BY: MATTHEW CHIN A former executive of Tesla Motors now plans to revolutionize bus commuting in America. Ryan Popple began working at Tesla Motors as a senior finance analyst in late 2007, back when the company faced a financial crisis.…
Innovation
An Israeli startup just invented a tree that can charge your electronics with solar power
BY: TJ MOREY Humanity is finally embracing the prospect of harnessing the power of our sun. Solar energy is going through a period of constant program iteration, from giving it for free to poor households in California to using it…
NASA is developing a supersonic plane to halve flight times and reduce environmental impact
BY: MATTHEW CHIN NASA recently announced eight new studies to improve supersonic technology in order to become a more efficient, cheaper and relatively eco-friendly form of commercial air travel. The total of the eight studies equate to about $6 million.…
Baby-faced hipsters are dropping thousands of dollars on beard-transplants
BY: DANIEL KORN It’s a good time to be a dude with a beard. It used to be that a beard was a signifier of belonging to some sort of deviant subculture—a hippie, or a biker, or a metalhead. Now…
Will VR porn devices replace your girlfriend or improve your long-distance relationship?
BY:JOHNATHAN MOSS Three naked women sprawl out before me on the bow of a luxury yacht. One moans while clutching her legs behind her head. The other two, who are giggling and bouncing up and down, are sensually massaging her.…
A city in Canada tried giving free permanent housing to the homeless, and it’s working
BY: DANIEL KORN Since April 2009, the government of Medicine Hat—a city in Alberta—has instituted a Housing First solution to homelessness, which provides subsidized, permanent housing for the homeless. Out of the 1,000 homeless individuals that inhabit the city, 885…
A woman quit the NYC fashion scene to build these epic sustainable bamboo homes in Bali
There is a sustainable material that could be used to build houses that has the compressive force of concrete, the strength-to-weight ratio of steel, could be produced quickly, and lasts a lifetime. It’s not some sort of advanced artificial substance,…
This man built a floating solar-powered fortress made out of 150,000 recycled water bottles
BY: MATTHEW CHIN Off the cost of Isla Mujeres Bay in Cancun, Mexico, environmentalist and architect Richart Sowa lives comfortably on his island made of over 150,000 recycled water bottles. Sowa first built his floating abode in 2005, but harsh…
Introducing the dating app for women described as the “Anti-Tinder”
The three young women who founded the dating app, Coffee Meets Bagel, created a bit of a stir when they denied Mark Cuban’s record breaking offer of $30 million on Shark Tank. After closing a $7.8 million Series A financing…
The world’s most sustainable office runs entirely on solar panels and rainwater collection
BY: MATTHEW CHIN In the Netherlands, the world’s most sustainable building shows how the working environment can also be environmentally friendly. The Edge is a 40,000 square metre office building and the headquarters of Deloitte, a company that specializes in…
Giant rats are becoming highly-trained bomb detectors and saving African lives and limbs
BY: JESSICA BEUKER Sub-Saharan Africa, with its large deserts and deep valleys, is home to a diverse number of communities and villages. It is also home to the giant African pouched rat, a rodent that has become so ubiquitous in…
Artist couple built a cabin made of recycled windows in the West Virginia mountains for $500 (Video)
BY: ROB HOFFMAN In 2012, somewhere within the vast forests of West Virginia, Lilah Horwitz, and her boyfriend Nick Olson were huddled in a tent over a pot of rice and beans planning their way out of the rat race.…
New urban algae canopy produces as much oxygen as four hectares of woodland
BY: JESSICA BEUKER An urban canopy created with algae has got people talking about the link between technology and environment. According to Gizmag, the bio-digital structure pumps a fluid with microalgae around a transparent shelter, which in turn produces shade,…
NASA’s guide to the best air-filtering plants to have in your home
Maybe you’ve heard that having plants in your home is proven to increase happiness, and improve your attention span and even reduce fatigue at work. Even with these psychological benefits aside, there’s no denying the peaceful aesthetic of houseplants. One scarcely…
This solar-powered, recycled eco-house could float on your favorite coast
BY: MATTHEW CHIN Every sunny weekend, swarms of eager families take to the highway in a mad dash to the cottage. The beachfront cottage is a great getaway for a more relaxing escape, with the added benefits of living next…
8 reasons why living in a small space is the key to having a big life
An emerging movement of tiny house enthusiasts are working to reconcile the mistakes of generations past, where giant houses were once embraced as the ultimate symbol of achievement only to leave their owners as empty as the spaces they occupied.…
Ecocapsule is a portable, completely self-sustaining home that lets you live anywhere in the world
BY: JESSICA BEUKER Maybe your job requires you to travel or move around a lot, and you’re sick of living in hotel rooms with views of concrete parking lots. Maybe the pencil-pushing desk job has you thinking that you’re on…
New solar powered floating farm can produce 8,152 tonnes of vegetables and 1,703 tonnes of fish a year
Javier F. Ponce and his team recently developed a sustainable floating garden system, run off of solar power, and estimated to produce over 8,152 tonnes of vegetables and 1,703 tonnes of fish a year. Ponce is an architect and founder…
This start-up allows you to quit your job and become a working nomad
BY: MATTHEW CHIN In a job market with global unemployment feared to increase from the current 201 million unemployed by 11 million by 2019, the opportunity to work while travelling can feel far out of reach. With many workers feeling like…
Video games increase learning capacity, hand-eye coordination and response time
BY: AYA TSINTZIRAS Contrary to popular belief that video games can only have a negative effect on your brain and attention span, a new study has discovered the opposite: video games positively impact cognition, perception and attention. Researchers at the…