Are your eggs still fresh? Find out by doing this simple test
Eggs have become more popular as people try to cut down on meat consumption and embrace a more ‘flexitarian’ diet. Unfortunately, this also means more eggs are getting wasted than ever before. People in the UK alone are throwing away 720 million eggs every year – three times more than in Read More...
Scientists closer to finding the optimal eco-friendly replacement for plastic
The quest to keep plastic out of landfills and simultaneously satisfy the needs of the food industry is filled with obstacles. A biodegradable replacement for petroleum-based products has to meet all sorts of standards and, so far, attempts at viable replacements from renewable sources have faced Read More...
Wrapping produce in banana leaves is becoming a trend in Asia
A few weeks ago, we wrote about a supermarket in Thailand that had a surprisingly simple solution to plastic packaging: banana leaves. Instead of wrapping goods such as cucumbers and lettuce in plastic, the store simply used leftover banana leaves. A local real estate person spotted the Read More...
This project shows drones can be the key to restoring the world’s forests
Drones are really starting to prove their worth—beyond just taking cool videos up in the air. Last September, drones were used to drop seeds across abandoned fields in Myanmar where industry or farming once took place. Just a half a year later, tiny mangrove saplings around 20 inches tall are Read More...
Norway pulls the plug on plans to drill massive oil reserve
Western Europe’s biggest petroleum producer is falling out of love with oil. To the dismay of the nation’s powerful oil industry and its worker unions, the opposition Labour Party over the weekend decided to withdraw its support for oil exploration offshore the sensitive Lofoten islands in Read More...
Georgia becomes first state to offer free tampons to low-income women
In the United States, access to tampons and pads for low-income women is a real problem: food stamps don’t cover feminine hygiene products, so some women resort to selling their food stamps in order to pay for “luxuries” like tampons, which can be very expensive. This is especially Read More...
A simple trick for finding your focus when you really need to finish something
Even though office spaces are meant for working productively, it doesn’t always feel that way. From the distraction of open office spaces to the constant requests for meetings, actually getting work done isn’t easy. The abundance of choices brought on by technology doesn’t help either. Yes, Read More...
Anti-freeze salts cause roads to crack. Mixing concrete with bacteria might help
Spreading salt onto sidewalks or roads when the temperature goes below zero is an effective way to stop roads from getting too icy, but the problem is salty “de-icers” cause roadways to crack. Adding bacteria, however, may keep that from happening. In search of concrete that doesn’t crack, Read More...
Bitcoin mining pollutes the planet. China wants to ban it altogether
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have left their mark on the world, but not in the way most people predicted. In a typical Bitcoin mining operation, powerful banks of computers are dedicated to crunching out “blockchain” numbers and processing transactions. Nearly three-quarters of Read More...
Ecologists are turning to star-spotting cameras to count endangered orangutans
If thermal cameras are capable of spotting distant starts, then they must be capable of finding animals here on Earth, right? Such is the logic of researchers from Liverpool John Moores University who are testing the thermal infrared technology that astrophysicists use to discover stars in order to Read More...