Inhabitat's Week in Green: hypersonic jets and spider cars
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.
Airbus just unveiled its vision for the future of transportation: a 3,000MPH airplane that could travel from New York City to London in one hour flat. Meanwhile Lexus brought the future to life by debuting a working hoverboard that can soar through the air and fly over water. Tesla turned heads with an automatic electric car charger that looks like a robotic snake, while Swincar launched an amazing off-road spider car that can tackle any terrain. Stanford brought us one step closer to a solar future by revealing its new Arctan sun-powered vehicle, and China debuted an all-electric bus that can charge up in 10 seconds flat.
Japan's energy sector is changing in the wake of the 2011 earthquake -- and the nation just unveiled the world's largest floating wind turbine off the coast of Fukushima. Meanwhile, China just broke ground on its first large-scale solar farm in the Gobi Desert. The massive project will span 6,300 acres, and it will produce enough energy for 1 million homes. Solar technology continues to advance by leaps and bounds -- this week researchers unveiled a coating that can boost photovoltaic efficiency by more than 30 percent, and a new study shows that angling solar panels like butterfly wings increases energy production 50 percent.
In other news, it was a landmark week for health and wellness tech as the FDA approved the first 3D-printed drug for use in the United States. Researchers also developed a clever device that makes it easier (and less painful) to find patients' veins, and a new Ebola vaccine was proven 100 percent effective during trials in Guinea. In wearable tech, the world's first braille smartwatch could provide blind people with a lifeline to information, and a student developed a technique to turn fruit and vegetable waste into durable leather. Snow is probably the last thing on most people's minds, but Dubai just announced plans to build the world's longest indoor ski slope in the middle of the desert. And just for fun, we showed you how to make gelatin shots shaped like Lego minifigs for your next summer soirée.
