Transparent wood: A better window than door
By Mariah Quintanilla People have long used wood to build shelter, make furniture or stoke a campfire. The one thing we’ve never been able to do is see through it—until now. In two separate studies published this year, researchers from the University of Maryland and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden devised a […]
Green chemistry: preventive healthcare for the environment
By Mariah Quintanilla We all know that bagel coated with sesame, poppy, onion, garlic, caraway and salt. Chemical engineer Nick Thornburg considers an ‘everything’ bagel a reasonable metaphor for an inefficient catalyst, or a compound that speeds up a chemical reaction. For those of us non-chemists, a longer explanation is required. The point of his […]
Growing Opportunities for Ex-Convicts in Urban Agriculture
By Anna Boisseau Antonio Henry only recently learned he likes lunchbox peppers. “They’re so sweet, you can just eat them straight,” he said of the multi-colored vegetables that he learned to grow last summer at a local urban farm. Henry is a former member of Windy City Harvest Corps, a 14-week program through the Chicago […]
Millennials’ sustainability attitudes contrast with actions
By Kaitlin Schuler Although millennials grew up surrounded by conversations of sustainability and conservation, do their actions now reflect what they have learned? Jenni Corcoran, 22, grew up in Evergreen Park, Illinois, but now lives in a Bridgeport apartment with two roommates and works for AmeriCorps. Growing up, her parents pushed the habits of turning […]
