Toyota's Prius has remained the best-selling hybrid of all time even as competitors like Ford and GM step up the competition. But the Prius can't do it all--for anyone with a large family, it's just not big enough. Perhaps that's why Toyota is hatching a plan to produce a line of Prius vehicles, with either a wagon or SUV first in line for a mass rollout.
Few details have been released, but Toyota is reportedly thinking about installing a lithium-ion battery pack in the vehicle--a surprise considering that Toyota has repeatedly claimed that lithium-ion batteries aren't cheap or reliable enough for mass use. The new wagon/SUV will be bigger and heavier than the Prius sedan, and will likely have a larger power system (read: a larger battery pack).
Beyond those scraps of information, Toyota is staying mum. The new Prius could be a plug-in or a regular hybrid, and pricing is still up in the air--though Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper says that it will retail for about $22,000. But whenever Toyota decides to release the new, larger Prius, we can expect a rapid increase in the number of hybrid-owning soccer moms.
Global per capita food production has been steadily increasing for decades and the number of people who are overweight has surpassed the number who are undernourished. But according to the USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS), U.S. food insecurity is at its highest rate since the USDA first started reporting on the phenomenon in 1995. What's going on?
The ERS reports that in 2008, 14.6% of all U.S households had difficulty securing enough food at some point during the year, up from 11.1% in 2007. And 5.7% of all households had very low food security (eating patterns were disrupted at some point due to lack of food), up from 4.1% in 2007.
As you might expect, the main reason for the drop in food security is the economy. More layoffs means higher rates of poverty, and in turn more people who don't have enough food. The government has tried to put a band-aid on the problem with nutrition assistance benefits for the 36.5 million people who participate in the USDA's Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (AKA the Food Stamp Program) and the 31 million kids who participate in the USDA National School Lunch program. But it's obviously not enough.
One suggestion: Consider innovations originally designed for the developing world. PATH's Ultra Rice system, for example, stuffs vitamins and minerals into rice-shaped grains. When blended with traditional rice, the Ultra Rice drastically increases its nutritional value--a potential boon for families who are forced to rely on nutrient-poor meals from McDonalds. Innovations like Ultra Rice may not solve the food insecurity problem, but they can at least provide a boost to government assistance programs.
Why design computers when you can make toys? Scot Herbst, a hotshot Silicon Valley designer and one of the design minds behind the HP Touchscreen, teamed up with his wife to take on a gentler challenge in his spare time. The result: Kaiku Design, a company focusing on hand-built, natural toys.
Kaiku's focus is the little red wagon, a children's staple that hasn't been updated in decades. The remodeled Zen wagon isn't red, but it still looks like a whole lot of fun. Herbst's wagon features natural rubber air-filled tires, formaldehyde-free wood, non-toxic finishes, and weather and corrosion-resistant hardware. The same green features apply to the smaller PushPull wagon and the Strollkart, a wooden stroller for stuffed animals.
Kaiku's toys aren't cheap--the Zen retails for $319--but they'll probably make your kids the envy of all the other wagon-toters around.
First we looked at an architect that wants to build a massive artificial mountain in the middle of Berlin. Now comes word that the St. Louis Zoo has decided to replace its polar bears with electronic replacements. Um, what?
The zoo's last polar bear was euthanized after zookeepers discovered that she had cancer. The polar bear before her died after wolfing down too much plastic and cloth, and the one before her died from an infection. So instead of shelling out cash to buy another pricey, endangered polar bear, the zoo has installed a family of electronic polar bears in its empty display, courtesy of local holiday decoration company James Trogolo Co.
The ailing economy has affected zoos all over the country--the Bronx Zoo is losing its state funding and the Los Angeles Zoo has halted work on its $42 million elephant exhibit--and Obama's stimulus package has no provision for zoos. But are electronic polar bears the answer, even as a temporary fix?
Instead, zoos might want to consider cutting costs with solutions like Valcent's vertical farming system. The VertiCrop System, recently installed in England's Paignton Zoo, is expected to cut animal feed costs by $150,000 annually.
The Internet is ubiquitous in most parts of the US and Europe, but in reality, only 25% of the world population has access to the Web. That's why Tim Berners-Lee, the man widely credited with inventing the World Wide Web, set out to create The World Wide Web Foundation in 2008. Today, the foundation launches two initiatives to expand Internet access where it is needed most, with help from a $5 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
"It's the third story in Tim Berners-Lee's trilogy," explained Steve Bratt, the CEO of the Foundation. First came the World Wide Web Consortium, an organization that develops technical standards for the Web, and then Berners-Lee founded the research-oriented Web Science Trust. The Web Foundation brings a more human aspect to Berners-Lee's portfolio of organizations, starting with two major projects.
The Web Foundation has already received funding from the Free University of the Netherlands for a project with the Web Alliance for Regreening Africa that aims to give farmers in the Southern Sahara Desert the tools necessary to communicate easily with other farmers in the area. Residents of the Sahel have faced increasingly harsh weather due to climate change, and some particularly enterpising farmers have figured out ways to grow plants and trees that can thrive in this environment. "Previously, they had only been able to communicate through face to face meetings, often by busing in other farmers. We wanted to give them a digital bus," Bratt said.
So the Foundation is building out a voice XML system (the same system used in call centers) to allow illiterate farmers to navigate the Internet via cell phone. A separate system might allow farmers to access information using text messages. For example, a farmer could dial 1 for planting information or dial 2 for information on harvesting. Finally, the Web Foundation hopes to build regional call centers that act as hubs for information gathered by farmers in the Sahel.
The Web Foundation's second, as-yet unfunded project is a partnership with the Center for Digital Inclusion (CDI). The CDI already has 800 computer community centers in Latin America and the Middle East, which have until now focused on teaching Word, Excel, and search functions to participants. But the Web Foundation wants to extend the CDI's reach to teach teenagers how to create Web content, potentially also using voice XML technology. The CDI and Web Foundation partnership will take off in 5 pilot cities around the world.
Once Tim Berners-Lee's newest organization gets its first two projects off the ground, be on the lookout for more initiatives related to healthcare, illiteracy, disabilities, and web standardization. "We've been talking to a number of foundations and companies," Bratt said. "We're hoping that after our launch we'll be busy talking to other parties interested in working with us."
When Karen Armstrong, an author and former Catholic nun, won the 2008 TED Prize, she made a TED wish worthy of Mother Theresa: that a Charter of Compassion be drawn up with help from leading thinkers in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. A year and a half after Armstrong made her wish, the charter is a reality.
Armstrong's charter was written with input from thousands of people in more than 100 countries. In February, the Council of Conscience (a group including Tariq Ramadan, Rabbi David Saperstein, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Sheikh Ali Gomaa) put all the ideas together into a cohesive charter.
The text of Armstrong's document is available at the Charter for Compassion website, but promotion for the charter doesn't stop there. Yves Behar and his team at fuseproject designed more than 60 Charter for Compassion plaques to be placed at significant religious and secular locations around the world, and nearly 200 special religious services and events this weekend will feature the charter. Famous "affirmers" of the charter include the Dalai Lama, Paul Simon, Deepak Chopra, and Dave Eggers.
So what happens now that the Charter has been released? Armstrong hopes the document will "bring compassion back into the heart of society." A lofty goal, but a good place to start.
In news that will surprise, well, almost everyone, researchers from Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research say that it's possible to feed the world sustainably by 2050, when the planet's population is expected to balloon to more than 9 billion people. Perhaps most surprising of all, we can all still eat meat three times a week in good conscience. And according to the researchers, we can do all this and abandon the environmentally damaging intensive farming practices of Big Agriculture. Of course, there are number of "buts" in this scenario.
The biggest caveat of the Potsdam study is that world meat consumption has to decrease considerably. Sixty billion animals are raised for consumption every year--a figure that will double by 2050--and these animals drastically cut down on the land available for crop growth. That's not to say that everyone needs to give up meat altogether. On average, the researchers estimate that the proportion of animal protein in diets will have to decrease to 30%, compared to the global average of 38%. That relatively small decrease could free up millions of acres of cropland and pasture, cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce the pressure on factory farms to keep animals in close confinement. All for a few less trips to McDonald's every week.
The Potsdam report also recommends that we ditch pesticide-heavy farming methods and focus on organic agriculture, which could cut down on soil erosion and increase biodiversity. So while quality organic fruits and vegetables are currently relegated to expensive farmer's markets, even the world's poor could have access to organic produce if so-called "mainstream" agricultural research is redirected towards sustainability.
But is any of this likely to happen? If corporations like Monsanto and Cargill have their way, probably not. Agribusiness will have to be both ethical and profitable if the world's supply of food is to be secured.
Most DVDs have a pitiful lifespan of 2 to 5 years--certainly not enough time to make sure those family memories are stored for future generations. Start-up CranBerry LLC thinks it has a solution in its DiamonDisc, a DVD that last for 1,000 years.
The DiamonDisc, which is named after the diamond-like synthetic stone surface of the disc, holds 4.7 GB of data (2,000 pictures, 1,200 songs, 3 hours of video). Unlike standard DVDs that have a gold or silver reflective surface, the DiamonDisc has no reflective layer. According to ECMA-379 standard temperature and humidity testing (a test method for measuring the life of optical media), the unique qualities of the disc can withstand heat up to 176 F, deal with ultraviolet rays, and hold up to material deterioration.
It all sounds like a great way to reduce DVD waste, but few people will want to shell out the cash for the DiamonDisc--it costs $34.95 for a single disc and $149.75 for a five-pack. CranBerry does all the disc-burning itself, but the company's $4,995 burner is also on sale for data junkies. Once burned, however, the discs can play on any standard DVD player.
So who might have a use for the DiamonDisc? The government, of course. For archival purposes, a 1,000-year guarantee can't be beat.
The Chinese have been engineering the weather for years and plans to geoengineer the climate to delay climate change are in the works, so is it any surprise that a proposal to build a huge artificial mountain in Berlin is gaining public support?
Dubbed "the Berg", architect Jakob Tigges' 1,000-meter-high structure would be the largest artificial mountain in the world. If built, it would take the place of the now-defunct Tempelhof Airport, a massive, Naz-designed structure in the center of the city. In addition to being a tourist spot, the Berg would also act as a natural habitat for wildlife, provide new slopes for skiers, and contain challenging trails for hikers. As the Berg's manifesto puts it, "While big and wealthy cities in many parts of the world challenge the
limits of possibility by building gigantic hotels with fancy shapes,
erecting sky-high office towers or constructing hovering philharmonic
temples, Berlin sets up a decent mountain." Whether the Berg has a future, however, is debatable.
The Berg currently has 3,608 fans on Facebook, but financing could prove difficult--the possibility of finding, transporting, and constructing all the materials necessary for artificial mountain is daunting, to say the least. But it's an admirable idea, and one that shows the innovative lengths some people will go to to preserve nature.
Bridge safety has been a hot topic lately, mainly because of the recent Bay Bridge nightmare that saw a cracked load-bearing beam come crashing down onto rush-hour traffic. But amidst all the news of unstable steel beams, the U.S. Army has announced that it is constructing two bridges out of recycled plastic. And apparently, the bridges are strong enough to carry tanks.
The bridges, scheduled to be built as part of a $957,000 contract with Axion International Holdings, will replace old wooden bridges at Fort Eustis in Virginia. Both structures' railroad cross-ties will be made completely out of consumer and industrial plastic waste, and the 40- and 80-foot bridges will have a high-load rating of 130 tons.
Believe it or not, the Fort Eustis bridges aren't the first to be built out of recycled plastic. The Army has two Axion bridges at Fort Bragg and Fort Leonard Wood, and a 56-foot bridge in New Jersey's Wharton State Forest also contains recycled plastic components from the company.
Axion's recycled plastic bridge business isn't likely to slow down any time soon. The company claims that a bridge made from recycled plastic is 40% lighter and 25% to 30% cheaper than traditional bridges. Axion's bridges are also less energy-intensive than wood or steel models, and they don't need to be painted.
But can they withstand earthquakes? If they can, who knows--maybe one day the ailing Bay Bridge will be replaced with an all-plastic model.
