Barefoot Solar Engineeers
Gulab Devi is illiterate, but she talks about circuits, transformers and condensers as other women talk about cooking and sewing. She is one of many barefoot solar engineers. Ask her what she does for a living, and she'll tell you she makes electronic circuits and chargers for solar lighting panels. And before you start wondering whether you heard wrong, she'll tell you that she also installs and... posted on Jul 24 2004, 1,491 reads

Cellphones For Prayer
You've heard of cellphones. But this cell phone, from Dubai, helps you pray. Ilkone i800 is a handset designed for the Islamic community. It converts dates between Hijri and Gregorian calendars, points to qibla direction for prayer, has the complete Quran in Arabic and English fonts, and has a prayer timer with 5,000 cities pre-set and even an "azan" voice calling for prayer.... posted on Jul 21 2004, 1,413 reads

Saved by the Web
The Internet has done many things for many people. For Bev Holzrichter, it saved her life. As Bev was helping her horse give birth, the horse kicked her three times, knocking her to the floor. She was alone in the stable and her husband wasn't due for another three days. Fortunately, Bev's web cam was on and people around the world were watching -- people from California to Germany, who called... posted on Jul 20 2004, 1,172 reads

Share-It Square
Intersections are generally bland and busy, meant to keep traffic moving. But not the one on Ninth and Sherrett in Portland, Oregon. What was a crime scene in the 70s, is now a bustling corner that serves as a neighborhood meeting place and informal community center. Why? In 1996 neighbors banded together to enhance the intersection with amenities to be shared by all, including a 24-hour-a-day... posted on Jul 17 2004, 1,571 reads

Cruise Control
Sitting in stationary traffic is, at best, a Zen experience. To the surprise of many, more roads and lanes don't help. Traffic jams are caused by not having enough space between your car and the vehicle in front of you. But now, according to new research in America and Germany, drivers can take back control over the roads with ACC, Adaptive Cruise Control. It's a modified version of traditiona... posted on Jul 15 2004, 1,231 reads

Woman's Internet
The internet is beginning to have a revolutionary effect on the 700 million people who live in villages in India - and the charge is being led by women. 80% of the new Internet kiosks are run by women, many of whom have had very little or no acquaintance with technology before. ... posted on Jul 09 2004, 1,425 reads

Natural Capitalism
In 1991, eight people entered a sealed, glass-enclosed, 3-acre living system, where they expected to remain alive and healthy for two years. Of the original 25 small animal species in Biosphere II, 19 became extinct by the end. After 17 months, the humans showed signs of oxygen starvation from living at the equivalent of an altitude of 17,500 feet. Bottom line -- $200 million could not maintain ... posted on Jun 19 2004, 1,431 reads

Collective Intelligence
Is there a future potential seeking to emerge that depends on YOU? Yes, says this MIT researcher, C. Otto Scharmer. He's coined the term "presencing" -- a combination of the words "presence" and "sensing" -- to describe the remarkable experience of bringing the future into the present. Scharmer believes that our collective capacity to "presence" could activate the full potential of our species in ... posted on Jun 18 2004, 1,204 reads

Teleportation
It is a long way from Star Trek, but teleportation -- the disembodiment of an object in one location and its reconstruction in another -- has been successfully carried out in a physics lab in Australia! Scientists at the Australian National University (ANU) made a beam of light disappear in one place and reappear in another a short distance away. The achievement confirms that in theory teleporta... posted on Jun 17 2004, 1,173 reads

Engineers in Sri Lanka
In a war-torn patch of jungle in Sri Lanka, diesel generators power the computers at an unusual school whose roof and walls were once riddled with bullet holes. Thanks to Silicon Valley engineer Jey Surier, who traded in his 12-hour workdays in the tech industry for 13 months with no pay in Sri Lanka, to start the Vanni Institute of Technology. After the country took steps toward peace in 2002, ... posted on Jun 15 2004, 1,363 reads