Miscellaneous
Octopus inspired underwater vehicle
In order to reach top speeds under water most creatures, and vehicles, are sleek and streamlined—except cephalopods. Octopus and other cephalopods get up to top speed with their rigid outer bodies by quickly shooting out ingested water. Now engineers have taken the same idea and applied it to Read More...
Robotic lasers take out brain tumors with precision
One of the hardest parts of removing brain a tumor is taking out the right amount of matter. You don’t want to take out too much brain matter, because ever piece is vital, but if you don’t take out enough of the tumor, then you risk having it grow back. Scientists have recently developed a way Read More...
Apple will build giant solar powered facility
Apple has plans to spend $2 billion building a giant, completely solar powered data center which will act as the hub for it’s global network of data centers. The facility will be built in Arizona and should employ some 600 engineers to complete the project. The 1.3 million square foot center will Read More...
Energizer announces recycled batteries
Batteries are made of nasty chemicals that are horrible for the environment. Even if you recycle them, they aren’t reused as batteries—until now. Energizer has announced a new battery called the EcoAdvanced. The EcoAdvanced is made partially from old, used batteries. Energizer takes the used Read More...
Movable trailer produces wind and solar energy at disaster sites
After a flood or an earthquake the difference between life and death is often no more than a few minutes. Power is usually knocked out in a disaster area, and getting it up and running means more lives can be saved faster. Now a company that creates power-generating trailers has developed one Read More...
Do squats for a free train ticket
A couple years ago Mexico usurped the US and is now the most obese nation on the planet. With that, the government raised taxes on sodas, but now they have a more creative approach to getting their citizens to exercise. Mexican officials are installing motion sensitive machines in various train Read More...
Carlsberg is making a biodegradable beer bottle
Beer bottles are recyclable, but they have never been biodegradable. That might soon be changing because the Danish beer maker Carlsberg has announced plans to make a completely biodegradable beer bottle from wood and paper pulp. The bottles will have a texture similar to that of an egg carton. If Read More...
Brazilian bank raises over $400 million for renewables investment
Brazilian bank Itau Unibanco Holding SA has raised a record $408 million to invest in renewable energy. The investment is the largest ever made by Brazilian bank to invest in renewables in Latin America. Most of the $408 million comes from a loan from a 5-year loan from Bank of America, and from Read More...
Monarch butterflies rebound
Last year monarch butterflies hit their lowest recorded numbers, covering only 1.65 acres. Climate change, pesticides, and loss of habitat were killing off the orange insects but they seem to be making a noticeable recovery. Mexican Environmental authorities have announced that monarchs now cover Read More...
Soy Moratorium is saving the Amazon
The Amazon Soy Moratorium is an agreement signed in 2006 between major soybean traders saying that they wouldn’t purchase soy grown on parts of the deforested Amazon. According to a new study the soy moratorium has been very effective and has greatly reduced the amount of deforestation caused by Read More...