🍃Artificial leaf converts CO2 into fuel, world-first T-Rex leather, first-ever black hole bomb

Researchers have developed an artificial leaf capable of converting carbon dioxide into liquid fuels and other valuable chemicals using sunlight alone.

The team of experts from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and their international collaborators replicated the incredible productivity of natural photosynthesis, but with the added potential for industrial-scale application.

By harnessing copper’s catalytic power alongside perovskite – a calcium titanium oxide mineral widely used in solar panels – they developed a self-contained system that captures sunlight and converts carbon dioxide (CO₂) into carbon-carbon (C2) molecules. Dive deeper into this Must-Read.

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🍃 Postage stamp-sized artificial leaf converts CO₂ into fuel using sunlight

The C2 molecules – a green, gaseous inorganic chemical also known as diatomic carbon – are essential building blocks for various industries, including fuel production and plastics.

The team followed the natural processes in the leaf of a plant to build the postage stamp-sized device that mimics the way green plants harvest energy from the sun.

However, instead of chlorophyll – a natural compound found in green plants that gives them their color and plays a key role in the process of photosynthesis – the scientists used lead halide perovskite photoabsorbers to capture sunlight.

🦖World-first dinosaur handbag made from T-Rex leather coming soon

The future of high-end materials might just lie buried in prehistoric dinosaur times.

Creative powerhouse VML, genomic innovators The Organoid Company, and sustainable biotechnology firm Lab-Grown Leather have joined forces to develop the world’s first T-Rex leather made using the extinct creature’s DNA.

Tyrannosaurus Rex, or T-rex, was one of the biggest and most dangerous land predators to have ever existed. Interestingly, reports suggest that the first product could be available by year’s end.

💣 Scientists build world's first black hole bomb inside lab

UK physicists have created the first-ever laboratory version of a black hole bomb. Interestingly, it replicates a decades-old theoretical phenomenon where energy around a spinning black hole builds up and triggers an explosive release.

The research team, led by Hendrik Ulbricht, PhD, a physics professor at the University of Southampton and one of the study’s authors, built the experimental setup using a rotating aluminum cylinder surrounded by magnetic coils.

Even though the experiment did not involve real black holes, the scientists believe it could provide valuable insights into how black holes interact with the fabric of space.

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