Slovenia makes clean water a constitutional right for all
Prime Minister Miro Cerar says the country should “protect water – the 21st century’s liquid gold – at the highest legal level.” In the dystopian nightmare version of our not-too-distant future, water will be owned by nefarious corporations who dole it out for dollars. Read More...
8 ways to fight seasonal depression
The shorter days and colder weather of winter are here—and so is the increase in Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). The American Academy of Family Physicians found that 4 to 6 percent of Americans suffer from SAD. Are you are feeling unmotivated and depressed for no apparent reason? Are you Read More...
Why land rights for indigenous peoples could be the answer to climate change
I’ve spent a lot of time with indigenous peoples in remote places. So when I argue that the best way – or at least the cheapest way – to stop climate change is to grant land rights to indigenous communities, you might suspect I’m not coming from an entirely objective Read More...
Offshore wind energy system combines sea water and wind to create electricity
We've seen our share of interesting wind power designs, but often the technology can't come anywhere close to matching what the traditional horizontal axis wind turbines can do. There's a reason that when we think of wind energy, we think of giant masts with rotating blades and it's because that Read More...
How governments can use the profit motive to make the world a better place
Identifying fake fish, cleaning up polluted canals, improving science education – these are some of the jobs that governments are getting done by mobilising the profit motive. Over the past twenty-five years, partnerships between government and business have grown into an industry worth Read More...
Could Cambridgeshire’s new social enterprise status change our buying habits?
They help tackle homelessness, unemployment, disability, financial exclusion and other challenges. And now Cambridgeshire’s estimated 175 social enterprises have earned the county special status as a hotbed of activity for businesses that generate profit for good causes. Read More...
Fair trade gifts that do good
The holidays are just around the corner! Time to make your list, check it twice, and start finding gifts for all of the important people in your life. And while those homemade sweaters you gave out last year were memorable (and even fit a few people), why not make your gifts Fair Trade Read More...
Research finds common grass could help boost food security
Australian researchers have discovered that the common Panic grasses could hold the secret to increasing the yields of cereal crops and help feed the world with increasing temperature extremes and a population of nearly 10 billion people by 2050. The findings, published in Nature Plants, show the Read More...
African scientists are embracing R&D, reversing brain drain from the continent
Until recently most of Africa’s best talent left the continent for an education or career abroad. As a result, Africa contributes only a meager one percent of the world’s research output. But the tide is changing and more and more initiatives are successfully launched to stimulate African Read More...
Appliance maker Electrolux wants to start “Uber for laundry”
The opportunities for the sharing economy are endless and corporations are exploring how they can stimulate and participate in peer to peer experiences. Swedish appliance maker Electrolux is considering launching an “Uber for laundry”, a platform that would allow anyone with a laundry machine Read More...