Social Design in the Classroom
by: FEED STOP, 2011-01-10 13:00:00 UTC
In a recent article here on Re-nourish, I wrote about the importance of connecting the students' values to those principles set forth in the concept of sustainability to best intertwine it within the student designers' process. This past fall 2010 semester at the University of Illinois School of Art + Design, I took advantage of the Design Ignites Change challenge to help prepare my junior methodology students for the final project of the term (focusing on sustainability) by challenging them to create an iPhone app around a social cause close to their heart. The iPhone app had to follow Apple SDK [...]

Less is More: One Good Chair Winners
by: Sustainable Design News, 2011-01-30 02:53:27 UTC

Two chairs took the "gold" at World Market Center Las Vegas this week, during the third annual "One Good Chair" competition. Eric Tong's Zpine chair received the grand prize and Juan Mercado's RE_Flex chair won in the People's Choice category. Minimum - maximim was this year's theme, and designers from around the world were invited to create a chair that managed to preserve natural resources while also amplifying human delight.

monored: heliometer
by: Designboom - Weblog, 2011-01-31 10:00:00 UTC

the outdoor installation simulates for visitors the future of global warming, while its structure provokes questions about the notion of shelter.
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The 260 mpg car that might actually be cool
by: Gizmodo , 2011-01-30 23:34:40 UTC
The VW Formula XL1 not only gets 260 mpg, it also looks quite fetching. Stranger still, you might actually be able to buy one.

Originally posted at Technically Incorrect

True Energy refrigerators cool for ten days without power
by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2011-01-31 21:39:54 UTC

Any time there’s a prolonged power outage in warm weather, chances are that one of your first thoughts is “What’ll happen to all the food in my fridge?”. Well, imagine if instead of a week’s worth of groceries, your unpowered refrigerator was full of vaccines, vital to the well-being of an entire African village. In rural third world countries, power failures are common, as are high temperatures – not a great combination for things that need to be kept cold. Fortunately, some aid agencies have the option of using a True Energy Vaccine Refrigerator. It can store US$30,000 worth of medicine below 10C (50F) in 43C (109F) ambient temperatures, for over ten days at a time, without power... Continue Reading True Energy refrigerators cool for ten days without power

Tags: Cooling, Fridge, Phase change material, Refrigerator, Vaccines

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A Device That Scans for Skin Cancer in Seconds
by: fast company, 2011-01-31 22:27:34 UTC

Scanning the body for cancerous moles is a laborious process; once the doctor has found a mark that looks suspicious, it has to be removed and sent to the lab for testing. But what if there was a simpler way to detect melanoma? A British Columbia-based startup called Verisante Technology thinks it has a solution with the Verisante Aura, a device that can detect melanoma in seconds when held above a suspicious mole.

The device, developed by the British Columbia Cancer Agency, compares a mole's spectral signature to others in a database to determine whether or not it warrants attention. It's a process that happens in under a second--the Aura uses Raman spectroscopy, a method that identifies molecules by their vibrational states, to scan for 21 cancer biomarkers.

The Aura isn't a replacement for biopsy. Instead, if the Aura detects a suspicious mole, doctors are expected to biopsy it for further testing.

The Aura has already spent six years in clinical testing, with great success, according to MIT Technology Review. Next up for the product: getting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Canada Health. And Verisante had better hope that the Aura is 100% effective; otherwise, doctors may ignore cancerous moles just because the device gives it the all-clear.

Ariel Schwartz can be reached on Twitter or by email.

IDS11: Old Oriental Carpets Get A Second Life
by: TreeHugger Design, 2011-01-31 13:32:04 UTC
Photos credit Lloyd Alter A few years ago, everyone at the Interior Design Show in Toronto tried to outdo each other in going green; this year it seems to be off the radar. Among the few obvious picks were these Second Life rugs, and they are not virtual world flying carpets, but old Persian and Turkish rugs. In the middle east, rugs get very hard use and wear out; Toronto's Metrick family, owners of Elte Carpets, buy up what are essentially junk rugs ready for the dump, scrape them down and recolour them with vibrant oil-based dyes. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

IDS11: Patty Johnson's New Caribbean Designs From Guyana
by: TreeHugger Design, 2011-01-31 16:31:41 UTC
There are few designers who I admire more than Patty Johnson; she travels the world to quietly work with local artisans, producing "goods that fuse quality with creativity beyond just low cost." She very modestly has created "an unprecedented collaboration, weaving together elements of craft production, community development and modern design." Her latest exhibition shows work produced in Guyana.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Understanding Labels Part 1: Are They Green or Greenwash? Yes.
by: TreeHugger Design, 2011-01-31 21:26:54 UTC
Last week BuildingGreen published Green Building Product Certifications, a wonderful and useful guide with everything one needs to understand what labels actually mean and how to use them. I wish it had come out a month earlier; I had been asked to do a lecture on Labels and green product certifications last Friday at the Interior Design Show in Toronto, and this would have saved m... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Commission eyes resource efficiency targets for EU-27
by: Euractive, 2011-01-27 07:51:10 UTC

While the European Commission's flagship initiative on resource efficiency, adopted yesterday (26 January), does not set any national targets, Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik said these could well be tabled by the end of June.