Leigh Ofer and her company Seed Street in Harlem gives new meaning to the term circular economy: We meet over the Internet and find a mutual passion for urban farming in New York City –– we’re kindred souls who see cities as our future food production engines. I am interested in technology for improving urban food and social[.....]
Some 795 million people worldwide are food insecure: they do not have enough food to lead a healthy life, and with the earth’s population increasing these numbers are about to rise even higher. By 2050, the world needs to produce at least 50% more food in order to feed its growing population. What can we do[.....]
Silicon Valley’s has its hoodie-wearing tech entrepreneurs as the poster kids of innovation. You can find a similar story over in Silicon Alley New York (like at AlleyNYC), or in Tel Aviv, Israel. Disruption is the name of the game. But according to a new study by Thomson Reuters the real source of innovation starts at government.[.....]
Green is sort of a buzzword nowadays. People will say they are going green (like Zaha Hadid), but are they as good as their word? Usually not. In the world of Middle Eastern architecture and engineering, rest assured that there are several who are fighting for green choices. Clients often see lots of green –[.....]
“Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads!” Fans of the 1985 film “Back to the Future” watched the year 2015 slip from a promising future into a disappointing past with no sign of time travel, Mr. Fusion or flying cars. And while hoverboards came surprisingly close to reality, even these require roads (of solid[.....]
Sea garbage’s days may be numbered, thanks to a new invention by a pair of Australians, Andrew Turton and Pete Ceglinski. The Seabin Project is one being funded by Indiegogo and revolves around a floating trash receptacle. Able to suck everything floating in its vicinity into its natural fiber bag, from paper to plastic to[.....]
Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink! Desalinating sea water is a costly and energy consuming way of providing fresh water in many parts of world. Though methods such as Graphene-Nanotechnology makes desalination more efficient, the end result is still problematic due to clogging of separation filters. Returning heavily saline brine residue back to the[.....]
Each day, something terrible happens somewhere in this world. Families and communities are torn apart and thrown together in unfamiliar ways. Strangers who had found one another just barely tolerable become fellow humans, grieving needing and helping one another to survive. “My name is Sidra. I am 12 years old… I have lived here in[.....]
Electric car fortunes have had their ups and downs; especially following the collapse of the Better Place electric car network that left hundreds of EV car purchasers with the possibility of being stranded without power over in ISrael. Although some electric car models like Nissan’s Leaf and Tesla sport EVs have made modest inroads, over all, electric cars have yet[.....]
Following Israel’s smart solar trees, the Dubai Municipality is rolling out a series of “community tech hubs” based on 3D printed palm trees that collect solar power. The stations are also where users can recharge their phones, tablets and laptops, enjoy free WiFi, and check in on local weather and news. The Smart Palm initiative aligns with[.....]
It’s the middle of NYC AgTech Week. It’s a time where futurists growing hyperlocal food and technologies in New York City open their labs for urban food week. Tonight there will be a fish taco dinner prepared with fish raised on a roof in the city; the rest of the food was grown in urban[.....]
Look to Techcrunch any day of the week and see how investment opportunities abound in Agtech. Then go see Matt Damon in The Martian to get a sense for the future of your food. Combine trillion dollar opportunities with a market sprouting in the United States. It’s called “distributed agriculture” on Wall Street, or Controlled[.....]
Quicargo, the latest in startups making old inefficient worlds more sustainable, targets inefficiency in the global transportation industry. The software company reduces empty trucking runs and maximizes trucks’ loading space. As a result, carriers will increase their overall profits for truckers and their companies or contractors and shippers will reduce their shipment costs. At any given moment millions[.....]
The Svalbard Global seed bank was established in February 2008. It was designed to store seeds for hundreds or even thousands of years in the event of a global disaster. But now, only seven years later, the Syrian civil war made it necessary to withdraw seeds from this doomsday vault.
Verizon (NYSE: VZ) is America’s #1 mobile provider and the company just announced finalists for their international Powerful Answers Award which will grant $1 million, $500,000 and $250,000 to the top 3 winning companies in the category Internet of Things (IoT). To break things up Verizon has created 3 categories: the two other categories in[.....]
The 2016 United Arab Emirates Drones for Good Competition is now open. The UAE Drones for Good Award is “dedicated to transforming the innovative technologies behind civilian drones into practical, realizable solutions for improving people’s lives today.”
Somewhere in the middle of Ontario is a company hidden from view. Sitting on 5 acres of reforested farmland is Blue Planet Environmental. I guess you can call them innovative scientists, who are using patented aeration technology and what they call “nano-bubbles” or really, really small bubbles of air, to make big changes in industries[.....]
When you talk with Sue Raftery you might think she’s on fire. Funny, because she’s leading a company that grows food on water –– using hydroponics, or water grown plants and vegetables to supplant and correct the damaging, conventional agriculture practices dominating our food chain today. How’s she doing it? The answer is AGROWN. Through AGROWN,[.....]
Parents are happy to be sending their kids back to school soon. But Green Prophets everywhere know it’s open season to keep learning no matter your age. Urban farming is all the rage. Forget about buying at the Farmer’s Market. What about starting a hydroponics hobby garden or business in your backyard? Consider that NASA engineers[.....]
Students at Slovenia’s second largest university adapted a computer numerical control (CNC) machine to act as a 3D printer, substituting the usual printing materials (such as plastics, nylon, epoxy resins, and wax) with “green” ink made of soil, water and grass seed. Their project, named Print Green, produces 3D printed models with the ability to grow.
In the middle of Harlem on a derelict plot of land where old men used to play cards, with no kids allowed, is growing one of the most exciting social projects I’ve seen this year. Harlem kids that were eating Twix bars for lunch are now eating fresh greens –– food that they and their mothers are[.....]
Now that I am developing flux, a space-age gadget for making hydroponics simple and efficient I can’t help but promote hydroponics everywhere — even and especially hydroponics from space! This week NASA scientists harvested their first space-grown food, grown on water with nutrients using hydroponics. This site is becoming a bit of an address for hydroponics, and we’re[.....]
There are loads of ways to unload your junk. You can haul it away to the landfill, leave it at the end of your driveway or lawn for others to pick up – or have a garage sale. When you go online you can go to Freecycle to give it away for free or navigate[.....]
Strong crop yields, higher productivity and slower growth in global demand should contribute to a gradual decline in real prices for agricultural products over the coming decade, but nonetheless, prices will likely remain at levels above those in the early-2000s, according to the latest Agricultural Outlook report produced by the OECD and the United Nation’s Food[.....]
As spring turns into summer, the Khalifa fund’s investment in Abu Dhabi hydroponic agriculture is beginning to pay off. The Khalifa fund for enterprise development was Launched in 2007 to help local enterprise in Abu Dhabi. At the beginning of 2015, Ahmad Kalfan Al Romaithi revealed that Dh 130 million (approximately 35 million US dollars)[.....]
A celestial tryst between the CEO of Roman gods and the Roman goddess of love and beauty? This seems hardly a match made in heaven. You might even say this relationship is star-crossed. But watch the western sky just after sunset on Tuesday, June 30th and you’ll see a rare conjunction between a beautiful bright[.....]
Here’s a story about ingenuity and creativity. About a man who uses a solar cooker to prepare meals. If you wish, you can see it as a testament to how the human spirit prevails even under the toughest conditions. If you’re willing, you can see it as an opportunity, a mutual interest, or a proposition[.....]
“My God, it’s full of stars!” Fans of Arthur C. Clarke’s classic science fiction novel 2001 A Space Odyssey might recognize these as the words of astronaut David Bowman, awestruck by revelations of the deep mysteries of space. A team of astronomers from Tel Aviv University and UCLA discovered more than a million newborn stars[.....]
Even the US Customs guy at the New Jersey airport gave me an approving nod: “A technology for hydroponics?” He flips over my business invitation from the NY company to see if there wasn’t something inside. “Well, you know, it’s still,” in a fake finger-wagging voice, “…illegal here?” he says, waiting for my reply. There[.....]
Oil prices have fallen considerably over the past two years. But this isn’t the first time the price of a core society resource has dropped so drastically. The economic history of salt is an interesting lesson for our time. Middle Eastern countries spend millions of dollars and consume more than one hundred million kilowatt-hours of[.....]
The flux team, one of the featured companies at the Innovation Pavillion at the annual Agritech Conference. Agrivest for investors kicked off the week of “agmania”. Steve Rhodes the CEO and co-Founder of the Trendlines Group opened this year’s Agrivest conference in Israel showing some interesting trends. Last year 2014 saw a steady increase to $2.36[.....]
With drought looming in California, but in many regions of the world include Yemen, Green Prophet honors this year’s Earth Day by digging into the archives so you can share 10 ways to collect and save fresh, potable water. 1. Sea “water cone” evaporation This low-tech method of collecting fresh water in involves placing an inverted plastic “water cone”[.....]
Harvesting water from the air is not a new idea. Arid countries like Yemen are already using low tech watercones to funnel sea water to drinking water. Another funneling device is being developed by an Italian designer to trap water vapor in a Warkawater tower to harvest potable water directly from the air. Still another device, called the[.....]
We live in sustainable times as citizens of the world continue to invest in eco-friendly products that will contribute to a more positive natural environment. While these types of investments may have historically required some form of compromise from the individual citizen in terms of style or function, technology has advanced to a point where contemporary gadgets can[.....]
How can the environment around computers be used to hack data? Computer scientists have now determined that it’s possible to send data or “steal” data by using heat transfer between computers – those typically used as servers in high profile institutions like banks and police. Their exercise in hacking heat points out vulnerabilities in today’s[.....]
It’s already well known that manure or poop can be recycled for making products like paper as well as creating biogas power from methane gas. Turning urine or pee into electricity is another matter. This readily available “resource”, whether it be from animal or human origin, is now being experimented with to actually generate electricity by using our[.....]
Like Israel’s Softwheel for wheelchairs and bikes, Goodyear is asking: Can new ways of engineering tires extend the cruising ranges of electric cars to make them more saleable in the aftermath of the the demise of Shai Agassi’s Better Place electric car venture? Despite some success in selling electric cars like Nissan’s Leaf model and General[.....]
Drones, those small, unmanned remote controlled airplanes with cameras can now be ordered by anyone online. They freak some people out. Not everyone loves the idea of a drone honing in on you in your backyard, but in agriculture, forestry and even in conservation they are the hot topic of the year. How can we[.....]
Food Tech, on the surface of things, sounds like something you might not want to bite into, especially if you practice permaculture and organic gardening. But dig deeper as guests from Israel and France learned last week in Jaffa during the So French, So Food week, which hosted 20 top French chefs visiting Israel. They[.....]
The Doomsday Clock, which measures the likelihood of global catastrophe, last month ticked a minute closer to “midnight” — the apocalypse. The symbolic clock was set to 11:57 by a board of atomic scientists featuring 17 Nobel Laureates, who warned that the planet, beset by climate change and nuclear proliferation, faced extraordinary and undeniable threats[.....]
Finding ways to augment supplies of fresh drinking water have been around for years. These ideas vary from basic “low tech” ones like a Yemenite funnel water cone to extract fresh water from saltwater to using water created by aircon units. Purifying sewage systems to create safe, drinkable fresh water are also being tried; and have received visible[.....]
If there is one thing that defines the current world of technology, it is the rapid and relentless pace of advancement, for the green good or bad. The result of this is that devices such as smartphones and tablets are becoming increasingly innovative, empowering them to complete a wider range of recreational and professional tasks.[.....]
Engineers at Lockheed-Martin recently developed and patented a molecular filtration membrane called Perforene which can desalinate seawater using only 1/100th the energy of the best existing desalination systems. Perforene is made from graphene, the exciting new nanomaterial which comes in the form of one-atom thick sheets of carbon atoms. Like an overzealous nanotechnology, graphene seems[.....]
Investments in solar energy innovations are not dead! Remember those weird and wonderful solar energy harvesting tulips planted in Israel and Spain? Seen miles away the sky-high tulips have found a new commercial home – in Ethiopia, the company announced last week in a press statement. We’ve covered Aora over the years and thought possibly[.....]
British economist Milton Friedman once warned that if you put the government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years you’d have a shortage of sand. Whether governments or free markets are to blame, it is possible to deplete abundant resources such as Irish rain. Now thanks to global obsessions with concrete icons, fracking[.....]
You know you should have done it. The DropBox folder is there, the extra hard drive is on the shelf. Hey, your partner even set up a wifi link to help you back up your files from any room in the house, without cords. But you have fallen into the trap of laziness. You are[.....]
Parasites need to adapt to continue living off their hosts. Almost every type of organism on earth faces parasitism, including us humans. Ecologists have assumed that the parasite has influenced the DNA evolution of its host, and some new science from Israel explores how this relationship works at the gene level. In the course of[.....]
Research and development focused on the aerospace industry has spawned dozens of designs useful in everyday life. Now LifeBeam, an Israeli company that designs high-end gadgets worn by jet pilots and astronauts, has designed a “smart” cycling helmet fitted with sensors that can track your heart rate, gait, and associated calorie burn. Not a cyclist? Then check[.....]
Those of you who grew up in countries blessed with ample fresh water supplies may have fond memories of going fishing as a child with paper carton filled with small, wriggly earthworms. Most people in the Middle East, however; due to chronic water scarcities, have seldom seen this little squiggly creature that is often found[.....]
Nanoflow technology’s Quant e-Sportlimousine is fast. Its 920 horsepower engine can accelerate this sleekly luxurious car from 0 to 100mph in 2.8 seconds. Its maximum speed is 217.5 mph. Nanoflow claims this electric car has a range of 373 miles with a full tank. And when it does run low on fuel, you’ll need to[.....]
Almost exactly one year ago Green Prophet revealed that King Tut’s jewelry contains ancient comet dust. Now the ancient Egyptians will leave their mark on a passing comet as a spacecraft named after an Egyptian obelisk takes a selfie before attempting a soft landing on a comet.
Newspapers like Bloomberg are calling the newly “legalized” cannabis business in the United States the next gold rush. If legalized throughout the US, the cannabis business will eclipse wine. That’s something worth about $40 billion a year. So “prospectors”, inventors and investors there are laying down their stakes and claiming access to new territory. [.....]
