The Ingenious System Bringing Water To The Chinese Desert
The Karez is a modern-day engineering marvel and a prime example of a native people working with, not against, the forces of nature to deliver their needs – in this case, water. Today, this system nourishes an area called Grape Valley, once an oasis for weary travelers along the Silk Road.
How To Make An Attractive City
Cities are a big deal. We pretty much all have to live in them. We should try hard to get them right. So few cities are nice, very few out of many thousands are really beautiful; embarrassingly the more appealing ones tend to be old, which is weird because we’re mostly much better at making things now.
The Story Of Freedom Ship
Back in the 1990’s a man started a project from a dream he had to build not only the largest ship ever conceived, but to combine a family cruise line, airport and residential community all in one. His dream carried on through decades after and now seemingly stalled, a new CEO is taken the helm.
Zoom Company Story: How Eric Yuan Defeated Skype
Chances are you’ve used some sort of video call with family, friends or even to school and most likely it’s been Zoom, the videoconference software has taken the world by storm. But in the presence of giants like Microsoft, Skype, Teams and Google Hangouts, why is everybody using Zoom?
What Would Happen If Earth Started To Spin Faster?
The equator spins at 1,037 mph, whereas Chicago takes a more leisurely (approximately 750 mph) pace. If we could speed up Earth’s rotation by one mile per hour, the sea level around the equator would rise by a few inches as water migrates there from the poles.
The equator spins at 1,037 mph, whereas Chicago takes a more leisurely (approximately 750 mph) pace. If we could speed up Earth’s rotation by one mile per hour, the sea level around the equator would rise by a few inches as water migrates there from the poles.
The Violent Eviction That Transformed San Francisco
In 1968, a group of predominantly Filipino elders in San Francisco launched a battle to protect their home from eviction. Their fight for their neighborhood would evolve into a nearly decade-long protest with thousands of supporters and become a symbol of the campaign for affordable housing for decades to come.
Meet Emma, Your Work Colleague Of The Future
Say hello to Emma, a life-sized representation of how we could look in 20 years’ time if we continue working with poor posture and inadequately set-up workstations. If left unchecked, by 2040, workers’ will be left with permanently bent backs caused by sitting hunched over a desk with poor posture for prolonged periods of time.
Teen Girl Invents Simple, Yet Innovative Way To Remove Blind Spots In Cars
Alaina Gassler built a prototype system with a webcam, projector, and 3D-printed materials to fill in the space the car frame blocks from drivers. She mounted the webcam outside the passenger side A-pillar on a car and then displayed the live video on the inside pillar from a projector.
Modern Slavery Of Disabled People In South Korea
30 Years A Slave: A moving report from South Korea where the police have rescued hundreds of modern-day slaves tricked into working on salt and seaweed farms on a chain of remote islands. Shockingly, many of those rescued have learning disabilities.
Billboard Uses Tire Screeching Sounds To Photograph Terrified Jaywalkers
An unusual billboard was recently set up at a crosswalk in France to promote pedestrian safety. Whenever a pedestrian was detected crossing while the “red man” light was on, the billboard would emit a loud tire screeching sound. A camera built into the billboard would then capture the terrified face of the jaywalker.
How Air Conditioning Created The Modern City
The shopping mall would have been inconceivable without air conditioning, as would the deep-plan and glass-walled office block, as would computer servers. The expansion of tract housing in postwar suburban America relied on affordable domestic air conditioning units.
A Shocking Campaign Uses Graphic Images To Point Out The Damage That Plastic Pollution Has On The Ocean’s Wildlife
A simple plastic bag seems harmless, but it can represent extreme suffering – and even death. Depicting this unfortunate truth through strong images, Sea Shepherd, an NGO focused on the conservation of marine wildlife, is launching a plastic awareness campaign.
How Japan Could Reinvent The Hotel
Smart use of space and a centuries-old hospitality industry have made Japan’s hotels pop. A new crop of lodging luring millennials might help define Japan’s post-Olympics, Airbnb era. Boutique, offbeat lifestyle hotels might just be the key to attracting a new kind of traveller – and retaining a competitive edge.
How Drug Companies Make You Buy More Medicine Than You Need
Drug companies make eyedrops too big — and you pay for the waste. The makers of cancer drugs also make vials with too much medication for many patients. The excess drugs are tossed in the trash — another reason health care costs are so high.
Robot Baby Gorilla Captures Never-Before-Seen Wildlife Behavior
Infiltrating a pack of Silverback Mountain gorillas might seem like an impossible task, but a team of filmmakers did just that with the help of a robot baby gorilla. Nicknamed “spy gorilla,” the lifelike replica recorded never-before-seen footage of apes singing, fighting, and even farting in the jungles of Uganda.
Could Air-Conditioning Fix Climate Change?
Air conditioning systems can replace the entire air volume in an office building five or 10 times an hour. Machines that capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere—a developing fix for climate change—also depend on moving large volumes of air. So why not save energy by tacking the carbon capture machine onto the air conditioner?
The Dollhouses Of Death That Changed Forensic Science
Frances Glessner Lee created dollhouses with dead dolls. Her miniatures significantly advanced forensics and forensic science, but they aren’t just CSI curios – they’re complex, confounding works of art that manage to be morbid and beautiful at the same time.
Unearthed Photos Reveal What Happened To Those Who Dared To Flee Through The Berlin Wall
The US filmmaker Scott Calonico obtained a cache of photographs from security service records of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). One sequence in these never-before-seen images shows the arrest of a West German couple and the East German family they were trying to smuggle out in the boot of their car on 3 September 1988.
Can A Desert Be Reclaimed For Human Habitation?
Despite horrific sandstorms and arid soil, Han Meifei is among those seeking to rejuvenate the land. His innovative procedures have developed ways of growing plants without water, preventing the dry desert from spreading, and preserving the seeds of plants close to extinction for a greener future.
You Can Hike To A 1950s Plane Wreck In Alaska’s Talkeetna Mountains
The Bomber Glacier is aptly named. It comes from the wreckage of a TB-29 Superfortress that crashed on the glacier at the end of a training mission in 1957, killing six of the 10 crewmembers. The airplane, strewn across the ice, has sat where it touched down for more than 60 years ago.
After 30 Years, Hubble Is Still Revealing New Mysteries Of The Universe
Operating far past its expected life span, the telescope captures data that answer some of space’s biggest questions—and make glorious images. “One of Hubble’s lasting achievements will be how it showed the public the wonders of the universe.”