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Old Red Goes Green: Recycled Wall Brick Built to Save Water It might look like your typical old red clay house-building brick on one side, but turn it over and there is a shift that hints at a deeper design change – one that is eco-friendly but also expressive in a way that most walls or brick are not. Designed by Jin-young Yoon to be made from recycled plastic and decomposed leaves, this brick is green from the ground up (so to speak). More than just its composite materials, however, built-in grooves are designed to funnel water for gardening or even long-term underground storage. In a world where water is becoming the next hot-button resource destined to become scarce, it seems like a good time to start thinking about our most basic building materials and structures (such as bricks and walls) and see how they might shift to accommodate an ever-growing need for homes to have access to nature’s most vital resource.

Pantone Portraits — People in front of backgrounds that match their skin In an ongoing portrait series, artist Angelica Dass photographs people with backgrounds that are tinted with Pantone colors to match the subjects’ skin colors… You can see many more at her Tumblr. (via Kottke) 5 Unusual Ways to Become a Better Speaker You’ve been asked to speak at an important event. It’s a great opportunity and you should be thrilled—but since you rarely speak, especially in a formal setting, all you can think about is bombing. Unfortunately, captivating an audience is definitely a skill that takes years to develop and hone. Since you don’t have that kind of time, here are five unconventional ways to become a better speaker almost overnight: 1. Share an emotional story.

Infographic: United States of the Environment In the spirit of two popular infographics that map out the best and worst of all 50 U.S. states — the United States of Awesome and the United States of Shame — MNN decided to see how each state shines or suffers in regard to environmental and public health. Our "United States of the Environment" maps depict each state's No. 1 and No. 50 ranking for issues such as conservation, agriculture, energy efficiency, disease prevalence, pollution, natural resource availability and education, among others. Check out the two maps below, and see our list of states, stats and sources for more information. Sources for "good U.S." map:Alabama: Lowest rate of alcohol abuse or dependence (U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) Alaska: Most wetlands (U.S. Geological Survey) Arizona: Most solar power potential (USA Today, National Climatic Data Center) Arkansas: Home of Buffalo River, first U.S.

Next In Sustainable Living: Beer Bottle Houses As people move to more sustainable ways of living, some innovative architects have begun using recycled materials to create more environmentally-friendly habitats. Incredibly, beer bottles have become a primary means of this style of building, with far-ranging benefits including cheap construction, recycling and up-cycling, pollution reduction, natural solar power lighting, and natural insulation. The environment will definitely thank these clever builders for these eco-friendly beer bottle houses:

Aching back? Sitting up straight could be the culprit Public release date: 27-Nov-2006 [ Print | E-mail Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Maureen Morleymmorley@rsna.org 630-590-7762Radiological Society of North America CHICAGO -- Researchers are using a new form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to show that sitting in an upright position places unnecessary strain on your back, leading to potentially chronic pain problems if you spend long hours sitting.

Quick Practical, Tactical Tips for Presentations In the past I’ve given some tips for handling meetings effectively, covering topics like: - How not to let your meeting go down a rat hole; - Dealing with the elephant in the room; - Dealing with skeletons in your closet; - How to make meetings discussions, not “pitches” - A tale of two pitches (I eventually invested in the first company that pitched) Today’s post is a subtle one about positioning yourself in a presentation. This might be a VC meeting but also might just be a sales or biz dev meeting. It’s any meeting where you are in a small room and are being called on to present on some form of overhead slides 1.

Recycled Building Material Stronger than Concrete A new building material has the potential to divert large quantities of waste from landfills. UK company Affresol offers a truly novel building material called Thermo Poly Rock (TPR), which is made from select waste products. The resulting material is stronger than concrete, is waterproof, fire retardant, and can be used to build low-cost modular housing. Each house built with TPR panels will save an average of 18 tons of waste material from being disposed of in landfills. "Every country in the world has issues with waste and we now have an opportunity to turn waste into an enduring housing resource that is 100% recyclable." - Ian McPherson, Affresol

Design Daily: How to Turn Empty Beer Cans into a Roof - Environment As emblems of cultural capital, neither aluminum siding nor Natural Light holds much of a premium. But when, in the hands of the biotech worker and chicken-keeper Bill Robb, a collection of empty Natty Lights transforms into a sheet of siding, well, that's a thing of beauty. Check out Robb's step-by-step tutorial on how to repurpose aluminum cans as a roof for a chicken coop. It strikes that perfect balance of DYI initiative, sustainability, and appreciation for reasonably priced domestic beer.

Top 10 Common Faults In Human Thought Humans The human mind is a wonderful thing. Cognition, the act or process of thinking, enables us to process vast amounts of information quickly. 30 Challenges for 30 Days Did you know that it takes 30 days to form a new habit? The first few days are similar as to how you would imagine the birth of a new river. Full of enthusiasm it gushes forth, only to be met by strong obstacles. The path is not clear yet, and your surroundings don’t agree.

7 Weird Endangered Species Only a Mother Could Love Photo via WebEcoist When we pointed out some endangered species that are just so gosh-darn cute they'd give Knut a run for his magazine covers, we just couldn't shake the feeling that we were doing a disservice to all the rest of the world's endangered species--you know, the ones that aren't so cute. Or, in these cases, the ones that are almost downright ugly. Well, we think every creature has its own type of beauty--and we know that each holds its own important place in the eco-system--so we tracked down some of the weirder, creepier types who deserve to be saved just as much as the cuddly ones.