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It seems like a strange place to call a wildlife park: Nearly 30 years after the most catastrophic nuclear incident in global history, Chernobyl’s exclusion zone has turned into a paradise for animals of all species and sizes. A variety of raptors, deer, big cats, foxes, bears and birds have moved into the region, taking advantage of a vast habitat with almost no humans. That habitat, though, is contaminated with radioactive materials, and scientists still hotly debate the potential costs of radiation exposure to the animals of Chernobyl, some of whom have become famous.

Researchers have seen an explosion of wildlife at the site in recent years, with camera traps providing an opportunity to look deep into the world of the region’s animals without disturbing them. Stunning photography shows animals like wolves and bears roaming freely in the exclusion zone, unconcerned about the potential for human visitors. Perhaps most astonishingly, a population of Przeswalski’s horses, an endangered species critical to the biological and evolutionary history of modern equids, is booming in the region—which isn’t exactly what one might expect, given the radioactive contamination.

Mother’s Day is a good time to reflect on the amazing lengths some moms go to to ensure the well being of their children. One such “supermom” is Debby Elnatan, a former Israeli stay-at-home mom who became a press sensation when she invented the “Upsee”, a harness that allowed her young disabled son, and other handicapped children around the world, to walk in tandem with their parents.

When we first wrote about the Firefly Upsee harness a little over a year ago, the device was just gaining worldwide attention. A year later, NoCamels speaks to the inventor of the Upsee to hear about the future of the international company she is now heading.

As concern remains over the need to convert millions of acres of crop land to meet the ever-increasing biofuel demand, a new study has found pumpkins could provide the answer to sharing between food and fuel.

Hay un toque de verde asociado a recibir el servicio telefónico, el uso de Internet y la transmisión de vídeo a través de una red totalmente de fibra óptica. No es el color de la luz generada por láser que transporta grandes cantidades de datos a través de todos los cables de vidrio directamente en hogares y negocios. Es verde en el sentido de que tan más amigable con el medio ambiente las redes de telecomunicaciones basadas en fibra óptica se comparan con el alambre de cobre y las redes de cable coaxial.

Ya se trate de la eficiencia energética o la reducción de la demanda de materias primas y otros recursos, todo en las redes de fibra óptica es una estrategia ganadora en muchos frentes, incluyendo la sostenibilidad ambiental.

La cercanía de la celebración del 45o Día de la Tierra este 22 de abril, es un buen momento para reflexionar sobre cómo las decisiones de la red y tecnología realizadas por grandes empresas de telecomunicaciones, no sólo resultan en servicios avanzados y confiables, sino que estas decisiones también pueden pagar buenos dividendos en el frente de la sostenibilidad.

Llevar más información por kilómetro de cable

¿Que hace a la fibra óptica verde? Las redes de fibra han sido largamente reconocidas como los medios más eficientes y fiables para la transmisión de información. Se requieren menos recursos físicos para implementar y mantener estas redes. La fibra lleva mucha más información por...

The coffee industry plays a major role in the global economy. It also has a significant impact on the environment, producing more than 2 billion tonnes of coffee by-products annually. Coffee silverskin (the epidermis of the coffee bean) is usually removed during processing, after the beans have been dried, while the coffee grounds are normally directly discarded.

It has traditionally been assumed that these by-products ─ coffee grounds and coffee silverskin, have few practical uses and applications. Spent coffee grounds are sometimes employed as homemade skin exfoliants or as abrasive cleaning products. They are also known to make great composting agents for fertilizing certain plants. But apart from these limited applications, coffee by-products are by and large deemed to be virtually useless. As such, practically all of this highly contaminating ‘coffee waste’ ends up in landfills across the globe and has a considerable knock-on effect on the environment.