Apollo News Snippets – July 2021

It’s tech time, woot woot, and here is our list of the coolest advancements from the past month or so:
3D printed clothes is now closer to reality.
New technique could change the way we mine for metals.
Bacteria help clean water and produce electricity at the same time.
New way to capture waste heat energy with magnets.
New form of magnetic energy could power future computers.
Improved lithium batteries for electric cars.
Europe makes strides in lab-grown fish–as well lab-grown pork.
Wireless signals can be used to power small electronics.
From plastic waste to jet fuel.
Common compound in candles could help store energy from renewable sources.
Holograms can improve solar cell efficiency by 5%.
Large stride forward in solar cell efficiency.
New membrane moves energy generated from sea water one step closer to commercialization.

The temperature departure map for the month of May 2021 shows pockets of record warmth in the Middle East and eastern Asia–and something we do not see often, some record cold over central India.

According to the May 2021 NOAA global climate report, May was a pretty warm month at some 1.46°F (0.81°C) above the 20^th Century average–representing the 45^th May in a row with above average temperatures and also the 6^th warmest May on record. Some 3% of the world’s land mass saw record warmth in the month which was the tenth highest percentage for May.

July 7^th is World Chocolate Day, soooo yummy! So in honor of this delectable holiday, our Google search of the month was, “Chocolate and GIS.” If you look through the results you might find this Master’s thesis by Lilian Lartey of Penn State University whereby she uses GIS and six environmental factors to map the prevalence of Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus as well as to predict the location of future outbreaks.