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Corn Stalk Residue Could Take Us to the Stars

By Lori Walsh and Ellen Koester et.al

A new NASA EPSCoR grant will help South Dakota Mines researchers explore the next generation of lithium sulfur batteries. Those batteries could be powered by the waste produced from processing plants.

The research was a team effort that spanned disciplines at South Dakota Mines. A few of the experts who worked on this project joined In the Moment to explain their work and unexpected discovery.

Rajesh Shende, Ph.D., is a professor of chemical and biological engineering. He specializes in finding uses for agricultural byproducts.

And Edward Duke, Ph.D., is a professor of geology and geological engineering and the director of the South Dakota Space Grant Consortium and the South Dakota NASA EPSCoR Program.

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Kansas Wheat Harvest 2026 | Three John Deere S7 700 Combines in Action

Video: Kansas Wheat Harvest 2026 | Three John Deere S7 700 Combines in Action

Kansas Wheat Harvest 2026 is underway near Alden, Kansas!

In this video, I spend time with Frederick Harvesting, a custom harvesting operation based in Alden, Kansas. Back at their home farm, three new John Deere S7 700 combines equipped with John Deere HDF40 draper heads work through a drought-stricken winter wheat crop while one of the farm's John Deere 8R 370 tractors pulls a Brent 1398 grain cart.

Most of the Frederick Harvesting crew was already busy cutting wheat in southwest Kansas, but these machines remained at home to finish up local fields. Throughout the video, I explain what is happening, discuss the effects of dry conditions on the crop, and capture plenty of aerial footage showing the combines working with the grain elevator at Alden in the background.