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Scientists break out infrared tech to solve issue holding back next-gen solar panels: 'This makes the technology promising not just in the lab'
Scientists break out infrared tech to solve issue holding back next-gen solar panels: 'This makes the technology promising not just in the lab'

Yahoo

time2 days ago

  • Science
  • Yahoo

Scientists break out infrared tech to solve issue holding back next-gen solar panels: 'This makes the technology promising not just in the lab'

In a major leap for clean energy, scientists have figured out how to make solar panels that are lighter, more efficient, and — for the first time — durable enough for everyday use. A research team led by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland, has developed a new method for making perovskite solar cells more stable in real-world conditions. The results, published in Joule, are exciting for solar fans everywhere. Perovskites have long been considered the future of solar. Unlike traditional silicon panels, they are ultra-light and low-cost and can be printed onto flexible surfaces. Think solar-powered windows, walls, or even wearable electronics. But until now, they've had one big flaw: They don't hold up well to sunlight and heat over time. According to this study in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Milan, that might be about to change. The researchers found that by adding a molecule called TEMPO to the perovskite layer and hitting it with a quick infrared pulse — just half a second long — they could repair tiny defects in the material. This new process gives the panel efficiency of over 20% and maintains it for months under typical working conditions. "The proposed method is fast, solvent-free, and compatible with roll-to-roll processing, similar to that used in the printing industry. This makes the technology promising not just in the lab, but also for future industrial-scale production," explained Rafael Ferragut, researcher, teacher, and co-author of the study. For consumers, this could mean a new generation of solar products that are cheaper, lighter, and more versatile. These panels could help homeowners and cities break free from high, unpredictable utility bills by giving them more control over when and where they generate power. It also means reducing planet-warming pollution that harms public health and the environment. While the tech may still be in development, this breakthrough brings us one step closer to a future where clean energy is embedded into everyday life — literally. Installing solar panels is the ultimate home energy hack because it can bring your cost of energy down to or close to $0. EnergySage provides a free service that makes it easy to compare quotes from vetted local installers and save up to $10,000 on solar installations. For those not ready to buy, leasing is a great option. Palmetto's LightReach program locks in low energy rates for homeowners who want to switch to solar without paying high upfront costs. Community solar programs are another alternative for people who can't install panels but would like to benefit from lower energy costs and a more stable power supply. What is the biggest factor you consider when planning a vacation? Cost Distance from home Whether it's family-friendly Sightseeing and entertainment Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.

Living lunch box? Iceland orcas are unexpectedly swimming with baby pilot whales, but it's unclear why.
Living lunch box? Iceland orcas are unexpectedly swimming with baby pilot whales, but it's unclear why.

Yahoo

time17-05-2025

  • Science
  • Yahoo

Living lunch box? Iceland orcas are unexpectedly swimming with baby pilot whales, but it's unclear why.

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. One day in June 2022 Chérine Baumgartner, a researcher at the Icelandic Orca Project, was watching from a dinghy as a pod of killer whales fed on herring — when she noticed something very odd about what seemed to be a young member of the pod. "At first, we were like, 'Oh my god, this killer whale calf has a problem,'" she says. It was far tinier than normal and lacked an infant orca's characteristic black-and-pale-orange coloration. Baumgartner, now a Ph.D. student at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, suddenly realized she was seeing an entirely different species: a baby pilot whale. She and her team observed the pod for nearly three hours before weather conditions forced them back to land. They found the pod the next day, but the pilot whale calf was nowhere to be seen. Scientists noticed orcas interacting with baby pilot whales off Iceland every year from 2021 to 2023. Each instance was short-lived and featured different individual pilot whales (dark-gray members of the dolphin family with a bulbous forehead) and different pods of orcas. Now, in a new study in Ecology and Evolution, Baumgartner and her colleagues describe the 2022 and 2023 incidents and posit three potential explanations: predation, play or parenting. In all the sightings, a weeks-old pilot whale swam by a female killer whale in what scientists call an echelon position, with the young whale located beside and slightly behind the adult orca. In the 2022 and 2023 instances, the killer whales occasionally nudged the calf along. In 2023 a calf was seen swimming ahead of the group, possibly as if to run away — and at one point it was lifted, belly-up, out of the water on the back of an orca. With the first possible explanation, the killer whales could have been keeping the young pilot whales around like a living lunch box; some orcas in Iceland are known to eat harbor seals and porpoises. But Baumgartner notes that these Icelandic killer whales are predominantly fish eaters and that they didn't display overtly aggressive behavior toward the pilot whale calves. So predation is less likely, though not impossible, she and her colleagues say. Related: 'Incredible and rare' sight as endangered whale attacked by 60 orcas in brutal hunt Alternatively, the killer whales could have been playing with the young whales or using them to practice hunting. Iceland's orcas often herd herring, and they could have been incorporating the pilot whale calves in their hunting games. Finally, the killer whales could have been extending their parental instincts to the young calves. Whales and dolphins in the wild often care for the young of other members of their pod, and although it's rare, dolphins have adopted calves from different species. In the pilot whales' case, Baumgartner says, she wouldn't categorize the relationship as adoption because the interactions seemed to be short-lived. The young pilot whales would likely have died without milk, and none of the female orcas were lactating at the time. These three possibilities also aren't mutually exclusive, she says. "It could be [that the orcas] encountered the pilot whale opportunistically, and some individuals played with the whale, and others tried to nurture it," Baumgartner adds. The other conspicuously missing pieces of the puzzle are how, in each instance, the orcas came across a pilot whale calf in the first place and what happened to that calf afterward. "Was it lost or abandoned?" asks study co-author Filipa Samarra, principal investigator at the Icelandic Orca Project and director of the University of Iceland's research center on the Westman Islands. "Or did the killer whales actively approach to take the calf away?" The researchers also wonder if the calves escaped or died or were killed or eaten by the orcas. RELATED STORIES —Orcas off Antarctica filmed teaching calves to hunt in incredible new footage —Grieving orca mom carries dead calf around on her head for a 2nd time —Orca gang develops brutal hunting strategy to take on the world's largest shark — 'This is a fascinating behaviour' Sarah Teman, a graduate student in ecology at the University of Washington, who was not involved with the new study, says her jaw dropped when she saw pictures of the pilot whales with the orca pods. Teman previously studied southern resident killer whales interacting with porpoises in the Salish Sea off British Columbia and Washington State. In that research, she observed interactions that may have been motivated by nurturing, hunting practice or "play" — and often ended up killing the porpoises. "It was fascinating to see such similar behaviors" in the Icelandic orcas, she says, adding that the animals' interactions with the pilot whales seemed to be largely driven by nurturing or play behavior, just as had been seen in the southern resident killer whales' interactions with porpoises. Samarra also speculates that the unusual interactions off Iceland could be a result of climate change because pilot whales increasingly follow schools of mackerel moving into warmer waters that overlap with the killer whales' range. She hopes that, next summer, her group will finally observe how the young pilot whales get entangled with the orcas and what happens to them next. This article was first published at Scientific American. © All rights reserved. Follow on TikTok and Instagram, X and Facebook.

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