#alternative

#alternative

Oceanic Water Vapor As The New Source of Fresh WaterWith the demand for water increasing every year, a lot of people don’t have access to clean and safe drinking water. At our estimate, over one billion people have this issue.Easy access to water is one of the most basic rights we should have. The lack of accessibility to this need moved experts to find alternative sources of water. While the option of obtaining seawater is there, the costs of removing the salt from them are expensive and energy-intensive. It will require specially-made desalination plants for people to constantly access drinkable seawater.A recent study published in the journal Scientific Reports has proposed a potential water source: the air above our oceans. This is because oceanic water vapor is usually there as long as the sun shines above the oceans. University of Illinois’ civil and environmental engineering professor Praveen Kumar and his colleagues proposed capturing the moisture via towering structures offshore. Once these buildings have successfully obtained the vapor, it will then be sent onshore where it can be condensed to become freshwater.As a proof of concept, the researchers analyzed the amount of oceanic water vapor available at 14 different locations around the globe from the year 1990 to 2019. Their calculations showed that their proposed towering structures could extract enough to meet the daily needs of around 500,000 people.Image credit: Kumar et.al via Scientific Reports#research #water #seawater #freshwater #desalination #alternative #ScientificReports

Scientists Create the World’s First 3D Printed Wagyu Beef Complete with Marbling Using Stem CellsWagyu meat is famous for its high intramuscular fat content, more commonly referred to as excellent “marbling” or sashi. This gives the meat its rich flavor and its distinctive texture. However, the process of raising cattle and producing these in-demand cuts of beef is deemed unsustainable due to the disproportionate amount of climate emissions they produce. By utilizing stem cells from Japanese Wagyu cows, scientists from Osaka University have been able to 3D print synthetic meat complete with marbling that closely resembles the real thing. The team used two types of stem cells called bovine satellite cells and adipose-derived stem cells, which under the right conditions, can be manipulated to match the types of cells needed to produce the meat. Individual fibers including muscle, fat, or blood vessels were fabricated from these cells using bioprinting. The fibers were then arranged in 3D, following the histological structure, to reproduce the structure of the real Wagyu meat, which was finally sliced perpendicularly, in a similar way to the traditional Japanese candy Kintaro-ame.“By improving this technology, it will be possible to not only reproduce complex meat structures, such as the beautiful sashi of Wagyu beef, but to also make subtle adjustments to the fat and muscle components,” senior author Michiya Matsusaki says. This would make it possible for consumers to customize the contents of their meat in line with health considerations as well as their desired fat content and taste.Image: Science Blog #meat #alternative #sustainability #wagyu #beef #japanese #bioprinting #stemcells