ADB Finances Renewable Energy Transmission System In India

I like cancelled plans. And empty bookstores. I like rainy days and thunderstorms. And quiet coffee shops. I like messy beds and over-worn pajamas. Most of all, I like the small joys that a simple life brings.

Unknown (via wordsnquotes)

Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.

Kenneth Boulding

Bill Nye Explains The Connection Between Climate Change And Terrorism In Paris

President Obama made headlines Monday when he said during his remarks at COP21 that the climate change conference taking place in Paris is an “act of defiance” against terrorists who attacked the city earlier this month. Later on the same day, Bill Nye took that link a step further, explaining to HuffPost Live that the brutality in Paris was “a result of climate change.”

“This is just the start of things.”

#Chocoholic: We sure love our chocolate, but it'd be a lot sweeter if it wasn't coming from child labor.

WATCH the short video here.

+2 million children work in cocoa production in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. This year, Nestlé​, Mars Bar​, and HERSHEY'S​ were sued for knowingly partnering with suppliers that use child workers.

DEMAND that these chocolate companies become Made In A Free World here: madeinafreeworld.com/action!

Wanted: Shredder for five million tires dumped in Spain

Spanish authorities are struggling to dispose of five million tires dumped on a site close to a housing development north of Toledo. The 90,000 tons’ worth of tires have been dumped there since 2002. 

Environmentalists say that should a fire break out, it could not be extinguished with water and would have to be smothered with earth. In the event of a fire, Madrid’s main airport would likely have to be shut down and an estimated 11,000 homes evacuated. | Read more

A Tree of Life For 2.3 MILLION Species! 

This week, scientists released this massive tree of life showing the evolutionary relationships between 2.3 million different species, encompassing every scale of life from bacteria to blue whales. This massive undertaking combines more than 500 previous trees into one, the result being the largest and most complete tree of evolutionary relationships as we know them today. 

Like evolution itself, this diagram will continue to evolve as scientists fill in gaps and uncover more detailed information on the genetic relationships of Earth’s various species, but it’s not too shabby for a first draft. You can read more from Rachel Feltman at The Washington Post.

This type of wheel-like diagram is called a Hillis plot, one of my favorite ways of illustrating the tree of life. I’ve even found one drawn on an actual tree:

“I think” we’ve come a long way since Darwin’s original 1859 sketch in On The Origin of Species, don’t you?

HiPOD (2 May 2018): Clays in a Grouping of Small Craters 

  — 282 km above the surface. Black and white is 5 km across; enhanced color is less than 1 km.

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

UN to probe the UK's deadly disability cuts

UN investigators to determine if the government committed "grave violations" after disabled people ordered back to work.

The UK has become the first country in the world to be placed under investigation by the United Nations for violating the human rights of people with disabilities amid fears that thousands may have died as a consequence of controversial welfare reforms and austerity-driven cuts to benefits and care budgets.

UN inspectors are expected to arrive in the country within days to begin collecting evidence to determine whether the British government has committed “systematic and grave violations” of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Send me to Mars with party supplies before next august 5th

Trident is a remote-controlled, camera-equipped underwater drone – and it’s the fastest machine yet from underwater robotics startup OpenROV. It can go as fast as Michael Phelps. 

The underwater drone can stream live video to a monitor during explorations and the team at OpenROV is currently exploring VR so those playing with one of these drones can feel like they are right there in the depths with their vehicle.

Check out the video here!