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EL ESPECTADOR

A Money Discovery: Shredded Banknotes Can Clean The Air

Shred your money maker
Shred your money maker

BOGOTA — Colombia’s National University is working on recycling used banknotes, by processing them into an absorbent material that cleans water and air of pollutants, El Espectador reports.

Some 169 million banknotes in Colombia are replaced every year. And the University’s chemical engineering department found that shredding them creates “activated carbon,” a crystalline substance able to absorb the chemical waste produced by a range of industrial and manufacturing processes, including — wait for it — the production of banknotes.

The conversion process involves mixing the shredded notes with urea, a chemical compound found notably in urine. María Paula Franco, one of the chemists experimenting with the process, observed that because Colombian banknotes are made of cotton-derived fiber, they could return to the earth as degradable compost.

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Society

How The Calabrian Mob Is Infiltrating Religious Traditions Across Italy

From ancient processions to family funerals, the powerful Calabrian organized crime syndicate 'Ndrangheta is infiltrating into religious rites is present across the country.

Thousands of devotees join in the procession of Maria di Polsi, Italy.

Thousands of devotees join in the procession of Maria di Polsi, near San Luca in Calabria, southern Italy, Sept. 2, 2015.

Giuseppe Legato

TURIN — On Easter Sunday, three statues each held in the air by six bearers meet in the streets, surrounded by a crowd of people in celebration: they are the statues of the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ, and St. John the Apostle, who visits Mary to tell her about the Resurrection of her son.

The statue of St. John shuttles between Christ and Mary. Once, twice, and three times to communicate that the Lord has indeed overcome death. Then they bow. The Mother’s black veil is torn, the mourning has ended, and the miracle is served.

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