Dyson Award-winner Makes Water Out of Thin Air for Farmers

An Australian designer from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne is the winner of the 2011 James Dyson award for his Airdrop – a low-cost, low-maintenance tecnology for farming in arid areas. Dyson, an Inventor and entrepreneur, said Edward Linacre's invention shows how simple, natural principles such as the condensation of water can be applied to good effect through skilled design and robust engineering.

By Jeanne Goddard

23 November 44 Views

Paper Companies Find Substitute for Trees

Paper Companies Find Substitute for Trees

By Hanna Vojtush

19 May 43 Views

Dyson Award-winner Makes Water Out of Thin Air Helping Farmers

An Australian designer from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne is the winner of the 2011 James Dyson award for his Airdrop – a low-cost, low-maintenance tecnology for farming in arid areas. Dyson, an Inventor and entrepreneur, said Edward Linacre's invention shows how simple, natural principles can be applied to good effect through skilled design and robust engineering.

By Jeanne Goddard

23 November 38 Views

Ducks Near Extinction Hang On, 18 Babies Hatched in Lab

On a remote lake in Madagascar, a fateful discovery of 22 ducks belonging to a variety thought to be extinct, inspired a group of conservationists to mobilize a last ditch effort to save the species, which had been previously been written off. This week, as the Madagascar pochard's only remaining wild population hangs on with just 22 adult birds surviving, the captive breeding program started in 2009 celebrated a huge success with the birth of 18 new babies.

By Jeanne Goddard

08 April 49 Views

Stunning Recovery for First Child to Get Stem Cell Trachea

The first child in history to receive a trachea fashioned by his own stem cells has shown remarkable progress since the initial transplant two years ago, marking a new record for the novel procedure, which prevents risk from organ transplant rejection.

By Jeanne Goddard

26 July 33 Views

Bitterns: The Endangered UK Birds Whose Population is Booming At Last

The boom of the bittern is being heard across Britain once again, after more than a century in which the bird has hovered on the edge of extinction. Noted for its foghorn-like call or boom, the bittern has made a recovery in numbers that the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds described last week as a phenomenal success.

By Jeanne Goddard

13 February 42 Views

Tracking Subtle Scent, a Dog Helps Save the Orca Whales

A dog named Tucker with a mysterious past as a stray on the streets of Seattle has become an unexpected star in the realm of canine-assisted scientific research. He is the world's only working dog, marine biologists say, able to find and track the scent of orca feces, in open ocean water — up to a mile away.

By Jeanne Goddard

06 September 35 Views

Galápagos Tortoise Thought to be Extinct Still Lives

Researchers from Yale University say dozens of giant tortoises of a species believed extinct for 150 years may still be living at a remote location in the Galápagos Islands.

By Jeanne Goddard

14 January 32 Views

New Study Shows That 'Lovebirds' Actually May Fall In Love

Scientists learn that finches allowed to freely choose their mates make for happier couples and better parents.

By Jim Stout

18 September 34 Views

Scientists Make Progress in Tailor-Made Organs Using Body's Own Cells

Tissue engineers are building organs using the body's own cells and letting the body do most of the work. At Wake Forest University in North Carolina, for example, where the first bladders were developed, researchers are working on kidneys, livers and more. Labs in China and the Netherlands are among many working on blood vessels.

By Jeanne Goddard

17 September 33 Views

Designer's Low Cost Solution for Clearing Landmines Uses the Wind

Massoud Hassani grew up in Afghanistan and played every day in nearby fields, surrounded by high mountains. His favorite toy was homemade, a small rolling object that was powered by the wind. 20 years later, his 2011 graduation project was an over-sized replica of that toy -- 20 times bigger and heaver -- created to roll on those same landmines and destroy them.

By Jeanne Goddard

11 December 38 Views

Scientists Discover How to Make Ethanol Using Just Water on Metal

Stanford University scientists have found a new, highly efficient way to produce liquid ethanol that doesn't involve energy intensive food production, like ethanol production from crops.

By Jeanne Goddard

13 April 36 Views

Two Monolith Machines Suck Carbon Out of the Air in California

Peter Eisenberger, a distinguished professor of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University, has build two machines in Menlo Park, Calif., that pull carbon dioxide out of the air, like a catalytic converter for your car, but giant-sized. The challenging part was figuring out what to do with the CO2 once it was captured. But he thinks he's found the perfect solution making fuel.

By Jeanne Goddard

27 June 42 Views

Team Behind Virgin Galactic Unveils A Hybrid Electric Flying Car

Forget those gas-guzzling flying cars. Now you can drive and fly while saving lots of money on fuel. The hybrid flying car, called BiPod gets 820 miles on a tank of gas and 35 miles in electric mode.

By Jeanne Goddard

20 July 35 Views

Mars Rover Beats the Odds, Lands on Red Planet, Beams Back Photos

Facing unfavorable odds, the U.S. scored a huge victory, sticking a landing on the surface of Mars early Monday, setting down the largest and most sophisticated mobile laboratory ever deployed, which is now beaming back photos of the red planet. NASA ground control engineers flew into a frenzy of high-fives, hugs and cheers after NASA's Curiosity rover survived a perilous seven-minute plunge to the surface of the red planet.

By Jeanne Goddard

06 August 50 Views