The $300-billion fashion business is in the midst of an epic shake-up that is changing the way clothes are designed, marketed and purchased. The Internet — the same force that has splintered the media and music industries — is challenging the taste-making role of the fashion elite, a shift that is being accelerated by the [...]

Mankato, MN assesses its future needs
About 50 percent of Mankato kindergartners are not ready to start school. Unemployment rates in rural counties around Mankato remain some of the highest in the state. Violent crime appears to be showing up in the heart of normally safe communities.
The Greater Mankato community faces myriad social and economic problems, [...]

Taizo
On Thursday — shortly before the Japanese government released new statistics showing the nation’s centenarian population has reached an all-time high of more than 40,000 — researchers from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) unveiled a new humanoid robot designed to lead the elderly in physical exercises. (Video)
 

Two recent University of Rochester Medical Center studies don’t look good

Two recent studies point out alarming trends in childhood obesity – not only is the group of severely obese children getting larger, but parents don’t even see it. Between 1976 and 2004, the rate of severely obese children – those with BMIs at or above [...]

Sonea concept
The Sonea unit concept might look like some sort of ghetto blaster, but it gives back a portion of what it receives instead. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a machine that takes noise and convert it to energy for you to use it as you please.
 

Dentists near Charleston, W.Va., say pollutants in drinking water have damaged residents’ teeth.
Jennifer Hall-Massey knows not to drink the tap water in her home near Charleston, W.Va.   In fact, her entire family tries to avoid any contact with the water. Her youngest son has scabs on his arms, legs and chest where the bathwater — [...]

 
Home Energy Management System
Local power companies all over the country are helping to built a 21st century smart grid, complete with smart meters, which talk back to the grid, attached to your home. Control4 is getting ready to deploy its home Energy Management System (EMS) EC-100 so you can monitor and control not only your [...]

Joy riding around the nuclear power plant does have a few side effects
Every week we spend time finding and sorting through our top ten photos. And every week we end up with more than ten. Its not because we can’t count. Rather, it’s because we don’t think you can.  (Pics)
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The world faces a compounding series of crises driven by human activity, which existing governments and institutions are increasingly powerless to cope with, a group of eminent environmental scientists and economists has warned.  In today’s issue of the leading international journal Science, the researchers say that nations alone are unable to resolve the sorts of [...]