Nature's air filter
From The Intelligent Optimist Magazine Fall/Winter 2016 Air pollution is responsible for roughly 7 million deaths worldwide every year. Air-borne pollutants also cause heart disease, stroke, skin diseases, reduced fertility and miscarriage, and cancer. There’s a solution: Plants that clean the Read More...
Nature's air filter
From The Intelligent Optimist Magazine Fall/Winter 2016 Air pollution is responsible for roughly 7 million deaths worldwide every year. Air-borne pollutants also cause heart disease, stroke, skin diseases, reduced fertility and miscarriage, and cancer. There’s a solution: Plants that clean the Read More...
The dehydration myth
From The Optimist Magazine Fall/Winter 2016 If you find yourself confused about whether to drink eight glasses of water a day or twenty, chances are you’re overthinking it. There’s a perfect system that tells you when you need to drink: It’s called thirst. By KARIN KLEIN Dehydration has Read More...
This app lets you buy on-demand insurance for single items
As we wrote above, the Internet transforms entire industries. Here's a good example. In the past, you could buy one comprehensive for all your valuables. But that doesn't make much sense when you only want to insure one expensive item. That’s why Australia-based insurance company Trōv has Read More...
Researchers develop low-energy process for filtering water using carbon
Filtering mass-amounts of water can be an energy-intensive process, but that could soon change thanks to a team of researchers. Using carbon dioxide resumes, the researchers developed a new process that requires one thousand times less energy to remove suspended particles and bacteria from water. Read More...
These new wind-energy technologies look incredible
Many consider modern windmills eyesores in the landscape despite their obvious clean energy benefits. A new generation of wind technologies are on their way, and they not only promise to make wind energy safer and more affordable, their sleek designs are also stunning. See this series of new Read More...
Universal basic income is gaining support across Europe
The digital economy could make for a very unstable economic future as the Internet is transforming and reducing whole classes of jobs. That’s why the idea of universal basic income is gaining more and more support. With a basic income, every citizen, regardless of employment status, would receive Read More...
8 cost-free ways to help you fall asleep at night
Considering that nearly half of all adults get less sleep than the recommended amount, it's no surprise that an entire industry has popped up around sleep. There are sleep-trackers, sleeping-pills, self-improving beds, and even sleep-consultants that are supposed to help you get some good shut-eye. Read More...
Self-repairing roads could also charge your electric car
Potholes are bad enough for the jarring rides, car damage and safety hazards they create, but it's also problematic to fix them. You're looking at lane and road closures that can last for days, assuming the city can even spare the resources. However, Dutch researchers might have a solution that not Read More...
Germany breaks record: 85 percent of electricity produced by renewables
On April 30, Germany established a new national record for renewable energy use. On that day and throughout the long May 1 weekend, 85% of all the electricity consumed in Germany was produced from renewables such as wind, solar, biomass, and hydroelectric power. Patrick Graichen of Agora Read More...