Corruption is Everywhere > Would you believe Nurses? Liberal darling Avenatti - guilty again; Mercedes-Benz fined in So. Korea

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New York nurses arrested after making staggering amount

from fake vaccine cards

The scheme allegedly brought in more than $1.5 million

©  Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Two New York nurses have been arrested for allegedly selling fake Covid-19 vaccination cards, and making more than $1.5 million in the process.

The Suffolk County district attorney’s office announced the two nurses working in Long Island, 49-year-old Julie Devuono and 44-year-old Marissa Urraro, had forged vaccine cards from last November into January of 2022. The pair reportedly charged $220 to $440 for vaccine cards for adults, but offered a discount for children, only charging $85. 

After faking the actual physical vaccine cards, the two would then allegedly add false information to the New York State Immunization Information System (NYSIIS) to list people as vaccinated when they were not. 

Prosecutors also alleged that the nurses forged vaccine cards for undercover detectives. The two worked at Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare in Amityville, an establishment that DeVuono, who is a nurse practitioner, owned. 

Businesses around the pediatric clinic had noticed increased foot traffic recently, according to local media reports. “It’s frightening beyond words,” one neighbor told the New York CBS affiliate. 

In a search of DeVuono’s home, police discovered more than $900,000 in US currency, plus a ledger documenting more than $1.5 million in payments for the alleged vaccine card scheme. 

DeVuono and Urraro have both been charged with forgery. 

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney added in a statement he hopes the arrests will “send a message” to anyone else “considering gaming the system.”

“We will enforce the law to the fullest extent,” Tierney said.

‘Donald Trump’s worst nightmare’ is his own worst nightmare

Before he was found guilty of defrauding porn star Stormy Daniels,

Michael Avenatti was lauded by liberal media

Michael Avenatti speaks to members of the media after leaving federal court in New York City,

February 4, 2022. ©  AP / John Minchillo

Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti has been convicted of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for stealing $300,000 from porn star Stormy Daniels. It’s the second criminal conviction in two years for a man liberal pundits once believed would bring down the presidency of Donald Trump.

Avenatti was found guilty by a jury in Manhattan on Friday and will be sentenced in May. Representing himself, he had argued that Daniels owed him the money in exchange for legal representation in a case against Trump, but the jury sided with federal prosecutors who said Avenatti diverted the cash into his own account and then convinced Daniels that the money hadn’t arrived.

Avenatti took the cash sum from a larger advance for Daniels’ memoir, ‘Full Disclosure,’ which details her alleged affair with Trump.

Prior to his fall from grace, liberal pundits touted Avenatti as “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare,” and a “folk hero” whose legal action against Trump would “save the country.” After attempting to scupper the Supreme Court confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh with unfounded allegations of sexual assault, Avenatti explored a run for the presidency himself in 2018, immediately before his life began to unravel.

Avenatti was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence in late 2018, and less than a year later was found guilty of attempting to extort sportswear company Nike. He has yet to begin serving his 30-month prison sentence for that conviction, and is also facing retrial in California for allegedly stealing almost $10 million from various clients.

Carmaker fined for gas emissions cover-up

Mercedes-Benz to pay millions and fix rigged pollution-mitigation devices

to comply with law in South Korea

© Getty Images / picture alliance

The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) on Sunday demanded that major luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz pay $16.87 million in fines for providing falsified information on gas emissions from its diesel cars, Yonhap news agency reported.

The South Korean antitrust regulator discovered that the vehicle producer had installed illegal software on pollution-mitigation devices in some of its cars. The software allowed the devices to perform at lower levels in driving conditions than during certification tests. The vehicles therefore failed to meet the legally allowed emission levels, but the automaker was found to have covered up related facts in signs attached to its cars between April 2012 and November 2018, according to the KFTC.

The automaker also advertised that the cars’ nitrogen oxide emissions were at a minimum level and they fully met the Euro 6 emission standards. The inadequate ads were on 15 Mercedes-Benz models.

“Though Mercedes-Benz claimed that it only used typical phrases about well-known performances of the emission mitigation devices, concealing the intentional implementation of illegal software and claiming its vehicles perform the best are beyond simple exaggeration and deception,” the regulator stated, adding that “such practices will or are feared to hurt fair market order by preventing consumers from making a reasonable decision” when purchasing a car.

Apart from the fine, the KFTC also ordered the carmaker to fix the devices and install qualified software.

In 2021, the South Korean regulator slapped a number of other carmakers with fines or correction orders, including Audi-Volkswagen Korea, Nissan Motor, Stellantis Korea, and Porsche AG for similar emissions-tampering practices.

US states join Mexico in lawsuit against American gun manufacturers

Gunmakers hit back against allegations of facilitating trafficking

Weapons confiscated or turned in to Mexican authorities © AFP / Bernardo Montoya

Attorneys general for 13 states and Washington DC have backed a Mexican federal lawsuit accusing American gun manufacturers of aiding and abetting the trafficking of weapons to Mexican criminals. The prosecutors – all Democrats – filed a brief last week in Massachusetts federal court seeking to deny the gunmakers the protection of a federal law shielding them from liability.

The targeted companies, including Smith & Wesson, Colt and Glock, have cited the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act in an effort to have the case dismissed. The law protects gunmakers from liability if their products are used in a crime.

However, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey accused the companies of “knowingly market[ing] their products in a way that facilitates the illegal trafficking of weapons into the hands of dangerous individuals.”

Mexican legal adviser Alejandro Celorio clarified to CNN that the lawsuit is not attempting to blame the gunmakers or distributors for the killings or injuries committed with their weapons, but instead to hold them accountable for “negligence in their commercial practices” and a “lack of caution” violating US state and federal laws.

Nevertheless, the suit claims US gun makers’ practices “aid and abet the killing and maiming of children, judges, journalists, police, and ordinary citizens,” reducing Mexican life expectancy and costing the government billions of dollars annually.

Trade industry group the National Shooting Sports Foundation slammed the coalition of prosecutors for what it described as misplaced efforts, arguing the Mexican government should “focus on bringing the Mexican drug cartels to justice in Mexican courtrooms” rather than “filing a baseless lawsuit in an American court to deflect attention from its disgraceful and corrupt failure to protect its citizens.”

While most of the defendants declined to speak to media pending litigation, Glock told CNN on Sunday that it would “vigorously” defend itself against the charges.

The lawsuit, initially filed in August, alleges over 597,000 guns are trafficked from the US into Mexico and claims the companies designed, marketed and distributed “military-style assault weapons” with an eye toward arming drug cartels, thus promoting violent crime of all kinds. A 2020 report by the US Government Accountability Office revealed 70% of guns recovered in Mexico between 2014 and 2018 came from the US, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Thousands of American-bought guns have found their way south of the border in recent years. The infamous Operation Fast and Furious saw the ATF deliberately allow gun dealers to sell over 2,000 weapons to known criminal entities, which would then ‘walk’ them across the border to Mexico. There, ATF agents were supposed to apprehend the criminals and convince them to turn in their bosses, but as often as not the agency ended up losing track of the guns. The scheme, which ran from 2009 to 2011, was wound up only after the firearms had been used in the commission of hundreds of murders and other crimes, including the 2010 killing of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. Some were later used in the 2015 Bataclan massacre in France.

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Corruption is Everywhere > An Obama advisor; Clinton's 2016 Campaign; 47 Steel Execs jailed in China

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Obama adviser pleads guilty to stealing $200,000+

A former White House official was accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars

to secure a loan on a multi-million-dollar apartment

White House © Getty Images / E4C

Seth Andrew, a former adviser to 44th President Barack Obama, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges after stealing $218,000 from a charter school he founded.

The US Department of Justice announced on Friday that Andrew had pleaded guilty to transferring the money from the school to his own private bank accounts, which were being used to acquire a mortgage for a multi-million-dollar New York apartment.

Andrew could face up to 20 years in prison for the crime and is set to be sentenced on April 14. The former White House education adviser has agreed “to pay restitution to the Charter School Network from which he stole,” according to the DOJ.

“Seth Andrew, a former White House adviser, admitted today to devising a scheme to steal from the very same schools he helped create,” said US Attorney Damian Williams in a statement. “Andrew now faces time in federal prison for abusing his position and robbing those he promised to help.”

Andrew – who served as an education adviser to the Obama White House between 2014 and 2016 – was arrested in April 2021 and charged with wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements.

At the time, FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. accused Andrew of stealing the school’s money to get “the lowest interest rate” while applying for the Manhattan apartment loan.

“When you don’t have the necessary funds to put down, and you steal the money from your former employer to make up the difference, saving money in interest is likely to be the least of your concerns,” said Sweeney, who added, “We allege today that Andrew did just that, and since the employer he stole from was a charter school organization, the money he took belonged to an institution serving school-aged children.”

Disgraced lobbyist reportedly pleads guilty

in 2016 election meddling case

George Nader funneled millions of UAE money to “Our Sister” Hillary Clinton

FILE PHOTO. George Nader speaking at a Middle East Insight event in Washington, DC

on March 18, 1999. ©Ron Sachs / CNP / AdMedia via Global Look Press

An adviser to the government of the United Arab Emirates has admitted guilt in illegal donations of millions of dollars to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, The Intercept has learned.

Several months ago, George Nader agreed to plead guilty on one count of defrauding the US government through concealing the foreign origins of political contributions, the outlet reported, citing a sentencing memo penned by prosecutors. The document was unsealed in December 2021, but was not previously reported, the outlet said.

According to the allegations, Nader and his co-conspirator, Ahmad Khawaja, a California businessman, obfuscated the source of nearly $5 million. Transfers from Nader’s UAE-based firm to Khawaja’s US-based payment-processing company were presented to be regular payments.

Of that amount, more than $3.5 million came from the UAE government and were donated to Democratic PACs supporting Clinton’s candidacy, the allegations said. It remains unclear what happened to the rest of the money. However, the memo states that the two defendants sought inroads to “key figures” in the Donald Trump campaign, and that Khawaja donated $1 million to the Republican candidate’s inaugural committee.

Eight people have been indicted in the case, with five of them, including Nader, pleading guilty, The Intercept said. Khawaja fled the US after being indicted and is reportedly being held in custody in Lithuania. Both primary defendants are American citizens of Lebanese origin.

The accusations were previously detailed by the New York Times. Clinton was referred to as “Our Sister” or “the Big Lady” in communications between Nader and his UAE client, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed. The businessman was a trusted emissary of the UAE royalty and provided regular updates on his progress in establishing connections with the Democratic candidate’s staff. The UAE government refrained from commenting on the allegations to either publication.

Nader was previously investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller for his effort targeting the Trump campaign and presidency. Mueller’s team questioned him about a meeting he helped organize between Erik Prince, an American private security entrepreneur and founder of the infamous company Blackwater, and Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the country’s sovereign wealth fund.

The January 2017 Seychelles encounter was hyped by US media as evidence of Trump-Russia collusion, but Mueller’s final report described it as pretty much inconsequential and of little interest to the people in Trump’s orbit.

Nader was arrested by US federal agents in June 2019, after he got off a flight from the UAE, for possession of child pornography and images of bestiality, which were reportedly discovered by the Mueller team. It was the latest of several charges of the same nature he faced in the US.

The businessman was later indicted, with more counts of possession of child pornography and the sex trafficking of a 14-year-old boy from the Czech Republic, which happened in 2000. He pleaded guilty to both felonies and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Nader spent a year in a Czech prison for having sex with the same minor, who he flew to the US.

Prosecutors in the campaign finance violation case are asking for a five-year sentence for the businessman, who is now 62 years old, to be served after his current prison term.

It seems like Mueller found a lot more dirt on Clinton than he ever did on Trump!

Are there charges pending against the Democratic PAC for receiving money from UAE?

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Nearly 50 steel execs jailed over emissions

Beijing has punished nearly 50 executives of steel-producing companies

for faking pollution data

FILE PHOTO. A steel worker walks past steel rods at a plant in Tangshan, Hebei province, China.

©  Kevin Frayer

Authorities in China have punished supervisors from four companies located in the top steelmaking city of Tangshan, the local government announced on Thursday, citing court documents.

Some 47 senior officials working for the companies have been given prison sentences ranging from six to 18 months after they were found guilty of tampering with monitoring devices controlling emissions.

The interference allowed the companies to release large quantities of pollutants back in March 2021, according to the Tangshan municipal government’s statement. Two of the companies caught circumventing the emissions restrictions, Tangshan Songting and Hebei Xinda, were also fined four million yuan to seven million yuan ($628,000 to $1.1 million).

The sentences and heavy fines come amid Beijing’s campaign to make its economy more eco-friendly and achieve carbon goals outlined by the central government. Steel producers appear to be among the prime offenders, repeatedly caught flouting the emissions caps.

Last year, four Tangshan steel making companies were caught failing to comply with production cuts introduced to limit heavy pollution. One of the offending companies, Tangshan Jinma Steel Group, was also involved in the latest scandal.

Atmospheric Scientist Explains Climate Change

Professor Emeritus from MIT 

Atmospheric scientist explains climate change perfectly

video 5:04

Plagues of Siberia: Russian Arctic River Mysteriously Turns Blood-Red

Canada has a Red River which it shares with the USA, but I don't believe it has ever been literally red.


© krasnews / Instagram

A river outside Russia’s Arctic city of Norilsk has inexplicably turned blood-red, puzzling locals and prompting authorities to launch an investigation into the cause of the anomaly.

The Daldykan River near Norilsk in Siberia lost its natural color on Tuesday, as locals posted jaw-dropping images of the crimson river on social media.



Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology confirmed that it had received reports of river pollution “with an unidentified chemical substance,” saying there could have been an accident at the Norilsk Nickel plant, the world’s largest producer of nickel and palladium.

The plant’s administration denied these allegations, however, RIA Novosti news agency reports.

"As of today, the polar division of the [Norilsk Nickel] company cannot confirm any leakage or accidental discharge of industrial waste into the Daldykan River, which could have affected the river’s state,” the company said in a press release. Nonetheless, it has been decided that the plant will temporarily lower its operational capacity and monitor the state of the environment around the facility and in the affected area of the river.

Surprisingly, the plant’s press service told the news agency that the river’s color right now is actually its natural one.

It should be easy enough to figure out where it is coming from if you just follow the river upstream to where the colour starts.



Local emergencies service said they had not received any complaints about the river and have therefore not addressed the issue.

A state of emergency has not been declared, according to Norilsk mayor’s office, as the river does not contribute to the city’s water supply.


Russians maintain their sense of humour

Locals have been more inquisitive, however, and have enthusiastically suggested reasons for the color change, with some asking whether a new episode of The Crimson Rivers was being filmed in the area, while others have suggested that it’s high time to go fishing, as all of the fish could now pass for salmon. Others blame the mining plant, which locals call by the female name Nadezhda, saying it is having its time of the month.

Some noted that it’s not the first time they have come across such a strange phenomenon, saying that this effect occurs when the river washes out subsurface rock formations, which mostly consist of nickel and copper.

    Norilsk I can find, but the Daldykan River I cannot find

16 Globally Renowned Scientists Say Man-Made Climate Change is BS

This article was published by The Astute Bloggers on Friday, July 18, 2014. Since I apparently missed it then, I include it here now. I know the list has grown considerably in the past two years. 

Here are the names and credits for the deniers:

Claude Allegre, former director of the Institute for the Study of the Earth, University of Paris; 
J. Scott Armstrong, cofounder of the Journal of Forecasting and the International Journal of Forecasting; 
Jan Breslow, head of the Laboratory of Biochemical Genetics and Metabolism, Rockefeller University; 
Roger Cohen, fellow, American Physical Society; Edward David, member, National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Sciences; 
William Happer, professor of physics, Princeton; 
Michael Kelly, professor of technology, University of Cambridge, U.K.; 
William Kininmonth, former head of climate research at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology; 
Richard Lindzen, professor of atmospheric sciences, MIT; 
James McGrath, professor of chemistry, Virginia Technical University; 
Rodney Nichols, former president and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences; 
Burt Rutan, aerospace engineer, designer of Voyager and SpaceShipOne; 
Harrison H. Schmitt, Apollo 17 astronaut and former U.S. senator; 
Nir Shaviv, professor of astrophysics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem; 
Henk Tennekes, former director, Royal Dutch Meteorological Service; 
Antonio Zichichi, president of the World Federation of Scientists, Geneva;
AND: Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ivar Giaever.

HERE'S AN EXCERPT: (An excerpt of what, I don't know)

In September, (2013, I assume) Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ivar Giaever, a supporter of President Obama in the last election, publicly resigned from the American Physical Society (APS) with a letter that begins: "I did not renew [my membership] because I cannot live with the [APS policy] statement: 'The evidence is incontrovertible: Global warming is occurring. If no mitigating actions are taken, significant disruptions in the Earth's physical and ecological systems, social systems, security and human health are likely to occur. We must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases beginning now.' In the APS it is OK to discuss whether the mass of the proton changes over time and how a multi-universe behaves, but the evidence of global warming is incontrovertible?" 

In spite of a multidecade international campaign to enforce the message that increasing amounts of the "pollutant" carbon dioxide will destroy civilization, large numbers of scientists, many very prominent, share the opinions of Dr. Giaever. And the number of scientific "heretics" is growing with each passing year. The reason is a collection of stubborn scientific facts.

I should note that July 2014 was before the beginning of this past year's record El Nino event.

Perhaps the most inconvenient fact is the lack of global warming for well over 10 years now. This is known to the warming establishment, as one can see from the 2009 "Climategate" email of climate scientist Kevin Trenberth: "The fact is that we can't account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can't." But the warming is only missing if one believes computer models where so-called feedbacks involving water vapor and clouds greatly amplify the small effect of CO2.

The lack of warming for more than a decade—indeed, the smaller-than-predicted warming over the 22 years since the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) began issuing projections—suggests that computer models have greatly exaggerated how much warming additional CO2 can cause. Faced with this embarrassment, those promoting alarm have shifted their drumbeat from warming to weather extremes, to enable anything unusual that happens in our chaotic climate to be ascribed to CO2.

The fact is that CO2 is not a pollutant. CO2 is a colorless and odorless gas, exhaled at high concentrations by each of us, and a key component of the biosphere's life cycle. Plants do so much better with more CO2 that greenhouse operators often increase the CO2 concentrations by factors of three or four to get better growth. This is no surprise since plants and animals evolved when CO2 concentrations were about 10 times larger than they are today. Better plant varieties, chemical fertilizers and agricultural management contributed to the great increase in agricultural yields of the past century, but part of the increase almost certainly came from additional CO2 in the atmosphere.

Although the number of publicly dissenting scientists is growing, many young scientists furtively say that while they also have serious doubts about the global-warming message, they are afraid to speak up for fear of not being promoted—or worse. They have good reason to worry. In 2003, Dr. Chris de Freitas, the editor of the journal Climate Research, dared to publish a peer-reviewed article with the politically incorrect (but factually correct) conclusion that the recent warming is not unusual in the context of climate changes over the past thousand years.

The international warming establishment quickly mounted a determined campaign to have Dr. de Freitas removed from his editorial job and fired from his university position. Fortunately, Dr. de Freitas was able to keep his university job.

This is not the way science is supposed to work, but we have seen it before—for example, in the frightening period when Trofim Lysenko hijacked biology in the Soviet Union. Soviet biologists who revealed that they believed in genes, which Lysenko maintained were a bourgeois fiction, were fired from their jobs. Many were sent to the gulag and some were condemned to death.

Why is there so much passion about global warming, and why has the issue become so vexing that the American Physical Society, from which Dr. Giaever resigned a few months ago, refused the seemingly reasonable request by many of its members to remove the word "incontrovertible" from its description of a scientific issue? There are several reasons, but a good place to start is the old question "cui bono?" Or the modern update, "Follow the money."
RTWT!

Student Has Breakthrough In Capturing And Storing Sunshine

Brilliant breakthrough that could one-day change everything

The Sun is a huge source of energy. In just one hour planet Earth is hit by so much sunshine that humankind could cover its energy needs for an entire year if only we knew how to harvest and save it. But storing sunshine is not trivial. Now a student at Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen has researched his way to a breakthrough which may prove pivotal for technologies trying to capture the energy of the sun, and saving it for a rainy day.

Anders Bo Skov has recently started studying for his Master’s degree in chemistry at University of Copenhagen. Together with his supervisor, Mogens Brøndsted Nielsen, he is publishing the paper “Towards Solar Energy Storage in the Photochromic Dihydroazulene-Vinylheptafulvene System” in the journal “Chemistry – A European Journal“.

UCopenhagenProfessor Brøndsted is in charge of “Center for Exploitation of Solar Energy” at University of Copenhagen. Here his team is attempting to develop molecules capable of harvesting and holding substantial amounts of solar energy, storing it for significant amounts of time, and releasing it on demand.

Regrettably a year of research had shown them something that was taking on the shape of an irksome law of nature. As the capacity of the molecules to hold energy seemed to improve, the capacity to store it over time dropped; and vice versa.

The group is working with molecules known as the Dihydroazulene-Vinylheptafulvene system. Put very simply this stores energy by changing shape, but every time the Brøndsted group managed to design improved molecules, the molecules lost some of their ability to hold their “energy storage” shape, says professor Brøndsted.

“Regardless of what we did to prevent it, the molecules would change their shape back and release the stored energy after just an hour or two. Anders’ achievement was that he managed to double the energy density in a molecule that can hold its shape for a hundred years. Our only problem now is how we get it to release the energy again. The molecule does not seem to want to change its shape back again”, grins Mogens Brøndsted.

During his Bachelor studies Anders Bo Skov had four months to improve Brøndsted’s unstable molecule for his bachelor project. And he made it in the nick of time. Chemistry is a lot like baking. No bread is likely to come out of the oven if, for example, the flour disappears while the dough is proving. Using that analogy, Skov’s “bread” persisted in disappearing between his very hands. The molecules he was working with were that unstable.

“My chemical “recipe” demanded four synthesis steps in order to work. The first three were a piece of cake. I had them working in just a month. Getting the last step in order took me three months”, tells Skov.

Regardless of method, when you store energy there is a theoretical limit to the energy density… And then there is reality. In theory a kilogram of the right molecules could store a megajoule of energy if they were perfectly designed. With that amount of energy you can heat three liters of water from room temperature to boiling.

A kilo of Skov’s molecules can boil only 75 centiliters but it does that in just three minutes. This means that his molecules could bring to the boil 15 liters of water per hour and Skov as well as his supervisor are convinced that this is just the beginning.

“What Anders has achieved is an important breakthrough. Admittedly we do not have a good method to release the energy on demand and we should increase the energy density further still. But now we know which path to take in order to succeed”, says a visibly enthusiastic professor Mogens Brøndsted. Skov too is excited: Mostly because his molecules are sustainable on more levels than just the obvious one. Not only do they harvest sustainable solar energy. They are also completely non-toxic, he relates.

“When it comes to storing solar power our biggest competition comes from lithium ion batteries and lithium is a poisonous metal. My molecule releases neither CO2, nor any other chemical compounds while working. It is “Sunlight in-power out”. And when the molecule wears out one day it degrades to a colorant which is also found in chamomile flowers”, explains the Masters student.

Despite all the frustrations under ways, Skov has become so excited about his bachelor project that he has brought it with him into his Master’s programme. Normally Master students will start the programme by taking courses for a year, before turning to the research for their thesis. Skov on the other hand just stayed in the lab after his bachelor project. He is affiliated with the Center for Exploitation of Solar Energy in order to pursue his ideas for tweaking the sun-catcher molecule. Now he wants it to release the energy on demand. And the 25 year-old Masters student is brimming with ideas for the construction of such a compliant molecule.

University of Copenhagen