Sciencetown

In this final episode of the three-part Sciencetown series on innovative portable technologies, Julie West chats with Dr. Pascal Saikaly, a professor of environmental science and engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) with expertise in wastewater treatment and water reuse. Pascal discusses innovative wastewater treatment approaches being used to produce clean water for non-potable applications such as irrigation and horticulture, including a recently installed portable pilot plant designed to provide reliable access to sanitation for rural and remote areas of Saudi Arabia at significantly reduced energy and operational costs.

In this second episode of the three-part Sciencetown series on innovative portable technologies, Julie West chats with William Roberts, a professor of mechanical engineering at KAUST, and the director of the Clean Combustion Research Center. Bill discusses his work developing and deploying cryogenic carbon capture technologies to mitigate pollutants, including portable units designed to capture emissions from ships. He explains why carbon capture and storage are not only viable, efficient and economical climate solutions, but also essential to the energy transition.

Algae are a metabolic treasure trove. The ancient hybrid organisms, which come in various forms of seaweed and microalgae, bring incredible potential to source different products for high-value applications across multiple technology realms, including animal feed, crop fertilizers, carbon reuse, waste remediation, packaging plastics and medicines. This episode features two algal experts at KAUST in conversation about their projects. Claudio Grunewald directs the Development of Algal Biotechnology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Project, a pilot infrastructure for benchmarking and producing high-protein algae for agriculture at scales to feed animals such as fish and poultry. Dr. Kyle Lauersen is an assistant professor in the Biological and Science Engineering Division, bringing expertise in algal synthetic biology and metabolic engineering.

Two KAUST agritech startups are bringing innovative food production technologies to communities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other global locations. Edama is an organic waste recycling facility that provides desert agriculture solutions. Natufia has developed the world's first smart indoor kitchen garden. In episode 21 of Sciencetown, Mitchell Morton of Edama and Gregory Lu of Natufia talk about sustainable food solutions for communities and homes, and also space (@21:31). The startups joined forces to compete in the first phase of NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge in 2021, and were among 10 international winners recognized for their low-maintenance, closed-loop food production ecosystem.Enjoy the conversation.

Each year computer scientists at KAUST engage with peers at the annual SC conference, the largest supercomputing event of its kind in the world. Long-time friend to KAUST Jack Dongarra is a familiar face there. The veteran computer scientist and Top500 list producer was recently awarded the 2022 Turing Award, considered to be “the Noble Prize of Computing,” for contributions that have significantly shaped the field. Jack has also influenced HPC developments at KAUST. In this profile, recorded at SC21 in St. Louis, he talks about connections made here and throughout his career in conversation with KAUST computer scientists Hatem Ltaief and Bilel Hadri, his former postdoctoral students, and David Keyes, KAUST founding faculty member and Director of the Extreme Computing Research Center. Jack retires this summer after 32-years of service as a professor at the University of Tennessee.

Episode 19 explores the promising health benefits of probiotics — not for humans, but for corals. As more coral reefs around the world suffer from bleaching and mass mortality due to warming ocean temperatures and related climate change conditions, good news about reefs is welcome news. A new study led by marine biologists at KAUST shows probiotics to be helpful protagonists in boosting coral health and preventing mortality in the face of environmental stressors.

Fungal life, while intimately linked to our own, is not well understood. In this episode we speak with Merlin Sheldrake, author of Entangled Life, and two KAUST researchers about the fascinating world of fungi, the role these living networks play in symbiosis with other organisms, and how their properties are being put to some very practical uses in medicine, agriculture, environmental cleanup, and even the rescue of honeybees. Enjoy.

The global ocean covers over 70% of our blue planet and yet we know vanishingly little about what lies below the surface. This was brought home recently in a paper published in the journal Science about the soundscape of the Anthropocene. Human activity has disrupted the way the ocean normally sounds with both silent and deadly implications. In this episode we talk to the artists, researchers and advocates who are trying to preserve the natural cacophony of our ocean, to protect biodiversity, and ultimately to save humanity from its noisy self.