Digitalization is revolutionizing every aspect of our lives, including chemical manufacturing. During the Apollo program, NASA workers used toxic chemical solvents to clean the rockets waiting on the launch pad. From medicine to public safety and sports equipment to transportation, there are all sorts of examples of products invented or improved upon by the work of NASA researchers and the various companies they contract with on projects. In this article, we’ll learn more about five technologies driven forward by the work of NASA, ones that have also helped green the planet in the process. Solar power has long been of interest at NASA, starting with Vanguard 1, the first artificial satellite powered by solar cells to start circling the globe. In fact, one of the Space Technology Hall of Fame inductees admitted in 1988 — the first year the honor was offered — went to ongoing research in this field.

While in most cases water hyacinths are considered to be an invasive species, the plants have also shown great potential in the field of wastewater treatment. While MDMA isn’t precisely the perfect “happy pill” envisioned in the 2006 survey — it’s illegal and its aftereffects include depressed moods in the user as the brain rebuilds its stores of neurotransmitters — it’s close enough for many people. For smaller stubborn stains, you can simply whip out your magic eraser for smudges tiny enough for a spot clean. The only caveat is the battery doesn’t last long enough for a large house, however, it did an excellent job on all floor types. Hydroponic systems have traditionally been complex, however, so NASA researchers started looking for a substrate that would eliminate many of those hassles. Submarines are equipped with sophisticated fire detection and suppression systems to quickly address any fire incidents. Let’s say there are 20 alleles at locus 1, and one of those alleles causes a particular disease when a fly has two copies of that allele (homozygous).

Let’s say we look at locus 1 on chromosome 1 on a particular fruit fly’s DNA. The location of a particular gene is called the locus of the gene. The hydrogen peroxide solution, called the activator, is contained in a small, fragile glass vial in the middle of the stick. The iron triggers a chemical reaction which reduces the level of solvents; then the hydrogen that’s released when the vegetable oil ferments further decreases the amount of environmental contaminants in the soil. To determine the amount of alcohol in that air, the reacted mixture is compared to a vial of unreacted mixture in the photocell system, which produces an electric current that causes the needle in the meter to move from its resting place. This is true except in cases where the allocation of emissions rights (i.e., the amount of emissions that each country is allowed to emit) in the ETS is particularly favourable to developing countries. In outcrossing, an animal outside the breed is allowed to mate with an animal inside the breed.

For example, imagine an animal that has two identical copies of a gene in one allele. Each gene appears at a certain location on a certain chromosome, and there are two copies of the gene. They meet to give the new child two copies of each gene. Assume that a child receives this mutant gene from the father. The mutant gene might persist through many generations and never be noticed until, at some point, both parents of a child contribute a copy of the mutant gene. To form the single strand in the sperm or egg, one or the other copy of each gene is randomly chosen. One thing to notice in Deppe’s quote is that a mutation in a single gene may have no effect on an organism, or its offspring, or its offspring’s offspring. Groch, Judith. “Antibacterial Soap No Better and May Be Worse Than Plain Soap.” CMP Medica. Zeoponic products are better at delivering nutrients to plants, so much less is lost to surrounding soil and groundwater. An allele that promotes better growth in hot weather may promote inferior growth in cold weather, for example.