The art exhibition "Heart to Heart" by Hollywood animator Rich Wilke was featured this month in Santa Barbara.
Wilke, an opinionated and expressive artist has done notable work in Netflix's "F is for Family," "Curious George" and other series and movies.
Wilke wanted to show through his artwork and statements how the push and pull of love shapes the way people and people with animals interact for Valentine's Day.
He recently painted 100 portraits of Ukrainian children of war and told their stories for charity in another exhibition that has been featured in local and national institutions and regional shows.
A Kyushu University study (2021) estimated there were 24.4 trillion pieces of microplastics in the world's upper oceans or roughly 30 billion 500-ml plastic water bottles. Microplastics are tiny, toxic and very hard to remove from the environment. But researchers in the US have discovered that some Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents (NADES) can attract and bind microplastics, making it easier to remove them from the environment. And the N in NADES is key - natural - in this instance, think extracts from plants. https://www.research.uky.edu/news/researchers-develop-eco-friendly-magnet-battle-microplastics
Soil-based microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are not widely used, but show some promise as clean-energy options for low-energy sensors used in precision agriculture (soil moisture and health), infrastructure monitoring (water pipes leakages) or environmental monitoring (concentration of pollutants). This latest evolution of an MFC uses a non-traditional design & readily available components to deliver a performance improvement of over 120%. Importantly, the fuel-cell was able to generate 68 times more energy than needed by the sensors - so plenty to spare for more sensors! https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-develop-new-dirt-powered-fuel-cell-that-runs-forever/
