• Question: have you ever discovered anything new in the world of science... if so, what was it/

    Asked by Tír Na nÓg to Ahmed, Nitheen, George, Francesca, James on 12 Nov 2014. This question was also asked by lisamariacullen, LOKOTON, 477susa36.
    • Photo: James Sullivan

      James Sullivan answered on 12 Nov 2014:

      Hi Niamh,

      We’ve discovered loads of new stuff. Nanotubes of TiO2 with C atoms doped within would be a recent example.

      The real question though is whether the new things we discover are important – and even more so, whether they are useful or valuable.

      James

    • Photo: George Dowson

      George Dowson answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      I developed/invented a new catalyst that turns bioethanol into petrol. The reaction itself had only been done once before in low yield. How the actual reaction works was brand new.

    • Photo: Francesca Paradisi

      Francesca Paradisi answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      I discovered new enzymes from extremophilic organisms, really interesting to work with!

    • Photo: Ahmed Osman

      Ahmed Osman answered on 17 Nov 2014:

      Dear Niamh
      thanks for your nice question
      I have prepared a patent and I have scientific published paper.
      Firstly I am working on the production of renewable and environmentally friend fuel from the agriculture waste (like grass, wood, etc)
      you know that the fuel that car uses is fossil fuel and mostly of it is imported ( in case of Northern Ireland 90% of the energy fuel is imported) so we have two problem with fuel, the first is importation and secondly it makes lots of pollution.
      We can solve this problem in just one step if we produce the fuel from the agricultural waste (the Northern Ireland land is covered by 76% by green like grass), this will save up to 40% of our use and the produced fuel called Dimethyl Ether is clean (where there is no smoke when it is ignited in cars) the process that we use to produce this fuel is anaerobic digestion. It is a natural process where plant and animal materials ( biomass) are broken down by micro-organisms in the absence of air.
      I think this new fuel will make the life happy

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