Cardinal News: Then & Now takes a look back at the stories we brought you over the last 12 months. Through the end of the year, we’re sharing updates on some of the people and issues that made news in 2023. This installment: science and technology.
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Salem man who discovered new snake in Amazon publishes field guide to part of Ecuador
Then: Alex Bentley of Salem, a researcher in Ecuador, discovered a new snake species in the Amazon, a dwarf boa that was given the scientific name of Tropidophis cacuangoae. It’s one of just 15 previously unknown species that he and his colleagues at the Ecominga Foundation and the National Institute of Biodiversity have formally described. Of these 15 species, the majority are frogs, two are salamanders, one is a lizard and one a snake.
Now: Alex’s father, Michael Bentley, shares this update: “After many years of work and collaboration, Alex published a field guide to the herpetofauna of the Llanganates-Sangay Ecological Corridor. The publication lists 285 species in an area smaller than metropolitan London, making it the most herpetologically diverse place on Earth for its size. Alex tells us that more publications are near completion, including the description of a new frog species and a new genus of tarantula.”
— Dwayne Yancey
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New projects growing at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute
Then: A Richmond-based charitable organization committed $50 million to the research hub in Roanoke. The Red Gates Foundation’s gift was equal to the two largest donations ever made to Virginia Tech, including the one from Roanoke businessman and health care executive Heywood Fralin that gave the institute its name.
Red Gates’ executive director, Jeff Galanti, said in the September announcement that the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute has “pushed the boundaries of what is possible. We are confident that their nimble approach to research, which is focused on the intersections of science, medicine, engineering, and data analytics, will help them make significant breakthroughs that benefit humanity in the years to come.”
Now: The institute began recruiting for 17 highly specialized positions in cancer, neuro-engineering and computational neuroscience this fall and will continue those recruitments over the next several years, according to Michael Friedlander, the institute’s executive director. Most of the positions will be based in Roanoke, while a few will be at the Children’s National Research and Innovation Campus in Washington, D.C.
One-third of the gift was to support six faculty-led projects focused on cancer and brain disorders. The projects are set for three, four and five years, with their progress likely to be published in scientific journals. They are all underway, with Fralin researchers directing them, Friedlander said.
— Tad Dickens
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Thanks to teenager, Narrows has solved its duck problem
Then: The Giles County town of Narrows had a problem: too many ducks and geese crowding into the town’s duck pond, many of them domesticated birds that had been dumped there. Renee Tucker, then a 13-year-old eighth grader, went before the town council and offered to take care of the problem. With the town’s approval, she built a “duck corral” of fencing that lured the waterfowl in, so she could catch them and relocate them to a farm pond about an hour away.
Now: Town manager Terry Nicholson reports: “The wild duck population has thrived now that the domesticated species were relocated. We have had migrating birds pass through the area, stopping at the pond, and then moving on. We also had two herons on the pond this year (in the summer), which we had not seen in several years because of the large population of domesticated geese. So … yes, the natural cycles of wild birds have already been noted since Renee relocated the geese. She continues to watch the pond, and has promised us that if anyone else drops off domestic birds, she will relocate them too.”
— Dwayne Yancey
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Fermi Energy works toward regionally sourced EV battery
Then: Fermi Energy, a Blacksburg startup, received millions in grants this year to develop an electric vehicle battery that doesn’t rely on cobalt and nickel. Instead, its power source would feature coal-derived anodes, along with cathodes with other locally sourced materials. Fermi’s grants include one of $2.9 million from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Such batteries would be less expensive than those already on the market and would charge quickly in all weather conditions, company founder Feng Lin said.
In September, the Energy Department granted another $3.4 million to Virginia Tech, Fermi, General Motors, American Lithium Energy and an augmented intelligence company called Xpertography.
Now: The company, which consists of Lin and one of his former Virginia Tech students, Ray Xu, is looking to add a third employee. They are interviewing people these days for a senior materials scientist position. The Ph.D.-level candidate “will accelerate our R&D,” Lin said in an email exchange.
In a recent development, Fermi is teaming with collaborators from Columbia University to use its cathode technologies in solid state batteries. Such batteries, which multiple sources report are scheduled to arrive later this decade, can store more energy than lithium ion batteries and could revolutionize the EV market.
That work comes via a Department of Defense grant for $197,000, Xu wrote in the email.
— Tad Dickens