Following Israel’s smart solar trees, the Dubai Municipality is rolling out a series of “community tech hubs” based on 3D printed palm trees that collect solar power. The stations are also where users can recharge their phones, tablets and laptops, enjoy free WiFi, and check in on local weather and news. The Smart Palm initiative aligns with […]
The European Charter against food waste was just presented at Milan Expo 2015, two weeks before the end of the six-month-long world’s fair which was focused on feeding the world. Drafted by over 40 schools across seven European countries, and with advice from 50 municipal governments, it outlines concrete actions for cutting food waste from homes, supermarkets […]
Dutch Design Week 2015 is a misnomer, the event actually runs over nine days across 100 locations displaying the experiments and ideas of 2400 designers, including works by students from the Design Academy Eindhoven. Participating designers often focus on environmental problems, but this year many tackled humanitarian problems such as the flow of refugees from the Middle […]
The rise of violence between Palestinians and Israelis has escalated this month straining a region where wider conflict is causing the largest human migration in history, and raising fears of a third intifada. But headlines don’t ever tell a complete story. Check out how a tiny cafe is working to promote reconciliation by rewarding tables […]
We’ve read reports that sunscreen can cause cancer (and that sunscreen doesn’t really work to prevent skin cancer), but yet – doctors say you need sunscreen in the sun. While the daily use of sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or higher is widely acknowledged as essential to skin cancer prevention, it is hurting the […]
Some of the mysteries surrounding Egypt’s great pyramids will be explored using space-age technology according to a statement released by the country’s Minister of Antiquities. The “Scan Pyramids” project will use cosmic rays to solve the enigma of the ancient pyramids at Dahshur and Giza, aiming to provide better understanding of their architecture and interior design.
Critically acclaimed Scottish photographer Dougie Wallace has stepped on some well-heeled toes with his latest documentary project where he turns his lens to the rising economic power of the “one per cent”. His current exhibition, entitled Harrodsburg, captures the ultra-affluent visitors that inhabit – albeit only seasonally – the super-rich residential and retail district of […]
Whenever I read the news about Syria’s refugee and environmental crisis I wonder how Syria’s dictator Bashar Al-Assad’s wife Asma al-Assad, once so vocal about the natural environment (even biking to the West Bank in the past), can let her husband keep this madness up. A little sanity in the craziness that is and has […]
Ridley Scott’s, The Martian is based on Andy Weir’s best-selling novel. It was filmed in Jordan’s beautiful Wadi-Rum desert. Hollywood loves adventure stories, especially tales of humans struggling to survive in the wilderness. The Martian has something in common with The Life of Pi, 127 Hours, Castaway, Into the Wild and All is Lost. But a […]
Israeli design team Tridom won honorable mention in NASA’s 3D Printed Habitat Challenge for their ‘Bubble Base’ building, a prototype for future human habitation on Mars. The design competition invited solutions to the “need for safe, secure and sustainable housing on earth and beyond.” This goes beyond Hollywood set design for The Martian (shown above) […]
It’s the middle of NYC AgTech Week. It’s a time where futurists growing hyperlocal food and technologies in New York City open their labs for urban food week. Tonight there will be a fish taco dinner prepared with fish raised on a roof in the city; the rest of the food was grown in urban […]
Look to Techcrunch any day of the week and see how investment opportunities abound in Agtech. Then go see Matt Damon in The Martian to get a sense for the future of your food. Combine trillion dollar opportunities with a market sprouting in the United States. It’s called “distributed agriculture” on Wall Street, or Controlled […]
Jordan’s plastic bags enjoy more freedom than most of its people. Bags fly free. They don’t need visas to cross borders, and they sidestep beach fees to get into the sea. Shops here hand out an endless stream of non-biodegradable sacks and there’s no penalty for dropping used ones, anywhere. Until the government steps up […]
Quicargo, the latest in startups making old inefficient worlds more sustainable, targets inefficiency in the global transportation industry. The software company reduces empty trucking runs and maximizes trucks’ loading space. As a result, carriers will increase their overall profits for truckers and their companies or contractors and shippers will reduce their shipment costs. At any given moment millions […]
In the early 1970s, architect Frank Gehry earned his first design awards for clever furniture made from corrugated cardboard, triggering an explosion of creative experimentation with this then-century-old material that had been mostly used for protective packaging. Now a five-person design team has created a full-size and fully functional car from recyclable cardboard. It’s electric […]