The world is good

2021-06-06 11:55:26 This futuristic bus shelter is designed to improve air quality in cities

Air pollution is one of the most pressing public health challenges facing urban areas today, so designing infrastructure that tackles this problem is key to ensuring a sustainable future for our cities.  We’ve previously seen such innovations in the form of air-purifying advertising banners, and now we’re happy to introduce to you another urban air purification system — one that takes the shape of a bus stop.

Called CAPS 2.0, the invention is essentially a bus shelter that filters air pollution in a city, removing airborne allergens and killing viruses, bacteria, and fungi in a matter of seconds. The air-purifying bus station is the product of a collaboration between technology developer Sinno Inno Lab and engineering firm Arup, and its mission is to improve air quality in cities with state-of-the-art filtration and sanitization technologies.

Following the first prototype from 2015, the patented second-generation system works by drawing in surrounding polluted air and creating an invisible shield-like air curtain at the canopy’s edge, while generating air currents within that space to purify the air.

The futuristic bus shelter then internally purifies the air with its dual protection technology, plascide air sanitizer, and multi-HEPA air purifier, all of which remove harmful suspended particles and eliminate viruses.

According to Sinno Inno Lab, the public air filtration system has been proven to reduce pollution exposure by 50 percent and remove 99.95 percent of PM0.1 airborne allergens.

“A smart city solution must aesthetically fit in with its urban surroundings,” explained Charis Ng, designer of CAPS 2.0. “We are pleased with how we managed to incorporate all the technological innovations in a modern and sleek design — including multiple air purification and sanitization systems, real-time display panels, solar panels, and more. The current CAPS 2.0 bus shelter looks exceptional against Hong Kong’s skyline.” Open / Comment

2021-06-05 11:34:04 Open / Comment

2021-06-05 11:33:48 Volunteers in Myanmar build a library for orphans out of discarded plastic

Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady River intercepts an estimated 119 tons of plastic waste per day, making it one of the most polluted waterways in the world. It is not uncommon to see plastic waste littered on the country’s roadsides and clogging up sewage drains.

The excess of plastic litter inspired volunteers from the NGO Clean Yangon to start a construction project that would repurpose local plastic waste into building materials. The project, which is a library for orphaned children in the neighborhood of Taikkyi, started in December 2020 and has recently been completed.

The volunteers received trash donations from local communities and used them to make eco-bricks by filling plastic bottles with more plastic waste. The completed structure is comprised of 5,000 of these eco-bricks, each of which takes approximately one hour to make. As the group worked, the children were able to see and learn from the construction process.

The volunteers expressed their hope that from their efforts, the kids would learn to be innovative when thinking of sustainable and eco-friendly solutions to protect the planet.

Other similar initiatives have taken root in Myanmar. The Badana Aid Foundation is also building an eco-brick school in Hlaingthaya Township in Yangon, which is expected to be completed in July of this year. Open / Comment

2021-06-04 13:38:53 Open / Comment

2021-06-04 13:38:45 Robotic prosthetics with tactical feedback can help amputees feel again

A study published in the journal Science writes about an implant-controlled robotic arm that can send tactile feedback to the user with a second implant. This means that the user will experience the sense of touch through this robotic arm, allowing for more situational awareness.

Typically, people have a good idea of the placement and position of their limbs. This is because of a little-known sense called proprioception, which tells us about which body parts are where. Our sense of touch then lets us know the degree of firmness with which we have grasped an object, even if we aren’t looking at it.

Early robotic arms required active visual perception for them to function and interact with their surroundings. However, without the sense of touch, visual judgments are only estimations and require a lot more attention from users rather than the ability to “feel” what they are doing.

Fortunately, scientists have since been able to map the regions of the brain that process information transferred by sensory nerve cells in the hands. This research involves two electrode arrays implanted into the section of the brain designed to process information coming from the skin. When the 32 electrodes activate, the brain experiences the sensation of something manipulating their palm and fingers.

The study in question only involves one participant: a man paralyzed from the neck down who had worked with a robotic arm for two years via the brain implants placed within the motor-control region of his brain. Even without the sense of touch, the man maneuvered the robotic arm proficiently. For this study, researchers administered tactile feedback tests that include grasping variously shaped objects, carrying them somewhere, then releasing them.

The test results demonstrate that having the sense of touch significantly improved performance. The participant was able to execute the series of tasks nine times without the touch system, but more than a dozen times when the system was activated. The most notable advantage came from the participant’s ability to firmly hold the object. The time between touching the object with the robotic arm and lifting it from the table fell by two-thirds once the sensory feedback feature was turned on.

This initial study only includes one participant, so more tests have to be conducted to gain a more thorough understanding of the technology and to fine-tune it so that it’s ready to be made available to regular consumers and people in need. Open / Comment

2021-06-03 12:16:15 Open / Comment

2021-06-03 12:16:03 This edible packaging cuts plastic waste out of takeout food

Soon you’ll be able to eat the containers your food comes in. At least that’s the vision of design studio Forest and Whale which created Reuse — a container designed for takeaway packaging that can be eaten or composted once you finish your food.

The edible packaging is designed to cut the overwhelming amount of plastic waste associated with takeaway food and is made from wheat husks. “The wheat husk is ground into smaller pellets and then, with the addition of a small amount of natural binder and water, pressed within two metal molds at high temperature,” Forest and Whale co-founder Gustavo Maggio tells Dezeen. “This gives shape to the final container, which is then ready to use.”

While the resulting container can be used to hold any food, it is most suitable for salads because it can’t withstand moisture for too long. As Maggio explains, the edible box can hold a salad with dressing for a couple of hours, after which it will start losing its rigidity. That’s why to-go food is the ideal use for it because you typically eat the food soon after ordering.

In case you don’t want to eat the container once you’ve finished the food, you can place it in a regular composting bin where it will biodegrade in about a month. You can do the same with the lid, which is non-edible but is made out of biodegradable plastic. The Singapore-based design hopes to bring it to the market by the end of the year. Open / Comment

2021-06-02 11:20:41

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2021-06-02 11:20:38 In several cities there are refrigerators with free products

We have already written about a grocery store where anyone can take food for free. But the maintenance of the store is expensive. Now we have received the news that in several cities around the world there are refrigerators with free food.

Community or “solidarity refrigerators”, as they are often called, enable companies, restaurants, and individuals to drop off uneaten food instead of throwing it out. Once the food is in the communal fridge, individuals can swing by and grab something delicious to munch on or to cook with completely free of charge.

Hubbub is an exciting UK charity working to inspire healthier, greener lifestyles across fashion, food, homes and neighborhoods. It created The Community Fridge Network there in 2017, that has so far launched 80 community fridges in the UK. Amazingly, it is set to more than double that total in 2020. This charity wants to repurpose the estimated 13 billion pounds worth of food getting needlessly wasted in the UK alone every year.

Community refrigerators prevent waste, as they equip distributors, retailers, and others with a consistent and central place to give away unused produce. In fact, according to Hubbub, each fridge saves half a ton of food per month, and a reported 780,000 kg of food has already been redistributed in the UK, reaching approximately 12,000 people!

These refrigerators can often be found in community centers, churches, organic markets, non-profit organizations, and other locations that make it convenient to drop-off or pick-up food.

By enabling food-sharing, such refrigerators support individuals who can’t always afford healthy produce. These refrigerators have begun popping up in the UK and other countries over the past few years to increase access to nutritional food, reports We Forum.

Community refrigerators can be found in cities such as Paris, Jerusalem, Bilbao, Buenos Aires, and many more. While each one is packed with its own unique flavor, they all unite around food security, healthier eating, waste recovery, and community-building, and so are a win-win solution! Open / Comment

2021-06-01 11:48:23

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