Results tagged “greatpacificgarbagepatch”

UW was awarded $126 million from the National Science Foundation to build an ocean observatory to study the Pacific Ocean. The $126M is part of $385 million being parcelled out by the NSF over 5½ years as part of its ocean observatories initiative, which is intended to build an underwater network to study climate variability and issues in circulation and acidification. UW will get $35 million in 2010 to install about 500 miles of cabling and sensor nodes on the sea floor, which will give researchers real-time access to oceanic data. They'll have their hands full.

   

MIT's SENSEable City Laboratory is conducting experiments on garbage in Seattle through a program called "Trash Track." Utilizing "smart tag" technology, the team has created a device around the size of a matchbook with its own SIM card. The tag is placed inside a piece of garbage or recycling, then every 15 minutes pings the cell system to locate itself. This allows researchers at MIT to track the course of waste from the time its expelled by the user until it eventually winds up somewhere.