Tag: #59

Hidden cities are being uncovered deep within the rainforest. Yet somehow our traffic lights don’t recognise queues of vehicles due to fixed programming and induction loops. Now, a German research team specialising in industrial automation hopes to change all that. In a test project at one junction high resolution cameras and radar technology capture the number of vehicles present....

Our needs change as we age. Take our living arrangements, for example, or women going through the menopause. But what about later? Well, a Canadian research institute is dedicating itself exclusively to the health of older women. With both existing research and data sparse, the founding director, a respected geriatrician and scientist, took the decision to establish her own...

We’ve seen football jerseys from coffee grounds and electricity from oranges. Now, a Swiss research team is turning leftover fruit and vegetables into hydrogen and biochar in a flash. First banana- and orange peel, corn cobs or coffee beans are dried and ground. Next the resulting powder is heated and evaporated with a high energy Xenon flash lamp. The...

There are biodegradable flags and environmentally-friendly colours for jeans. Meanwhile a fourth-generation owner of an Italian family-run textile company has shown that stretch jeans can be sustainably manufactured too. The new yarn contains natural rubber instead of oil-based elastane. His jeans are fully biodegradable and can even be used as fertiliser for raw materials such as cotton. After 3...

France decided to reduce waste from electronic devices. Rare earths are crucial components, but hard to recycle sustainably. Now, an Iranian research team is leveraging a scientific phenomenon that is supercritical, literally. Similar to a pressure cooker, water or organic solvents are subjected to extreme heat at high pressure and thus don’t change into steam. The resulting supercritical fluid...

People with disabilities can check where their needs are enshrined in law and what support is available when travelling. Now, the city of Asheville, North California, has launched a Climate Justice Data Map with the aim of handling local climate threats better. Clicking on a neighbourhood or typing in an address leads to a risk assessment on a scale...