Apollo News Snippets – December 2022

Ready to nerd out on this month’s round up of technology updates!? We’ve lassoed some pretty cool topics, including environmentally-friendly battery development, bacterial bioplastics and lab-produced magnets!
Low-cost catalyst for next-generation fuel cells.
These bio-plastics are made from bacteria.
Quantum computing makes large stride forward.
Interesting research on the fifth state of matter–yes I said fifth state!
New possible technique to produce magnets in a lab.
Simpler battery production trying to expand to megawatt batteries.
From plant waste to building insulation.
This new catalyst converts smelly gas to clean hydrogen fuel.
New, more environmentally-friendly lithium battery under development.
Improved battery density for ‘hard-to-reach’ applications.

The NOAA extreme weather map for October 2022 shows below average sea ice extents in both the Arctic and Antarctic Seas. October saw two tropical storms sweep through. The first, Hurricane Roslyn, made landfall as a Category 3 storm on Mexico’s Pacific coast. The second, Tropical Storm Nalgae, made landfall in the Philippines, where it caused devastating landslides and floods that killed more than 100 people and displaced nearly 200,00 families. (Image Credit: NOAA’s State of the Climate Reports)

The October 2022 NOAA Global Climate Report is out and, though the temperatures have definitely dropped for the fall season, the October 2022 average global surface temperature was the 4th warmest since recording started in 1880. The October temperature in the contiguous U.S. ranked in the warmest third of the 128-year record. Interestingly, both South America and Oceania had their coolest Octobers since 2016. The Arctic Sea ice extent was the 8th-smallest extent on record. The Antarctic Sea ice extent was the second lowest on record. These lower-than-average ice extents are indicative of global climate change.

Did you know that December 17th is National Maple Syrup Day? In honor of this, our Google search of the month was, “Maple Syrup and GIS”. And of course, we found this excellent article by Jessica K. Wallingford of Tufts University titled, Tapped Out: Future Sugar Maple Migration Patterns Under Climate Change in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. The article discusses how Sugar Maple tree migration patterns are changing under the effects of global climate change. It was found that there appears to be an overall northward migration of Sugar Maple habitats. Essentially, as the climate warms, the Sugar Maple groves are adapting by slowly moving north, toward colder climates. Some have expressed concern as to whether there will be suitable soil habitats for the trees as they migrate, and what this northern migration could mean for maple syrup production. If you’re curious how maple syrup is made, check out this great video from the Food Insider, which discusses the steam-crafting method the Maple Guild in Island Pond, Vermont uses to produce it’s syrup.