The unhealthy fruits

Fruity flavors in e-cigarettes become aldehydes after combustion. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.6b05145

Electronic cigarettes have become quite popular in recent years. It is said to a safe alternative to regular cigarette smoking. It has drawn the attention of many users, those attempting to quit smoking, and new users that are drawn by the wide variety of flavors that are carried by different brands. The common use of electronic cigarettes does carry awareness of health effects it may have on frequent users. It is unknown to how the flavoring compounds may have an effect on the chemical composition and toxicity, but several studies have shown the formation of toxic aldehydes in electronic cigarette vapors during vaping. Aldehyde formation has been attributed to thermal decomposition of the main components of e-cigarette e-liquids (propylene glycol and glycerol). During this study, several different toxic aldehydes produced by different brands of flavored and unflavored e-liquids were measured. The study showed thermal decomposition of flavoring compounds dominates the formation of aldehyde during vaping, which produce levels that exceed the occupational safety standards. The formation of aldehydes was found to be dependent on the concentration of each flavoring compound. These results can conclude that higher, more thorough research needs to be done on the effect of flavoring compounds on the toxicity of electronic cigarettes. 

Khlystov, A. and V. Samburova. 2016. Flavoring compounds dominate toxic aldehyde production during e-cigarette vaping. Environ. Sci. Technol 50:13080-13085.

The Power of Mechanical Energy!

By: Lesly Hernandez

The emissions of greenhouse gases and fossil fuels are increasing environmental problems. Research is being conducted on self-powered electronics with the use of mechanical energy. Mechanical energy is omnipresent and can be produced with simple movements such as typing, walking, and even rotating tires. Engineering researchers from Michigan State University created a new way to produce energy from human motion. The device is a flexible, foldable, biocompatible, highly efficient thin film ferroelectret nanogenerators (FENG). They used a silicon wafer and covered it with thin layers of substances that were environmentally friendly. Ions were added to the device and electrical energy is produced when the device is compressed. The nanogenerator can also be folded to a smaller size increasing its energy power. The scientists were able to operate a LCD touch screen and 20 LED lights. Their new invention has the potential to power various electronics without depleting our resources or polluting our environment. Many of the materials used were environmentally friendly which means they are being more efficient with their resource use. In addition, using mechanical energy will not harm the environment and it is a type of energy that will never be depleted.

Figure 1. Photograph of encapsulated FENG being bent by fingers (Li et al., 2016, http://www.sciencedirect.com.tamiu.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S2211285516304244).

Reference

Li, W., D. Torres, T. Wang, C. Wang, and N. Sepúlveda. 2016. Flexible and biocompatible polypropylene ferroelectret nanogenerator (FENG): On the path toward wearable devices powered by human motion. Nano Energy. 30: 649-657.