Why does this startup want to resurrect mammoths and dodos? | Feel Good Weekly
Feel Good Introduction
- The first species recorded to be extinct by humans, this company wants to resurrect it
- The new treasure land of high-density cities is hidden in the school
- "Self-cooling tent" technology, who doesn't want it in summer?
- We all misunderstood the "1.5°C warming" thing
- Dyaqua: The "craftsman" in solar panel manufacturing
The first species recorded to be extinct by humans, this company wants to resurrect it
The last time humans saw the dodo was 361 years ago.
It is the first recorded creature in human history that became extinct due to human activities, and it is also one of the most famous extinct animals other than dinosaurs.
Just like the dinosaurs in "Jurassic Park", some people want to resurrect them now, and we may even have the opportunity to buy tickets to visit them in the future.
American bio-startup company Colossal Biosciences announced that the dodo is the third species it has selected to be resurrected, the other two being the mammoth and the thylacine.
In theory, it is possible to resurrect the dodo.
Not long ago, Beth Shapiro at the University of California, Santa Cruz, extracted the dodo genome.
Next, Colossal Biosciences plans to gradually transform it into a dodo based on the closest existing creature to the dodo, the "Nicobar pigeon", and eventually return it to its original habitat for "rewilding" ".
This kind of "reform" resurrection raises many questions: to what extent is it considered "complete"? The original habitat is very different from the land more than 300 years ago. What problems will the reintroduction bring?
At the same time, Colossal Biosciences' profitability issues are also attracting attention.
Members of the company said that in the future, it may be possible to sell tickets to the public to visit extinct species. In addition, the technology developed in the process of achieving the goal of "reversing extinction" can also bring commercial value.
Last fall, Colossal Biosciences became Form Bio, a new bioinformatics company that provides software for processing experimental data, as it did for the dodo genome.
The company hopes to complete the resurrection of the mammoth by 2029, but the resurrection time of the dodo has not been determined.
Founded in 2021, Colossal Biosciences has raised $225 million and has 41 scientists on its team.
The new treasure land of high-density cities is hidden in the school
Big cities covered with concrete often suffer from heat island effects, but it is not easy to free up a new green space on an inch of land.
Researchers have found a new opportunity for change on campus — the playground.
The playground of PS 184M Shuang Wen, an elementary school in New York City, has received an update. In addition to being equipped with new play equipment, basketball courts, tennis courts and yoga circles, the playground is also an "urban sponge" that can absorb 1.3 million gallons of stormwater runoff.
Green infrastructure intercepts stormwater before it reaches the catchment basin and allows the land to absorb it naturally.
This creates additional capacity for the sewer system and helps reduce flooding.
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) explained.
▲ Comparison before and after transformation
The playground also features a sod-covered pavilion, a student-managed rain garden, and a host of new trees that will help the campus and the city better cope with the increasingly frequent and extreme rainfall.
At the same time, the school also invited students to participate in the redesign of the playground. Students also learn more about water resources as they build and manage rain gardens.
In the United States, the non-profit organization Trust for Public Land (TPL) has helped more than 200 schools transform their playgrounds, turning asphalt into "green land" for play, shade, and water absorption.
In addition, the playground "after get off work" can also be used as a "city park".
Statistics point out that 28 million children in the United States do not live near parks, and among them, parks in low-income areas are even more poor. TPL points out that playgrounds in public schools are a good addition to the “park.”
In 2018, only 44 cities in the United States will open campus playgrounds to the public during leisure time, and by 2022, this number has risen to 73 cities.
Although the climate crisis has brought many new challenges, it also forces cities to re-examine the rationality and possibility of different spaces, and it also brings us opportunities to build better cities.
"Self-cooling tent" technology, who doesn't want it in summer?
Summer camping is great, but the increasingly common heat can also be overwhelming, making it difficult for campers to sleep at night.
Al Kasani, a researcher at the University of Connecticut, is developing a liquid-cooled tent system that promises to bring air-conditioning-level cooling without using electricity, and only uses a gallon of water.
The "self-cooling tent" will use a material made of titanium dioxide, which will spread water from the bottom of the tent to the entire surface of the tent, where the water will take away heat as it evaporates.
One gallon of water will cool down for 24 hours. The internal temperature can be reduced by up to 11°C compared to the external environment.
At the same time, the reflective surface of the material also prevents the temperature from dropping too low.
At present, this technology is in a state of research and development, and Kasani himself is also cooperating with the school's commercialization department to promote mass production.
We all misunderstood the "1.5°C warming" thing
The new study points out that the goal of "limiting warming to 1.5°C", which has long been cited by climate action, did not come from scientific calculations, but was proposed as a moral goal at an international climate seminar, and was subsequently cited by more and more institutions and dialogues.
Why specifically clarify the source of this figure?
Because the chances of human beings achieving this goal are very small now.
When "1.5°C warming" becomes a reality, the world will not really be destroyed, but will become worse than it is now, and may trigger more unexpected disasters.
To make matters worse, when 1.5°C warming occurs, some people may lose motivation to act out of desperation.
Still, the common goal of 1.5°C remains meaningful.
It has become a legally binding requirement through the "Paris Agreement", urging the efforts and actions of many countries around the world, and requiring countries to be responsible for their own actions.
Dyaqua: The "craftsman" in solar panel manufacturing
Dyaqua is a family-owned company with a unique “craft”—making solar panels that look almost the same as traditional tiles.
This series of products is named "Invisible Solar" and mainly serves cities with rich cultural heritage.
These solar panels, which look almost exactly like traditional terracotta tiles, are covered with a polymer compound that allows sunlight to flow through them.
In terms of production, they are really "handicrafts", and the photovoltaic cells placed in the middle layer have to rely on human manual processing. Once completed, these solar panels can be installed directly like tiles, or can be installed by machine, requiring no special skills.
Now, such solar panels have been used in Pompeii and Vicoforte, and have been recognized by archaeologists.
Next, with the support of the European Union, these solar panels will also be used to build a large-scale installation in the Portuguese city of Évora – helping historic cities to become greener, smarter and more livable, while also respecting their history remains.
Although the efficiency of this solar panel will be slightly lower than the usual version, the advantage of this technology is that it can be combined with different materials such as stone, cement, wood, etc. Therefore, in the future, not only the roof can be "solarized", but also walls, balconies, etc. can be the object of application.
Not all "new technologies" have to subvert all the past and steal the edge. Humanistic care allows us to take care of the emotional needs of users while advancing better technology, making people more willing to accept "change."
#Welcome to pay attention to Aifaner's official WeChat public account: Aifaner (WeChat ID: ifanr), more exciting content will be presented to you as soon as possible.