Earth Beat, 5 August 2011. Wireless electricity, a waterless washing machine and clothes in material grown from bacteria - we look at great ideas that are just waiting in the wings. Photo: Janne Kyttanen, founder of design house Freedom of Creation, in front of a laser-sintering machine.
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3D printing allows you to print up physical objects at just the touch of a button. Host Marnie Chesterton visits Janne Kyttanen, founder of design house Freedom of Creation to find out more... (more photos below)
Watch a 3D printing video from RNW.
Collecting on a bet
New York Times science reporter John Tierney recently collected on a bet to the tune of $10,000, after he wagered oil investment banker Matt Simmons that doomsday predictions would not develop into reality.
Food tubes
How about a new way to transport food from farms to supermarkets, cut the number of cars on the road by a quarter and reduce CO2 emissions? That’s the idea behind so-called food tubes. Inventor Noel Hodson joins Marnie to tell her what this food tube network might look like. Click for a 2 minute YouTube slideshow.
Passive housing
Residents of the Dutch city of Roosendaal will hardly have to use their central heating systems anymore. The building corporation which owns their rental homes is transforming hundreds of them into 'passive homes': houses which take insulation to new and extreme levels. Thijs Westerbeek goes to have a look. Click for a YouTube slideshow of the construction site.
What if we could grow our clothing? Not in a field, but in a lab. Suzanne Lee, the Creative Director of Bio Couture and a Senior Research Fellow at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in London, joins Marnie to tell us how we can get fashion from a petri dish (more photos below).
Video - using bacteria to grow a jacket.
Waterless washing machines
One manufacturer in the UK has replaced almost all the water in its washing machines with nylon beads. And your clothes still get clean. Marnie talks to the CEO of Xeros in the UK (photos below).
Wireless electricity
Marnie visits the developers of a new wireless power product and charges her mobile phone without using cables. Visit Earth Beat's YouTube Channel for more video.
Click image for slideshow - use arrows to scroll
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Did you actually see him make anything complex? How about an ipod? What a weak interview.
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