BY: JESSICA BEUKER A Canadian company has started bottling Rocky Mountain air and selling it to Chinese consumers. The idea started out as a joke, but since then has turned into a hot commodity as the first batch of 500…
Innovation
India’s living root bridges are both practical and beautiful (Photos)
BY: JESSICA BEUKER Meghalaya or “the abode of clouds,” in Northeast India is almost entirely covered in a beautiful lush forest that boasts an incredible biodiversity of mammals, birds and plants. Between the tall green mountains and the low tropical…
An MIT student dropped out to build a progressive university with no tests or tuition
BY: ALEX BROWN High tuition costs and disappointing career-returns from university degrees have lead many to seek an alternative to mainstream education. The problem with a lot of universities is that the programs are more theoretical than practical, lacking the…
Doctors may have discovered how to save 1 in 3 women from ovarian cancer
BY: SWIKAR OLI A 14-year study of over 200,000 women recently published in The Lancet may have brought us closer than we have ever been to screening for ovarian cancer. Effective ovarian cancer screening methods are badly needed, as current…
This eco-waterwheel will make Baltimore’s disgusting harbour swimmable and fishable by 2020
BY: ALEX BROWN By now, Baltimore residents have likely noticed the emergence of a popular new structure perched on the crest of their sprightly waterfront, and cumulating a minor celebrity following on Twitter. The name of the city’s newest addition?…
The Seabin is cleaning waterways so animals don’t have to swim in human garbage
BY: JESSICA BEUKER Andrew Turton and Pete Ceglinski from Australia have just created a floating rubbish bin, which not only collects garbage from polluted waterways, but also collects and removes oil, fuel and detergent. Created as a cheap alternative to…
This small portable box is powerful enough to be an emergency home power source
BY DANIKA MOIR Until recently, the only forms of solar energy that have been made available are big, bulky, and expensive. However, the company Inergy was able to cut their latest innovation, the Kodiak, to 75 per cent of the…
Kelly Slater just created the world’s greatest artificial wave, changing the surf world forever
BY: JONATHAN MOSS Buckle up your seatbelt kiddies because the Kelly Slater Wave Company spent nine years designing the longest artificial open-barrel wave ever to grace this side of the universe and just released footage of it in action. “This is…
How floating “science cities” will change the world
When we think of the future, our minds often go to hovering cars and teleportation- to science. We are slowly learning to put our faith in a better tomorrow through technology. But for some inspired scientists, this process is happening…
How an unlikely African country became the world leader of mobile money
BY: REGAN MCNEILL Since we already use our phones as computers, it is not surprising that they could replace our wallets too. We will most likely get there one day, but as of now we’ve only evolved to the point…
This eco-conscious community built earth ships & never had to pay utility bills again
BY: JOHNATHAN MOSS Why pay for electricity, heat, and water when Mother Nature provides wind, rain, and solar energy for absolutely free? This is the question that concerned Michael Reynolds as soon as he graduated architectural school in 1972. Reynolds…
India is handing out LED lights to its residents to save the country billions in energy costs
BY: SWIKAR OLI India’s Ministry of Power has announced a major plan to switch 20 million light bulbs to LED, which will save the country $890 billion a year. Switching to the new bulbs costs less than half of what…
This giant machine sucks CO2 from the atmosphere and recycles it back into gasoline
A Calgary-based company is currently working on a project that could suck massive quantities of C02 emissions right from the air. A fitting location for a company that wants to make carbon emissions obsolete. The prototype machine is currently at…
A cancer centre designed a hospital that brings control and normality back to patients’ lives
BY: JESSICA BEUKER Hospitals are not places that conjure up feelings of warmth and comfort. No, more often they are cold, sterile, with a feeling of helplessness lingering in the air. A hospital is a stress factory, everyone is anxious…
New “short story machines” help you pass time in a creative way while waiting for the bus
BY: JESSICA BEUKER Waiting—for the bus, for the subway, in a line-up—often feels irritatingly long. Most people whip out their smart phones or tablets to pass the time, aimlessly scrolling through Facebook and double-clicking every picture on their Instagram feed,…
This company will mail a pre-made earth-ship to your doorstep
Constructing your home to work with the earth has benefits that far outreach just the cost. Earth-ships are designed to use the soil as natural insulation, and to catch storm water, maintaining an optimal temperature while keeping the utilities costs…
This company will find your perfect adventure-mobile, customize it and deliver it to you
BY: ROB HOFFMAN Under the canopy of night, beneath the smeared light of the Milky Way and facing the red mountains of the south, a silver van sits alone in the vast desert landscape. The inside of the van has…
A $300 underground greenhouse offers a year-round DIY growing sanctuary
BY: EDITORS For growers unlucky enough to be living at high elevations or further than arms length from the equator, frost and cold relentless winds are constant enemies. Twenty years ago in the mountainous regions of South America, frustrated growers…
New 1,620 square foot prefab eco-home can be shipped and set up in only 3 days (Video)
BY: ROB HOFFMAN Ecological pre-fab houses and quick, efficient home design have recently piqued a wide interest—and why wouldn’t it? According to Tedd Benson, Unity Homes Founder, “We can build homes that are fossil fuel-free and affordable. We can build…
New home-sized composting unit easily converts waste into fuel for the green city-dweller
BY: JESSICA BEUKER For the city-dweller, composting can be an absolute pain in the ass. For example, I live in a townhouse in downtown Toronto, and I do not have a yard. My building only provides us with a communal…