Miscellaneous
Back from ancient times: The Silk Road, by train
The ancient Silk Road was a trade route that connected China to the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Now the 21st century Silk Road spans even farther. There are now train tracks that link Yiwu—a coastal city in China—to Madrid, Spain, some 8,000 miles away. The 21st century Silk Road is longer Read More...
Smart bike will reduce elderly deaths
The Netherlands is a bicycle loving country. But for the elderly riding a bike can be difficult and dangerous. The Dutch have a high rate of bicycle related senior mortality. Now a new bike has been designed specifically with seniors in mind to keep them safer. The bicycle was developed by the Read More...
The first mosque designed by a woman
In Turkey, there are more than 80,000 mosques, which are all built by men, except one. That one is the Şakirin Mosque in Istanbul, designed by Zeynep Fadillioglu. It’s not illegal for a woman to design a mosque in Turkey, but it’s a cultural taboo, Fadillioglu is the first woman to challenge Read More...
Smart skin to cover prosthetic limbs can “feel”
This is something you wish nobody would ever need. Still it’s a great invention, just in case. Korean researchers have developed a new type of prosthetic limb that is capable of feeling temperature, humidity, pressure, and strain. The new limbs are wrapped in a “smart” skin that is covered in Read More...
Windmills of tomorrow could be underwater
Cold and grey with not much sun, the United Kingdom is rarely thought of as a pioneering hub of renewable energy innovation. However, the UK has thousands of miles of coastline, and new developments in underwater turbine technology could bring in a new wave of ocean harnessing power. A test project Read More...
Amazon uses bike messengers to deliver within the hour in New York
The most daring of Amazon’s distribution dreams is, of course, the drone that flies to your home and drops a package before the front door. That’s still future—and perhaps less “distant” than we now think. In the mean time the online shopping giant tries to speed up her distribution in Read More...
The Transformative Studies Program: Big Impact, Low Risk
The Transformative Studies Program, the next generation of The Intelligent Optimist’s highly successful Course in Spiritual Healing & Transformation, launches in January 2015. With it comes the chance to transform yourself and the world around you. To live fully in possibility. To chart your Read More...
Biodegradable and tagged nets save fish and marine life
Traditional fishing nets take millennia to break down, and they’re often discarded into the ocean where they unnecessarily kill helpless marine life. Now an engineering student has come up with a biodegradable fishing net that can be tracked as well. The nets are affixed with RFID tags so that Read More...
Cheap device making drinking water from salt water
Our world is covered in water, but most of it is in the oceans. And, so far, making drinking water out of salt water is a difficult and expensive process. A new device, Desolenator, driven by solar power can desalinate seawater in a cheap and efficient way. The instrument can also purify heavily Read More...
Biowaste toilets solves stinky problem for Kenyan school
Last year the Maseno School in western Kenya completed a substantial renovation. A major part was a brand new 720-student dormitory, but what the renovation lacked was a new sanitation system; the current one is stinky and is polluting a nearby stream that provides drinking water to a community. Read More...