“All across the country, gas companies are poisoning water, tearing apart communities and destroying the American dream for thousands of families who can’t protect their children from what comes out of the tap.”
From Gizmodo: Gross Fluorescent Green Goo Spills In Dallas
From Ars Technica: Getting ready for the end of growth on Earth
Long Beach, California—Paul Gilding wants to scare us. He wants to scare us into acting before it’s too late. “The Earth is Full. Full of us, full of our stuff. Full of our waste,” he said during his TED talk. In financial terms, we live on the Earth like we are spending 50 percent more than we earn.
Gilding has been agitating for sustainability long before most people became aware of the concept, and he has a bleak message for the prospects of the free market. Our economy is not sustainable, and woefully unprepared for hitting the Earth’s limits. It’s not just a little bit over the limits of sustainability, either—we are way beyond that.
from Ars Technica
From Gizmodo: K-Cups Not Only Make Bad Coffee, They Make Bad Environments
I’m drinking coffee made by a K-Cup machine right now and it sucks. A lot. But alas, I’m too lazy to get a much better cup at the cafe around the corner. That said, after learning that all of those K-Cups are piling up in landfills—and not being recycled—I may have to reconsider. More »
from Gizmodo
From Gizmodo: Army’s New Hybrid Tank Targets Our Enemies and Soaring Oil Prices
All the military funding in the world won’t be able buy fuel when the world’s oil supplies are depleted. So the U.S. Army has commissioned a new hybrid electric tank that’s not unlike a war-friendly version of the Prius. More »
from Gizmodo
From Business and financial news – CNNMoney.com: Water bills to triple in some parts of the U.S.
Many consumers could see their water bills double or even triple, as the country attempts to overhaul its aging water system over the next 25 years.
From Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now: Thermoelectric “Power Felt” Fabric Lets You Sit on Your Phone to Power It
Power Felt Wake Forest University
A team from Wake Forest University’s Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials has created a new thermoelectric fabric they call Power Felt. It’s constructed of “tiny carbon nanotubes locked up in flexible plastic fibers,” though the final product looks and feels like fabric, and creates and electrical charge from changes in temperature–like, say, touching it with your hot finger, or sitting on it with your hot butt (hot in this case referring to temperature and thus wholly inoffensive science).
Thermoelectrics isn’t a new field, but it’s mostly been hampered by expensive materials that can cost up to $1,000 per kilogram. But Corey Hewitt, a graduate student at Wake Forest and member of the Power Felt team, says the new design could drastically bring down the price. For something small, like a cellphone case, the addition of Power Felt could cost as little as a dollar extra. And there are all kinds of possible applications, from apparel to car seats.
from Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now