Immortality
How's this for an offer you can't refuse: how would you like to live say, 400 or 500 years, or even more and all of them in perfect health? It's both a Utopian and a nightmare scenario but there are those who say it is well within the realm of possibility. Though we live longer and healthier lives than our grandparents, 100 is more or less the outer limit because, catastrophic disease aside, we j... posted on Jan 13 2006, 1,906 reads

Dangerous Idea
The history of science is replete with discoveries that were considered socially, morally, or emotionally dangerous in their time; the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions are the most obvious. What is your dangerous idea? An idea you think about that is dangerous not because it is assumed to be false, but because it might be true? The Edge website asked that question -- what is your dangerous id... posted on Jan 09 2006, 2,179 reads

Near Death
Dutch cardiologist Pim van Lommel has published a monumental study of near-death experiences in The Lancet— one of the leading journals of medical research. Never before had such a systematic study been conducted into the experiences of people who were declared dead and then came back to life – and it raises fascinating questions about life after death, DNA, the collective unconscious, and eve... posted on Nov 28 2005, 2,852 reads

Reading A Blade of Grass
Every notice that leaves always seem clean? Scientists asked if a building could clean itself in the same way, with the rain. The result is Lotusan paint, which allows water to bead, reducing the build up of micro-organisms and keeping building facades clean and maintenance free for years. ... posted on Nov 16 2005, 2,931 reads

Design
Design by default is the mother of disaster. Bruce Mau's Massive Change project is a collection of design problems and a collection of inspired designs that are paving the way to a more sustainable future. His message is that by utilizing the power of good design, we can minimize unintended consequences and maximize positive outcomes. ... posted on Nov 14 2005, 1,231 reads

Biomimicry
Biomimicry is the idea that nature, has already solved many of the problems we are grappling with, with far less energy, and no waste. It's one of the most exciting fields in engineering, and is teaching us how to harness energy like a leaf, grow food like a prairie, build ceramics like an abalone, self-medicate like a chimp, compute like a cell, and run a business like a hickory forest. ... posted on Nov 11 2005, 1,410 reads

Nanotechnologies
Scientists at Edinburgh University have developed a way of moving an object without touching it, a breakthrough which could be as revolutionary as the discovery of electricity. The researchers have been able to move objects across surfaces with nothing more than a light beam. While the movements of these nanomachines are tiny, their scale is akin to a conventional mechanical machine using a milli... posted on Sep 15 2005, 3,020 reads

Solar Power
Europe is beginning to grow giant elephant grass as a productive "energy crop" to be burnt in power stations to generate electricity. As the plant grows it draws carbon dioxide out of the air, and when burned the carbon dioxide is released back, so the net effect on atmospheric CO2 is zero.... posted on Sep 13 2005, 1,389 reads

Non-Toxic Technology
What can clean up oil spills, toxic waste, nerve gas and harmful bacteria with nearly zero energy consumption and at virtually no cost? Paul Stamets is a pioneering US researcher that has discovered the solutions that the lowly mushroom can offer in cleaning toxins out of our environment. ... posted on Sep 06 2005, 2,671 reads

Living Machines
It is a rare rest stop attraction, especially in Vermont, a humid greenhouse soon to be filled with orchids and other flora better suited to steamy jungles than snowy mountains. But this exotic enticement is possible here because of the most mundane of rest stop features: flushing toilets. The State of Vermont has installed a “Living Machine” that uses plants and organisms to clean wastewater ... posted on Sep 01 2005, 2,367 reads