Adam Clare

Sustainable Cities in China

China has started a pilot project for sustainable cities in Liaoning Province named the Cradle to Cradle Village. roof top garden

“The design of the village aspires to draw power from the sun, to maintain materials in closed-loop systems of technical and biological nutrition, and to create an intergenerational community of people productively engaged in restorative commerce. Its goal is to provide a higher quality of life for the villagers and to exemplify a more hopeful future for the children.”

For more information the BBC has a good article looking into sustainability in cities.

Watch that Watches

Monitoring the health of patients has always been difficult. A new watch can now assist in patient monitoring by continually checking the patient’s pulse and more. The company that makes the watch is predicting a 2006 launch.

The watch can also transmit the data to remote centers, that way a patient can know whether or not they should go to a hospital or visit their doctor.

Fake Blood no Longer for -?

I just posted on fake meat and now I bring to your attention to fake blood.

Students from Loughborough University in the United Kingdom have developed a synthetic blood that can be used for transfusions. The synthetic blood can be used with all blood types and be stored at room temperature for extended time periods. The key to the success of the synthetic blood is that it carries more oxygen than real blood.

Fake Meat no Longer for Vegetarians

NASA has been looking into making meat in a lab. A recently published academic paper proves thatchicken nuggets no longer need to be attached to those clucking chickens. cows In addition to the obvious life-saving benefits, manufactured meat would allow the manufacture to control how much nutrients are in each slice. For example omega 3, which is a good thing, can replace omega 6, which is not as good for you.

One reason some people are vegetarian is because of the environmental effects of raising livestock for human consumption; lab meat will make environmentally unfriendly farming obsolete.

Sure some vegetarians may have to reexamine if they should/can eat lab-made-meat, but the fact that sentient beings may no longer be killed for human consumption is good.

Curfew Ends in Khartoum

Aljazeera.net is reporting that the curfew on Sudan’s capital has ended. The country has been marred in violence for years, but 111 recent deaths in Khartoum provoked the authorities to place a curfew on the city. News of the death of a rebel leader sparked riots that ravaged the capital.

The situation within the city has calmed and order has been restored. Since the civil war ended in January the country has had to still deal with violence from both sides of the conflict. With order being restored the re-development of Sudan can continue.

Aljazeera.net has more info on the curfew and recent developments in Sudan.