Despite what some right-wingers would have you think, we’re making quick work of the planet. (Check out J Henry Fair’s environmental photos for some arresting evidence.) Swapping out incandescent bulbs for energy-saving CFLs can only do so much; if we’re to stave off devastation, we're going to need more radical, holistic approaches to sustainability. Philips, the Dutch electronics company, has one such game-changing idea: the Microbial Home, a domestic ecosystem that harnesses biological processes to break down waste and convert it into energy. Read More »

Ever since Diller Scofido & Renfro unveiled their sexy new rehab of Lincoln Center, the place has been a magnet for surprising design: Wet’s frisky fountain, Fashion Week’s footwear fetishists, the bizarre spectacle of super-slow dancers Eiko + Koma emerging like wraiths from the reflecting pool.

But it was still surprising to wander down Broadway late last week and find a 123 x 12 foot digital wall sloping down below street level displaying what looked like a bathtub’s worth of blue LED bubbles draining into the parking garage.

For all the talk about inner-city gardens and farms sprouting off the side of skyscrapers, growing and eating your dinner in the same place is still a pipe dream for most city dwellers. Leave it to the endlessly progressive Dutch to bring large-scale urban food production closer to reality.

Two words: Beer garden. Okay, and some other stuff, too.

Inspired by MIT's much-publicized One Laptop Per Child, the program sought an affordable housing solution for areas hit by natural disasters. And like OLPC, it revised its target price.