Miscellaneous
Beijing has found a way to get more people reading books
Books seem to have lost their appeal. Who would want to sit down with a book on our daily commute if our smart phones bring us gossip and games? In Beijing, subway riders are now being seduced to pick up a book without doing away their phones. A simple scan of a QR code inside the train car gives Read More...
Tree with 3D-printed leaves captures energy from sun and wind
What would nature do? Scientists at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland were curious about it, and created a tree with leaves of ultrathin 3D-printed solar cells. The leaves do not only store solar energy, but they also harvest kinetic energy from wind and temperature changes in the Read More...
Humans are getting smarter
Global IQs are rising, an average of 20 points in the last 50 years. While there is some debate about the relevancy of IQ tests—they don’t factor in social constructs that can impact the score—generally they are regarded as accurate measures of intelligence. The IQ scores of most people are Read More...
Making shoes out of old couches
Think of all the couches you’ve sat on in your life, there number probably the hundreds, if not thousands. Every one of those couches is still in the world today, many taking up large amounts of real estate in a landfill. A new company is taking old couches, and repurposing the material to make Read More...
Breaking meditation’s stereotypes
The benefits of meditation really are countless. Among them is that meditation is the only proven way to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. But sadly, those who meditate are often stigmatized as a subset of the population—granola-crunching hippies who are always worried about their chakra. While Read More...
Giant panda population is making a recovery
At the end of 2003 there were 1,596 giant pandas in the wild, their numbers were declining and conservation measures were put in place. Now more than 10 years after that initial count, China’s giant panda population is reported to be making significant progress. In 2013 the giant panda count Read More...
China bans ivory imports—at least temporarily
Africa’s elephant population is being decimated, and the driving force is China’s thirst for carved ivory. Now after years of criticism China is finally taking action and has banned all ivory imports for the next year. Only 12-months really isn’t that long, and won’t do anything to curb Read More...
Child mortality rate is falling
The news about life-threatening diseases frequents the headlines. It’s easy to miss the bigger news: We’re all living longer and longer, and our children are dying less frequently. A recent study published in the Lancet looked at the datasets related to global disease mortality rates. Child Read More...
Bionic eye helps man see
About a decade ago Allen Zderad, a 68-year-old Minnesotan, was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, an incurable disease that attacks your retina, leaving you blind. Now for the first time in 10 years Zderad can see thanks to a pioneering bionic implant. The implant reads and sends light photons to Read More...
Finnish radio will read Koran cover to cover
Finnish public radio station, Yle, has announced a new kind of program that will read the Koran from cover to cover. The new initiative will be made up of 60 half-hour segments, along with a discussion by Koranian experts on the meaning and importance of each section. The project is meant to Read More...