Artificial ‘leaf’ could beat real plants at converting sunlight

Natural photosynthesis is considered a good target for solar energy conversion, but it’s already considered old hat. Harvard scientists have developed a leaf-like system that should be more effective at converting solar energy than plants themselves. The technology boils down to a jar of bacteria (Ralstonia eutropha), a cobalt water-splitting system and a pair of electrodes. When you send electricity through this partly biological system, the electrodes turn the water into hydrogen gas that you can use for fuel and carbon-based materials. It’s only 10 percent efficient, but that’s better than the widely established 8 percent baseline for real-world performance.

The big obstacle? It’s not certain how well this bionic technology would work once put into practice. Researchers note that they still have to find a way to connect the system to solar cells. Also, there’s the not-so-small matter of how it works in differing climates. This technique would thrive in a temperate environment, but it wouldn’t last in extreme temperatures. If it does pan out, however, it could give developing regions a cheap, eco-friendly way to not only produce energy, but store it at times when the Sun won’t cooperate.

Via: Christian Science Monitor

Source: Science

Snowden did more to raise NSA concerns than officials claimed

For the longest time, US officials denied that Edward Snowden made serious attempts to raise concerns about NSA surveillance activities before he took off with classified data. There was only evidence of one not-so-worrisome email, they said. However, it’s now clear that this isn’t the whole story. Documents obtained by Vice News (and published by the NSA) show that Snowden likely did more to raise concerns with the NSA than officials claimed. While there’s no smoking gun, two out of three previously unmentioned Snowden interactions with the Oversight and Compliance Office involved disputes over an open-book test on foreign intelligence gathering. The findings suggest that Snowden might have disagreed with the test’s interpretation of the law, which would be in sync with the previously released email.

Internal conversations also show that there was a rush to put out the one-email story, even when it wasn’t certain that this was the extent of Snowden’s contact. Officials discovered those extra discussions mere hours after its official response went out, and didn’t bring them up until now. Moreover, the NSA’s assertion that Snowden had clear paths to report concerns wasn’t entirely true. It’s not certain that he took an oversight training course before leaving, or that contractors like him could safely blow the whistle without facing reprisals. One of the suggested options for reporting concerns, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Office, was created in response to Snowden’s leaks. He couldn’t talk to a division that didn’t exist, could he?

The uncovered details still fall well short of Snowden claims. He says he reported “problematic” NSA programs to “more than 10 distinct officials” who did nothing, and there’s no hard evidence that this occurred. However, Snowden maintains that the agency is being “intentionally deceptive” with public releases — it’s allegedly withholding email from before 2013, any online chat transcripts (such as for Jabber, IRC and Lync) and testimony from his coworkers at the time. There’s no way to verify that he’s right without official documents. If there is a grain of truth to what he’s saying, though, it’d hint that the NSA is once more trying to discredit Snowden by releasing only a fragment of its data.

#NSA is excluding from FOIA: Pre-2013 email discussions; ANY Jabber, IRC, & Lync transcripts; colleague testimony. Intentionally deceptive.

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) June 5, 2016

Source: Vice News, NSA (PDF)