The Smart-Pack is the latest travel backpack looking to stand out in a crowded field, and it’s bringing specially designed compartments and openings, durable materials, anti-theft mechanisms and built-in wireless charging for your phone to help catch your eye. So far, it seems to have worked – the bag has blown through its Kickstarter crowdfunding goal many times over, with […]
Smart-Pack
Self Cleaning Concrete
Like anything else, concrete structures get dirty over time, and it’s a hassle to clean them. Such chores may soon no longer be necessary, however, as scientists have developed what they claim is a self-cleaning concrete that isn’t heavy – or weak. Generally speaking, self-cleaning materials work by incorporating hydrophobic (water-repelling) surfaces that cause liquid to bead up and roll off. […]
Ponix Farms
“We believe everybody should have access to fresh food,” Michael Choi, CEO of Ponix Farms tells me over the phone. Ponix is a New York City-based “food utility company” — only up and running in Atlanta, so far — that creatively uses hydroponics technology to grow produce in solar-powered container farms, not unlike shipping containers. Ponix’s primary goal is to establish […]
Cellulose Membranes To Protect Pacemakers
It’s an unfortunate fact that pacemakers do need to be surgically replaced every five years or so, before their battery runs out. The procedure could soon be considerably easier and safer, though, thanks to a membrane that goes around the implant. As a pacemaker sits inside a patient’s body, fibrotic tissue grows on its smooth surface over time. If that […]
Oftentimes, less is more — like when you can carry a coin purse instead of a weighty bag. When it comes to coats and jackets, choosing a light-yet-durable option is best, so you don’t find yourself in a mummy-tight arctic coat when all you really need is a lightweight, waterproof shell. That is where the Maium Lightweight Parka comes in […]
Cactus Leather Eco Fabric
There are so many fashion brands on the market making gorgeous vegan leather goods that are totally animal-free — but most of those brands use plastic-derived materials to achieve the look. However, a new brand out of Mexico called Desserto is shaking things up by turning nopal cactus leaves into organic, all-natural, cruelty-free leather. Desserto is the first cactus-based leather […]
Sustainable Denim
Recipes are typically for meals (and occasionally, disaster). But in the world of sustainable denim, there’s a recipe behind every garment — and more often than not, that recipe comes from Candiani Denim. Founded in 1938 in Milan and known as “the greenest mill in the blue world,” Candiani is responsible for the sustainable denim offerings you’ve seen at numerous brands, […]
Smart Contacts
The notion of wearing lenses over our eyes to correct our vision dates back hundreds of years, with some even crediting Leonardo da Vinci as one of the first proponents of the idea (though that remains somewhat controversial). Material science and our understanding of the human eye have come a long way since, while their purpose has remained largely the […]
Cleaning Up Rivers With Interceptor
Each day, an estimated 8 million pieces of plastic enter the world’s oceans. Interestingly, one of the main ways trash physically travels from land into the ocean is via rivers — in fact, The Ocean CleanupCEO Boyan Slat calls rivers “the arteries that carry waste from land to the ocean.” So for that reason, The Ocean Cleanup is working to […]
Are GMOs Sustainable?
The topic of GMOs has become a hot-button issue in recent years. Having only existed for a few decades, there is still so much to learn about genetically modified organisms and how sustainable and safe they are for the planet, for people, and for animals. Read on for a breakdown of everything you need to know about the controversial topic, […]