LEGO? Serious Play? reduces stress in the workplace according to a research study conducted in Taiwan (and carried in the World Journal of Research and Review). The study concluded that a LEGO? facilitated model nourishes interpersonal ties, eliminates negative emotions and promotes deeper reflective thinking. https://www.wjrr.org/download_data/WJRR0601008.pdf

In a revolutionary breakthrough, a team of researchers have come up with a method to turn sea water into safe drinking water in a way that's more energy efficient, economically sustainable and cost effective than current technologies. Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are an amazing next generation material that have the largest internal surface area of any known substance. The sponge like crystals can be used to capture, store and release chemical compounds. In this case, the salt in sea water. A just released paper found that membranes made out of MOFs can mimic the way cells allow specific atoms or molecules through to help them grow and survive, while stopping everything else. Known as selective permeability this allows cells and now MOFs to act as a filter. MOF's selective permeability means they're designed at the molecular level to only let water pass.  

Police officers in Zhengzhou, China have been spotted wearing sunglasses equipped with facial recognition software that allows them to identify individuals in a crowd. Not only do the surveillance glasses actually work, but they also work better ? and faster ? than traditional CCTV setups. Security footage is notoriously grainy, and even if cameras are being monitored in real-time, the lag between spotting someone who might be a person of interest and calling authorities can be enough time for that person to make a clean getaway. The sunglasses are connected to a handheld device that uses facial recognition software to compare who the wearer sees against a pre-loaded database packed with photos of 10,000 suspects. And it does so in just one tenth of a second. https://futurism.com/chine

A new high-tech paint from SolCold that cools when exposed to sunlight could provide a better way to cool buildings and perhaps even solve the long-standing problem of cooling things in space. In hot weather, electricity consumption soars as people turn on the air conditioning, pushing the grid to its limits and raising energy bills. The SolCold technology uses a double-layered coating to reduce temperatures by up to 10 degrees C below those attained with traditional white paint coating. The paint has tested well in the lab, with some caveats-so far it works better on metal roofs than concrete, and is more successful over rooms with low ceilings than high ones. Although this paint is more expensive than standard options, it?s said to offer quite substantial energy savings- a decrease in energy consumption by up to 60 percent, while lasting 10 to 15 years before needing a new coat. The first clients are thus expected to come from the business world.