Omniprocessor, an ingenious machine designed and built by Janicki Bioenergy, which turns human waste into water and electricity. In places without good waste treatment plants, it could be a real game-changer.
Monthly Archives: January, 2015
You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred – Woody Allen
You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred
Celebrate your fat – it’s fighting off infection
Most of us aren’t fond of our flab but perhaps it’s time to see it in a new light. Fat cells may be among our first line of defence against pathogens.
“Fat has an additional role we didn’t suspect,” says Jay Kolls of the University of Pittsburgh.
Beyond physical barriers such as skin, our main protection against marauding bacteria and viruses is the immune system. This is a complex network of cells with sophisticated weapons such as antibodies, which recognise and destroy foreign cells and proteins. But although many microbes multiply rapidly, it can take days for antibody production to ramp up. It now seems fat cells also play a defensive role – and they respond more speedily than many parts of the immune system.
Penguin Enrichment using tablets
An interesting use of technology in the enrichment program for their Magellanic penguins in the Aquarium of the Pacific in LA. Experimenting with many objects to engage the naturally curious birds, aviculturist Sara Mandel found that the penguins took quite a liking to an iPad game she got for her cats. To Mandel’s surprise, the little birds became obsessed and playing with the tablet is now a part of their daily enrichment routine—something that ultimately benefits the cute critters’ mental and physical well-being.
