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Submission + - South Africans revolutionize concentrated solar power with mini heliostats (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Taffykay
Taffykay writes: Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) offers significant benefits, but it's often prohibitively expensive. Paul Gauché from Stellenbosch University in South Africa hopes to change that with Helio 100, a series of "plonkable" miniature heliostats that require no installation or concrete, and offer solar energy that's cheaper than diesel.

Submission + - Researchers Develop $60 Sonar 'Watch' to Aid the Visually Impaired (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Taffykay
Taffykay writes: Biology and computer science students and professors at Wake Forest University have teamed up to develop a device to assist the visually impaired. Following the principles of echolocation used by bats and moths, the interdisciplinary team has developed a watch-like unit that allows the wearer to navigate their environment using sonar. To make the project even more remarkable, all the parts and materials for the prototype cost less than $60.

Submission + - Egypt's Oldest Pyramid is Being Destroyed by its Own Restoration Team (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Taffykay
Taffykay writes: The oldest pyramid in Egypt, the Pyramid of Djoserat Saqqara, is being destroyed by the very company the Egyptian government has hired to restore it. The roughly 4,600-year-old structure has been in trouble since an earthquake hit the region in 1992, but in a difficult political and economic climate for the country, those now tasked with preserving the pyramid are said to be doing more harm than good.

Submission + - Modular Hive Homes for Mars Wins NASA & MakerBot Competition (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Taffykay
Taffykay writes: Living on Mars might seem like a dream, but we're one step closer thanks to a brilliant new housing design. Noah Hornberger won NASA and MakerBot’s Mars Base Challenge with a series of hive homes. The contest called for 3D designers to imagine a scenario that would make Mars habitable by designing homes built either from materials found on the Red Planet, or brought from Earth and 3D-printed on site. Hornberger’s 3D-printed two bedroom, two bathroom Queen B nabbed first prize with its bee-inspired hexagonal grid.

Submission + - Fujitsu is Growing Radiation-free Lettuce in Japan's Fukushima Prefecture (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Taffykay
Taffykay writes: Tech giant Fujitsu has opened an organic lettuce farm in Japan's Fukushima prefecture. Blending agriculture, technology, and medicine in a former microchip factory, the company has developed a new variety of organic lettuce that is not only lower in potassium and nitrates than standard varieties, but is also radiation-free.

Submission + - Aerovelo's Human-Powered Helicopter Wins Elusive $250,000 Sikorsky Prize

Submitted by oritonic1
oritonic1 writes: Since 1980, several teams have tried (and failed) to build a human-powered helicopter that could win the elusive $250,000 Sikorsky prize. But a Canadian start-up, Aerovelo, has finally taken the crown with Atlas, a human-powered craft that managed to stay at least 10 feet in the air, for 60 seconds, within a 30'x30' area.

Submission + - China Says Serious Polluters Will Get the Death Penalty (inhabitat.com) 1

Submitted by formaggio
formaggio writes: According to the Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese government is now allowing courts to punish those who commit environment crimes with the death penalty. The new judicial interpretation comes in the wake of several serious environmental problems that have hit the country over the last few months, including dangerous levels of air pollution, a river full of dead pigs, and other development projects that have imperiled public health.

Submission + - One Tenth of China's Farmland Polluted with Heavy (china.org.cn)

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: A report form China's Environmental Ministry reveals that one tenth of China's 1.22 million square kilometers of farmland are polluted with heavy metals and other toxins. The AFP lists 'lead, mercury and cancer-causing cadmium' and points to the rapid pace of China's industrialization as well as factories and their operators flouting regulations and laws. Cheap batteries and lead refineries are slowly turning China into a land where whole villages are poisoned (11 incidents so far this year). According to Human Rights Watch the government's response to this scourge is laughable. The poisoned are denied treatment and China's Environmental Ministry offers no possible help: 'The report documents how local authorities in contaminated areas have imposed arbitrary limits on access to blood lead testing, for example by permitting only people living within a small radius of a factory to be tested. When tests are conducted, results have often been contradictory or have been withheld from victims and their families. And children with elevated blood lead levels who require treatment according to national guidelines have been denied care or told simply to eat certain foods, including apples, garlic, milk, and eggs.'

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