Richard Feynman’s Legendary Lectures On Physics, All Fifty-two Chapters, Are Now Available to Read

What´s new about the new science of cities?

Bicyclean, a senior thesis project by Rachel Field ‘12, helps recycle e-waste in developing nations by preventing exposure to toxic materials. The project recently won silver at the Acer Incredible Green Contest. Read how Rachel is designing a cleaner future.

The Crown Estate has launched a unique interactive map that shows the estimated percentage of UK electricity demand being met by offshore wind on an hourly basis. For the first time, the map draws together a range of publically available data to demonstrate the contribution offshore wind is making to the UK’s low carbon energy mix. The UK now has 27 operational wind farms, with nearly 1500 turbines grown from the first two offshore demonstration turbines deployed in 2000. Although there is variation in output on a daily basis, over the course of 2015 offshore wind is expected to meet an average of around 5% per cent of UK electricity demand.

(via Crown Estate launches interactive offshore wind electricity map - Blue and Green Tomorrow)

The Fracking Science Compendium by Physicians for Social Responsibility shows overwhelming harms. Learn more below: 

http://concernedhealthny.org/compendium/ http://www.psr.org/resources/fracking-compendium.html

Facebook UK made £105M in 2014, paid £35M in bonuses, and will pay £4,327 in tax

Which is a notable improvement on its tax bill for 2013, which was £0 on earnings of £223m.

The company says it made an accounting loss of £28.5m in the UK for 2014. Facebook says that it “compliant with UK tax law” and adds that its employees usually choose to pay tax on their income rather than availing themselves of the kinds of tax dodges Facebook itself uses. Meanwhile, UK-based companies pay tax, as do their employees, meaning they have less income from which to return dividends to their investors, making UK-based business less profitable and less attractive.

The UK Tory chancellor, George Osborne, has announced swingeing cuts to tax credits for the UK’s working poor, who are at record levels, with many children living in food poverty, because the country allegedly can’t afford to top up the accounts of working people who are literally starving.

George Osborne has repeatedly cut corporate tax rates.

Read the rest

A Smart Menstrual Cup That Tracks Your Period And Makes Sure You’re Healthy http://ift.tt/1Ltl8JD

Texas teenager creates $20 water purifier to tackle toxic e-waste pollution

18-year-old Perry Alagappan recognised at World Water Week 2015 for his renewable heavy metal filter made from graphene that he’s keeping open source

Now a new filtering device, invented by a US teenager, could provide a cheap and easy way to purify water.

The renewable heavy metal filter, designed by 18-year-old Perry Alagappan, removes 99% of heavy metals from water that passes through it. The filter, built from graphene nanotubes, can be rinsed with a vinegar concentrate and reused. The highly concentrated waste can then be evaporated, leaving a deposit of pure metal that can be used in many different applications.

Alagappan, who was awarded the Stockholm Junior Water Prize at this year’sWorld Water Week, said the filter cost just $20 (£13) to make, up to five times less than existing reverse osmosis technology.

“I became interested in water purification when I visited my grandparents in India, and saw with my own eyes how electronic waste severely contaminated the environment,” said the recent high school graduate from Houston, Texas, on winning the prize.

The Moon Parka - A jacket made of synthetic spider silk

Remember the Japanese biomaterials company Spiber? In 2013, they presented a cocktail dress made of Qmonos (from the Japanese word kumonosu meaning ‘spider web’), their present 11-year-10-design-iterations-and-656-gene-synthesis synthetic version of stronger than steel and more flexible than nylon lightweight spider silk.

Snip from geek.com:

The end result of all that research is a method for producing artificial spider silk through a fermentation process using bioengineered microorganisms to produce the silk proteins. A real spider can only produce so much silk, but an engineered cell that does nothing but spit out silk proteins can be used to scale production up quickly.

Now they presented in collaboration with The North Face a new prototype called The Moon Parka, which is currently touring North Face stores across Japan. It’s intended to show that practical applications of spider silk are possible (cost is now 1/53,000 of what it was in 2008). Spiber aims to deliver the final product next year. Presumably only in Japan. But fingers crossed for a worldwide rollout at reasonable prices.

Watch their promo-launch video below:

[North Face x Spiber] [Spiber] [picture by North Face]

Plankton Are Multiplying Like Crazy Due to Warming

The population of a microscopic marine alga in the north Atlantic Ocean apparently is booming due to climate change, but scientists — who’ve been caught off-guard by the development — aren’t sure what it means for the aquatic environment. Details

What would be the effect of more women working in agriculture? 

“The women I met in agriculture showed a clear preference for working on organic and small farms, which are more likely than factory farms to reflect the values of animal welfare, human health and environmental sustainability." 

-Sonia Faruqi says on what she found when she spent time visiting farms in eight different countries. 

Agriculture needs more women (The Atlantic)