Tree-Like Molecules for a Solar Future

By PAOLA CERONI of UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA

Humankind is facing energy and climate crises because of the massive consumption of fossil fuels such as oil. Fossil fuels are formed when solar energy is converted by natural photosynthesis and trapped in the Earth’s crust over a long period of time. Oil is a densely packed energy source that is easily transported and stored; characteristics that allow consumption abuse. However, humankind is now being forced to change consumption patterns because of climate problems and shortages of oil resource. Among the alternative energy sources, the Sun is very promising since more solar energy strikes Earth in one hour than all of the energy consumed by all humans in an entire year. With that availability, what is the problem? One aspect of the problem is that the Sun’s energy is very diluted and intermittent. To tap the potential of solar energy, we need to convert that energy into heat, electricity, and fuels. Heat production is the easiest as it can be obtained by using solar thermal panels, but the heat cannot be transported or stored. Electricity can be produced by photovoltaic cells, is easy to transport, but difficult to accumulate. Solar-source fuels are the most desirable way to tap solar energy as they combine both positive features—transport and accumulation. As usual, the most desirable is also the most difficult to achieve.

History Against Amnesia

By JOANA DUARTE BERNARDES of UNIVERSITY OF COIMBRA

The information revolution and the superabundance of information and the permanent digital referentiation of the world require a new reading of the role History may have in creating memory and wisdom. 

Subverting Authority: The Cultural Work of Medical Romance

By ANTJE DALLMANN of HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN

A blinking light. We hear the blaring siren of an ambulance, the beep of an ECG monitor, agitated voices coming over the radio and the thud of a car door banged shut—abruptly followed by silence. Then the opening credits of "Bitter Pills" begin to roll, the first sequence of the US TV show Nurse Jackie, accompanied by a slow number by Jane Riberry. Still bathed in harsh white light, we seem to float, looking down from above, to finally zoom in on a motionless body lying on the floor: supine, arms outstretched, eyes open. A woman’s voice-over begins, in a solemn tone, and we take in the scene as a visual code for an out-of-body experience: somebody is dying. And then the body, that of a woman, shows signs of life. She has in her hand, and is shaking, what turns out to be a pill organiser. The voice-over asks: "What do you call a nurse with bad back?” and immediately provides the answer: "Unemployed." The woman, in fact a nurse, realises that there is only one pill left in the box she is holding. "That sucks," she says, and the show begins.