LifeStraw, developed by Europe-based Vestergaard Frandsen, is a portable water filter for prevention of common diseases caused by unsanitary water. LifeStraw is an innovative product, designed with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals in mind. The product can filter up to 700 liters of water and removes 99.99% waterborne bacteria. With this product, millions of lives can be saved.
To read subtitles in your language, click , then scroll over .
From the tale of Jack, the little boy that climbed up the bean plant all the way up to the sky, to the fantasy romances of Cordwainer Smith, people can always dreamed of reaching the stars. Bradley Edwards, the Director of Research for the Institute for Scientific Research, may have a new way of transporting people to space using the idea of a space elevator. The space elevator could allow people to quickly and inexpensively travel into space.
To read subtitles in your language, click , then scroll over .
Wave power is a huge untapped resource of renewable energy. The motion of the waves has the potential to generate between 1 and 10 terawatts. Even just 1 terawatt would be enough to power a billion homes. Wave power is typically produced by the up and down motion of floating buoys being tossed on the surface of the ocean.
To read subtitles in your language, click , then scroll over .
Research scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart and the company Logos Innovationen have found a way to obtain drinking water from the humidity through a process based on renewable energy. Water is one of our most precious commodities and this invention could be literally life changing, as it would provide water for those who do not have the resources.
To read subtitles in your language, click , then scroll over .
We have all heard of solar-powered calculators and solar-powered watches, but what about a solar-powered aircraft? The Swiss company, Solar Impulse, headed by Bertrand Piccard, has developed a prototype for a solar-powered aircraft. The aircraft, named HB-SIA, has the appearance of a glider but is as wide as a modern airliner. Solar Impulse’s solar-powered aircrafts are now being tested and prepped to be able to fly around the world.
To read subtitles in your language, click , then scroll over .
“Music is many ways is very political and talks about change.” In an interview with BeatPort.com, musician Richie Hawtin talks about his innovative way of communicating with young people in order to inform them about important and current topics, such as the environment.
To read subtitles in your language, click , then scroll over .
Richie Hawtin has always been an innovator in the field of music. His career as a DJ started in the local electronic music clubs in Detroit, when he was still young and was known as Plastikman. Since then, his success has grown exponentially, and he has become a famous artist on an international level. He is a point of reference in the entire electronic music scene. His success comes mostly from his ability to create original and creative sounds, and his knowledge of music technology. Since the 90’s, he has been the director of two record labels: Plus-8, created in 1990; and Minus, with which he produces his own musical creations. With the collaboration of other international DJ, BeatPort.com was born, a website where both independent artists and fans of electronic music can meet, in order to share music and ideas.
“I have always been interested in the future, in the future of music and technology”, explains Hawtin in the interview. Today, however, Richie Hawtin looks at the future with greater understanding. Through the eyes of a man who has experienced much more of the world than most people, he sees the problems and uncertainties that are arising. He asks the questions that most people don’t want to bring up: what kind of world are we leaving to future generations? How can we fix, or at least contain, the complex environmental problems that we now face? There are already many groups and organizations that work to promote awareness, but Richie is convinced that the most important and challenging aspect of awareness is reaching the younger generations. These children are the true protagonists of the future, and it is up to them to promote a concrete and enduring change.
Richie Hawtin’s dream is to utilize electronic music as an instrument for spreading ideas in order to educate and promote awareness about the environment. He believes that electronic music is the best way to reach people on a global level. Since there are no vocals and can be enjoyed and performed by any person, regardless of culture, electronic music is the most global music scene in the world. The objective of the project, therefore, is to give international artists the ability to speak out about environmental problems. In this easy and interactive way, the message will be broadcasted worldwide: the solutions to these problems can be accomplished by everyone, through small gestures throughout the day. A “green” future is possible, and could arrive much sooner than we think, thanks to electronic music.
While changing light bulbs and installing solar panels on our roofs can help solve our climate problem, we must also mobilize political will. At this talk hosted by TED, Vice President Al Gore discusses the problem of climate change, and how we must first become active in our democracy in order to solve the climate problem.
To read subtitles in your language, click , then scroll over .
Al Gore has been making sure that things are being done to help solve the current climate crisis. But he also believes that more needs to be done before we can feel optimistic. At a talk hosted by TED, in Monterey, California, Al Gore explains that we “need to change the laws, not light bulbs”, and he has been trying to do just that. Before he created the Oscar-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, he was the Vice President of the United States. Al Gore, after leaving Washington, DC in order to educate the world about the dangers of climate change, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007.
Gore explains that while he is an advocate for solar panels and hybrid cars, we need to do more than that to see an actual change in our environment. At least for now, we should be focusing on changing laws in order to make a real difference. He uses one of Mahatma Gandhi’s most famous quotes to illustrate his point: “you must become the change you wish to see in the world”. In order for people to be optimistic about seeing a positive change in the environment, they must first be proactive about making a change.
While many people are proactive about local environmental problems, there are regional, and even a global, conflicts that also must be addressed. More often than not, people leave out citizenship in their fight for climate protection; however, it is Gore’s belief that the first thing we should be doing is addressing the government and being politically active.
Engineers from the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Michigan have developed the first wireless flying-insect cyborg. Using electrodes that are connected to the insect’s optic lobes and flight muscles, these bugs could be the newest form of undercover agent.
To read subtitles in your language, click , then scroll over .
Imagine walking down the street, and seeing a tiny black beetle buzzing along. Would you ever fathom that perhaps this miniscule creature is the end result of thousands of hours of research and development?
The first unmanned remote controlled airplane was flown in 1916. Decades later, hundreds of tiny remote controlled planes made their way into mass production. Tiny helicopters were created as well, sending enthusiasts into a frenzy. Now, technology has created the possibility of flying a living, breathing creature.
Hirotaka Sato and Michel M. Maharbiz, at the University of California at Berkeley, and researchers at the Boyce Thompson Institute, at the University of Michigan, are using cutting edge technology to manipulate the movements of a wide range of insects, from beetles to dragon flies. By connecting electrodes to the insect’s optic lobes, the flight muscles can be controlled by a remote. The result is almost like driving a toy airplane, thus transforming these creatures into undercover bugs of the future. Insects are a seemingly perfect undercover agent, as they are inexpensive, unassuming, and versatile. A beetle, for example, can carry objects (such as a miniature camera) that are much heavier than their own body weight.
What does this mean for the future of our privacy? These controllable insects could very well change our defense mechanisms, as well as create new forms of investigation.
Jane Poynter tells her story of living two years and 20 minutes in Biosphere 2: a completely natural and alternative micro world. Her experience has provoked her to explore how we might sustain life in the harshest of environments. This is a demonstration of the necessity to be conscious of our impact on the world we live in for a better future.
To read subtitles in your language, click , then scroll over .
In Oracle, Arizona there is a 3.15-acre complex unlike any other. Known as Biosphere 2, this structure is a man-made, materially-closed ecological system, built to explore the complex web of interactions within life systems. Jane Poynter, president of the Paragon Space Development Corporation, tells the story of her insightful, and sometimes difficult, two-year experience in Biosphere 2.
Biosphere 2 contains almost everything that planet earth does, but on a much smaller scale: a rainforest, an ocean, marshlands, savannah grassland, and a fog desert. Although it might seem like a fun experiment, Jane Poynter, an environmentalist who spent two years and 20 minutes inside of Biosphere 2, explains how challenging the experience could sometimes be.
The name Biosphere 2 comes from Earth’s biosphere, Biosphere 1, which is the only biosphere currently known. Biosphere 2 was built with to help give environmentalists a better understanding planet Earth, as well as to re-energize movements concerned with space travel and life on other planets. Poynter was one of the eight crew members to give up a substantial portion of their lives to live in Biosphere 2.
Poynter’s experience was eye-opening in many ways. In her testimonial, she points out: “In Biosphere 2, I totally understood that I had a huge impact on my biosphere, everyday, and it had an impact on me, very literally”. Scientifically, the experiment was enlightening; the scientists were able to gain invaluable hands-on experience with malleable life systems in a closed environment. Poynter had direct impact on the biosphere not only through the physical labor, but also just by breathing and circulating the oxygen and carbon-dioxide.
However, life in Biosphere 2 was often hard work, and things did not always run smoothly. In fact, at one point the structure started losing oxygen at a dangerous rate, and the crew had to resolve the situation before they ran out of oxygen altogether. Nonetheless, her experience had a lasting impact on her life – after Poynter finally emerged from the structure, she had a completely different outlook on the human existence.
Hopefully Biosphere 2 is only the beginning of these types of experiments. In the future, if we plan on exploring Mars and beyond, it is imperative that we are able to sustain life wherever we end up. Furthermore, these types of experiments help expand our knowledge of basic life systems and how we all fit into Earth’s composition.
Scientists at Delft University in the Netherlands have developed a self-healing polymeric material that is both reusable and durable, and can be our solution to make regular plastic bags obsolete. CB26KJW2DS54 Y23HY9RTZ79W
To read subtitles in your language, click , then scroll over .
Most people are aware of the ongoing crisis with plastic bag build up all over the world. Plastic is one of the hardest materials to recycle, and is not easily biodegradable. The average plastic bag has a lifespan of 20 minutes, before it is thrown away. This massive build up has had a negative effect on the environment, but in the future this will change.
Ever since the mass usage of plastic bags became an environmental problem, many stores have come up with some helpful solutions. Green-wise is a shopping bag that does not rip, and can be used over and over again, unlike those flimsy, thin plastic shopping bags that often break after the first use. Along with Greenwise bags, some superstores are giving consumers the choice to use paper bags as well.
A team of scientists at the Delft Centre for Materials, at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, led by co-chairman Sybrand van der Zwaag, have developed a thermally self-healing polymeric material which is made by using a simple and efficient processing method. This material can be reused countless times, and can save millions of tons of waste each year. This new type of plastic is hard, and allows ground up post consumer pellets of their invention to be turned into “virgin” materials at a higher temperature.
This material is an innovative way of solving the world’s waste problems, as it will allow for products to be easily recycled and reused.
, then scroll over 
.
