UAE plans to bring giant icebergs from Antartica to tap water

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is planning to tow an iceberg from Antarctica to solve its drinking water problem. The UAE is among the top 10 water-scarce countries in the world, and yet has one of the highest water consumption rates per capita across the globe.

To meet the rising demand, the National Advisor Bureau Limited (NABL) — a company headquartered at Masdar city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi — is planning to tow an iceberg from Antarctica to Fujairah — an eastern Emirate — and mine it for drinking water.

A UAE-based news outlet has quoted NABL Managing Director Abdullah Mohammad Sulaiman Al Shehi as saying that an average iceberg contains “more than 20 billion gallons of water” — or around 75 billion litres — which is “enough for one million people over five years.” However, given the climate in and around the UAE, the big question is how much of that water will end up evaporating.

Source: UAE plans to bring giant icebergs from Antartica to tap water

Bandage Made From Shellfish Could Help Thousands Stave Off Infections

Crustaceans may hold the key for a new type of wound dressing, preventing thousands of people from developing infections.

Researchers have developed a bandage that uses an antibacterial substance formed from chitosan, a fiber taken from crustacean shells.

A team from Lodz University of Technology in Poland led by Radoslaw Wach, Ph.D., developed the protective dressing. Hydrogel dressings—which are durable and elastic to easily adapt to the shape of the affected body part—can speed up healing and cool the wound down by providing moisture to the wound.

“Since wound healing in severe cases may take a long time—up to several weeks—the probability of bacteria-mediated infection is high,” Wach said in a statement. “Our novel hydrogel dressing could, therefore, prevent many such infections and avoid serious complications.”

Source: Bandage Made From Shellfish Could Help Thousands Stave Off Infections

Unmanned U.S. Air Force space plane lands after secret, two-year mission

The U.S. military’s experimental X-37B space plane landed on Sunday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, completing a classified mission that lasted nearly two years, the Air Force said.The unmanned X-37B, which resembles a miniature space shuttle, touched down at 7:47 a.m. EDT (1147 GMT) on a runway formerly used for landings of the now-mothballed space shuttles, the Air Force said in an email.The Boeing-built space plane blasted off in May 2015 from nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard an Atlas 5 rocket built by United Launch Alliance, a partnership between Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) and Boeing Co (BA.N).The X-37B, one of two in the Air Force fleet, conducted unspecified experiments for more than 700 days while in orbit. It was the fourth and lengthiest mission so far for the secretive program, managed by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office.The orbiters “perform risk reduction, experimentation and concept-of-operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies,” the Air Force has said without providing details. The cost of the program is also classified.

Source: Unmanned U.S. Air Force space plane lands after secret, two-year mission | Reuters