Funny monkey experiment Posted on February 7, 2012 in Humor If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or follow us on Facebook or Twitter . Thanks for visiting! Rate this Post Loading ... So... Check this out on our Partner Network MIT Student Develops $3 Cutting-Edge Healing Device, Field Tested in Haiti No one really knows why, but for an open wound, simply applying suction dramatically speeds healing times. (The theory is that the negative pressure draws bacteria out, and encourages circulation.) But for almost everyone, that treatment is out of reach--simply because the systems are expensive--rentals cost at least $100 a day and need to be recharged every six hours. No more. Danielle Zurovcik, a doctoral student at MIT, has created a hand-powered suction-healing system that costs about $3. The device is composed of an airtight wound dressing, connected by a plastic tube to a cylinder with accordion-like folds. Zurovcik originally intended to field-test the device in Rwanda, but then the Haiti Earthquake struck. Currently, Zurovcik is verifying the healing benefits of the device, and developing a new model that can be readily carried and concealed. [Top image: Melanie Gonick/MIT; Bottom image: Patrick Gillooly/MIT]
Energy Companies Say One Thing, Do the Opposite on Climate Change Many large corporations are saying one thing and doing another on climate change, the Union of Concerned Scientists found in a study released Wednesday. The group examined the role that 28 publicly-traded companies played in two significant efforts to address climate change: the EPA's finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health, and the 2010 ballot initiative in California to suspend the state's own climate law. (Here are links to the executive summary and the full report). UCS found that many oil and electric companies were actively engaged in efforts to obstruct climate policy. Other companies were less straightforward about their positions. ConocoPhillips, another oil giant, touted on its website that it "recognizes that human activity … is contributing to increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that can lead to adverse changes in global climate." The report isn't all bad news.
Long Island City lab on cutting edge of urban farming with aquaponic system Christie Farriella for New York Daily News Rael Clarke works in his aquaponics lab in Long Island City where he grows heirloom vegetables and tilapia using a water-based system. A former Abercrombie & Fitch model has become a pioneering urban farmer without trading in his preppy clothes for overalls. Rael Clarke, the 24-year-old owner of LOFT LIC, transformed a Long Island City office into a laboratory where organic vegetables and fish are grown using an eco-friendly aquaponics system. Clarke plans to turn the system into a business that sets up the water and space-saving designs on rooftops and vacant lots across the city. He is trying to raise $6,000 by March 1 on the fundraising website kickstarter.com for the project. “My plan is to spread the knowledge of how to grow your own food,” Clarke said. The growing system builds on the local food movement that has spawned urban farms and greenhouses all over the city. The waste becomes food for the plants once they sprout.
Liquid to Light! Designer Ed Chew takes a green step in the right direction with the TetraBox lamp, a light object made from discarded drink packets that would have otherwise ended up in landfills already packed to the brim. The design is achieved by unfolding the packets and refolding them into hexagonal and pentagonal sections that are then pieced together to form a geodesic sphere or any other desired shape. Here, the Epcot-like ball makes an attractive overhead light and casts an impressive web of shadows and shapes on the surrounding space. Designer: Ed Chew Top 40 Useful Sites To Learn New Skills The web is a powerful resource that can easily help you learn new skills. You just have to know where to look. Sure, you can use Google, Yahoo, or Bing to search for sites where you can learn new skills , but I figured I’d save you some time. Here are the top 40 sites I have personally used over the last few years when I want to learn something new. Hack a Day - Hack a Day serves up fresh hacks (short tutorials) every day from around the web and one in-depth ‘How-To hack’ guide each week.eHow - eHow is an online community dedicated to providing visitors the ability to research, share, and discuss solutions and tips for completing day-to-day tasks and projects.Wired How-To Wiki - Collaborate with Wired editors and help them build their extensive library of projects, hacks, tricks and tips.
Live Green - Ditch the Traditional Planter and Hang Your Plants Like Artwork! Turn your walls into living pieces of art with these plants in a pocket! We’ve shared with you a few ways that you can “green” your walls, such as how a damaged chopping block can become beautiful wall art, the cool designs of Wall Flats 3D wallpaper and where the recycled wallpaper wild things are. Well, here’s a way that you can literally green your walls…with live plants! Miguel Nelson, artist and founder of WoollyPocket.com, happily introduces Wally, the modular living wall system that you can put up just about anywhere. Wallys are vertical felt wall planters that are made from recycled plastic bottles. Here’s how they work: Here’s what one pocket looks like: Here’s founder Miguel Nelson with his design: Photos from woollypocket.com The Woolly Pocket website also features the Wee Woolly (a plant pocket smallest enough to fit on a table) and the Meadow (the “momma pocket” that’s great for growing vegetable gardens). Who would have guess that plants in a pocket could be so cool?
U.S. Sees Hottest 12 Months And Hottest Half Year On Record: NOAA Calls Record Heat A One-In-1.6-Million Event By Joe Romm "U.S. Sees Hottest 12 Months And Hottest Half Year On Record" The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released its chart-filled “State of the Climate Global Analysis” for June 2012: The big stories are the heat and drought: The average temperature for the contiguous U.S. during June was 71.2°F, which is 2.0°F above the 20th century average. How off-the-charts has the last year been? During the June 2011-June 2012 period, each of the 13 consecutive months ranked among the warmest third of their historical distribution for the first time in the 1895-present record. As meteorologist Dr. UPDATE: NOAA did the math inappropriately in multiple respects. Like a baseball player on steroids, our atmosphere has been “juiced” with human emissions of greenhouse gases, which means we are going to be breaking heat records at an “unnatural” pace for a long, long time. How extreme has the weather been in 2012? The U.S. Here’s the chart: This does not bode well for US crops.
Moss graffiti making tips Posted on February 23, 2012 in Humor If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or follow us on Facebook or Twitter . Thanks for visiting! Rate this Post Loading ... So... Check this out on our Partner Network Save Food from the Fridge by Jihyun Ryou Although we seem to think and talk about food almost constantly, do we really know how best to preserve it or do we leave this responsibility to technology? Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Jihyun Ryou feels we no longer understand how to treat food. Her Save Food from the Fridge project involves placing certain foods on a group of "knowledge shelves" outside the fridge. The ethylene gas produced by apples keeps potatoes from sprouting. Storing root vegetables vertically keeps them fresher longer. The umpteen tiny holes on the surface of an eggshell allows odors from other foods to be absorbed, so keeping them out of the fridge will ensure their tastiness. The glass cup of water is used to test freshness: a fresh egg will sink and remain horizontal. Fruit vegetables such as zucchini, aubergines, peppers and cucumbers are better off outside the fridge, placed above a water tray. The humidity from spices, however, can be absorbed by rice so that they will not clump.