It's pretty amazing what human beings are capable of, it seems that no matter what life throws at us we find a way to survive and thrive. Make sure you watch the video above (even thought it's in Chinese). It really made me appreciate the more basic things in life.

How imminent is catastrophic and sudden global warming? Some scientists believe that such an event is just around the corner, and are researching how we could keep the Earth cool in case of an emergency. Their ideas sound fantastic and dangerous, from sending thousands of tiny mirrors into space, to scattering a fine cloud of particles through various spots in the Earth’s atmosphere, with the intent of reducing the amount of radiation from the sun that reaches Earth’s surface. Cloud seeding, originally a process thought to increase precipitation in rain-bearing clouds, has ...

The first Edward Burtynsky photograph that I remember seeing was a dark, flat landscape cut through the middle by a river flowing bright red. At the time, I thought manufactured landscapes referred to the artist’s manufacturing of the photograph— I thought Burtynsky had altered the picture, added red to the river. I was wrong: the river actually flows red due to the tailings that are dumped in it from a nickel mine outside of Sudbury. Burtynsky takes pictures of landscapes that have been manufactured. He captures the imprint that people, our industries and our wastes, ...

The Cassini spacecraft, which has been orbiting Saturn and observing the planet and its moons since July of 2004 (Cassini’s partner, the Huygens probe, landed on and is exploring the moon Titan), sent back photos in September of one of the most unusual objects in the solar system. Iapetus is Saturn’s third-largest moon, and its unusual shape and bizarre colouring make it stand out so much that it was featured in Arthur C. Clarke’s famous novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Discovered in 1671 by a gentleman named Giovanni Domenico Cassini, Iapetus is distinguished by a dramatic two-tone colouring that make it look like ...

This is a video showing off the model 2008 Volkswagen Mule, a new, clean, diesel car. It’s designed for use on the highway— Volkswagens were originally made to drive optimally at a steady speed and low RPM for long distances on the Autobahn in Germany. Compared to a hybrid, this diesel vehicle— which can also use biodiesel, of course— gets similar mileage but is a much better choice for long-distance driving or high-speed highways. It seems to me that if you’re a person who uses your car for long distances, you should go with diesel: ...

It is the kind of garage where a stranger walking in will see chaos; but among the gas barrels and fixtures, tubs of grease and auto parts, everything is exactly in its place. The recycled restaurant grease goes through a t-shirt filter into one drum, then it’s pumped into another and heated, and so on. Everyone’s worried about the viability of ethanol and other biofuels once highly populated countries like the U.S. start using them on a large scale. The question is, is the large scale the answer? Almost every sustainable technology that has been developed to provide energy— ...

In a thought-provoking (and slightly tongue-in-cheek) twenty-minute lecture, Kevin Kelly dares to ask: what is technology? What does technology want? And in terms of human society and culture, what is technology's view of the world?

Thinking of technology as having a life of its own has sparked many a scary work of science fiction. But Kelly carefully takes us through the five major trends in the evolution of life on earthubiquity, diversity, specialization, ...

How well do you know your own mind? How well do you understand its inner workings? And can you really trust it, to tell you what it’s seeing? Our brains are made up of about a hundred trillion individual cells, none of which has any consciousness of its own. So how do these cells work together to create a conscious brain? Dan Dennet believes, as other philosophers have said, that “consciousness is a bag of tricks.” In other words, the brain isn’t always being perfectly honest. Sometimes it will make you believe that you’ve seen ...

Who says eco-friendly cars have to look strange? And who says they have to be slow? Not Jay Leno— he had General Motors custom build him a sports car that runs on biodiesel. This car is beautiful. Powered by a Honeywell jet turbine engine, it’s not so good on mileage, as Leno admits, but at least it’s using renewable fuels. The design is based on a Corvette ZO6-C6 frame, and made of aluminum and carbon fibre, so it’s nice and light. And get this— the interior is custom designed to anatomically fit Leno’s body shape and ...

A small group of cylinder-shaped robots, topped with glowing, circular patterns of light, seems to be what comprises a pet these days. GlowBots are small robots that interact with a user as well as in groups, forming social networks based on dominance and learning. Picking one up and shaking it will give the robot confidence and positive reinforcement, so that when you put it down it will find a neighbour to be its ‘friend,’ and show it how to make more complex patterns. Groups of friends can ‘discuss’ various patterns and show others how to copy theirs. ...