The SkySails system consists of a towing kite with rope, a launch and recovery system and a control system for the whole operation. The control system acts like the autopitot systems on an aircraft, the company says. Autopilot software sends and receives data about the sail etc to make sure the sail is set at its optimal position.

The company also says it provides an optional weather routing system so that ships can sail into optimal wind conditions.The kites typically fly at about 1,000 feet above sea level, thereby tapping winds that can be almost 50% stronger than at the surface.

Here’s a list of the powers of vinegar:

- Clean the microwave by boiling a 50/50 mixture of water and vinegar until it steams up. Wipe clean.

- Add vinegar to a hand-pump compressed-air sprayer to kill weeds and grass growing in crevices in a patio and walkways.

- Make any dried bean dish less gassy or stinky by adding 1/4 cup vinegar to the soaking water.

- Make catsup and other condiments last longer when the bottle is almost empty by adding a little vinegar and shaking.

- Spread a cloth soaked in vinegar over a price tag you want to remove and leave overnight.

- Get rid of fruit flies by setting out a small dish of vinegar—it will attract and drown them.

Research suggests that while an unmade bed may look scruffy it is also unappealing to house dust mites thought to cause asthma and other allergies.

A Kingston University study discovered the bugs cannot survive in the warm, dry conditions found in an unmade bed.

The average bed could be home to up to 1.5 million house dust mites.

The Hexayurt is a prize-winning shelter you can build yourself for about $200 (cache). Suitable raw materials include common building materials (insulation boards,) hexacomb cardboard and plastic. You cut six 4′ x 8′ panels in half diagonally to make the roof, and use six more whole panels to form the walls. It takes about two hours. The design (cache) is in the public domain.

I understand our lives can be hectic, so if you can’t turn all of these things off on the same day, try to do as many as possible and spread them out if you have to. Just do them once a week. If you can do it more often, then great, you’re going to be that much happier.

Lingerie maker Triumph International Japan unveiled the “My Chopsticks Bra” on Wednesday in Tokyo in a bid to promote the use of reusable chopsticks instead of disposable ones.

Japanese bin an estimated of 25 billion wooden pairs of chopsticks a year, many of them already made from recycled wood chips, but a growing number of environmentally aware consumers want to combat this “throw away” culture.

“It’s a small step, but because many Japanese chopsticks are disposable, big chunks of forests are being cut down,” said Hiromi Shinta, spokeswoman for the company.

North western English firm Ecotec has taken waste from the chocolate manufacturing process, turned it into bio-ethanol and mixed it with vegetable oil to produce biodiesel.

Some biofuels have come under fire for either diverting much-needed food crops or leading to massive deforestation as land is cleared to grow crops specially for biofuel production.

In a demonstration of the plant’s anti-cancer properties, investigators smeared broccoli sprout extract on the skin of six volunteers for three days, and then exposed them to high doses of ultraviolet radiation, which is the leading cause of skin cancer.

They found there was an average 37 percent less redness and sunburn in the patches covered by broccoli extract. Redness and sunburn are an indication of skin damage that could lead to cancer.