Chinese citizens are using blockchain to warn each other of unsafe vaccines
By using the blockchain in this new way, Chinese citizens may have finally found a way to express themselves that’s beyond the government’s reach.
Technology & innovation
This archive covers technology and innovation breakthroughs that improve lives, protect the environment, and expand human possibility. From medical devices to clean energy tools, the stories here focus on what’s working and who’s making it happen.
Tokyo announces plan to install solar roads in time for 2020 Olympics
Japan has decided to continue the introduction of solar roads on government owned property, and will more likely focus on parking lots.
Blockchain companies take aim at clean energy transaction costs
Advocates argue that blockchain platforms can reduce certification costs and eliminate the need for audits altogether. In turn, the platforms could provide a leg-up to small-scale distributed generators.
California laws seek to limit surveillance technology
California privacy advocates say it is “more critical than ever that the amount of surveillance and personal data collected be the bare minimum, to ensure the safety of our community from unlawful and inhumane targeting.”
Sierra Leone just held the world’s first blockchain-powered election
Agora’s work in Sierra Leone marked an important milestone on the path to a more transparent and fair democracy built on blockchain technology.
South Australia to get world’s largest solar and wind powered hydrogen “superhub”
“The Superhub will enable Neoen to produce renewable hydrogen for overseas export markets, and create 300 construction and ongoing jobs for South Australia”
SpaceX is about to quietly launch the first 2 of nearly 12000 satellites to blanket Earth in high-speed internet
The two satellites may test aspects of Starlink, a project to bathe Earth in high-speed internet access using nearly 12,000 spacecraft.
The Large Hadron Collider goes live beneath the France-Switzerland border
The Large Hadron Collider sent its first beam of protons around a 27-kilometer underground ring on September 10, 2008, beneath the French-Swiss border near Geneva. Built by CERN over a decade with more than 10,000 scientists from over 100 countries, it remains one of humanity’s most ambitious collaborative experiments in understanding matter itself.
Apple releases the iPhone, putting the internet in everyone’s pocket
The iPhone launched on June 29, 2007, when Apple opened its stores to buyers who had waited hours, sometimes days, for a $499 glass rectangle with no keyboard and no instruction manual. Steve Jobs had unveiled it months earlier as “an iPod, a phone, and an internet communicator,” and the audience laughed, thinking he was joking. He wasn’t.
China unveils the world’s first maglev wind turbine in Beijing
In 2006, a Beijing engineering team unveiled a wind turbine whose rotor floated on magnetic levitation, spinning without touching any bearing. By eliminating friction, the design could reportedly start generating power in breezes as slow as 1.5 meters per second. It was an early, imperfect signal of the engineering ambition now reshaping wind energy worldwide.