Green
Are we sowing the seeds of our own destruction? Jared Diamond, Pulitzer-prize winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, talks about the trends that can doom civilizations - and the steps we can take to protect ourselves. Read more...
From the Stone Age to the silicon age - we’ve always been defined by our stuff. And that’s not a bad thing - except when we start drowning in it, says materials scientist Mark Miodownik, author of Stuff Matters. Read more...
It's time to examine the challenges and opportunities around green architecture. Read More...
What it will take to generate the energy and fuel for a planet that just hit 7 billion and isn’t done growing? Read More...
It's 1894, and a tall, handsome, mysterious man is sitting in the ornate, elegant dining room at Delmonico's in New York. He's surrounded by admirers - nouveau riche and old money alike - and they're all whispering about the amazing feats they have seen him perform with electricity: including sending 250 volts coursing through his body, lighting up the surface of his skin from within. The man is Nikola Tesla, inventor of alternating current, and he's widely regarded by the people in the room as one of the greatest geniuses alive.
Say you're in the market for a watch. You have a few options: you could go to the department store and pick one in a familiar style, from a familiar brand. But what if you wanted something you couldn't find in stores -- like a smart watch that syncs with your cell phone and buzzes when you receive text messages? For that, there's Kickstarter, a crowdfunding website that connects up-and-coming innovators with big ideas to people who want to see them become reality, says Ethan Mollick, professor at the Wharton School.
When you turn on a light bulb, fill up your gas tank, or pay your electric bill, how often do you think about the fall of the Roman Empire? Chances are, not much - but Jeremy Rifkin, adviser to the European Union and author of The Third Industrial Revolution, might urge you to start. That's because, according to Rifkin, the fall of Rome was directly tied to the Empire's failure to find new energy sources to meet the needs of its growing economy -- and, he warns, we're on a similar trajectory unless we can revamp our energy regime to fit the demands of twenty-first century society.
This year we’ve seen what many experts agree are real symptoms of global warming - from fires in Colorado to drought that now blankets more than 60% of the country. Read More...
