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Hamas has built “a labyrinth of tunnels under Gaza, as wide as a city,” CNN reported on October 14. The tunnels were used to facilitate the Hamas pogrom, and the 150 Israelis whom Hamas kidnapped probably are being held there. So how did Hamas acquire the cement, despite Israel’s blockade of such materials? Apparently Hamas had some help from former U.S. Mideast envoy Dennis Ross—according to Ross himself. Ross has been appearing as an expert commentator on major media outlets in recent days, including on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press” on October 8, CNN’s “Amanpour and Company” on October 13, and...

We could be producing concrete that's 30 percent stronger by processing and adding charred coffee grounds to the mix, researchers in Australia have discovered. Their new recipe could solve multiple problems at the same time. Every year the world produces a staggering 10 billion kilograms of coffee waste globally. Most ends up in landfills. "The disposal of organic waste poses an environmental challenge as it emits large amounts of greenhouse gases including methane and carbon dioxide, which contribute to climate change," explains RMIT University engineer Rajeev Roychand. With a booming construction market globally, there's also an ever increasing demand for...

Climate activists in southern France have filled golf course holes with cement to protest against the exemption of golf greens from water bans amid the country's severe drought. The group targeted sites near the city of Toulouse, calling golf the "leisure industry of the most privileged". The exemption of golf greens has sparked controversy as 100 French villages are short of drinking water. Golf officials say greens would die in three days without water. "A golf course without a green is like an ice-rink without ice," Gérard Rougier of the French Golf Federation told the France Info news website. He...

In an effort to boost downtown businesses, thousands of dollars will be distributed for downtown workers to spend directly. According to the Portland Business Alliance, it has partnered with the city of Portland, Worksystems and Kuto — a local Black, Indigenous, People of color start-up — to issue 500 $50 Kutu app stimulus credits to downtown workers that can be spent at participating small businesses in the downtown area.

Concrete is the second-most used material on earth. It is also the second-largest emitter of CO2, with cement manufacturing accounting for 5 to 7 percent of annual emissions. The continued popularity of concrete as a material of choice in the design and construction industry, coupled with increasing unease of the environmental consequences, has put concrete firmly in the spotlight of innovation and experimentation. As a result, designers, architects, and researchers around the world are generating multiple visions for what the future of concrete in architecture could look like. Concrete has been a material of choice for architects and builders for...

Concrete is one of the most widely used building materials in the world, but it also is responsible for about 5% of all global carbon dioxide emissions according to the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Those emissions result directly from the conversion of limestone into cement and indirectly by burning fuel to heat the limestone to 1400º C, the temperature required to initiate the conversion process. “Cement manufacturing is highly energy and emissions intensive because of the extreme heat required to produce it. Producing a ton of cement requires 4.7 million BTU of energy, equivalent to about 400 pounds of...

A recent scientific study published in the renown "Europhysics News", The Magazine of the European Physical Society, (2012), Vol. 43, number 6, described how paleomagnetism study on several pyramid stones demonstrates the validity of Davidovits' theory on the artificial nature of Egyptian pyramid stones. ...Dr. Igor Túnyi ...and Ibrahim A. El-hemaly... made the following assumption (quote from their scientific paper): Our paleomagnetic investigation of the two great Egyptian pyramids, Kufu and Khafre, is based on the assumption that if the blocks were made in situ by the geopolymer concrete technique described above, then their magnetic moments would all have been...

Hundreds of new protective barriers will be permanently installed in Times Square and other locations around New York in an effort to block vehicles from hitting pedestrians after deadly attacks last year on crowds. The city is spending $50 million on protective measures including the installation of 1,500 metal barriers, or bollards, in key locations around the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday.

The mainstream media was in an uproar over President Trump’s statement, claiming that he was creating a false equivalence between right-wing extremists and those counter-protesting. However, Trump’s statement is consistent with local police reports. “We were hoping that it would not elevate to this level of the violence that we witnessed amongst the participants in the crowds, on all sides. They were throwing bottles, they were throwing soda cans with cement in them,” said a Virginia police spokesperson, according to The Independent Journal Review.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UshUxz7Lt0w

NEW YORK, July 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The introduction of nanotechnology in the cement industry has a lot of benefits, some of which include reduced emission, improved crack resistance, reduced water absorption, improved strength and ductility. NanoGraphene Inc. is putting construction industries at the forefront of graphene concrete application with its high quality, environmentally clean and waterless graphene. Graphene is a thin layer of pure carbon derived from graphite. It is a unique material which has a wide array of applications and possesses some distinct properties. It is strong, flexible and a good conductor of electricity, hence widely used in...

Mexico's Cemex, one of the world's largest cement producers, is open to providing the raw materials for U.S. President Donald Trump's promised wall between the two neighbors, daily newspaper Reforma reported on Wednesday. "We will gladly do it," Cemex President Rogelio Zambrano told the newspaper, when asked if the company would provide a cement estimate for the controversial project, potentially worth billions of dollars. It was not known which other companies might participate or the likely demand for cement for the wall, Zambrano said. On Wednesday a spokesperson for Cemex provided a statement to Telemundo. "Cemex is not a U.S....

Cement, the ubiquitous material used to build roads, buildings and other infrastructure, absorbs about one billion tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) annually, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience. But concrete carbonation is “not currently considered in emissions inventories” kept by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), according to the study’s co-authors, an international team of researchers led by Professor Dabo Guan of the U.K.’s University of East Anglia. The study found that cement’s natural carbonation process not only offsets the fossil fuel emissions released during its production, it also “represents a...

Researchers at MIT are seeking to redesign concrete — the most widely used human-made material in the world — by following nature’s blueprints. In a paper published online in the journal Construction and Building Materials, the team contrasts cement paste — concrete’s binding ingredient — with the structure and properties of natural materials such as bones, shells, and deep-sea sponges. As the researchers observed, these biological materials are exceptionally strong and durable, thanks in part to their precise assembly of structures at multiple length scales, from the molecular to the macro, or visible, level. From their observations, the team, led...

It's the stuff of mafia lore -- a doomed target thrown into the depths of the ocean, with his feet encased in cement. And yet, on an unseasonably cool morning in Brooklyn, a body with so-called "cement shoes" washed ashore this week, igniting the mystery of who committed the crime, and why. Authorities have identified the body as that of a 28-year-old suspected gang member named Peter Martinez. Martinez was found wrapped in "black plastic bags, his arms were tied behind him, and his feet were submerged in poured concrete," said New York Police Chief of Department Robert Boyce. Martinez'...

Hamas’s attack tunnels are now recognized as a major danger, but Israel would have to reconquer Gaza to make sure they aren’t rebuilt, and that would cause untenable losses. The tunnels inside Gaza and under the Israeli border are not a secret project Hamas ran under the noses of Israel and the Palestinian public. Every child in Gaza, like every junior officer in IDF Military Intelligence, knew that, beneath Gaza City and beyond, a network of tunnels was being dug over the past five years, with an investment of millions of dollars. In other words, Gaza Underground Yet the Israeli...

Kansas State University civil engineers are developing the right mix to reduce concrete's carbon footprint and make it stronger. Their innovative ingredient: biofuel byproducts. "The idea is to use bioethanol production byproducts to produce a material to use in concrete as a partial replacement of cement," said Feraidon Ataie, doctoral student in civil engineering, Kabul, Afghanistan. "By using these materials we can reduce the carbon footprint of concrete materials." Concrete is made from three major components: portland cement, water and aggregate. The world uses nearly 7 billion cubic meters of concrete a year, making concrete the most-used industrial material after...

Cement deal for WhitneyBy DAVID K. LI Last Updated: 10:22 AM, May 1, 2012 Here’s one way to cement Whitney Houston’s legacy: The pop diva’s family plans to encase her body in concrete — so that no one is tempted to rob the grave. The is $800,000 in jewels in Houston’s casket, and the singer’s family can’t afford 24-hour security to guard against ghoulish thieves, according to the newspaper The Daily Star. The British tabloid didn’t say when Houston’s family would dig up Whitney’s New Jersey grave and pour the cement.

I spoke with someone from Athens today. It’s not a pretty picture. Issues related to subsistence have replaced the fervor for demonstrations. This may not last according to this resident. The closing of stores and shops is escalating. Apparently, 20% of all retail establishments are shuttered. Nearly every block has one reminder of the ongoing depression in the economy. The Greek Diaspora is in full swing. People are leaving the country, old and young alike. They are going to Europe, where the prospects of jobs stink, but not as badly at Greece. They are also fleeing to America (family members...

Cement Injections for Butt Enhancement Used by Fake Plastic Surgeon November 21, 2011 09:00 AM EST It doesn't pay to look for a deal when it comes to plastic surgery. A woman who paid $700 for a butt enhancement is recovering from cement injections into her rear. The unnamed woman was referred to Oneal Ron Morris by a friend and Morris pumped cement, mineral oil, and a tire sealant into several sites on her buttocks. The "doctor" was reassuring when the pain became extreme, telling the woman not to worry, "...it all works itself out." The victim went to two...

This was no ordinary flat repair. Oneal Ron Morris took a look and went to work. Not on a tire. But on the backside of a Miami Gardens woman who was seeking the derriere of her dreams. Instead, she got a tush full of toxins. Morris, a self-proclaimed doctor, injected a concoction of “fix-a-flat’’ — cement, mineral oil and Super Glue — into the woman’s buttocks, police said. The materials eventually spread through her body and nearly killed her. The woman, whose name is not being released because of medical privacy laws, went to three different hospitals before doctors finally...