Energy, features and articles | Educational Science

Aug 24, 2015

Jet of Electric Current Boosts Space Weather at Equator

Solar explosions can threaten power grids even in areas near the equator, places long thought safe from such disruptions from the sun, say researchers who studied a weird flow of electricity pulsing above the equatorial regions. Solar eruptions can blast Earth with super-heated electrically charged particles. When these explosions slam...

Sep 28, 2015

Japanese Paper Art Inspires Sun-Tracking Solar Cell

Japanese paper art is typically used to create dainty folded cranes and paper snowflakes, but now, researchers are using it to inspire innovations in the energy world. Scientists from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (UM) have used the ancient art of paper cutting, known as kirigami, to create...

Oct 1, 2015

Futuristic-Looking Solar Cars to Race Through Australian Outback

This fall, about 50 teams from around the world will take part in a competition in Australia to prove that their specially designed solar-powered cars have what it takes to survive the Outback. The competition, called the World Solar Challenge, will be held from Oct. 18 to Oct. 25, and...

Dec 11, 2015

How Forests Could Bridge the Energy Transition (Op-Ed)

Richard Houghton is a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center, an independent research institute where scientists investigate the causes and effects of climate change to identify and implement opportunities for conservation, restoration and economic development. Houghton contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Negotiators...

Jan 14, 2016

Solar Job Boom Continues As Prices Spur Demand

The U.S. solar power industry continued its hiring spree in 2015, growing nearly 12 times faster than overall U.S. employment. The solar industry has seen 123 percent growth in employment since 2010, adding 115,000 jobs in that time. Last year, industry employment totaled 208,859, with 35,000 new jobs added in...

Mar 27, 2016

New Ultrathin Solar Cells Are Light Enough to Sit on a Soap Bubble

Scientists have created the thinnest, lightest solar power cells yet — so lightweight that they can be draped on top of a soap bubble without popping it. The researchers suggested that these ultrathin solar cells could be placed on almost any solid surface, including fabric, paper and glass. Solar cells,...

Apr 6, 2016

Clearing the Air, China Now Leads World in Clean Energy (Op-Ed)

Lynn Scarlett, is a former deputy secretary and chief operating officer of the U.S. Department of the Interior and currently is global managing director of policy at The Nature Conservancy. Explore the Conservancy's latest thinking, science and recommendations on climate, energy and other global issues at www.nature.org/global. Scarlett contributed this...

Apr 28, 2016

Power Up with Pee: New Fuel Cell Could Generate Cheap Electricity

Instead of just flushing it away, your pee could one day generate power. Researchers have developed a way to create affordable and renewable electricity with a fuel cell that runs on urine. The new device relies on natural biological processes of so-called electric bacteria, essentially living cells that eat and...

Jul 26, 2016

Solar Plane Completes Historic Round-the-World Flight

A solar plane powered entirely by the sun has completed a journey around the world, making it the first solar-powered aircraft to circumnavigate the globe without using any fuel. The Solar Impulse 2 plane landed in Abu Dhabi today (July 26), ending a 17-leg journey that crossed Asia, the Pacific...

Dec 12, 2016

Flexible Film Captures Energy from Motion

At least once a week, Nelson Sepulveda gets on one of his bikes and rides 35 miles or more. He gets a good workout on those days, but as an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Michigan State University, he knows some of it is wasted energy. All...

Jan 9, 2017

Obama Calls Clean Energy Progress 'Irreversible'

In these days of transition, President Barack Obama summed up his view of the progress the U.S. had made on clean energy as well as his vision for its future. Obama laid out this argument in an article that was published online today (Jan. 9) in the journal Science, saying...

Feb 9, 2017

Magma Power: Scientists Drill into Volcano to Harness its Energy

It's not every day that scientists can study a volcano up close, but researchers investigating the feasibility of volcano-powered electricity successfully drilled into the core of one in Iceland. Scientists studied the volcanic system at Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland, which has been dormant for more than 700 years, according to...

Feb 27, 2017

4 Million Solar Panels Seen from Space

On the Tibetan Plateau in eastern China, 4 million solar panels silently soak up the sun as part of the Longyangxia Dam Solar Park. It’s the largest solar farm in the world, spreading over 10 square miles of the high desert landscape. The complex sprung into existence in 2013 and...

Mar 10, 2017

Tesla to the Rescue? Elon Musk Offers Solution for Australian Blackouts

Can South Australia's power crisis be solved in 100 days? Elon Musk said he thinks so, and he even bet on it. The Tesla CEO took to Twitter on today (March 10) to offer the Australian state a solution to its worsening blackouts. South Australia is a renewable-energy-dependent state, and...

May 22, 2017

Swiss Voters Support Renewable Energy and Ban Nuclear

The Swiss have spoken, and nuclear power has been voted out in favor of renewable energy. On the ballot yesterday (May 21) was the Swiss government's Energy Strategy 2050, a referendum that called for the ban of new nuclear power plants and investment in renewable energy. Under this energy plan,...