Eyes see you!
Thankfully, the Anomalocaris is extinct, because there’s no hiding from this Cambrian superpredator. Scientists examinning the 515-million-year-old fossil of this unusual animal discovered that it has upwards of 16,000 eyes…
Continue reading… “When predator with 16,000 eyes roamed the earth”
Construction has been hit the hardest.
Jordan Weismann of the Atlantic puts together a graph that shows how construction had the worst percentage loss of jobs in the country, over one in four jobs lost in total. He writes…
Continue reading… “Green Building is key to rebooting the economy”
More virtual classrooms coming soon!
Some readers may be familiar with Khan Academy, an awesome eLearning platform that offers students, self-starters and everyone in between the opportunity to learn at their own pace by watching instructive videos on subjects that range from arithmetic to physics. The non-profit startup has been growing like gangbusters of late, and now has more than 2,600 videos in its library. To date, Khan Academy has largely focused on math and science learning, but the startup plans to use new funding to expand into the humanities, and develop curricula for a blended physical and virtual academic experience…
Continue reading… “Late Nite Labs to bring virtual science education to campuses”
Greenpeace activists shout slogans during a protest.
The UK has spent more than $938.7 million on securing an international agreement on climate change and promoting green technologies in developing countries since April 2006, according to Government spending reports.
Solar Impulse
Pictured above is proof that alternative energy sources are a viable way to replace the fossil fuels we have been dependent on for so long. Called the Solar Impulse it’s the creation of Bertrand Piccard, the grandson of Auguste Piccard who invented a pressurized gondola that allowed him to travel 50,000 feet into the air… in 1931.
You can see the pedigree that Bertrand comes from and understand his drive to push limits and explore things previously thought to be impossible. His goal for the Solar Impulse was to create the world’s first solar-powered plane that could travel both day and night, an interesting prospect since there are no solar rays to collect at night…
Continue reading… “Solar Impulse, the first solar-powered plane to fly both day and night”
Ruins of the Mayan city of Palenque.
If you are worried the world will end next year based on the Mayan calendar, you can relax. The end of the world is still far off.
Continue reading… “Mayan tablet does not predict end of world in 2012: experts”
A new record tower.
If you’re afraid of heights, this may be a story you want to skip. The Guinness Book of World Records recently certified that the tallest tower in the world is indeed the Sky Tree which stands in Tokyo, Japan. A work in progress since 2006, the Sky Tree was constructed to be a radio and television tower while at the same time helping to revitalize tourism after the earthquakes and tsunami the country experienced. Sporting two observation decks, at 1,148 feet and 1,476 feet, tourists are guaranteed to get a spectacular view of the city.
Measuring in at 2,080 feet, the tower cost $440 million to construct. It has thirteen elevators, a restaurant, and shopping. What is interesting is that because it has less than 50% usable floor space, it fell into a different category with Guinness than the Burj Khalifa building in Dubai. It’s because the Sky Tree is technically not a building but a tower, it captured it’s own world record…
Continue reading… “Japan hopes world’s tallest tower will boost tourism”
AT&T will have less of a monopoly now.
FCC chairman, Julius Genachowski, issued a draft statement yesterday lashing out against AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile, calling its concentration of the wireless market contrary to the public interest. He’s also requested an administrative hearing, placing the onus on AT&T to prove the deal benign to wireless consumers…
Continue reading… “FCC Chief puts the kibosh on AT&T/T-Mobile merger”
The average number of links from one arbitrarily selected person to another was 4.74.
Scientists at Facebook and the University of Milan are adding a new chapter to the research that cemented the phrase “six degrees of separation” into the language. They have reported that the average number of acquaintances separating any two people in the world was not six but 4.74.
Continue reading… “4.74 degrees of separation – the world is smaller than you thought”
Futurist Thomas Frey: Warren Buffet owns many things, but so far owning his own country is not one of them.
Continue reading… “Could Warren Buffet Buy Italy?”
The Nesjavellir Geothermal Power Plant in Þingvellir, Iceland.
In absolute terms, lithium is not particularly rare on Earth. It’s the 25th most abundant element, close to nickel and lead. Bolivia alone is estimated to have enough lithium to make batteries for 4.8 billion electric cars, and since lithium is not destroyed in use – unlike fossil fuels – old batteries can be recycled into new ones, or used to smooth out the output of wind farms.
So the question isn’t: Will we have enough lithium? Rather, it’s more like: As demand for it explodes, can we ramp up production rapidly enough, at a low enough cost, and while keeping it as environmentally-friendly as possible. It’s still probably going to be much better to make a battery once and then use it for years with progressively cleaner electricity (as the grid incorporates more and more renewable energy) rather than fill up a gas tank with non-renewable fossil fuels from halfway around the world every week, but even in that scenario, it’s going to be better if we can get the lithium cleanly and close to where we’ll use it. That’s where geothermal power plants enter the picture…
Continue reading… “Geothermal power plants could be a massive source of Lithium for batteries”
GreenBottle in action.
To drink or not to drink..from a bottle that isn’t glass, that is the question. A UK company has invented the world’s first paper wine bottle. But will purists drink wine from it?
Continue reading… “Will purists drink wine from a cardboard bottle?”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.