This is something fun I just came across. It looks like scientists have figured out a way to use beer to recycle metal waste!
Well, not exactly beer but more of a beer by-product.
The TL:DR is that austrian researchers have discovered that spent Brewers Yeastcan be used to repeatedly draw out metal waste, like aluminium, zinc and copper.
Apparently, the same byproduct is also used to make Vegemite which is a popular Australian food spread and Marmite a popular British food spread). I have never heard of any but oh well.
According to their claims, this beer byproduct can pull 50% of the copper and 90% of the zinc that was present out of the water. Furthermore, the yeast can supposedly be reused and recycled.
Now, chemistry isn't my strong hand so here's a quote of how the method works:
Electrostatic interactions on the surface of the yeast allow metal ions to stick to that surface — a process called adsorption. Changing the pH of this solution alters the interactions, which can allow the yeast to adsorb more or different metal ions, depending on the contents of the solution and the specific pH.
Here's a link to the paper if you would like to read more on this research. And here's a link to the press release for a more dumbed down version.
Well, since this is a "sciency" post here are some more cool shit I stumbled upon today!
Like this newly discovered species of rosy-colored deep-sea worm 30 miles (50 kilometers) off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica:
The worm was scientifically described as Pectinereis strickrotti and it's a type of ragworm (Nereididae). It was first sighted in 2009 in a methane seep at a depth of 1000 m. But it was thanks to another expedition in 2019, when the same team managed to acquire samples to describe it as a total new species. Here's a video of the creature in action:
Here's a link to the paper describing the species if you would like to learn more about the critter.
In other news, scientists are one step closer to the closest thing we can get to a real life Jurassic Park. Unfortunately, I am not talking about dinosaurs but another cool extinct animal. The Mammoth!
Scientists at the company Colossal Biosciences have developed induced pluripotent stem cells from elephants, an important first before doing the same (if ever) with mammoth cells from preserved tissues.
Will we ever see a live mammoth? Dunno, there is still a long long way to go but it's cool to know there are peeps working on cool shit like this :)
You can read more on this story here
Ok I have a last treat for you!
Can you guess what that is?
It's a a hammerhead shark (Sphyrna tiburo) embryo! Cute 😍
The image is taken from this very interesting article, you may want to check it out. It has all kinds of cute embryo sharks :p
Ok, I think I gave you enough interesting material to read and digest. Funny how I started with just a beer related post 😁
Cheers 🍺