SUSTAINABILITY  

Solar disinfection

Around the world, 1.8 billion people lack access to safe drinking water. To avoid water-borne disease, these people must treat the water available to them before they can drink it. The issue is that existing treatment solutions are associated with additional costs – both monetary and environmental. However, there is one way to treat water that involves no emissions and uses a free resource found everywhere: sunlight. Solar water disinfection (SODIS) is a process where the sun’s natural UV rays eliminate pathogens—such as bacteria, viruses, and protazoa—from contaminated water exposed to sunshine. The difficulty is knowing when contaminated water has been exposed for a sufficient length of time for the UV rays to have rendered it safe. This is where Austrian social enterprise HELIOZ comes in. The organisation has developed the WADI – a device that visualises the process of SODIS in water containers such as plastic and glass bottles. The WADI device, which can measure UV light, is placed alongside bottles of contaminated water exposed to sunshine, so that it receives the same dosage of UV rays. It can then be used to measure when the bottles have received sufficient exposure to render them safe – defined as the removal of 99.99% of pathogens.

INNOVATION

Learnoverse

Vilnius-based blockchain-powered online education platform BitDegree has raised $1 million in a seed funding round, with plans to further develop its metaverse-based product, aptly dubbed, the Learnoverse. The platform aims to offer a creative and user-engaging way to learn about blockchain, crypto, and web3-related technologies, within a web3 technology. Using a gamification model, BitDegree’s Learnoverse will offer students, educators, and oddly, brands, the opportunity to interact while BitDegree’s “new concept in education, Learn & Earn” will be used to reward and motivate students. BitDegree’s $1 million seed funding was provided by Japan/ Singapore-based Mistletoe. You can learn more via their video (worth a watch just for the ridiculously over-the-top voiceover). 

THE LOW DOWN

• M&S trials refillable cleaning and laundry products
• World's biggest plant discovered off Australian coast
• New York lawmakers pass a moratorium on Bitcoin mining
• India looks to coal as power crisis worsens and monsoons arrive
• New report discredits Fifa World Cup's carbon neutrality claim
• Virgin Money launches £200m agri-fund to help farmers reach net-zero 
• Environmentalists join forces to fight ‘carbon bomb’ fossil fuel projects

#ShowerThoughts

• People with a good vocabulary probably get a better deal from their 3 genie wishes.
• House pets who have never been outside must think summers are cold and winters are warm because of AC and heating.
• No flat-earthers seem to live near the edge.
• A game of solitaire is probably one of the slowest ways to sort a deck of cards.
• Any history book is very compressed highlights of what happened. Further back, it might just be the final score. Then just the mention of a game. Eventually we don't know what the sport was.
  
  r/Showerthoughts

#RiddleMeThis

♫ Now playing ♫
Die Hard - Kendrick Lamar, Blxst, Amanda Reifer

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