Technology + Ethics Behind Turning Trees into Power Generators

In its earliest stages, and developed by graduate students from Keio University in Tokyo, the “biological microgrid” Raiki will aim to harvest electricity from trees by drawing from the “triboelectric” effect in foliage. This is a phenomenon of movement, much like static electricity, generated when positively charged leaves come into contact with negatively charged materials (like a tree trunk). Industrial designer Catalina Lotero explained this …

Filmmaker Daniel Askill’s Futuristic Film, “Electric Wave,” Starring Three Extraordinary Women Surfers

From filmmaker Daniel Askill (best known for groundbreaking music videos for Sia and Lady Gaga), the short film Electric Wave depicts futuristic surfing scenes in richly stylized, and sometimes allegorical, moments. Seven-time World Surf League Champion, Steph Gilmore, as well as legendary free surfer, Leah Dawson and emerging talent Coco Ho star in the exquisite cinematic experience, which was shot overnight at Kelly Slater’s Surf …

2,000-Year-Old Sarcophagus Adorned With Leopard Painting Found

On the western bank of the Nile, 15 feet below ground, an archeological dig (led by Patrizia Piacentini from the University of Milan) has unearthed a stunning 2,000-year-old sarcophagus lid adorned with a colored painting of a leopard’s face. “Her name is Mafdet (meaning ‘she who runs’) and she was the first of the Egyptian cat goddesses, long before the more modish Bastet and Sekhmet,” …