Sustainable energy is always good stuff, and being the leading producer of wind energy in the world shows that finally, energy companies in the United States are serious about taking this technology into the mainstream. Even so, a dismal percentage…
The World Without Us
A fascinating web project that’s led up to the release of the book by Alan Weisman, The World Without Us, the World Without Us site is an interactive tour through the next 5 billion years if the human race vanished…
MIT Scientists Generate Wireless Electricity
The notion of wireless electricity is as old as Nicola Tesla’s brilliant (or mad) inventions and ideas. The trouble is that while transmitting energy wirelessly is easy (eg, microwaves, radio, etc) transmitting electrical power is difficult, and results in a…
Toyota Hybrid-X Concept Unveiled
You know that here at Gears and Widgets we’re huge fans of green technology and hybrid automobiles. We love that kind of stuff; it’s not about some political debate for us, it’s about using technology to make the world a…
New Kind of Cement Absorbs Pollution
An Italian company has begun manufacturing a kind of cement that it claims will absorb pollution from vehicles travelling on it or around it; according to a report by the Italian news agency ANSA. While the claims have yet to…
Can Computer Models Replace Animal Testing?
One can only hope so! Many studies have shown that animal testing has only marginal effectiveness, and is not a reliable indicator of the behavior or effects of a drug or treatment when applied to humans. Articles posted in journals…
Trash that PC in an Eco-Friendly Way
In honor of Earth Day [ http://www.earthday.net/ ], which was April 22nd, CNet has posted an article that addresses an incredibly important question of our time: “Where do our computers go when they die?” Well, the answer is usually “The…
Japanese Engineers Create Robot Koi, Water Snake
I for one welcome our new fishy overlords. Okay seriously, Japanese engineers have created a robot Japanese carp, better known in the states as Koi…or do I have that backwards? These gorgeous multicolored fish (often white and orange, or white…
New Gadget Uses GPS Technology to Show You the Stars
The SkyScout, by Celestron, debuted at CES this past year, and wowed audiences with it’s size, magnifier, and built-in GPS technology. The Skyscout allows you to put in your earthly coordinates, and churns away at calculating, along with the date…
The BBC’s Climate Change Study Screensaver
Looking for a way help climatologists studying the effects of global warming on the global environment? So are we, but climatologists have long been saying that the kind of processing power they’d need to run simulations and experiments isn’t available…