World

For decades, wind turbines have followed the same basic design: towering structures fitted with enormous rotating blades that convert wind into electricity. As manufacturers compete to build ever-larger turbines with blades stretching more than 100 metres, one Spanish company has taken a completely different approach. Instead of spinning blades, its device is a slender vertical…

Footage aired by CCTV showed a section of the hillside collapsing onto a cluster of riverside homes (AP photo) Several people were trapped after a landslide struck Pengshui county in the southwestern Chinese municipality of Chongqing on Friday, burying residential buildings and triggering a large-scale rescue operation, according to state media.State broadcaster CCTV said a…

A depiction of Cassiodorus, 1493, from the Nuremberg Chronicles by Michel Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff (Public Domain) War does more than destroy buildings. It can also wipe out knowledge collected over centuries. In Italy during the sixth century, battles across the region damaged cities, schools and libraries that had once been centres of learning.At a…

United States of America is believed to have started in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776 when the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. From the City Tavern where the founding fathers plotted the American Revolution to the Carpenters’ Halls where the colonies united against the British and even to Independence Hall where the US…

Cities in the Netherlands are experimenting with a greener approach to urban surfaces by using grass-filled permeable paving blocks in places where conventional sealed concrete or asphalt might otherwise be used. These specially designed blocks contain open spaces where grass can grow, while gaps in the surface allow rainwater to pass through rather than immediately…

Kamprad reused tea bags and ate at IKEA cafeterias, avoiding expensive dining options. (AP file photo) Ingvar Kamprad built one of the world’s biggest furniture brands, but his personal life looked very different from what many would expect of a billionaire.The IKEA founder, whose fortune was once estimated at $58.7 billion, was known for living…

Deep within the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest, scientists discovered a fungus with an extraordinary ability that could offer new clues in the fight against plastic pollution. Known as Pestalotiopsis microspora, the fungus can break down polyester polyurethane, a widely used type of plastic, and use it as a source of carbon. Even more remarkably, laboratory research…

Wanting something and actually working towards it are two very different states, and most people spend far longer in the first than the second. Arnold Schwarzenegger put the gap plainly. “Just remember, you can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets,” he said. The image does the work by itself. Climbing…

In New Jersey, farmland is helping researchers explore whether livestock farming and solar power can successfully share the same land. At the centre of the project is a small herd of beef cattle grazing among rows of vertical solar panels, which have been installed without replacing the grass beneath them. While the cows continue their…

The issue has become increasingly urgent because Japan’s imperial family has very few male heirs. Japan’s parliament on Friday approved changes to the country’s imperial succession law, introducing measures aimed at preserving the shrinking royal family but stopping short of allowing women to inherit the Chrysanthemum Throne despite strong public support for such a change.The…