Blockchain can fight corruption and restore faith in institutions
The transparency of the blockchain, the technology that drives cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, may also support the drive against corruption in developing countries. The blockchain technology can be used for public records excluding the possibility that public official can manipulate records for a Read More...
The moment that leaving the electrical grid makes economic sense is coming fast
Solar panels and windmills together with battery storage allow people to leave the grid. According to a study by consulting firm McKinsey the rapid development of renewable energy is making that a realistic economic scenario very soon. While “full grid defection” is only projected some 10 years Read More...
China's forests are growing as world forest cover shrinks
The news about China is dominated by pollution and environmental degradation. But there’s more: 18 years ago China began the largest reforestation effort in the world. The Chinese have spent more than $100 billion on planting trees in the last decade alone. Nearly 22 percent of the country is now Read More...
Eating lots of good fats from plants reverses gut problems and diseases
More and more research shows that inflammation in the gut is the beginning of many diseases including neurological disorders like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. According to a new study plant-based fats like coconut oil and cocoa butter lower the inflammation in the gut. The study focused on Read More...
How your sense of smell supports your digestion and your health
You may be on the healthy Mediterranean diet and still not enjoy all the health benefits. That is because it is not only about what you eat, but also about how you eat. Your digestion determines whether your body absorbs all the good stuff you put in your mouth. Our nervous system has a major Read More...
How San Francisco is leading the way out of bottled water culture
Americans drink enough bottled water each week to circle the globe two times around. That was one of the many alarming facts that motivated politicians in San Francisco to pursue a progressive environmental regulation no other major US city had dared – a ban on bottled water. The liberal Read More...
Street lamps could soon also charge electric cars in London
The street lamps in Hounslow, London, have an additional electricity port for electric car drivers who want to charge their vehicle Ubitricity, a German company focused on providing clean energy, converted street lamps in Hounslow, London, to have LEDs in them and included a new charging port for Read More...
Can microbes encourage altruism?
Parasites are among nature’s most skillful manipulators — and one of their specialties is making hosts perform reckless acts of irrational self-harm. There’s Toxoplasma gondii, which drives mice to seek out cats eager to eat them, and the liver fluke Dicrocoelium dendriticum, Read More...
Elon Musk about basic income: 'I don't think we're going to have a choice'
Across their three presidential debates last year, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump uttered the word “jobs” 86 times – but the word “automation” never came up. And by all accounts, nothing is going to transform the American labor market more dramatically, and likely Read More...
In Madagascar, a waterless toilet may provide a global solution
If there is one technology that symbolizes the global water sector’s future struggles, it would be the toilet. While there have been plenty of advances in farming irrigation and water purification, toilets are still stuck in a Victorian-era time warp. Granted, sanitation is improving across Read More...