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Submission + - Team Austria Wins the 2013 Solar Decathlon with Their Net-Zero LISI House (solardecathlon.gov)

Submitted by formaggio
formaggio writes: Team Austria was just announced the overall winner of the 2013 Solar Decathlon for their beautiful LISI House. With its elegant and innovative moving curtain facade, a simple form, and a strong emphasis placed on creating a seamless space that combines outdoor and indoor living, the stunning net-zero home is a versatile enough for life in both sunny California or the team's more temperate native land.

Submission + - Germany Produces Record-Breaking 5.1 Terawatt Hours of Solar Energy in One Month 2

Submitted by oritonic1
oritonic1 writes: Germany is rapidly developing a tradition of shattering its own renewable energy goals and leaving the rest of the world in the dust. This past July was no exception, as the nation produced 5.1 TWh of solar power, beating not only its own solar production record, but also eclipsing the record 5TWh of wind power produced by German turbines in January. Renewables are doing so well, in fact, that one of Germany's biggest utilities is threatening to migrate to Turkey.

Submission + - Could Humanity Really Build 'Elysium'?

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Miriam Kramer writes at Space.com that in the new movie "Elysium," Earth is beyond repair, and the rich and powerful have decided to leave it behind to live in a large, rotating space station stocked with mansions, grass, trees, water and gravity. "The premise is totally believable to me. I spent 28 years working on NASA's International Space Station and retired last summer as the director of ISS at NASA Headquarters. When I took a look at the Elysium space station, I thought to myself, that's certainly achievable in this millennium," says Mark Uhran, former director of the International Space Station Division in NASA's Office of Human Exploration and Operations. "It's clear that the number-one challenge is chemical propulsion." Nuclear propulsion could be a viable possibility eventually, but the idea isn't ready for prime time yet. "We learned an incredible amount with [the International Space Station] and we demonstrated that we have the technology to assemble large structures in space." The bottom line: "If you threw everything you had at it, could you reach a space station of the scale of Elysium in 150 years?" says Uhran. "That's a pretty tall order."

Submission + - All Bitcoin Wallets On Android Vulnerable To Theft (techweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by judgecorp
judgecorp writes: Bitcoin users have been warned that storing them in a wallet app on Android is insecure, A weakness in Android's random number generator means its random numbers may not be so random, giving attackers a chance of breaking into the wallet. those with Bitcoins have been advised to put them elsewhere, by bitcoin.org

Submission + - Peru to Provide Free Solar Power to its 2 Million Poorest Citizens (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Peru is looking to provide free electricity to over 2 million of its poorest citizens by harvesting energy from the sun. Energy and Mining Minister Jorge Merino said that the National Photovoltaic Household Electrification Program will provide electricity to poor households through the installation of photovoltaic panels.

Submission + - China Says Serious Polluters Will Get the Death Penalty (inhabitat.com) 1

Submitted by formaggio
formaggio writes: According to the Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese government is now allowing courts to punish those who commit environment crimes with the death penalty. The new judicial interpretation comes in the wake of several serious environmental problems that have hit the country over the last few months, including dangerous levels of air pollution, a river full of dead pigs, and other development projects that have imperiled public health.

Submission + - The Lepsis is a Terrarium for Growing Edible Insects at Home (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A recent UN report suggested that people should be eating more insects, because they're much less harmful to the environment that traditional meat. In response, designer Mansour Ourasanah has created the Lepsis, a small insect breeder that could be used to grow and harvest grasshoppers in urban homes.

Submission + - Solar Impulse Airplane to Launch First Sun-Powered Flight Across America (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by
markboyer
markboyer writes: "The Solar Impulse just landed at Moffett Field in Mountain View, California to announce a journey that will take it from San Francisco to New York without using a single drop of fuel. The "Across America" tour will kick off this May when founders Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg take off from San Francisco. From there the plane will visit four cities across the states before landing in New York."
Moon

Submission + - Foster + Partners and ESA to 3D Print Building on the Moon (fosterandpartners.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Internationally acclaimed architecture firm Foster + Partners built the Hearst Tower, the Millennium Bridge, and the Gherkin here on earth — and now they're setting their sights on outer space with plans to produce a 3D printed building on the moon. Today the firm announced that it has partnered with the European Space Agency to develop a lunar base for four people that can withstand the threat of meteorites, gamma radiation and temperature fluctuations. Since transporting building materials to space is a challenge, the team is considering using on-site 3D printing as a solution.
China

Submission + - What Did Google Earth Spot in the Chinese Desert? (wired.com) 4

Submitted by snooz_crash
snooz_crash writes: The CIA requests your assistance in IDing a base that they have been observing for quite a while. The base has been in existence for several years, but it's shape and location do not lend to an immediate answer to the riddle of "what the heck is it?"
China

Submission + - World's Longest High Speed Rail Line Opens in China (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Today China continued rolling out the future of high speed rail by officially unveiling the world’s longest high-speed rail line — a 2,298-kilometer (1,428-mile) stretch of railway that connects Beijing in the north to Guangzhou in the south. The first trains on the new route hit 300 kph (186 mph), cutting travel time between the two cities by more than half.
Idle

Submission + - Medieval "Lingerie" From 15th Century Castle Could Rewrite Fashion History (ecouterre.com)

Submitted by fangmcgee
fangmcgee writes: Archaeologists have unearthed several 500-year-old bras that some experts say could rewrite fashion history. While they’ll hardly send pulses racing by today’s standards, the lace-and-linen underpinnings predate the invention of the modern brassiere by hundreds of years. Found hidden under the floorboards of Lengberg Castle in Austria’s East Tyrol, along with some 2,700 textile fragments and one completely preserved pair of (presumably male) linen underpants, the four intact bras and two fragmented specimens are thought to date to the 15th century, a hypothesis scientists later confirmed through carbon-dating.
Science

Submission + - Homeless student is Intel Talent Search semifinali (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Samantha Garvey, a senior as Brentwood High School has managed to become one of the remaining 300 semifinalists in the Intel Science Talent Search this year. Her research focused on mussels and her discovery that they change the thickness of their shells if a predator such as crabs are introduced.

Why is Garvey’s achievement so impressive? Because she, and her entire family, are homeless and rely on a local homeless shelter. Such a situation would stop many students from being able to focus on studying, let alone a research project, but Garvey has instead used her situation as motivation. In her own words she wants, “a better lifea home.”

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