Despite being on the market for decades, braille displays remain very costly, typically in the range of several thousand dollars. Dot Incorporation, a company cofounded by South Korean entrepreneur Eric Ju-Yoon Kim, created a smartwatch featuring a braille touchpad that only costs a few hundred dollars—and the technology can be applied to other devices as well.
Read More
To celebrate World Oceans Day, which took place June 8, we’ve collected some of our recent CTTs on challenges and solutions related to the world ocean.
Read More
The heat island effect is a major problem for many big cities, and relying on air conditioning for cooling can be expensive and increase air pollutants. Several initiatives in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, look to combat the heat using environmentally friendly and sustainable solutions.
Read More
Titanium dioxide is widely used in food products to achieve a bright white color—but that may soon change. The European Food Safety Authority recently published an updated assessment of TiO2 as a food additive that characterizes the substance as unsafe.
Read More
The United Nations General Assembly approved the formal resolution to declare 2022 as the International Year of Glass! Read the statement from Alicia Durán, president of the International Commission on Glass and chair of IYOG2022.
Read More
Figurines created by people of the Tumaco-La Tolita culture give insight into their ancient society and ideology. Researchers in Colombia and the United Kingdom investigated use of a reverse engineering framework to complement conventional stylistic and iconographic analyses of these figurines.
Read More
Academic and industrial ceramic researchers alike are exploring ways to minimize waste and maximize reuse in ceramics manufacturing. Several articles published in International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology demonstrate the resulting ecological and economic benefits of these activities.
Read More
Greenland is at the center of many recent discussions on establishing new rare earth mining operations outside of China. Greenland’s election on April 6, however, gave a different party its first-ever chance to form a government, which will likely shape the island’s future mining decisions.
Read More
Some countries that are significant importers of global waste do not have strong waste management infrastructures, which makes handling the waste difficult. In the absence of government programs, entrepreneurs have started their own initiatives to aid local communities in managing waste. Learn about two individuals in Ghana combating e-waste and glass waste, respectively.
Read More
Since 1989, the Brick Industry Association has sponsored the Brick in Architecture Awards to recognize exceptional uses of clay brick in architecture. The 41 global winners for the 2020 awards include entries spanning the United States, Australia, Canada, China, and Germany.
Read More