Mohammed Bin Abubakar, explains nursery to writer, Glenn Meyers. Photo: Oteng Foster
As gardeners go, Mohammed Bin Abubakar holds a unique position. He has built a forest where once there were only rushed rocks and the unsightly remnants of an old gold mine.
He serves as the reclamation coordinator at Newmont Mining Corporation’s Brong Ahafo Gold Mine in Ghana which started production a few years ago. One Newmont employee, Gloria Dwummah-Adu, says Abubakar has made a beautiful forest out of this mining wasteland and that many should follow this model.
Fondly, she refers to this 75-acre site as “Bin’s garden.” Now birds sing and the shade from the rapidly growing forest is a welcome relief to all who enter these woods.
Abubakar’s reclamation work began some time ago when Australian-based Normandy Mining employed him. When Normandy was sold to Newmont in 2002, he began working for Newmont Ghana Gold, Ltd. This is a green, well-designed forest that invites exploration.
TSC Global's hypar roof is located next to the light ril tracks, just south of downtown Denver
Evidence of new buildings featuring an innovative and cost-effective roof can now be seen in a growing number of African nations, including Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Sudan, as part of a Roofs for the World initiative.
This roof is called a Thin Shell Composite Hyperbolic Paraboloid, or TSC Hypar, thus the name, TSC Global, which proclaims the building methodology using this roof has the potential for revolutionizing roofing and construction in the most impoverished and remote parts of the globe. TSC Global executive director, Brad Wells, says that compared to the corrugated steel roof structures seen everywhere in the developing world, TSC roof construction requires a minimum in cut lumber, demands no power machinery for construction, and leaves almost no carbon footprint. In addition, buildings featuring these roofs are significantly quieter in rain and windstorms, and can be earthquake resistant.
Denver-based TSC Global was created to build, promote and fully develop this construction method, with the belief that there is real potential to dramatically enhance the overall quality and affordability of structures used by millions if not billions of people worldwide. It is now focusing on a potential rebuilding program for Haiti.
Photo of Chang's Hong Kong apartment Source: Marcel Lam
Architect Gary Chang has implemented some stunning solutions for small-space living in his Hong Kong apartment. To get a first-hand glimpse of Mr. Chang’s take on how spaciousness in a small space might look and feel, look at this You Tube video clip: story from Hong Kong.
This compact living space represents an inspiring case study for anybody considering the challenges of living in inner city areas with limited space. From the standpoints of density and functional practicality, this Chang design offers great potential. Consider that Chang’s apartment contains not just one room, but 24 rooms in one.
Nature Communications, the seventeenth publication from Nature Publishing Group was launched this month.. This publication will be different, says the publisher.
“Nature Communicationsdiffers in being multidisciplinary,” reports the Nature announcement. “It aims not to compete with the established Nature journals, but to publish rigorous and comprehensive papers that represent advances of significance to specialists within each field. In addition, it welcomes submissions in fields that are not represented by a dedicated Nature research journal — for example, developmental biology, plant science, microbiology, ecology and evolution, palaeontology, astronomy and high-energy physics. ”
Using nanotube wires for hybrid fuel cells has renewed promise Source: Nature Communications
One current article discusses hybrid nanotubes as a part of miniaturizing fuel cells for biological applications.
“Now Gao and coworkers show that electrodes made with porous microfibers composed of oriented carbon nanotubes are capable of delivering fast mass transport of the reagents and greatly enhanced currents,” the magazine reports.
Many readers may find much of these works from Nature to be highly academic in nature — even heady sometimes — but such information provides a solid barometer for scientific research and development trends.
Mindy Jaffe, preseident of the Honolulu-based Waikiki Worm Company, tells fifth-grade students that her worms make an ideal workforce to rid the city of organic waste by converting it to rich compost.
Using her worms, Jaffe provides a very appealing solution for organic trash management, says Ed Kenney, who uses worms to manage restaurant waste at his Town Restaurant in Honolulu. Producer Dan Boyd, interviewed Jaffe and Kenney last year.
