Apollo News Snippets – October 2022

Tech, tech, technology! Tech is cool so here we go with our cool list of advances for the month 😊
New perovskite solar cell has potential to exceed theoretical energy production limits.
Bubbles and sound combine to control stickiness of bandages.
New computer chip design could significantly boost AI processing.
Research identifies a plant molecule that could help improve human health.
New computer modeling techniques could boost wind farm energy output.
Simple sealing technique helps lithium ion batteries last longer.
Complex structure of spider silk uncovered.
New idea for low-cost batteries to store excess renewable energy.

The NOAA extreme weather map for August 2022 shows below average sea ice extents in both the Arctic and Antarctic Seas. Spain had its warmest August on record, as well as its warmest month since 1961. August also saw the birth of Hurricane Bonnie, which swept the East Pacific. (Credit: NOAA’s State of the Climate Reports)

The August 2022 NOAA global climate report is out and, naturally, it was warm! The August 2022 average global surface temperature was the sixth-warmest since 1880, coming in at 1.62°F (0.90°C) above the 20th Century average of 60.1°F (15.6°C). In case you’re curious, the top ten warmest Augusts on record have all occurred since 2009. To top it off, the sea ice extents both came in below the 1981-2010 averages, with the Arctic at 16.8% and the Antarctic at 4.2% below average. Global warming is real, folks!

October is National American Cheese month! So our Google search of the month was, “American Cheese and GIS”. One of the fun articles we found was “Geographic information system (GIS) and Epidemiological Associations among Foodborne Pathogens at the Farm” by Kimberly Denise Lamar of the University of Tennessee Knoxville. The study uses GIS technology as an epidemiological tool to look at transmissions of pathogens on dairy farms. Aerial photography and GIS helped determine that controlling access to animal feed and water sources by insects and wild birds could reduce transmission of pathogens to dairy animals and farm environments.