BY: AYA TSINTZIRAS An industrial design student in Vienna has created a product that uses the air’s moisture to fill a water bottle attached to a bike, but he has higher hopes than just fuelling bike riders travelling long distances:…
Innovation
Meet the chef whose restaurant uses discarded food to feed the homeless instead of landfills
BY: MATTHEW CHIN One third of the food produced in the world is wasted, amounting to approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of waste stuffing landfills every year. In addition, 13.5 per cent—or 805 million people in the world—don’t have enough food and…
The DIY greenhouse of the future offers a year-round private oasis
BY: ROB HOFFMAN Francis Gendron recently launched a DIY sustainable greenhouse guide that makes it possible for anyone to construct their own indoor garden-house, built entirely out of recycled and natural materials, and powered entirely by renewable sources. Gendron’s guide…
Young entrepreneurs are saving the rainforest with an incredible new alternative to coffee
BY: MATTHEW CHIN If you’re an avid coffee drinker, you might be disappointed to find out that every cup you drink destroys roughly 3cm2 of pristine rainforest. The Amazon is also one of the world’s largest producers of coffee, and…
This bandaid could replace vaccinations and save millions of lives
BY MATTHEW CHIN The doctor’s office is always a source of anxiety and fear, especially when there are needles involved. Needles are undesirable, especially when immunizations can cost upwards of $200 if you are travelling. Fear and the cost of needles…
This former NASA engineer will use drones to plant 1 billion trees a year to save the world’s forests
BY: MATTHEW CHIN Deforestation is one of the largest contributors to global warming, with the forestry industry valued at $606 billion globally, according to the UN Food and Agricultre Organization. Not only are forests being cut down, but much of…
In the next few decades, babies could be born from artificial wombs outside the body
BY: DANIEL KORN Ectogenesis is the process of raising a fetus in an artificial womb outside the body. According to a 1987 paper by David N. James, the term was coined by British pop biologist J.B.S. Haldane in 1924. The…
Welcome to Henn-na, the world’s first robot-staffed hotel
BY: DANIEL KORN It’s probably best to just accept the fact that the world we live in IS the future envisioned by 1960’s science fiction writers. One signifier of this is the increasing use of robots as human replacement, as…
By wearing this small sticker, humans can now harness the power of telekinesis
BY: ZOE MELNYK There are currently designs in circulation for a small adhesive sticker device that will monitor users’ brain functions and use the brain’s activity to access and utilize the devices around oneself. That’s right, we’re talking about telekinesis…
Audi just invented a renewable fuel source from water and CO2
BY DANIEL KORN I don’t have to explain to you why gasoline is a crappy way to power cars, right? We can all just agree that a new fuel method is important to the future of our planet? Okay, great.…
Mining asteroids for resources has become a very real possibility
BY: ZOE MELNYK Images by: Bryan Versteeg and SpaceHabs.com With limited resources on Earth, private business and countries around the world are starting to consider the possibility of mining asteroids. It seems far-fetched to imagine that we’ll resort to space travel…
Revolutionary three-storey plane will be the first to fly with zero carbon emissions
BY: ZOE MELNYK A new plane could be taking off in the next fifteen years that will hold up to 800 people, use ultra light and noiseless material, and—believe it or not—release no trace of carbon emissions into the atmosphere.…
Tearing down freeways revitalizes wildlife, parks and public spaces without affecting traffic
BY: DANIEL KORN In 1956, construction began on the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defence Highways, named after the 34th President of the United States who championed its construction. Its original portion was finally completed 35 years…
Woman designs a device that converts your dog’s poo into home-electricity
BY: MATTHEW CHIN Could man’s best friend also be our homes’ main energy supply? Océane Izard, a Geneva School student studying her masters in Spaces and Communication is working on making that possible. Izard designed a product whimsically entitled Poo-Poo…
Freight Farms are the portable, weather-proof future of food supply
BY: ZOE MELNYK Typically, when you think of a farm you see acres and acres of open fields filled with some kind of wheat or corn and when you see a farmer, it’s generally someone driving a tractor with plaid…
New edible water blobs are an environmentally-friendly alternative to plastic bottles
BY: DANIEL KORN Everyone pretty much agrees that bottled water is awful. Aside from the ludicrousness of being sold a natural resource for 1,000 times the cost of getting it from a tap, the phenomenon comes with an astounding number…
Architects design an eco-house that’s the environmental equivalent of planting over 6,000 trees
BY: DEXTER BROWN Australian prefabricated building company ArchiBlox has built what they call “the world’s first carbon-positive prefabricated house,” according to Dezeen Magazine. The Carbon Positive House, as it’s known, was designed to make more energy than it uses, and it drew international attention…
A potential bridge between Russia and Alaska could lead to the ultimate road trip
BY: ZOE MELNYK The ultimate road trip stretching from New York City all the way to London could be possible if Russia’s plans work out to build a mega highway connecting Russia’s easternmost border with Alaska’s westernmost border. The idea…
The Nimbus e-Car is the eco-friendly hippie van of the future
BY: DANIEL KORN Like most kids who grew up with the benefit of having older siblings, I watched a lot of The Simpsons when I was probably a bit too young to understand certain things about the show, the most…
IKEA designs pre-made tiny-homes to send to refugee camps around the world
BY: ZOE MELNYK IKEA recently announced plans to send 10,000 out-of-the-box-ready refugee shelters to people in need around the world. Working with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, IKEA’s foundation called Better Shelter will be providing more sustainable homes for struggling…