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Anyone who’s seen the 1986 musical comedy, Little Shop of Horrors, is familiar with Audrey II. Audrey II looks like a towering, blood-eating Venus flytrap plant, even mimicking the jaw-like, snapping pod of real carnivorous plants. But while Venus flytraps consume insects, Audrey II feeds on humans. 

Thankfully, people-eating plants are fictional, says Kenny Coogan, the owner of Carnivorous Plants by Kenny Coogan, a well-known nursery in North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad area. 

On the other hand, plants that trap and digest bugs and, on occasion, small rodents are not only real, but actually quite diverse. Popular Science turned to Coogan to find out why some plants are carnivorous, while others simply soak up their necessary nutrients straight from the soil. We also asked Coogan to dig into all the details behind what makes these plants deadly, at least to birds and other small animals.

What are carnivorous plants?

Carnivorous plants are predatory flowering plants that attract, catch, and absorb animals for their nutrients. They’re both autotrophs, which are organisms that make their own food using light or chemical energy, and heterotrophs. This means that they also have to eat animal prey to survive. 

“Carnivorous plants photosynthesize,” says Coogan. “They can use the sun to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugar,” he says, for substance. “They’re just getting some extra minerals or nutrients from the bugs or the organisms that they eat.”

Meat-eating plants exist on every continent save Antarctica, and grow in sun-filled places with extremely poor, acidic, and nutrient-free soil. For instance, the bogs, swamps, and marshes of North Carolina and Florida, with their unique combination of sunlight and wetlands, allow these uniquely adapted flora to thrive. This includes Venus flytraps, which are native only to the U.S. Carolinas, and Tracy’s sundew, with its long, thread-like leaves that grow in spirals. It’s often seen blooming alongside carnivorous pitcher plants in the Florida Panhandle. 

“Carnivory is primarily an adaptation for plants to get nutrients in low nutrient environments,” says Coogan. Carnivorous plants feed on insects to obtain the nitrogen, phosphorus, and other organic nutrients they need to survive, but are unable to absorb from the soil. 

This isn’t to say that all plants that grow within poor-soil wetlands are carnivores. Take wiregrass, which is quite prominent in the southeast. “It has really heavy root systems,” says Coogan, which have formed a symbiotic or long-term relationship with mycorrhizal fungi. These fungi attach to the wiregrass roots and help them form nutrients from the region’s poor, sandy soils. 

“There’s only a certain number of niches to be filled in an ecosystem, so some plants went one way,” meaning they became carnivores, “and then some plants went the other way.”

How did carnivorous plants evolve?

There are an estimated 800 to 860 species of carnivorous plants worldwide, with new species constantly being discovered. In fact, in the more than 140 million years that flowering plants have been around, carnivory has evolved independently at least a dozen times. 

Carnivory is not inherited from a single meat-eating plant ancestor. Instead, carnivorous plants’ highly adapted leaf structures, which include sticky traps, snap traps, and pitfall traps for catching insects, have evolved and diversified more recently, largely between eight and 72 million years ago.

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Carnivorous plants are a classic example of convergent evolution. This means that unrelated lineages have all developed similar traits separate from one another to adapt to their sunny, waterlogged, and nutrient-poor environments. 

For example, “There are many different kinds of pitcher plants,” carnivorous plants that have hollowed-out pitcher-shaped leaves that act as pitfalls, says Coogan, and they’re completely unrelated. You’ve got low-growing Australian pitcher plants, which are evolutionarily closer to roses, beans, and broccoli, Asian pitcher plants that hang from tropical vines, and upright, trumpet-like North American pitcher plants. Despite their completely different DNA, they’ve all evolved the exact same, tube-shaped “pitfall trap,” says Coogan, to catch and digest insects. 

Through convergent evolution, unrelated carnivorous plants like Venus flytraps, sundews, and pitcher plants have also independently repurposed ancient self-defense genes into ingenious digestive tools. While noncarnivorous plants have long used enzymes, called chitinases, to fight off fungal infections, carnivorous plants do the opposite. They use chitinases to break down the tough, chitin-rich exoskeletons of trapped insects. This then allows them to absorb vital nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, transforming what were originally passive, protective enzymes into active weaponry.

Are carnivorous plants harmful to larger organisms? 

“I would say ‘no,’’ says Coogan. Almost all carnivorous plants feed exclusively on small insects like flies, mosquitoes, and spiders. 

While there are some, like giant pitcher plants, that grow large enough to trap and digest small animals like rats and shrews, “the relationship is more mutualistic,” meaning both species benefit from each other. 

Basically giant pitcher plant species produce a sweet, aromatic nectar on the underside of their pitcher lids that attracts small mammals. These mammals “sit on the lid of the pitcher plant to drink the exudate, which is a thick nectar-like substance,” says Coogan. 

They’ll often defecate into the plant while feeding, and the giant pitcher absorbs nutrient-rich nitrogen and phosphorus directly from the droppings. It’s a win-win for both parties. “And one of many examples of mutualism in carnivorous plants.” If a small animal accidently falls in, the pitcher plant will then use its acidic digestive enzymes to consume it. 

Some incredible carnivorous plants

Coogan’s favorite carnivorous plants run the gamut from small, semi-aquatic Genlisea, commonly known as corkscrew plants, to bladderwort, tiny, bladder-shaped traps that catch small, aquatic creatures and often resemble orchids. 

“There are over 200 species of them,” he says, “and they come in three different habitat types. You have fully aquatic bladderwort that are floating in water. You have terrestrial ones that live in kind of soggy soils, and then you also have epiphytic ones that are living in trees and in moss.” They all use ultra-quick, vacuum-driven suction traps to capture prey. 

In fact, bladderwort is one of the fastest predatory plants on Earth, and can suck in its prey in less than one millisecond. “The real reason I like them is because they are proliferous, meaning they flower en masse.”

Also popular: butterwarts. “Especially the Mexican butterworts or Pinguicula,” says Coogan. “The reason is that they’re excellent house plants. They look like succulents, but their leaves are sticky and they eat fruit flies and fungus gnats.” They act as a natural form of pest control.

What’s the largest carnivorous plant? 

The world’s largest carnivorous plant by trap volume is the giant montane pitcher plant. It’s endemic to Malaysian Borneo and features massive urn-shaped traps that can grow up to 16 inches tall and eight inches wide. While lizards, frogs, and birds do occasionally fall victim to the plant’s digestive enzymes and acids, most wildlife is in the clear. 

Humans can also count themselves safe, Audrey II aside. 

In Ask Us Anything, Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.

The post Can carnivorous plants eat people? appeared first on Popular Science.

Just over 40 years ago, what began as a routine safety test at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (or Chornobyl in Ukrainian) in Soviet Ukraine spiraled into one of the most recognizable disasters of the 20th century. The reactor exploded and burned, spewing chunks of nuclear debris into the sky. Among that toxic litter were countless tiny “hot particles,” fragments of nuclear fuel smaller than the width of a human hair (somewhere between 8 and 50 micrometers across). Those particles are called hot because they’re highly radioactive, and still are four decades later. Today, scientists entering the areas of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone where the hot particles are located are required to wear a full protective suit.

But after decades of study, scientists still know surprisingly little about what their particles are made of at the molecular level. A team of researchers from Germany recently set out to change that by analyzing six particles collected from two sites in the Exclusion Zone using synchrotron X-ray diffraction. Surprisingly, they discovered the particles remained far more chemically stable than they had expected. Their crystal structures were largely intact, suggesting they changed little since forming during the disaster and its aftermath.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The findings were recently published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials. 

What are Chernobyl’s hot particles?

The hot particles thrown out of the Chernobyl plant fall into three general categories. The first is fuel that remains chemically and physically similar to the reactor’s original uranium dioxide. The second type consists of fuel that melted during the explosion and fused to its zirconium-alloy protective casing. The third type is fire-damaged fuel. 

As the reactor’s graphite burned for 10 days after the explosion, the intense heat oxidized some of the fuel into other uranium compounds. 

Particles, crystals…and dogs

For this particular study, the team sourced their six samples from two areas in the exclusion zone, and all three hot particle categories were represented. Two came from asphalt in Pripyat, roughly 2 miles from the reactor, while the other four came from farm soil samples in Kopachi, about 3 miles away. 

With the samples selected, the researchers isolated individual particles pulled from the soil, mounted each type to a tiny tungsten electrode, and then sent them to the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France. There, a team analyzed the particles using intense X-rays produced by a synchrotron, a circular particle accelerator. The researchers rotated each particle in an X-ray beam, measuring it from roughly 2,000 different angles. Watching how the x-rays bounced off all that material revealed how its atoms were arranged, showing which compounds each particle was made of and, most importantly for this study, how intact its crystal structure remained.

They expected to see particles that had been broken down by years of exposure to the elements. Instead, the crystal structures were still largely intact. That surprising finding suggests the particles are far more chemically stable than previously assumed, holding their radioactive contents locked inside their crystal structures. 

Though some of the particles showed more oxidation (of a loss of electrons when they interact with other chemicals) than others, two showed virtually none at all. Importantly, two of the particles pulled from the same soil near Kopachi included both a sample heavily oxidized and one that was largely untouched. The authors suggest that if weathering from the environment were the cause of the oxidation, then both particles sitting side by side should look similar. Instead, they say the oxidation likely happened during the disaster itself, when the reactor fire baked some of the fuel for days.

That timeline is potentially good news for the areas around the power plant. If the particles are indeed holding onto that radioactive material and not oxidizing, that could mean less harmful material is making its way into the soil and, in turn, the surrounding ecosystem. Still, the researchers quickly caveat any broad claims. These were just six samples, after all. Making any wider claim about the soil in the region generally would require more research.

Though it’s still too early to say with any certainty, that lack of leaching dangerous material into the environment could partly help explain why the exclusion zone has become home to an ever-growing neighborhood of furry mammals in recent years. In fact, the area’s lack of humans has made it a thriving ecosystem for foxes, bears, and bison. It’s a modern, albeit a little unorthodox, example of rewilding. Of course, even in this new frontier, the consequences of a nuclear disaster aren’t totally absent. A recent study of roaming dogs living in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, many believed to be descendants of dogs left by their owners during the 1986 evacuation, show distinct genetic differences from dogs in an area just 10 miles away.

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The post Chernobyl particles look remarkably similar to explosion day in 1986 appeared first on Popular Science.

She’s bubblegum pink with a permanent little smile. She sports a pretty flower on her head sports a black tattoo on one of her eight arms. But don’t let this dumbo octopus’ adorable exterior fool you. Miss Abyss is here on serious business. 

“Miss Abyss is a dumbo octopus from the deep-sea, and she is on a journey all across the country looking for allies to support her to help defend the deep-sea,” Angelo Villagomez, a research fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP), tells Popular Science. 

View this post on Instagram

While Miss Abyss herself is an octopus illustrated by CAP research associate Jasia Smith, dumbo octopuses (genus Grimpoteuthis) are very real cephalopods. They live on the ocean floor, and many species can be found at extreme depths of 9,800 to 13,000 feet and are only about 8 inches tall. 

CAP’s’ Miss Abyss campaign is using the dumbo octopus to raise awareness about protecting public waters from deep-sea mining using the Flat Stanley method. Based on the children’s book Flat Stanley, children are are asked to take pictures of a paper doll in places near where they live for a popular school project. For Miss Abyss, supporters are asked to print out a picture of her and then take a photo or video of her in a place that represents their state or home and share it on social media. Supporters are also encouraged to sign CAP’s petition.

“One of the most popular things in the United States is our public lands and our public waters,” Villagomez says. “We’re creating a fun and engaging way for people of all ages to be creative and basically showcase their support.”

What is deep-sea mining?

Deep-sea mining is the extraction of mineral resources including manganese, nickel, cobalt, copper, and rare earth elements from the ocean floor. Proponents of future deep-sea mining say that these and other minerals could help speed up the development of clean energy technologies. The global demand for nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements needed for digitization and decarbonization may double by 2040 to meet carbon emissions goals. Some also see the deep-sea as a safer alternative to mining on land. 

But the process could cause destruction to a critical ecosystem that we still do not know much about. As of April, only 28.7 percent of the global seafloor has been mapped. A 2025 report commissioned by the National Ocean Protection Coalition found that in the next 15 years, the economic, environmental, and technical challenges associated with deep-sea mining would make its profitability or commercial success highly unlikely. Waste discharge from deep-sea mining could also reduce food availability for the species that live there.

On November 12, 2025, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced a Request for Information and Interest (RFI) for leasing land off the Northern Mariana islands for mining. While the comment period ended on January 12, organizations from Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands and their national partners collected over 60,000 petitions, letters, and comments opposing the plans to allow deep sea mining near the Mariana Trench.

On August 17, BOEM announced a Proposed Leasing Notice (PLN) and a 60-day comment period that outlines the terms and conditions of the potential sale. The date for the lease sale is currently set for December 16, 2026.

“Some of the least disturbed coral reef ecosystems on the planet are on these isolated Pacific islands in the U.S. Pacific territories,” says Villagomez. “I think part of the human spirit is knowing that there are places that are unexplored, that there are things on our Earth that are still yet to be discovered.”

As a result, roughly 31 million acres near American Samoa and 69 million acres near the Mariana Islands’ outer continental shelves could go up for auction. The U.S. federal government has also proposed lease sales to advance deep-sea mining near Alaska and Virginia. 

“We’re not talking about a small [mine on land] where it’s one open pit,” says Villagomez. “It’s as far as the eye can see in every direction.”

Environmental and indigenous rights

In addition to the environmental risks, deep-sea mining also presents an Indigenous sovereignty issue. The ocean is a sacred part of the identity, spirituality and traditions of the Chamorro and Refaluwasch people of the Marianas, and other communities of American Samoa.

“I am Indigenous Chamorro, born in Guam, but my family is from Saipan. I grew up knowing that I lived next to the Mariana Trench,” Villagomez says. “I remember being out fishing with my dad, and he would then tell dad jokes, like ‘Oh you see the mountain there? It’s the tallest mountain in the world because it stretches all the way down to the Mariana Trench.’” 

That was not just a dad joke. At 6.8 miles below sea level, the Mariana Trench is deeper than Mount Everest is tall (5.5 miles).

Mining in the deepest parts of the ocean may not yield minerals companies want. CAP says that the proposed areas in the Marianas do not even have nodule fields of significant commercial value, and alleges that the mining is a pretext for testing prototype equipment for future operations elsewhere.

“This is a really new environmental issue. Up until about a year ago, deep sea mining was science fiction, so the types of people who would be organized on this if it was a public lands issue are not necessarily as organized,” says Villagomez. “So we’re going out there gathering allies, not just pictures of people with Miss Abyss, but also as that collective power to bring to conservation.”

Oh the places she’ll go

Since launching in August, Miss Abyss has already visited about 20 states, gone backstage at a Spin Doctor’s concert, sat beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, and visited the Grand Tetons.

Miss Abyss has also met oceanographer Dawn Wright. Nicknamed “Deepsea Dawn,” Wright is the first Black American and 27th human to dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. In July 2022, she dove the 6.8 miles below sea level to Challenger Deep at the southern end of the trench.

“She’s [Wright] just a great ambassador to the deep-sea herself,” says Villagomez. “So to see Miss Abyss and DeepseaDawn together was great.”

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While Miss Abyss travels the globe for support, the team at CAP continues working at the policy level. The courts could intervene and stop the lease sales, but the situation remains fluid and uncertain. In the meantime, Miss Abyss will continue her journey on social media. 

And as for where Villagomez would like to see Miss Abyss continue to pop up? “I would love for her to visit our national parks.”

The post Pink, pretty, and protective. A dumbo octopus is here with a message from the deep-sea. appeared first on Popular Science.

For centuries, civilizations have harnessed energy from water. However, hydropower often requires large bodies of water to move heavy machinery, confining its use to rivers. But what if the electricity needed to light up your house could be generated from raindrops hitting its roof? 

To achieve this, scientists rely on electrical charges created when materials come into contact and then separate, a phenomenon called the triboelectric effect. As an example, rubbing a balloon against your hair gives them opposite charges, causing your hair to stand up and stick to the balloon. Scientists apply the same principle to make droplet-based triboelectric nanogenerators, or D-TENGS, where raindrops slide across negatively charged surfaces. As the droplets move, their positive charges gather near the surface, freeing up their negative charges. When the droplets reach a metal strip called an electrode, these negative charges flow into a circuit, generating electricity. However, water often remains on D-TENG electrode surfaces, blocking subsequent droplets and corroding the device.

Researchers at the China Three Gorges University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences approached this problem by modifying the shape of the electrodes used in D-TENGs. They proposed that a needle rather than a strip would help droplets detach quickly, allowing charge to flow into a device that uses inexpensive components. They called this design a needle electrode droplet-based triboelectric nanogenerator, or NED-TENG.

To build the NED-TENG, the researchers prepared a plastic film using a water-repellent polymer called polytetrafluoroethylene as the negatively charged surface. They inserted a copper wire through the center of the plastic film, protruding 3 millimeters (0.1 inches) from the front side to form the needle-shaped electrode exposed to raindrops. Meanwhile, they attached copper foil to the plastic film’s backside as a second electrode, completing the circuit. The team connected both electrodes to an instrument that measures electrical performance and mounted the components on an acrylic sheet, sealing it with waterproof tape.

To simulate raindrops, the team inclined the NED-TENG at 50° from a table and dispensed tap water drop by drop from 30 centimeters (12 inches) above its plastic film. Like conventional D-TENGs, the device generated electricity as droplets slid across the film and contacted the needle electrode. However, because the water touched only a small area of the needle, it easily slid off the NED-TENG, preventing the water from building up like in D-TENGs.

The researchers then evaluated and optimized the device using 2 metrics: the force driving charges through its circuit, or voltage, and how fast its charges transfer, or current. First, they compared the NED-TENG with a conventional D-TENG. The NED-TENG generated about 564 Volts (V) and 5 milliamperes (mA) of current, nearly twice the voltage and 3 times the current of the D-TENG, and enough to power small electronics like indicator lights.

Next, they varied the droplets’ release height to maximize electricity production. They found that increasing the release height from 10 to 30 centimeters (4 to 12 inches) increased both voltage and current, peaking at about 543 V and 4 mA. At greater heights, droplets splashed hard on impact, scattering the water and disrupting the charging process they observed in sliding droplets. 

Similarly, the researchers tested different device inclination angles, ranging from 10° to 70°. Their tests revealed that the device’s electrical performance increased at steeper angles and peaked at 50°, reaching 521 V and 3 mA. At steeper angles, droplets spent less time in contact with the surface, reducing electrical output. They explained that because triboelectric materials are highly sensitive, results can vary slightly between experiments, leading to individual peak values that are lower than the highest overall outputs. 

The researchers then explored how the technology might perform in a simulated rooftop installation. To reduce power fluctuations during real-world applications, they connected multiple NED-TENGs. They observed that 10 connected devices could fill a small energy-storage component within 2 minutes and power 200 LED lights.

Overall, the NED-TENGs shed water efficiently and generated more electricity than D-TENGs, while remaining simple to build. The team noted that future upscaled studies should examine how rooftop systems can direct rainwater onto the devices at optimal heights, and how droplets interact with their surfaces to improve long-term performance. With further development, these low-cost systems could turn rooftops into practical generators powered by everyday rainfall. 

The post Needles turn rain into electricity appeared first on Sciworthy.

Image courtesy: Shutterstock/Jonas Aleksander Larsen

Fancy some more? Check out our puzzles page.

The post Physics and wildlife conservation: a slide puzzle appeared first on Physics World.

From tracking elusive animals to protecting some of the world’s most endangered species, the latest episode of Physics World Stories explores how cutting-edge robotics, drones and ecological science are coming together on the front lines of global wildlife conservation.

You’ll hear from Blair Costelloe, leader and principal investigator of the EU-funded WildDrone and WildBotics doctoral training networks, and director of research and conservation at Kenya’s Mara Elephant Project. Costelloe explains how drones, machine learning and other physics-based technologies are opening new possibilities for conservationists, from monitoring animals across large areas to collecting data that would be difficult to obtain on the ground.

Show host Andrew Glester also catches up with Camille Rondeau Saint-Jean, a PhD researcher at the University of Southern Denmark. She is developing and operating drones to track animal body data in real time, offering new insights into population dynamics and conservation. It’s the latest chapter in a career that has already taken her from musicology to drone piloting and conservation biology.

Finally, William Njoroge of Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy discusses how drones are being integrated with more traditional conservation methods, as well as the practical challenges involved, from technical constraints to regulatory requirements. Set against the backdrop of Mount Kenya, Ol Pejeta is an integrated conservation site and home to the world’s remaining two northern white rhinos.

The episode highlights the fascinating science that can emerge from collaborations across disciplines and cultures, united by a common goal: protecting wildlife.

The post Drones, AI and the future of wildlife conservation appeared first on Physics World.

💾

I have been involved in tribology for most of my working life, but even today it can feel like a well-kept secret. A highly interdisciplinary field with close ties to materials science, tribology is essentially the science and technology of friction, lubrication and wear between any moving surfaces. But tribology encompasses in part one age-old challenge.

I’m talking about the use of bearings, which dates back to at least 4600 BCE, when ancient Egyptians used wood log rollers to move large stone blocks during the construction of their pyramids. In 1500 Leonardo da Vinci used ball bearings in his conceptual helicopter design, while in 1740 the clock maker John Harrison invented caged roller bearings for his marine chronometer.

It was not until the mid-1960s that the word tribology was coined by the British engineer and entrepreneur Peter Jost after discussions with the then editor of the Oxford English Dictionary

The first patent on a ball bearing was granted to Philip Vaughan, an ironmaker from Carmarthen, Wales, bringing tribology firmly into the industrial world. But despite all the history, it was not until the mid-1960s that the word was coined by the British engineer and entrepreneur Peter Jost. After discussions with the then editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, the Greek word “tribos” – meaning rubbing – was suggested as a basis for describing the discipline.

This resonated with Jost, because the terms “tribo-chemistry” and “tribo-physics” were already in use. In an interview with the magazine Machinery Lubrication in 2005, Jost explained how “tribo science and tribo technology” then simply became shortened to tribology. “I felt that because it had a Greek basis, it could easily be adopted into a number of languages by most Western countries,” Jost recalled.

Wear’s the rub?

For the most part, the aim of tribology is to minimize friction and wear between components, which involves a knowledge of both materials and lubrication. Initially, the focus of the field was on moving parts in industrial or mechanical machines, such as bearings, gears, brakes and clutches. Indeed, one reason that the term came about was a conference in Cardiff in 1964 organized by the Iron and Steel Institute and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE).

At the conference it became apparent that significant failures in plant machinery, which were being attributed to poor lubrication, were in fact due to a lack of fundamental design knowledge. These findings led to Jost chairing a UK government committee into lubrication education and research and the needs of industry. The resulting study – generally known as the “Jost report” – came out in 1964.

Now all this may seem like ancient history, which I suppose it is, but I was intrigued to discover that delegates to that 1964 conference visited the Llanwern steelworks at nearby Newport. As some of you may recall me describing, I also visited this site during my own student days, where I saw the steel rolling line in action. It was a truly impressive sight.

The total failure was remarkable, underlining just what can happen when moving parts fail without warning

From the viewing platform, I could see a massive volume of red-hot steel thunder along the rollers when, suddenly, there was a bang. Something failed and the steel landed in a crumpled mess all over the plant floor. We were safe but the total failure was remarkable to witness, underlining just what can happen when moving parts fail without warning.

The knock-on effect of this failure would have been costly and sustained. As well as a steel rolling line being out of action, new parts would have had to be sourced and old ones repaired. There’d have been quality concerns to address, safety reviews to be undertaken and the root cause of the problems to be worked out. Quite possibly all those jobs would have needed to be completed before production could restart.

What’s more, the failure of the machine’s moving parts, which depends on tribology, would have damaged the company’s reputation and led to customers annoyed with delays and late deliveries. It is this kind of event that those involved in tribology are trying to prevent, or at least minimize. By understanding tribology, in other words, engineers can design better machines and components.

What it says on the tin

This was made clear in the 1964 Jost report, which said that adopting good tribological practices could save the UK between 1% and 1.4% of its gross domestic product (GDP). In today’s money, that would amount to some £30bn, given that country’s GDP is a shade over £3 trillion. Put simply, designing and maintaining industrial equipment, based on a solid understanding of tribology, yields significant economic benefit.

More recently, a 2017 study by Kenneth Holmberg from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Ali Erdemir of the Argonne National Laboratory in the US (Friction (5 263) suggests that 20% of the world’s energy consumption originates in tribological contacts. And by the application of best practice, as much as 40% of this could be saved.

More than 60 years after the publication of the Jost report, the influence of tribology continues to grow. Alongside its impact on transportation and manufacturing, tribology is also relevant to extreme environments from aerospace, nuclear power, marine and subsea to space technology, high-voltage electrical systems and even the human body. There are also applications in nano-tribology, cosmetics, food, computational, digital, tribotronics, geotribology, hydrogen and green tribology.

Tribology will help to reduce our carbon footprint and counter climate change

As chair of the IMechE’s tribology group committee and a member of the tribology group committee of the Institute of Physics, naturally I am biased. Still, I feel privileged to be part of the tribology community and the amazing things it achieves. Whether it’s making products more energy efficient, creating green lubricants, or making plant-based protein more palatable to meat eaters, tribology will help to reduce our carbon footprint and counter climate change.

So next time you brush your teeth, comb your hair, switch on a light or ride on a bus, spare a thought for tribologists and their dedication to making the world run smoothly. It’s hard to think of anything that doesn’t involve tribology at all.

• The Institute of Physics is hosting the 5th Tribology and Net Zero seminar on 6 November in London co-organized with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the UK student chapter of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers.

The post The secret world of tribology appeared first on Physics World.

With the growing adoption of LiFePO₄ (LFP)/Graphite (Gr) cell chemistry in electric vehicles and grid energy storage, understanding and enhancing its performance under high-temperature conditions has become increasingly critical. In this study, various concentrations of vinylene carbonate (VC) (1% to 5%) were introduced to LFP/Gr pouch cells cycled at 70°C to evaluate their impact on cell lifetime. Additionally, two different lithium salts, LiFSI and LiPF₆, were investigated. Upon reaching the end-of-life (80% capacity retention), detailed post-mortem analyses were performed, including qNMR and GC-MS to determine changes in electrolyte composition, micro X-ray fluorescence (μXRF) to quantify Fe deposition on the negative electrode, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) to assess charge-transfer resistance.

Various LFP/Gr pouch cells were evaluated, encompassing four distinct graphite types, two LFP surface area variations, and two cell form factors. The results demonstrate that higher VC concentrations significantly improve cell lifetime, reduce Fe dissolution and suppress electrolyte degradation pathways, including the formation of ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC) and dimethyl 2,5-dioxahexane carboxylate (DMOHC). Furthermore, while LiFSI-based LFP/Gr cells exhibit enhanced performance in certain metrics, they suffer the production of gas at 70°C, which can be mitigated by incorporating LiPF₆ salt.

Saad Azam is a battery scientist whose research focuses on improving the lifetime, safety and performance of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and grid energy storage. He completed his PhD at Dalhousie University in the Jeff Dahn research group, where his work centered on electrolyte additives, high-temperature degradation, transition-metal dissolution, gas evolution and long-term cycling of LFP/graphite and NMC/graphite pouch cells. His research combines electrochemical testing with advanced post-mortem methods, including qNMR, GC-MS, EIS, and micro-X-ray fluorescence, to connect cell performance with chemical degradation mechanisms. His recent work in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society examines how higher concentrations of vinylene carbonate improve the lifetime of LFP/graphite pouch cells cycled at 70°C.

The post Impact of VC on high temperature cycling of LFP/Gr cells appeared first on Physics World.

This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features Lin Ma, who is at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research group tackles energy and environmental challenges using sustainable materials and electrochemical techniques.

In this episode I chat with Ma about the growing importance of energy storage in electricity grids. Much of this is driven by the growth of wind and solar generation, which can both be intermittent in nature.

Ma talks about the batteries that are currently used in grids and explains what improvements are needed as more renewable energy comes on line. We chat about the different battery technologies that can be used for grid storage and Lin explains why sodium-ion batteries offer advantages over lithium-based devices when it comes to large-scale deployment. Lin also talks about some of the safety issues surrounding large battery facilities and how artificial intelligence can be used to improve many aspects of battery technology.

This podcast is presented in partnership with the Electrochemical Society. The mission of the ECS is to advance theory and practice at the forefront of electrochemical and solid state science and technology, and allied subjects.

The post Creating better batteries for electricity grids appeared first on Physics World.

A wind turbine standing nearly 1,200 feet tall has reached its full height in eastern Germany, creating a new approach to capturing wind energy at elevations where winds are stronger and more consistent. 

Developed by German engineering company GICON for the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation, or SPRIND, the pilot turbine in Schipkau is designed to test whether going dramatically higher can produce substantially more electricity from the same amount of wind infrastructure.

The structure reaches 1,197 feet, including its blades, making it Germany’s second-tallest structure after Berlin’s TV tower. GICON says the design could eventually generate roughly twice as much electricity as a conventional turbine with the same rotor diameter, although that estimate still needs to be demonstrated in operation.

A wind turbine built to reach higher

The main idea behind GICON’s design is to go where the wind is better. Wind speeds generally increase with altitude, while higher elevations can also provide more consistent wind conditions. Hence, a turbine operating hundreds of meters above the ground has access to a larger and potentially more reliable energy resource than a conventional turbine.

The Schipkau pilot has a rated capacity of 3.8 megawatts, while future versions are expected to exceed 7 MW. The company’s projected doubling in energy output refers to electricity generated over time, rather than the turbine’s maximum rated power.

Reaching that altitude, however, required GICON to rethink how such a turbine could be constructed. Instead of using a conventional crane capable of reaching the top of the tower, the company used a telescoping tower design. 

A specialized lifting mechanism raised the inner tower through a surrounding lattice structure before securing it at its final height. GICON founder and CEO Jochen Grosmann described reaching 1,197 feet as a major milestone for the project, which began as a concept before becoming a full-scale pilot facility.

Adding power without new wind farms

One of the more interesting possibilities is that high-altitude turbines could eventually be added to existing wind farms rather than requiring entirely new sites. GICON and SPRIND envision the systems operating as a second tier of wind generation, with the taller turbines positioned above conventional wind turbines. Therefore, their rotors would operate at higher elevations while existing turbines continue generating electricity below.

According to the current assessment, Germany could potentially accommodate as many as 4,000 high-altitude turbines within existing wind farms. If the concept works as expected, that could allow additional electricity generation without expanding wind farms into new areas, while also making better use of existing grid connections and developed wind-energy sites.

While the completion of the structure marks an important achievement, the more important test is still ahead, as official commissioning is planned for November, after the remaining construction work is completed. 

Once operational, the turbine will provide the data needed to determine whether the additional height delivers the expected increase in energy production and whether the benefits justify the additional engineering complexity.

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For more than a century, the electricity grid has mostly worked in one direction. Power plants generate electricity, grids deliver it, and homes, factories and businesses consume it. That model is starting to look a little dated.

As solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles and connected devices spread, millions of things that consume electricity can also store it, shift when they use it or, in some cases, send it back. “Everything-to-grid” is the emerging idea of coordinating those resources so they become active parts of the power system rather than simply sitting at the end of the network. The World Economic Forum included the concept among its Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2026.

What exactly is everything-to-grid?

The simplest way to think about it is to imagine the grid gaining millions of tiny batteries, generators, and adjustable loads. An electric vehicle plugged into a charger is normally a consumer. But with bidirectional charging, its battery can potentially send electricity back to a building or the grid. 

A building with solar panels and batteries can generate, store, and supply electricity. A factory could shift some electricity-intensive processes away from peak-demand periods.

Instead of asking only, “How much electricity do we need?”, an everything-to-grid system also asks, “What can we move, store, or temporarily switch off right now?” That flexibility can be valuable when electricity demand suddenly rises, or renewable generation fluctuates.

Your car could become a grid asset

Electric vehicles are one of the most obvious pieces of this puzzle because their batteries can store substantial amounts of electricity while the vehicles are parked for much of the day. Vehicle-to-grid, or V2G, technology allows compatible vehicles and chargers to exchange electricity with the grid rather than simply charging the battery. 

Software can decide when a vehicle should charge, pause charging, or discharge electricity, while accounting for factors such as grid conditions and the owner’s need to drive.

The U.S. Department of Energy has been examining V2G as a way of integrating EVs into the wider power system. However, widespread deployment still depends on compatible vehicles, chargers, communications systems, regulations, and business models. In other words, your car could spend the afternoon being a car and the evening moonlighting as a very expensive power bank.

Buildings become more than electricity consumers

Buildings are another major part of the concept. A grid-interactive building combines energy efficiency, smart controls, communications and distributed energy resources such as solar panels and batteries. Heating, cooling, water heating and other systems can be adjusted according to electricity prices, grid conditions or the availability of renewable power.

The U.S. Department of Energy describes these buildings as flexible energy resources that can help reduce peak demand and make better use of periods when electricity is plentiful. The IEA similarly describes grid-interactive buildings as “prosumers” that can produce, consume, store, buy, and sell energy.

Why renewables make this more important

Solar and wind power are increasingly important sources of electricity, but their output varies with weather and time of day. Solar generation, for example, can fall rapidly as evening demand rises.

That makes flexibility increasingly valuable. The IEA expects renewables to overtake coal in global electricity generation in 2026 and says modernizing grids and improving system flexibility will be critical as wind and solar expand. Everything-to-grid systems could help absorb surplus electricity when renewable generation is high and reduce demand when the grid is under pressure.

The catch: somebody has to coordinate the chaos

Making millions of independent devices behave like one useful power resource is considerably harder than installing a solar panel or plugging in an EV. It requires communication standards, smart inverters and chargers, control software, electricity-market rules, and cybersecurity. 

The more connected the grid becomes, the more important it is to protect those connections from failures and attacks. The DOE specifically identifies cybersecurity as an important consideration for increasingly connected grid-interactive buildings. There are also practical questions around battery degradation, consumer compensation, privacy, and who gets to control an asset in someone’s home.

Everything-to-grid, then, isn’t about turning every appliance into a miniature power station overnight. It is about changing the architecture of electricity itself, from a system where consumers mostly take power from the grid into one where millions of connected assets can help manage it.

The grid of the future may still have giant power plants and transmission lines. But alongside them could be millions of cars, buildings, batteries and machines quietly doing their part. That is a much more complicated grid. It could also be a much more flexible one.

Advanced nuclear power holds a clear promise: round-the-clock, low-carbon electricity with far better fuel efficiency than conventional plants. Yet the next generation of reactors faces an atomic-scale obstacle. When uranium atoms split to generate energy, they leave behind troublesome chemical byproducts that degrade equipment and frustrate recycling efforts.

A research team led by Pennsylvania State University has received $1 million from the US Department of Energy to tackle this precise problem. Their goal is to track and control three stubborn fission products—samarium, europium, and tellurium—in molten salt reactors and advanced recycling systems.

Standard commercial reactors are cooled by pressurized water. But molten salt systems use liquid salts. These reactors can squeeze more energy out of nuclear fuel and allow used materials to be recycled. However, the chemical soup inside them is notoriously harsh.

Each of the three targeted elements presents its own challenge. Samarium and europium are unwanted in recycled fuel because they can interfere with reactor performance and fuel recycling processes, noted researchers. 

“Tellurium, on the other hand, can react with metals used in molten salt reactors and fuel-recycling systems, contributing to corrosion and materials degradation,” added the researchers. 

Understanding the fundamentals

To solve this, researchers need to understand how these elements behave at a fundamental level.

“We will study the oxidation states of these elements, which describe how many electrons an atom has gained or lost and strongly influence how they behave chemically,” said lead investigator Hojong Kim, professor of materials science and engineering at Penn State.

The team will examine how these byproducts interact with reactor materials during pyroprocessing, a high-temperature recycling method based on molten salts. Working alongside specialists from the University of Nevada, Reno, and Idaho National Laboratory, researchers will combine computer modeling with direct laboratory experiments.

In the lab, doctoral researcher Alok Pandey will dissolve the three elements in molten salt solvents and run electrical currents through the mixture. By varying the applied potential, he can observe how the elements shift oxidation states.

“This will allow us to understand the elements’ electrochemical properties,” concluded Pandey. “It could help improve strategies for their recovery and management during nuclear fuel recycling.”

Solving the recycling puzzle

The project also revives an earlier, unresolved puzzle. Kim previously attempted to analyze samarium under a 2018 federal grant. That effort stalled because the element existed in tiny concentrations and behaved unpredictably compared to related rare-earth metals. Armed with newer diagnostic methods, the team believes it can now crack the problem.

Their solution relies on an unexpected ally: liquid bismuth. Kim’s laboratory previously discovered that molten bismuth can act like a chemical sponge, cleanly capturing rare-earth elements out of liquid salts.

If the current trials succeed, the technique could unlock more sustainable fuel cycles. By removing corrosive and performance-choking byproducts, engineers can keep advanced reactors running longer, extract more energy from every grain of uranium, and significantly reduce long-lived nuclear waste.

New fuel-economy standards, which President Trump said he finalized Saturday, would kill a federal effort to speed the transition to electric vehicles.

Democrat Rob Bonta is preparing to fight the president’s rollback of a regulatory keystone on climate.

The partners behind a project in suburban Denver think they’ve found a way to accelerate the adoption of residential geothermal heating and cooling.

Data center developers are manipulating the Environmental Protection Agency’s air pollution permitting process to avoid emission controls and scrutiny of their projects, environmental advocates allege.

More than 90 percent of the estimated oil pollution in the oceans occurs within national waters – including in protected areas.