Carbon capture may be in its infancy, but it'll need to grow quickly if we're to rely on it to mitigate global climate change. The Carbon XPrize currently has ten teams competing for the $20 million purse prize. The goal is to transform captured carbon into products that can be used in the built environment, or as alternative fuels, or commercially available items.
HQ by WeWork Ditches Kombucha, Keeps Short Term Leases
If it seems WeWork couldn't possibly do more with the modern office, think again. The $20 billion company realizes that for some of its tenants who represent established companies, such as Microsoft or Facebook, the built-in culture that WeWork offers isn't what's needed. For that reason they created HQ by WeWork, a pared-down arrangement with less staff and minimal WeWork branding.
Carbon May Be Humanity’s Best Bet Against Climate Change
One of the most ambitious fights against global warming today is being fought on the carbon capture and sequestration front. Instead of viewing carbon as a problem, entrepreneurs across many sectors are viewing carbon as an economic and environmental opportunity.
Decades ago, nuclear power was at the forefront of clean, renewable energy. Today, however, it's plagued by all sorts of bad press and logistical nightmares. But nuclear energy looks like a promising alternative to fossil fuels once again with a bold new concept: floating power plants.
Monthly Subscription Service Comes for the Automobile Industry
Music and movies are available with just a press of a button thanks to modern technology. Now imagine that instantaneous convenience applied to cars. That's what a handful of car subscription services, which would allow customers country-wide to change automobiles as frequently as they skip songs, are angling to fully develop over the coming years.
So Apparently Robo-Bees Are a Thing
Robo-bees may sound like our worst nightmare, but they could be a dream come true for the endangered insects and their human saviors. A group of European scientists developed robotic bees to learn how other social animals communicate and maybe one day use that knowledge to influence their survival rates. The experiment was also conducted on zebra fish, opening up an avenue to save aquatic animals, too.
Public transit: it’s ubiquitous, divisive, and apparently meme-worthy. Numtots, or members of the Facebook group “New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens,” are an international group of millennials whose big ideas about improving city life all use the Internet’s favorite means of communication. Although seemingly niche, the group has over 100,000 active members.
Japanese High Schoolers Recreate the Bombing of Hiroshima in Terrifying Virtual Reality
For the first time in human history, it’s possible to stand in the middle of a nuclear blast and remain unscathed. Students at Fukuyama Technical High School produced a five-minute VR experience that shows what it was like immediately before, during, and after the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The production took two full years to complete.
High Heel–Related Foot Pain May Soon Be a Thing of the Past
High heels are both beautiful and colossally painful to wear, but not for much longer! Podiatrist Marion Parke has invented a new kind of heel that promises both luxury and comfort. Her eponymous startup's designs have made it past the drawing board and into production, thanks in part to funding by the owners of Minnetonka Moccasin shoe company and several high-end Italian leather manufacturers, who were eager to inject some innovation into a product that hasn't seen much change in centuries.
The medical X-ray has come a long way since late 19th century. MARS, a father-son-helmed bio-imaging company, moves the technology forward into today with the world’s first full-color 3-D X-ray. It can distinguish between bone, cartilage, soft tissue, muscle, and metal with ease, and the images it produces are startling in their detail and clarity.
The Wall-E of Water Arrives to Clean Up Our Ocean-Bound Trash
Ocean plastic is a serious problem and humans are scrambling to turn the tide in the battle for oceanic cleanliness. The ban on plastic straws is one way to stop some of the trash, but that's only a small piece of the puzzle. Waste Shark, an aquatic drone, may be a more successful solution, designed to pick up as much as 770 pounds of trash over a 16-hour work day.
The Best New HIV Defense May Exist in a Grain of Rice
An international team of scientists may have created the first wonder GMO. They developed a new strain of rice that could help prevent HIV. The creation could mean a cheap miracle for developing countries with high HIV rates.
Talk about hanging out. But not if you’re prone to vertigo. Monade Capsule, a prototype that debuted during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, is Alice Bleton’s response to “office workers needing a private spot away from the office where they can re-engage with the outdoors,” she notes.
Kiss L.A. Traffic Goodbye With Electric Double-Decker Buses
Think double-decker buses are only for sightseeing? Alexander Dennis is eschewing that stereotype by introducing North America’s first electric double-decker transit bus to Southern California next year. The manufacturer’s Enviro500 model, which will soon help alleviate traffic between the San Gabriel Valley and Los Angeles, will sport a Proterra E2 battery that enables a travel distance of up to 200 miles per charge.
The Sky Is the Limit for Aston Martin
When it comes to personal mobility, luxury automobile manufacturers are reaching for the stars. At the Farnborough Air Show, Aston Martin debuted Volante, a conceptual three-seat vehicle sporting a hybrid-electric power train that allows vertical take-off and landing. It’s strictly hypothetical for now—the British luxury sports car manufacturer needs to clear a multitude of legislative roadblocks before officially launching—but the idea paints a bright picture for the future of air travel.
