Municipalities regularly have to check for pollution in local waterways, often utilizing crews of workers in boats. The new Nixie system is intended to make things much quicker, simpler and ultimately cheaper, using a water-sampling drone instead. Developed by New York-based startup Reign Maker, the hardware end of the setup consists of the pole-like Nixie Base sampling device, that has […]

How many tubes of toothpaste do you think you’ve used in your life? Think of a number. Now, think of the fact that it takes the average tube of toothpaste 500 years to break down. When you factor in all the tubes you’ve used and all the tubes everyone else you know has used, it adds up to an environmental […]

Solar stills can be a very useful way to produce drinking water from dirty or salty water, but there’s plenty of room for improvements in efficiency. Now, engineers at Virginia Tech have developed a “synthetic tree” inspired by mangroves, that mimics the natural process of transporting water up through roots and stems into leaves. The basic design of a solar […]

Norway’s Wind Catching Systems (WCS) has made a spectacular debut with a colossal floating wind turbine array it says can generate five times the annual energy of the world’s biggest single turbines – while reducing costs enough to be immediately competitive with grid prices. Standing more than 1,000 ft (324 m) high, these mammoth Windcatcher grids would deploy multiple smaller […]

A new method of triggering rain in water-scarce regions will be tested in the United Arab Emirates, according to research published in the Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. The method involves catapulting small autopilot aircraft into the sky that then jolt the clouds with an electric charge. In search of freshwater alternatives, the UAE has been funding scientists from […]

The phosphate found in the Earth’s crust is a key ingredient for the growth of aquatic plants and animals, but human activity is washing far too much of it into our waterways. One consequence of this is the algae blooms that coat the surface of some lakes and rivers, which starve other marine organisms of the oxygen they need to […]

Scientists at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute have spent the last few years working on futuristic forms of plastic that do much more than act as take-out containers or straws for your iced latte, and they’re starting to make some exciting inroads. The team has worked out a way to embed active enzymes in the material that can give it different capabilities, […]

A new Ikea store planned for Copenhagen will feature a public rooftop park and pathways along with the usual selection of flatpack furniture. Designed by Dorte Mandrup, it will also boast significant energy efficient design, including a solar panel array. Ikea Copenhagen will be located in the Vesterbri district of Copenhagen (the city of Copenhagen also has an ambitious plan to […]

Although many people enjoy tracking which types of birds come through their backyards, they can’t be watching their yards all the time. Terra is designed to help, by continuously identifying birds via their songs. Created by New Jersey-based naturalists Scott Whittle, Mike Lanzone and Casey Halverson, Terra consists of both a weatherproof device and a planned global system. The Bluetooth- […]

There are already places where homes are built on stilts, to avoid seasonal floods. A new study, however, suggests that doing so may also significantly reduce the risk of being bitten by malaria-carrying mosquitos. According to Britain’s Durham University, approximately 80 percent of malaria-causing mosquito bites within Africa occur indoors at night. Additionally, although mosquitos are known to fly up […]