News
"Rain-Catching Coat Purifies Water for Drinking"
By Rob Winters - Published on Tuesday, 18 October 2011 10:10
"Most wet weather gear aims only to shrug off rainwater and perhaps help people look stylish under stormy conditions. The "Raincatch" garment takes a step beyond both umbrellas and raincoats by capturing, filtering and storing rainwater in case the wearer gets thirsty later on. Raincatch represents a marriage of existing technology by Hyeona Yang and Joshua Noble at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design in Denmark. The two designers modified existing raincoats so that rain collected in the collar would filter down the back of the coat, pass through chemically purifying charcoal filters and end up stored around the coat hips."
Read more: http://www.innovationnewsdaily.com/rain-catch-coat-drinking-water-2310/
"Deadly European salmon virus found in B.C. stock"
By Rob Winters - Published on Tuesday, 18 October 2011 10:08
"Salmon conservationists and fish farmers agree more investigation is warranted after two young, wild salmon on British Columbia's central coast were found carrying a highly contagious virus never before detected in the north Pacific Ocean.Infectious Salmon Anaemia was diagnosed in two of 48 sockeye smolts by the reference laboratory at the Atlantic Veterinary College in P.E.I. and reported to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
The Simon Fraser University professor who sent the smolts for testing received word on Friday of the positive results, which identify the virus as the same European strain that wiped out about 70 per cent of farmed salmon stocks in Chile."
"Scarce resources, climate biggest threats to world health"
By Rob Winters - Published on Tuesday, 18 October 2011 10:02
"(Reuters) - The Earth's natural resources like food, water and forests are being depleted at an alarming speed, causing hunger, conflict, social unrest and species extinction, experts at a climate and health conference in London warned Monday.
Increased hunger due to food yield changes will lead to malnutrition; water scarcity will deteriorate hygiene; pollution will weaken immune systems; and displacement and social disorder due to conflicts over water and land will increase the spread of infectious diseases, they said.
By 2050, there could be 70 million additional deaths in sub-Saharan Africa alone, said Tony McMichael, professor of population health at the Australian National University.
As mosquito species spread due to climate change, the transmission rate of diseases like malaria will increase, engulfing countries like Zimbabwe from 2025 to 2050.
An extra 21 million people in China could be at risk from the infectious disease schistosomiasis as global warming increases floods, enabling disease-carrying water snails to travel to new areas."
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/17/us-climate-health-idUSTRE79G4VP20111017
"7 Futuristic Asian Gadgets"
By Rob Winters - Published on Monday, 17 October 2011 08:07
"It is easy to joke about some of the useless gadgets that come out of Asia, such as air-conditioned shirts, vending machines that dispense underwear and robots that perform weddings.On the other hand, it would be nice to have a vending machine suggest a drink you might like, or to have a robot that can run the house for you. Inconveniently, the devices on this list have yet to make it to other parts of the world, so the rest of us will have to just wait until we get our own virtual supermarkets. InnovationNewsDaily counts down the top seven Asian gadgets that have yet to debut here on the other side of the Pacific."
Read more: http://www.innovationnewsdaily.com/technology-you-cant-get-in-united-states-2206/
"Fauja Singh, 100, finishes marathon"
By Rob Winters - Published on Monday, 17 October 2011 07:56
Fauja Singh earned a spot in the Guiness World Book of Records for his accomplishment.
It took Singh more than eight hours to cross the finish line -- more than six hours after Kenya's Kenneth Mungara won the event for the fourth straight year -- and he was the last competitor to complete the course.
But his time wasn't nearly as remarkable as the accomplishment."
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