why we waste energy

The latest special issue of Current Biology is about economy and biology, and my contribution looks at the energy efficiency of the hunter gatherer lifestyle compared to feeding strategies of other primates and to later developments such as agriculture. Turns out we have always prioritised time efficiency over energy efficiency, setting us on a straight path towards today's ridiculously wasteful ways of getting our calories.

The resulting feature is out now:

Shopping with hunter gatherers

Current Biology Volume 32, Issue 12, 20 June 2022, Pages R596-R599

FREE access to full text and PDF download

NB: as the 2022 features move into the open archives, I will add them to this thread on Mastodon.

Present-day hunter-gatherer populations like the Hazda in Tanzania, shown here, were included in a study analysing the energetics of this subsistence strategy. (Photo: alexstrachan/Pixabay.)

NB in the non-special section of the issue there is also an interview with Asifa Majid, whose work I have covered on various occasions and who also gave a helpful hint that was crucial for this feature. Her interview appears to be on open access.

fusion and other challenges

As our civilisation is collectively failing every marshmallow test that presents itself, I am not very optimistic about our chances of averting catastrophic climate change. One tiny spark of hope comes from the fusion sector however. There are several startups that claim they can have their small fusion reactors ready to roll out in time to make a difference for climate change. They'd better pull their socks up, as this means they will have to start supplying electricity to the grid by the end of this decade, but part of me wants to believe that this might still be possible.

I rounded up some recent good news from the fusion startups in a new feature which is out now in C&I:

Fusion momentum

Chemistry & Industry Volume 86, Issue 3, March 2022, Pages 26-29

access via:

Wiley Online Library (paywalled)

SCI (members only)

Any access problems give me a shout and I can send a PDF file.

In the same issue, on page 34, you'll also find my review of the book

Climate adaptations
by the Arkbound foundation,

which rounds up some very different responses to climate change from around the world (not involving fusion reactors).

Wiley Online Library (paywalled)

Also in this issue, in the news section on page 15, an update on the Earth Biogenome Project, which aims to sequence every eukaryotic species known to science within 10 years (see also the feature I wrote when it launched in 2018). As challenges go, this is similar in scale to getting fusion to work by 2030.

access via:

Wiley Online Library (paywalled)

SCI (members only)

On the cover of the magazine, a story about using metals as boosters for antibiotics, a new approach I wasn't aware of, so I should probably read the feature by Jasmin Fox-Skelly. Well, ahem, I would have shown that lovely cover if there was a decent image of it online, but as I can't find one, I'll have to show the first page of my feature instead:

Update 31.3. - here is the cover at last (or most of it):

Update 5.4.2022: Oxford spinout company First Light Fusion, whose unusual approach to fusion I mentioned briefly in this feature and discussed in more detail in the previous fusion feature in 2018, have today announced they have achieved fusion, a result that was independently verified. Press release here.

high capacity

When the limitations of current battery technology is discussed, super capacitors always come up as an alternative with potential. In my latest feature for Chemistry & Industry I have had a closer look at that potential and the important question whether super capacitors can also be produced super sustainably:

Super-power capacitors

Chemistry & Industry Volume 84, Issue 12 December 2020 Pages 22-26

access via:

Wiley Online Library (paywalled)

SCI - appears to be on open access right now

The same issue (page 35) also contains my review of Paul Halpern's new book, Synchronicity, which is about acausal connections in physics, especially quantum physics, represented by Wolfgang Pauli, and in psychology, represented by Pauli's therapist, a certain C. G. Jung.

access via:

Wiley Online Library

SCI (premium content)

big fusion

Two years ago, I visited the start-up company First Light Fusion up the road in Yarnton, which aims to develop small fusion reactors quickly enough to make a difference for climate change, and wrote a feature about it.

A year later I got to compare and contrast the other side of fusion research, reading a book by two young physicists about the multibillion dollar enterprise that is big fusion, based on the tokamak concept, which requires massive magnetic fields to contain the plasma:

The future of fusion energy
by Jason Parisi and Justin Ball
World Scientific 2019


My book review is out now in the first issue of CI of this year:

Faith in Fusion
C&I 2020, 84, No. 1, p 39
Restricted access via the Wiley Online Library

Here's a snippet:

"the authors place all their bets on the next generation tokamak, Iter, which is currently under construction in France. Run as an international collaboration, Iter is currently scheduled to create its first plasma in 2025 – although this target was originally set for 2018. The scale and costs of the project are eye-watering, but to these young physicists this is where the future of sustainable energy lies."



The baked goods on the cover represent different types of fusion reactors, the donut being a tokamak, the cronut a stellarator, and the small spherical thing represents inertial confinement fusion.

all about energy

In the latest issue of C&I (issue 9) you'll find four book reviews including two long essay reviews from me, both relating to energy use, by cells and by humans, respectively. Both books cover very exciting and important material, but don't do much to make it accessible to a broader range of people who really should know about these things.

The books are:

Low Carbon Energy Transitions
by Kathleen M. Araujo (Oxford University Press 2018)
review on page 38

and

Photosynthesis and bioenergetics
by J. Barber, A.V. Ruban, eds. (World Scientific 2018)
page 40

Araujo covers the decarbonising and surprisingly swift energy transitions in Brazil (biofuel), France (nuclear), Iceland (geothermal) and Denmark (wind).

Meanwhile, the monograph by Barber and Ruban rounds up research around life's most important energy systems, ATP synthase and photosystem II.

Reviews can be accessed via the C&I website or through the Wiley Online Library. Both options are limited to institutional / subscriber / member access, but I'll be happy to email PDFs if you email me.

fresh fusion

I really should go out more and explore more of the exciting science going on all around me, so it was a great opportunity when I was asked to write about new approaches to fusion energy, as there is a start-up company doing that up the road in Yarnton, called First Light Fusion.

So I visited them and marvelled at their huge supply of gunpowder (some seriously old technology used to facilitate the new ones) and at the workshops where they are building what could become a revolution in energy technology. We'll see.

The feature is out now:

A new dawn for fusion energy

Chemistry & Industry 2018, vol 82, no 4, pp 30-33

access via:

Wiley Online Library (paywalled)

SCI (members only)

I can send the PDF file, just drop me a line.

and here's a sneaky preview of the first page:

megadams march on

Open Archive Day

A year ago, I reported how the inflationary spread of megadam projects in tropical countries may do the environment more harm than good. The thing is that submerged vegetation in large reservoirs in the tropics can release enough greenhouse gases to wipe out the climate benefits from the hydroelectric plant in comparison to a modern gas-fired power station.

However, the megadam mania has marched on regardless. Earlier this year, for instance, the Guardian asked:

Why is Latin America so obsessed with mega dams?

and concluded that other renewable energies may be preferable in many cases. Some projects have in fact been stopped by protests and environmental concerns, but in many places, the mania continues.

My feature is now on open access:

A global megadam mania

highly charged

I have half a cover story in the new issue of Chemistry & Industry - as the cover is about future means to power transport, including biofuel and batteries. My feature is the one about batteries:

Highly charged
Chemistry & Industry vol 81, issue 2, pp 22-25

Open access to full text (HTML) via SCI website

Restricted access to PDF files via Wiley Online Library



Chemistry & Industry issue 2 / 2017

megadam mania

I used to think that dams and hydroelectric power plants are generally a good thing as they produce renewable energy which should more than offset any problems they may cause locally. I learned from my research for this latest feature, however, that large dams in tropical climates tend to release methane produced by fermentation of submerged vegetation and algae. In the worst-case scenario, this may mean that a large dam built in the wrong place may be no better for the climate than the equivalent gas-fired power stations. If we're very lucky, someone might find a way of collecting all that methane - by burning it one could both produce more energy and reduce its climate impact. But while this kind of solution is still in the dream stage, countries like Brazil and the Democratic Republic of the Congo keep building ginormous dams.

Read all about it:

A global megadam mania

Current Biology Volume 26, Issue 17, pR779–R782, 12 September 2016

OPEN access to full text and PDF download

The Three Gorges Dam in China is currently the largest power plant of any kind, but maybe not for much longer ...

By Source file: Le Grand PortageDerivative work: Rehman - File:Three_Gorges_Dam,_Yangtze_River,_China.jpg, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11425004

the trouble with photosynthesis

If you look at plants from a technological point of view, there is a fascinating flaw in photosynthesis which is simply down to the fact that it evolved in an atmosphere with virtually no oxygen, and now it is having problems with its own waste product. Some tropical plants like maize and sugar cane have found a fix, but other crops like rice and wheat are massively inefficient at turning carbon dioxide into food, which is why various research groups are trying to improve them.

Read all about it in my feature:

Fixing photosynthesis
Chemistry & Industry April 2015, pp 42-45
Free access to the full text

In the same issue I also have a "long essay review" of the book Fracking by Hester and Harrison (from the series Issues in environmental science and technology)

Fracking - points of view
Chemistry & Industry April 2015, pp 50-51
limited access

analytical about art

The July issue of Chemistry & Industry contains my feature on the use of analytical methods such as SERS (surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy) in art conservation:

Fading pictures
Chemistry & Industry July 2014, pp32-35

One of the recent examples covered is the colour change through light damage in the painting Portrait de Madame Léon Clapisson by Auguste Renoir:

shown in a reconstruction of the original colours (left) in comparison to the faded original. (images: The Art Institute of Chicago).

Also in the same issue (p50-51) is my long essay review on fracking, the excuse being the book:

Hydrofracking: what everyone needs to know
by Alex Prud'homme

I'm afraid both pieces are premium content, but I have PDF files, so drop me a line if you want one.

Oh, and the art feature made the cover:

I'm loving the cover design by the way - I have often stood in front of the new(ish) C&I logo in the cropped circle and wondered: "Is it art?"

solar fuel

My latest feature in Current Biology discusses artificial photosynthesis and the quest to produce transport fuel from renewable energies:

Closing the carbon cycle

Current Biology Volume 24, Issue 13, pR583–R585, 7 July 2014

Free access to full text and PDF link

own photo

colombian gold

I have fond memories of the gold museum (museo del oro) in Bogota, Colombia, which I visited back in 2000, so I was pleased to see that the Colombian gold came for a return visit to the UK, for the exhibition Beyond El Dorado at the British Museum which runs until March 23rd, i.e. Sunday.

I saw the exhibition in combination with the recent panel discussion on Colombia's resources, and took this opportunity to write a feature on Latin America's resources more generally, also covering Ecuador's oil:

Latin America’s resources: Blessing or curse?

Current Biology, Volume 24, Issue 6, R209-R211, 17 March 2014 doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.02.054

free access to full text and PDF download

This pendant, made in pre-Columbian times from the gold alloy tumbaga, is one of the objects displayed at the British Museum during the exhibition of Colombian gold artefacts, which runs until March 23rd. (© Museo del Oro – Banco de la República, Colombia.)

what the frack

I've avoided the topic of shale gas for a while, seeing that the stupidity of digging up fossil fuels that we can't afford to burn should be obvious to all, but as the UK government seems to have given up on renewable energies and embraced fracking, and we've had some lively protests this summer, I wrote a feature about the recent developments, mainly in Europe, where the responses range from an outright ban on fracking (in France) to enthusiastic support (Poland).

My feature is out today:

Dash for gas leaves Earth to fry

Current Biology, Volume 23, Issue 20, R901-R904, 21 October 2013, doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.10.006

Free access to

HTML text

PDF file

A poster that appeared in the New York City subways a few years ago warned of the impact of fracking on the city’s water supplies. The state has since imposed a moratorium on fracking. (Used with permission from Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, produced with Center for Urban Pedagogy and graphic artists, Papercut.)

is thorium the answer?

My long essay review of the book:

Superfuel – Thorium, the green energy source for the future.
by Richard Martin
Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN 978-0-230-11647-4

is out in Chemistry & Industry, December issue, pp 46-47.

I didn't know anything about thorium reactors before reading this book, but thought the author made a convincing case. Most intriguing, however, is the unravelling of the history of nuclear technology and the reasons why the reactor type predominant today was chosen. I think it's a fair summary to say that all of them were bad reasons, and a lot of them had to do with military considerations.

A snippet from my review: "It is always interesting to trace back the evolution of technology and work out why one route was taken rather than another. Why did petrol knock out ethanol fuel, when today we’re going back to ethanol? Why did planes that are heavier than air take off and leave the zeppelins behind? In the case of thorium liquid fuel reactors versus pressurized water reactors with solid uranium rods, Martin argues convincingly that the decisions favouring the latter type of technology were made for all the wrong reasons and that they blocked a technology that would today come in very handy as a green solution to the challenges of climate change and energy security."

For balance, note also that Stephen Ashley et al. say in the current issue of Nature that the arms proliferation risk of the thorium technology isn't as small as its proponents claim (Nature 2012, 492, 31).

SCI members can access the full text of my review here. If anybody would like a pdf reprint, leave a comment here or drop me a tweet.

city

city – a guidebook for the urban age

by PD Smith

Bloomsbury 2012

Call me crazy but I love wandering about in big (European-style) cities. Ideally, they should have a historic core (Mediaeval will do, Roman ruins a bonus!), a big river, a university. Prague, Paris, Cologne, that sort of place is the perfect holiday destination for me.

But what makes cities so attractive, not just for me as a visitor, but for an increasing number of people to move into them, especially into the rapidly growing megacities (with more than 10 million people) of the developing world? Can the cultural history of “the city” be generalised to reveal insights into this form of human cohabitation and cooperation?

PD Smith has attempted this generalisation for cities throughout history and around the world. Like one of my random walks through a city, the book explores many avenues and sights, sometimes via unexpected passageways, and the author invites us to peruse the book in nonlinear fashion. Like the districts of a city, the book has themed section, but within their confines, surprise encounters may happen.

Smith highlights the advantages of a compact, walkable, people-friendly city (I might have mentioned Cologne as an example, where people walk, rollerskate, cycle etc. across the entire North-South extent of the city area on the marvellous river promenade), as opposed to the sprawling, car-friendly city (LA, Brasilia, Milton Keynes). People-friendly cities with adequate public transport and energy-efficient buildings are in fact more environmentally benign on a per-person basis than country lifestyles that heavily depend on driving.

Smith draws on an astonishing treasure trove of sources – including the many volumes that have been written about specific, much-loved cities such as Paris, Venice or New York , and on studies of specific topics like commuting, suburbia, or street art. Faithful readers of his book reviews in the Guardian and elsewhere will recognise some of the information nuggets.

Like any traveller, he always tends to gravitate back home to London, which for a time was the biggest and most powerful city of the world. He concludes the weighty tome with an outlook on the future of the city and with a memento mori, reminding us that all cities will fall to ruins one day.

Highly recommended for anybody who can appreciate cities as more than just the place they commute to.

(amazon.co.uk)

alternative energy

The conversion of our energy supplies to sustainable resources isn't advancing quite as fast as we may wish, and in the meantime, the people who seem to be desperate to burn even more fossil fuels than we are burning already have come up with ingenious ways of getting even more coal and gas out of the ground.

I've written a feature rounding up some alternative energy sources, including both green and not quite so green ones, which is out in Current Biology today and freely accessible to all.


Looking for alternative energy sources
Current Biology, Volume 22, Issue 4, R103-R106, 21 February 2012
doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.02.002

Free access to full text and PDF download



Brown algae are one of the options considered for the production of next generation biofuels. (Photo: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen/Wikipedia.)

Germany's nuclear exit strategy

Immediately after the Fukushima disaster, the German government performed a spectacular U-turn on nuclear energy. Just six months after drawing up a plan to slow down the planned closure of its remaining nuclear power stations, Germany now looks likely to speed it up, and may well do so by 2020. This would make Germany the first country to abandon nuclear energy after using it for decades, so it would set an interesting example for others to study and possibly to follow.

Read my news feature which is out in Current Biology today:

Energy U-turn in Germany
Current Biology, Volume 21, Issue 10, R379-R381, 24 May 2011
doi:10.1016/j.cub.2011.05.003
Summary and open access to pdf file.

This is also one of the rare articles to be printed with one of my own photos, namely this one:



(click image to see larger versions in my flickr photostream)

-------
Updates:

31.5. German government gives detailed plan for 2022 exit: Guardian report.

25.5. Pleased to note that the Swiss government is now moving in the direction I anticipated and taking steps towards a phase-out of nuclear energy (see this Guardian report. It would have been slightly embarrassing if they had changed their mind in the weeks between my writing the article and its publication.

The UK, meanwhile, has decided to dump radioactive waste in an ordinary landfill site. What a brilliant idea. I wonder whether nuclear energy expert Homer Simpson was involved with the planning? And seeing that the company involved is called Augean, will they divert a river to wash the waste into the sea?

bioremediation of oil spills

Funnily enough, the microbial communities that can digest oil spills (given the right set of conditions) attract a lot of attention after each major disaster, but suffer from neglect soon after. I covered this issue briefly in my book Life on the Edge (1998) and have now revisited it on the occasion of the Deepwater Horizon spill.

Turns out the research hasn't made as much progress as one might have wished, it's still mainly guesswork if you want to predict whether a given spill will or will not be efficiently degraded by microbes.

I wrote a news feature about all this for Chemistry & Industry, which is out today:

Digesting a sticky problem
Chemistry & Industry No. 23, page 14-15.

Full text (open access)

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wave power rules in Scotland

An assorted collection of wave and tidal power devices is to be deployed off the coasts of Scotland within the next ten years, demonstrating that there is a choice of technologies available to harness marine energy, but also that we aren't quite sure yet which of these technologies is going to be the most efficient one in practice.

I wrote a news feature about this for Current Biology, which came out last week while I was away and offline:

Wave power set to roll

Current Biology, Volume 20, Issue 7, R299-R300, 13 April 2010

FREE access to full text and pdf file