The missing link in human’s evolution has been found, or at least that’s what researchers think.

This 47 million-year-old primate (Darwinius Masillae) unveiled yesterday at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, is the long-sought missing link in mankind’s family tree. Known as Ida, the lemur-like creature had opposable thumbs like humans, fingernails instead of claws and hands that can grasp things.

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Scientists haven’t had much success when it comes to interpreting climate change patterns. Well, maybe they could never establish a relationship between climate change science and the ice clouds.

But now, a team led by Kerri Pratt, a Ph.D. student of atmospheric chemistry and Professor Kim Prather, got an opportunity to collect water droplets and ice crystals from an aircraft flying through skies over Wyoming.

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President Obama and California are preparing to take the gloves off in the fight for emissions regulation to curb global warming. Normally the phrase ‘take the gloves off’ would mean they are getting ready to really duke it out. Not this time. The gloves will come off because the fight will be finished, IF, President Obama gets his way.

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The Green Eye Candy and the Orange Tequila Sunrise are two revolutionary ideas by Jason Battersby.

Certainly a class apart from the crowd, the two maverick machines are hand-made from fibreglass to give out a look of well-oiled fluidity. Fast, supple and streamlined with strong rims, the Green Eye Candy and the Orange Tequila Sunrise resemble motorcycles more than bicycles.

A ground-breaking design exercise, both machines are widely expected to excite and attract biking fans who would like to exercise. Comfortable with a seat area that is relaxed and squat (champion in the 2007 Toronto Speedorama), it’s the sleek design that makes them the perfect commuter for your daily activities.

Great additions. Thanks Jason![via Behance]

On show recently at Designers & Agents Green Room, Aurora Robson’s unique artwork has been a refreshing combination of intricate patterns and colours. Her work uses recycled materials that are stylishly highlighted with solar-powered LEDs.

Aurora Robson, hailing from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a contemporary artist who works with installations, works on paper, paintings, sculpture, video, photography, and performance art. She would like to describe herself as being primarily a sculptor.

For her recent show at Designers & Agents Green Room, Aurora made use of about 20,000 plastic bottles from the landfill. She uses recycled materials in her works of art to such an extent where she enjoys receiving junk mail because “it gives her new material to create her work.”

“The language and costly graphic devices and fancy printing used in junk mail gives it a persuasive, positive and personal flavour, making it great fodder for my work. My practice is ultimately about recognising and embracing new possibilities and displays and encouraging others to do the same,” she said.

Some of Aurora Robson’s outstanding pieces of art included works involving plastic bottles carved, cut and twisted into what one critic described as “romantic, unrecognizable forms.”

In short, like all good artists using recycled materials as their medium, Aurora Robson transforms the trash into things of beauty shrouded in mystery.

Quite inspiring, isn’t it?

[via Inhabitat]

Traditionalist anglers and environmentalists have expressed concern over the obsession of making the fish fat by overfeeding, which will make them too easy to catch.

British Ian Chillcott, a leading coarse angler and a fishing writer, says that “fishery owners are guilty of overfeeding and if you are making the fish more reliant on bait, the fish consider it their natural food source and they will have no fear of diving into a pile of pellets until they find the one with a hook in it.”

“As things are going now,” Chillcott adds, “it is going to be very easy to catch very big fish, but that is missing the point. People are creating big fish with no regard to the essence of fishing or to the fish’s welfare. It is tearing the heart out of fishing.”

Ian Chillcott and the traditionalist anglers of his ilk are worried about the growing number of fishing lakes that are being heavily stocked with fish, particularly carp, which are becoming increasingly dependent on high-protein pellets.

A study has found that carp fishing is getting very popular in the United Kingdom in recent years and is the fastest growing angling market in country. Anglers are willing to pay huge sums a year to fish at lakes that are known to have fat fish.

Data shows that the size of carp in Britain has increased in the last 30 years – by 30%, from about 50 lbs to 65 lbs.

Chillcott says bitterly about the new, unhealthy trend: “The way some fish are being force-fed is an abomination to the word angling. Carp are like any other wild animal. The least amount of energy they have to expend in meeting their dietary needs, the better. The pellets give them a very easy meal.”

Richard Lee, editor of Angling Times, shares Chillcott’s concern when he says, “angling is becoming a bit like intensive farming and the concerns are where this leaves the romance of fishing.”

Britain’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) have also warned that “feeding young animals an inappropriate diet can be one of the precursors to skeletal deformities and how feeding salmon the wrong kind of protein can cause digestive disorders.”

So what now? Put the fish on a diet?

Source – Image by TimJC513

The solar-powered ‘dragon’ stadium in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, is the world’s first stadium which gets all its power needs from the sun.

Designed by Japanese architect Toyo on a steel-rod structure with a roof covered with solar panels, the horseshoe-shaped structure has been constructed for the World Games to be held in Kaohsiung city in July 2009. Spread over 19 hectares and having a seating capacity of 55,000 it will be used mainly for athletics and rugby events, including hosting the main events for the 2009 World Games.

After the World Games, the Taiwanese national football team will play home matches at the ‘dragon’ stadium.

The stadium’s unique, semi-spiral shape imitates a dragon and is intended to provide a “cordial welcome and a cheerful greeting to athletes and spectators with its open-ended structure,” according to the organizers of the World Games.

There are 8,844 solar panels on the roof which are expected to generate more electricity than is needed to power the building’s 3,300 lights and two gigantic television screens. Some 1.14 million kWh of electricity a year will be generated – preventing, in the process, 660 tons of carbon dioxide from being discharged into the atmosphere.

As for the surplus energy generated during the warm weather, the government of Taiwan intends to sell it.

Source

So far, it was the climatologists and environmentalist who were mainly warning the world about the hazards of climate change. Now, medical doctors have joined them.

A study by the University College London, published in the medical journal Lancet, has warned that the problems caused by climate change such as food shortages, heat waves and increased threat of tropical diseases like malaria, will kill billions of people worldwide.

This is the first authentic medical assessment of the dangers of global warming.

And, what it would mean is that climate change is now the biggest threat to humanity.

The authors of the study – which included doctors, climatologists and economists – concluded that climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century.

The effects of climate change will affect most populations in the next decades and put the lives of and well-being of billions of people at increased risk.”

The study, which took a year to complete, predicted that temperatures are likely to rise in the next century by over 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius), resulting in “catastrophic consequences”. It also stresses that the health of people in poorer countries would be hit the hardest since they do not have the money to respond to floods, crop failures or to an increase in insect-borne diseases.

But developed countries will be hit, too. Extreme weather conditions will become more frequent across the world and rises in temperature will particularly affect the elderly and vulnerable.

The result of all these could be mass migration, health problems like starvation and the threat of disease, and even war caused by shortages of food and water. Doctors also warn that even “the fear of climate change” will have a psychosocial effect on health, with patients requiring counseling.

Meanwhile, doctors around the world themselves are being asked to become “advocates for encouraging a low-carbon lifestyle” – for example, by cycling rather than using a car.

Source – Image by pagedooley

Not many would be aware why the Mercedes Benz ML450 is creating such hype at the 2009 New York Auto Show until you tell them that it is a hybrid variant.

Meant for both the green minded and the adrenaline junkies, the new ML450 gas-electric hybrid uses a specially designed 3.5-liter V6 Atkinson cycle engine that is doubled up with a 288V NM battery pack for a total output of 335 hp.

Based on a Two-Mode hybrid powertrain (co-developed with General Motors and Chrysler ) the hybrid SUV gets 21mpg in the city and 24mpg on the highways, while the battery pack helps it add an extra 34 miles range. And that’s a great option even against a Prius …

But can you afford it? Mercedes will let us know soon! [via Autobloggreen]

In the modern era, sustainable living has to be a priority if we care about our planet. Laguna Beach is thronged with architecture that defines sustainable living at its best as it has long embraced the environmentalist movement. The latest addition to the Laguna Beach is the Susi Q Senior and Community Center.

The building has been laid on a 8,200 square feet area. It has been designed by LPA Architects, built by Swinerton Builders, while the project management was taken care of by Griffin Structures.

It is not just about the ‘obvious’ contemporary space with clean lines, there are sustainable design elements which can be used as a benchmark for other architectural structures.

Natural daylight is ensured using skylights and solar tubes. There are operable aluminum-clad windows and water efficiency is warranted using drip irrigation and water efficient fixtures.

Most of the building material used is recycled content and 75% of the construction waste has been recycled back again. Cooling is an important factor in islands and therefore the heat island reduction is done using cool roofs.

Looks like a lovely place, isn’t it? [via Jetsongreen]