Raising the steaks: the Seattle startup crowdfunding sustainable beef
If crowdsourcing makes you think of fundraising campaigns for smartwatches and wine coolers rather than sustainable food, you’re not alone. But a new Seattle-based startup called Crowd Cow is hoping to change that. Crowd Cow works like most crowdfunding campaigns. Every few days, the company Read More...
US, Japan, Germany hop aboard hydrogen fuel cell train
The dream of a zero-emission hydrogen economy amounted to little more than pixie dust just a few years ago. But that was then and this is now. In the first part of February alone, three big stories about hydrogen fuel cells in the U.S., Japan and Germany demonstrate that the hydrogen economy is Read More...
A tortured love for vitamin D
Before there was Vitaminwater, there was vitamin beer. In 1936, the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company promised that its Sunshine Vitamin D Beer would “give you the vitamin D you need for year round vigorous health.” One ad explained: “Modern living; clothing; clouds and smoke; hours Read More...
University’s solar-powered still improves ancient water cleaning technology
More than two-thirds of the earth’s surface is covered with water, but most of it is useless for healthy human hydration. Excluding seawater, glaciers and polar ice caps, less than 1 percent of the planet’s life-sustaining water is in lakes, rivers, streams and underground Read More...
New record: Wind briefly generates majority of electricity in southwest U.S.
On Sunday last week wind power provided 52.1 percent of the electricity for a 14-state grid in the southwest of the U.S. It was the first time that wind generated a majority of power for any U.S. grid. The new record underlines that renewables like wind energy can play a key role in an affordable, Read More...
Venom from a small snail could be used for treatment for chronic pain
This small sea snail, a native of the Caribbean, uses its venom to paralyze or kill its prey. However, scientists have discovered that the venom contains a compound that appears to act as long-lasting pain relief. The findings show it may be possible to create a new pain therapy for chronic pain Read More...
Pope Francis: Indigenous people must have final say about their land
The times they are changin’. In the 1450’s Pope Nicholas V provided legal justification for the conquest and theft of indigenous peoples’ lands and resources worldwide in the Romanus Pontifex decree. 560 years later, Francis, the first Pope from Latin America, says that indigenous peoples Read More...
Deregulation bills support local and home-made foods
Selling and distributing food needs regulation for packaging, labeling, and inspection to protect the consumer. That makes sense when it comes to supermarkets and restaurants. However, increasingly such regulation stands in the way of local food entrepreneurs who sell directly to local consumers. Read More...
One more reason to exercise: Improve your eyesight
Scientists know that vision in animals improves when they are running—one wonders how they found out—and they wanted to discover if the same is true for humans. Researchers did an experiment and indeed concluded that sight improves with exercise. And, in fact, the benefits are most profound Read More...
Why new coal? Solar towers + storage beats it on all counts
The US-based developers of the world’s leading solar tower and storage technologies has expressed surprise that Australia’s federal government is pursuing “new coal” plants, saying that solar towers with storage beats coal on just about all fronts. Tom Georgis, the head of Read More...