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A glowing highway without street lamps
If you drive about an hour south of Amsterdam you’ll find yourself on a stretch of road that looks like you are in a science fiction movie. This piece of a Dutch highway is completely void of streetlights—replaced by strips of glowing paint. The highway is being used to test alternative ways of Read More...
North of France declares itself a hub for social enterprise
Northern France is mostly known for old heavy industries and agriculture—not as place of social innovation. But that’s about to change. Inspired by Nobel Peace Prize winner and social business pioneer, Muhammad Yunus, this region of France has declared itself “a hub for social enterprise”. Read More...
Making it easier to talk with your hands
The 21st century is turning out to be pretty welcoming place for people hard of hearing. In both the arts and the work force, the deaf community is currently getting a chance to shine more than ever before. Meanwhile, technology advances to allow for better communication between the hard-of-hearing Read More...
Using dung beetles for food safety
Every few years there is an E. coli outbreak—many get sick and maybe one or two die. Most of these outbreaks have been traced to animal droppings on plants that occurred while they were still at the farm. Now researchers have come up with an idea to use dung beetles to minimize E. coli outbreaks. Read More...
Poorer countries use more renewables than rich
While most renewable energy sources are invented in the developed world, a new study found that developing countries use green energy sources at nearly twice the rate of the western world. The study looked at 55 countries and found that between 2008 and 2013 the use of renewable energy grew 143 Read More...
Impact investing: A socially conscious market
The wake of the 2008 financial crisis has left many skeptical of the ethical practices that drive our banks and investment institutions. The better answer is called: Impact investing According to this new model the social ramifications of business are as important as the quarterly profits figures. Read More...
Impact investing: socially responsible business
When it comes to traditional business everything boils down to dollars and cents. Success is judged by profit, failures make no money and winners make lots of it. But in the 21st century business isn’t just about profit anymore, people care about how you treat your workers, if your company Read More...
Finally, an easy way to find out what’s in your food
So what’s in the food you eat? How much sugar is in that cookie? Which foods contain arsenic? The Environmental Working Group spent 3 years to create a database of 80,000 products with all their ingredients. Foods get a score of 1 through 10 (1 is the best) based on how well they perform in three Read More...
Cocoa could help reverse memory decline
Meditation is the only proven way to prevent dementia, but cocoa could actually reverse age-related memory loss. A study from Columbia University found that memory decline in adults happens in an isolated part of the brain. It just so happens that the part of the brain associated with memory loss Read More...
World’s greenest economies
The 2014 Global Green Economy Index ranked the world’s nations into two lists: what countries are green, and what countries are perceived to be green. While perception is obviously less important than performance, the differences in the two lists are interesting. The US scored 6th on perception, Read More...