De Clercq, Geert. “France experiments with paying people to cycle to work.” planetark.org. Planet Ark, 3 June 2014. Web. 9 June 2014. http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/71641 France has started a six month trial period of paying select employees (roughly 10,000 people) to bike to work. The employees are paid 25 euro cents (34 US cents) per kilometer biked to work. […]
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Soluble Circuits to Reduce E-Waste
Hsu, Jeremy. “Building Soluble Circuits To Help End E-Waste.” popsci.com. Popular Science, 9 May 2014. Web. 9 June 2014. http://www.popsci.com/article/science/building-soluble-circuits-help-end-e-waste?dom=PSC&loc=recent&lnk=5&con=building-soluble-circuits-to-help-end-ewaste John Rogers, a scientist from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has invented a type of silicon ribbon thin enough to dissolve in water in roughly ten days. Rogers’ creation is a response to the amount […]
Lionfish App
Iacurci, Jenna. “FWC Unveils Tracking App for Invasive Florida Lionfish.” natureworldnews.com. Nature World News, 29 May 2014. Web. 8 June 2014. http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/7297/20140529/fwc-unveils-tracking-app-for-invasive-florida-lionfish.htm The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) developed a lionfish tracking app for smartphones in order to collect data about lionfish population size and whereabouts. The Florida lionfish is an invasive species that has no […]
Robots reading humans
“Softbank unveils ‘human-like’ robot Pepper.” bbc.com. BBC, 5 June 2014. Web. 8 June 2014. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27709828 This article talks about a Japanese robot designed to interact with humans and understand their emotional responses. The robot is built with an “emotional engine” and a cloud-based artificial intelligence system that enables them to comprehend human’s emotions, allowing them to react […]
Stem Cell Burgers
Winter, Lisa. “Will Stem Cell Burgers Go Mainstream?” iflscience.com. N.p., 21 May 2014. Web. 2 June 2013. http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/will-stem-cell-burgers-go-mainstream “Schmeat,” a lab-grown meat product, is currently being developed in an attempt to reduce the harmful effects livestock creates on the environment. This product is different from vegetable-based meat substitute because it is made from actual animal stem cells. […]
Making Paper Obsolete
Goudarzi, Sara. “Top Ten Emerging Environmental Technologies.” livescience.com. Purch, 19 Apr. 2007. Web. 28 May 2014. Web. http://www.livescience.com/11334-top-10-emerging-environmental-technologies.html This article cites a possible form of electronic paper that would reduce the amount of paper produced in a given population. The paper doesn’t look like a typical e-reader or a standard tablet, but is a flexible piece of […]
Smog-eating concrete
ENN Editor. “Fighting air pollution with innovation and technology.” enn.com. Environmental News Network, 19 May 2014. Web. 25 May 2014. http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/47403 Chemist Luigi Cassar has developed a cement coating that neutralizes air pollutants. Cassar’s coating dissolves in sunlight and helps preserve buildings from fading while improving the quality of the air that surrounds the coated concrete. The coating […]
Plastic in the Arctic
Hand, Eric. “Trillions of Plastic Pieces May Be Trapped in Arctic Ice.” sciencemag.org. AAAS, 22 May 2014. Web. 23 May 2014. http://news.sciencemag.org/earth/2014/05/trillions-plastic-pieces-may-be-trapped-arctic-ice This article reveals that small pieces of plastic have been found frozen in ice in the arctic. Rachel Obbard, a materials scientist from Dartmouth College, found that there’s been more plastic found frozen in […]
Nature Inspires Drones
Institute of Physics. “Nature inspires drones of the future.” sciencedaily.com. ScienceDaily, 23 May 2014. Web. 23 May 2014. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140523094257.htm This article is similar to the previous article about bats being studied in order to improve roving robots, but this article highlights millimeter sized robots who have the ability to fly. Fourteen separate research teams have […]
Painting the Sun and Sculpting Fog
A. Miranda, Carolina. “Painting the Sun and Sculpting Fog.” ARTnews Mar. 2013: 60-62. Print. The Exploratorium in San Francisco, California displayed artwork created by Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya that replicated a dense fog cloud. Nakaya’s sculptures were suspended over a pedestrian bridge and blended into the real fog present in San Francisco. Nakaya’s sculpture is described as […]