Striving for a sustainable Lifestyle
A team of experts from EPFL, ETH Zurich, and Archiplein has developed a new type of non-reinforced concrete from stone offcuts. Using methods found in historical archives, the team reduced their use of carbon-intensive cement. They built and tested six load-bearing walls using recovered stone-quarry waste and three types of mortar-based binders.
Filkin’s Drift, a band of two based in Birmingham, UK, have been highlighting sustainability in their latest tour by walking about 870 miles along the coast of Wales.
More than 180 women, including two South Africans, are embarking on a voyage to Antarctica in November to promote sustainability and study its ecosystem.
Sustainable biotech innovator Kelpi has secured funding to further develop its pioneering technology creating bioplastics from seaweed.
Its door handles are made of salt. Its walls are made of sunflowers. Its furniture is made of Japanese knotweed. And it was stained with dyes made from filtered urine. Is this recycling marvel in southern France the future of architecture?
“It’s time that the steel industry take the growing need and demand for fossil-free steel seriously,” said one advocate.
Scientists have successfully proposed lab-grown adipose tissue on a substantial scale, paving the way for the possibility of large-scale production of cultured meat.
UPSIDE Foods and GOOD Meat are closer to selling their cell-based meat products in the US
Disposable plastic and paper cups are an environmental mess. GaeaStar, a startup based in Berlin and San Francisco, thinks it can do better with just clay, water, salt and sand.
Paper or plastic? If you’re looking to invest in the packaging that’s best for the environment, the answer is… it’s complicated.
Last November, Tokyo-based firm Biomass Resin opened a factory in Namie to turn locally-grown rice into plastic pellets.
Forgotten grapes offer adaptation hope for an industry particularly sensitive to change
Despite their extinction in Eastern Cape due to dwindling game herds and harmful cattle dips, the red-billed oxpeckers were successfully reintroduced into the region in the 90s. The upbeat Birding Day event, showcased on Shamwari TV, lauds their pivotal role in the ecosystem. Shamwari now plans to reintroduce Cape vultures, after facing similar challenges, marking another significant conservation milestone.
At the COP28 climate summit, Brazil proposed a $250 billion mechanism, “Tropical Forests Forever”, for conserving tropical rainforests. The funds, sourced from governments and private sectors, would be used by tropical countries meeting deforestation limits. This follows a marked decrease in Amazon deforestation since Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s presidency.
Research by the University of Rostock and Nuremberg Zoo reveals that captive bottlenose dolphins can reliably detect weak electric fields under water, suggesting a sixth sense that may aid in prey detection and even understanding Earth’s magnetic field.
Cadman Glacier in Antarctica retreated 5 miles in just 2.5 years, causing its ice shelf to collapse, according to scientists who used satellite images and ocean measurements. Higher ocean temperatures likely hastened the glacier’s deterioration, which contributes to global sea level rise. This indicates potential similar threats for neighboring glaciers.
Wildlife photography Oscars, anyone? The Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice awards is back with a bang. A shortlist of 25 awe-nature-some pictures, from a sassy mudskipper defending his turf against a crab, to a polar bear taking a snooze on receding ice, awaits your vote. Glamour, drama, and a splash of humor in the natural world, on display now at the Natural History Museum, London. So, go pick your winner!
Robot that uses AI to pull weeds may reduce poisonous herbicide use by 70% for some crops.
