual, powered by our solar gasoline,' says Synhelion spokesperson Carmen Murer. She added that, 'the moment when the engine roared to life with solar fuel for the very first time was very emotional.' Steinfeld himself said simply that the ride was 'a dream come true.' Over the coming months and years, Synhelion plans to fuel different types of vehicles in other public demonstrations. According to Furler, such showcases show that there is 'a viable pathway for de-fossilizing transportation that is available today.' Steinfeld's ride will always be the first, of course. 'It wasn't about proving that the fuel works—we already know it does as it is fully compliant with national and international gasoline standards,' says Furler. 'It's about creating a truly special moment. We wanted to enjoy this milestone, celebrate Aldo's lifelong dedication to science, and see him have fun riding his motorcycle powered by the very technology he helped pioneer.'
DW
a day ago
- Climate
- DW
How does Switzerland predict landslides? – DW – 05/30/2025
Switzerland is a success story in predicting landslides — but more must be done to help the rest of the world prepare for these deadly, unpredictable disasters. The destructive landslide in the Swiss village of Blatten is the latest natural disaster to hit valley communities in the Alpine nation. While Blatten was engulfed by a slick of icy sediment this week, early warnings of a potential landslide gave residents time to evacuate. Only one person — who chose to remain in his home — is currently unaccounted for. The search for him has been suspended. Switzerlandis an early warning success story. Government agencies there use a broad range of technologies and methods to assess risks that could threaten lives and property. This includes terrain mapping and continuous monitoring of rainfall, permafrost melt, groundwater levels, tectonic shifts and ground movement. This data allows authorities to maintain hazard risk maps across the country. "Every community in Switzerland that's affected by a hazard has a hazard map. They're federally mandated for the areas where people live," said Brian McArdell, a geomorphologist at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL). In Blatten's case, officials issued alerts after a nearby rockfall destabilized the Birch Glacier. Combined with warming summer temperatures, the glacier fractured. A slurry of ice, sediment and mud then roared down the mountain to the village below. Swiss glacier collapse partially destroys village of Blatten To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video "When you slam rock over ice, what you do is liquefy part of the ice," Daniel Farinotti, a glaciologist at ETH Zurich, told DW. "The ice melts, and that lubricates whatever you have." The Blatten landslide was particularly rare. "The sheer size, the amount of material that has been moved there, that's not something you see every day, not every year, not every decade in Switzerland," said Farinotti. "It's kind of a historic event." World's mountainous regions most at risk Steep slopes, unstable terrain and exposure to high rainfall or permafrost melt put mountain regions more at risk of landslides and avalanches. For valley communities in Switzerland, the potential for a landslide can mean entire towns need to be evacuated. Following the Blatten landslide, several nearby communities remain on alert, including for potential flooding. Brienz, a village around 25 miles (41 km) north of Blatten, is also preparing for possible evacuation. The town has faced repeated warningsand "near miss" rockslide events since 2023. "In general, debris flow is a mixture of coarse and fine sediment — so everything from boulders, to mud, to very fine sediments and water," said McArdell. "These events can occur quite suddenly and they're quite, quite dangerous." Regions with the highest landslide-related fatalities globally include the Himalayas, parts of Central and South America, Italy and Iran. A rockslide almost engulfted Brienz in Switzerland in 2023. The city remains on alert for possible evacuations Image: Gian Ehrenzeller/KEYSTONE/picture alliance Predicting landslides remains a challenge While landslides can be forecast, predictions tend to be "probabilistic" rather than precise, Fausto Guzzetti, a now-retired geomorphologist formerly with Italy's Institute for Applied Mathematics and Information Technologies (IMATI), told DW. "We can predict in [a] general area, it could be in a municipality, it can be a catchment," Guzzetti said. Unlike earthquakes and floods, monitoring landslides is far more difficult. While earth tremors can be registered using seismic instruments, and floods can be quickly detected visually, most landslides are unnoticed. "Tens of thousands of landslides simply go unreported," Guzzetti added. "We don't know where they are, and this complicates the ability to forecast them." Even small slides — just a few meters in length — can be deadly, especially if they carry large debris or occur near homes or roads. "A cobble that hits a car or hits a person walking along a road can kill," said Guzzetti, "That's significant." Climate change is also expected to increase rainfall in mountain regions, which in turn is predicted to cause more frequent small-scale landslides. Global call for action Efforts are being made to strengthen international monitoring and preparedness for landslides and glacial melt. Can we survive if the world's glaciers melt? To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The International Conference on Glaciers' Preservation is currently being held in Tajikistan, where Farinotti expects the release of a "Glacier Declaration" urging greater action to protect ice masses from the effects of climate change. "[It will] call for various actions and, among others, it will call for increased preparedness against risk deriving from cryospheric hazards, so avalanches," he said. Guzzetti also highlighted the UN's Early Warnings for All initiative, which aims to establish a global early warning system by 2027. If achieved, this could be a major step toward saving lives from natural hazards. While wealthy nations like Switzerland have reliable infrastructure to warn communities of potential disasters, many others are still playing catch-up. According to UN figures, only 108 countries had the capacity for "multi-hazard early warning systems" last year though that is more than double the number from 2015. The benefits are clear, said Guzzetti, pointing to the Blatten evacuation: "It seems that they were very good at evacuating the town in time, so that fatalities were nil, or very small." "I think it points to the fact that we are moving in the right direction." Edited by: J. Wingard
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
New smart sanitary pads detect cancer, inflammation markers in menstrual blood
A new technology developed at ETH Zurich is transforming a long-overlooked source of medical data — menstrual blood — into a powerful health-monitoring tool. Dubbed MenstruAI, this innovative system integrates a non-electronic sensor into a sanitary towel, allowing users to analyze biomarkers in their menstrual blood using just a smartphone photo and a dedicated app. Lucas Dosnon, the study's first author, refers to the lack of research on menstrual blood as a 'systemic lack of interest in women's health." 'To date, menstrual blood has been regarded as waste. We are showing that it is a valuable source of information,' he adds. Menstrual blood contains hundreds of proteins, many of which correlate with concentrations in venous blood. Among these are biomarkers linked to inflammatory diseases and cancers, including C-reactive protein (CRP), a general marker for inflammation, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), often elevated in cancer, and CA-125, associated with ovarian cancer and endometriosis. At the core of MenstruAI is a paper-based test strip, similar in principle to rapid COVID-19 tests. Instead of saliva, it analyzes menstrual blood. The pad contains a small silicone chamber housing the test strip, which reacts to specific proteins by changing color — the darker the color, the higher the concentration of the biomarker. Users simply wear the pad, then take a photo of the used sensor with a smartphone. The MenstruAI app, powered by machine learning, analyzes the image to detect even subtle changes in color intensity, translating them into readable health insights. 'The app also recognises subtle differences, such as the amount of proteins present, and makes the result objectively measurable,' explains Dosnon. Following a successful feasibility study, the team is preparing a larger field study involving over 100 participants to test the technology under real-world conditions. Researchers will assess how biomarker concentrations vary across the menstrual cycle and among individuals, ensuring clinical relevance and accuracy. To improve usability and break down psychological barriers, the project team is collaborating with designers from the Zurich University of the Arts. 'It's also about designing the technology in such a way that makes it technically and socially acceptable,' says Inge Herrmann, a professor at the University of Zurich. 'Right from the outset, the aim was to develop a solution that can also be used in regions with poor healthcare provision and would be as cost-effective as possible, potentially enabling population-based screening,' says Herrmann. While it does not deliver definitive diagnoses, MenstruAI can alert users to concerning biomarker levels, encouraging them to seek medical advice. Over time, it could also support long-term health tracking, helping individuals detect trends and understand changes in their bodies. 'When we talk about healthcare, we can't simply phase out half of humanity,' Herrmann underlines. 'Courageous projects are called for to break down existing patterns of behaviour to ensure that women's health finally takes the place it deserves," concludes Dosnon. The study has been published in Advanced Science.
Fox News
5 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Delivery robot autonomously lifts, transports heavy cargo
Print Close By Kurt Knutsson, CyberGuy Report Published May 26, 2025 Autonomous delivery robots are already starting to change the way goods move around cities and warehouses, but most still need humans to load and unload their cargo. That's where LEVA comes in. Developed by engineers and designers from ETH Zurich and other Swiss universities, LEVA is a robot that can not only navigate tricky environments but also lift and carry heavy boxes all on its own, making deliveries smoother and more efficient. Join the FREE "CyberGuy Report" : Get my expert tech tips, critical security alerts and exclusive deals, plus instant access to my free "Ultimate Scam Survival Guide" when you sign up! What makes LEVA different? Most delivery robots either roll on wheels or walk on legs, but LEVA combines both. It has four legs, and each leg ends with a motorized, steerable wheel. This means on smooth surfaces like sidewalks, LEVA can roll quickly and efficiently, almost like a little car. When it encounters stairs, curbs or rough ground, it locks its wheels and walks or climbs like a four-legged animal. This unique design lets LEVA handle both flat urban streets and uneven terrain with ease. RICE-SIZED ROBOT COULD MAKE BRAIN SURGERY SAFER AND LESS INVASIVE How LEVA sees and moves around LEVA uses a mix of GPS, lidar sensors and five cameras placed around its body to understand its surroundings. These tools help it navigate city streets or indoor hallways while avoiding obstacles. One camera even looks downward to help LEVA line itself up perfectly when it's time to pick up or drop off cargo. DRIVERLESS BIG-RIG ROBOTRUCKS ARE NOW ON THE ROAD IN THIS STATE The big deal: Loading and unloading itself What really sets LEVA apart is its ability to load and unload cargo boxes without any human help. It spots a standard cargo box, moves right over it, lowers itself by bending its legs and then locks onto the box using powered hooks underneath its body. After securing the box, LEVA lifts itself back up and carries the load to its destination. It can handle boxes weighing up to 187 pounds, which is pretty impressive for a robot of its size. CHINESE HUMANOID ROBOT WITH EAGLE EYE VISION AND POWERFUL AI LEVA's specs LEVA is about 4 feet long and 2.5 feet wide, with an adjustable height between 2 and 3 feet. It weighs around 187 pounds and can carry the same amount of cargo. Thanks to its wheels and legs, it can move smoothly on flat surfaces, climb stairs and handle rough terrain. Its sensors and cameras give it a sharp sense of where it is and what's around it. HOW TO REMOVE YOUR PERSONAL INFO FROM PEOPLE-SEARCH SITES Where could you see LEVA in action? LEVA's flexibility makes it useful in many places. It could deliver packages right to your doorstep, even if you live in a building with stairs. Farmers might use it to move supplies across fields. On construction sites, it could carry tools and materials over uneven ground. It might even assist in emergency situations by bringing supplies through rubble or rough terrain. What does this mean for you? For folks like us, LEVA could mean faster, more reliable deliveries, especially in tricky urban areas where stairs and curbs often slow things down. For businesses, it means cutting down on the need for manual labor to load and unload heavy items, which can reduce injuries and lower costs. It also means deliveries and material handling could happen around the clock without breaks, boosting efficiency. In industries like farming, construction and emergency response, LEVA's ability to get through tough terrain while carrying heavy loads could make a big difference in how quickly and safely supplies get where they need to go. HOW SECURE IS MY PASSWORD? USE THIS TEST TO FIND OUT What's next for LEVA? The first LEVA prototype has shown it can do a lot, but there's still work to be done. The team is improving its energy use, making it better at climbing stairs, and enhancing its ability to operate fully on its own. The goal is to have LEVA become a reliable part of automated delivery systems that work smoothly in real-world settings. SUBSCRIBE TO KURT'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL FOR QUICK VIDEO TIPS ON HOW TO WORK ALL OF YOUR TECH DEVICES Kurt's key takeaways LEVA blends the best of wheels and legs with the unique ability to load and unload itself. This makes it a promising tool for industries that need robots to be flexible, strong and smart. As LEVA continues to develop, it could change the way deliveries and material transport happen, making them faster, safer and more efficient for everyone. How much would you trust a robot to handle your valuable or fragile shipments without human supervision? Let us know by writing us at For more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to . Ask Kurt a question or let us know what stories you'd like us to cover . Follow Kurt on his social channels: Answers to the most-asked CyberGuy questions: New from Kurt: Copyright 2025 All rights reserved. Print Close URL
The Hindu
22-05-2025
- Science
- The Hindu
The earth hath no fury like cyclones disrupted, new studies say
Cyclones are among the earth's most powerful storms. Like forest fires and lightning strikes, they are natural — yet their effects are becoming more destructive thanks to climate change. In a new study published by researchers at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, the world's cyclones can be expected to wreak more havoc in new ways if global warming follows a future climate scenario called SSP5-8.5. This is both due to the cyclones' intensity and their occurring in places where they didn't occur before. Climate change has many moving parts. To make sense of its impact on various sectors and ecosystems, experts often use the shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs). Each SSP describes a world affected in a particular way by climate change. SSP3 describes a politically fragmented world in which environmental protection is not a priority. The SSP5 world is rapidly burning fossil fuels and depleting a great amount of resources. SSP5-8.5 is the SSP5 pathway plus a radiative forcing — the amount of extra energy being added to the planet's surface — of 8.5 W/m2. Currently this figure is 2.7 W/m2 over the value in 1750. (A radiative forcing of 2.6 W/m2 is required to keep global warming by 2100 under 2° C, as suggested by the Paris Agreement.) 'Based on the data, SSP5 is already gaining momentum,' said Chahan Kropf, a scientist specialising in weather and climate risk studies at ETH Zürich and a coauthor of both studies. 'But we still need broader agreement on that.' A follow-up study published by the same team plus two more researchers also reported that roughly half of the world's mangroves will be at high to severe risk by 2100. Coastal ecosystems protect inland areas from storms, reduce soil erosion, and store carbon. Mangroves in particular can also store four- to five-times more carbon per unit area than terrestrial forests. The two studies show the effects of climate change on tropical cyclones could have far-reaching and multifaceted consequences around the world, not just in the tropics. Cyclones in an SSP5-8.5 world In the first study, the researchers used the CLIMADA (CLIMate ADAptation) open-source risk modelling platform to check how specific ecoregions around the world responded to shifts in tropical cyclone patterns between 1980-2017 and to projected shifts for 2015-2050. They assumed that the world would be in the SSP5-8.5 scenario in the latter period. For the analysis, the researchers used the STORM-B and STORM-C datasets, which are based on synthetic probabilistic cyclone tracks, and the Holland model to simulate wind fields. First they classified each terrestrial ecoregion in the following way: resilient (historically oft-exposed to cyclones and able to recover quickly); dependent (regularly disturbed by cyclones that also shape the area's ecosystem dynamics); and vulnerable (rarely disturbed by cyclones and recovering slowly when exposed to one). They also grouped the cyclones into three categories based on the intensity of wind speed: low, medium, and high. For each ecoregion, the researchers estimated the average time between cyclones. Finally, they were able to determine the ecosystem risk under climate change by the projected shifts in these return periods and the corresponding ability — or lack thereof — of ecosystems to recover. According to Philip Ward, climate researcher at the Institute for Environmental Studies at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 'The authors used state-of-the-art data and models to provide valuable insights.' He wasn't involved in the study. Modelling mangroves In the second study, the team used a probabilistic spatially explicit risk index — a number that simultaneously measures the odds of an event and its expected spatial distribution — to assess how mangroves worldwide will be affected by changes in tropical cyclone frequency and sea-level rise by 2100. For this, the researchers used a tropical cyclone model based on the most up-to-date climate model data and used it to simulate three scenarios: SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, and SSP5-8.5. Each of these scenarios quantified three kinds of risk. (i) 'Hazard' modelled the wind speeds and frequencies of tropical cyclones. (ii) Vulnerability modelled the capacity of mangroves to adapt to sea-level rise. (iii) Exposure modelled the how much the areas covered with mangroves overlapped with areas of higher hazard. To this end, the team grouped tropical cyclone wind speeds into three ranges: 33-49 m/s, 50-70 m/s, and more than 70 m/s. Similarly, they grouped sea-level rise into low (0-4 mm/year), medium (4-7 mm/year), and high (>7 mm/year) ranges. Mangroves were considered to be at risk if the frequency of intense cyclones doubled or if they were newly exposed to such storms. The team also considered ecosystem services to be at risk — including mangroves' ability to sequester carbon, protect coasts, and improve fish stock — based on rankings from previous studies. New places, new perils The models found that of the world's 844 ecoregions, 290 are already affected by tropical cyclones. The models revealed 200 more can be considered vulnerable and 26 to be resilient. However, in the resilient ecoregions, the models showed that the time available to recover between storms could drop from 19 years in the 1980-2017 period to 12 years in the 2015-2050 period for high-intensity storms. The bulk of these shifts are expected to occur in East Asia, Central America, and the Caribbean because these places are abundant in resilient or dependent ecoregions. The models also found that Madagascar and parts of Oceania are increasingly at risk. Some areas including the Philippines could experience cyclone frequencies that exceed anything experienced so far in recorded history. In the SSP5-8.5 scenario, up to 56% of mangrove areas worldwide could be at high to severe risk by 2100. Southeast Asia is expected to be the most affected, with 52-78% of its mangrove areas at such risk. But the models also showed that even in the less destructive SSP3-7.0 scenario, 97-98% of mangroves that protect people and property in Southeast Asia could be at high to severe risk. The researchers also warned that some of the affected ecosystems could shift into entirely different states from which they may not recover. The models also concluded that tropical cyclone belts could shift away from the equator, bringing new cyclone activity to higher-latitude regions and exposing ecosystems there to threats to which they have not adapted. According to Kropf, whether the world ends up in the SSP5-8.5 scenario hinges on how long it banks on fossil fuels and how committed countries remain to the Paris Agreement. In the meantime, the authors suggest including long-term recovery time in risk assessments in addition to damage caused by cyclones and risk-sensitive conservation planning, including decision-making processes that explicitly consider shifting disturbance regimes. 'We're underestimating the scale of what's coming,' Kropf said. 'The changing cyclone patterns could have enormous consequences.' Madhurima Pattanayak is a freelance science writer and journalist based in Kolkata.
