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Successfully completing a surgery is no small feat under the best conditions. But imagine trying to pinpoint the right spot for an incision with no light in a dirty environment: It just can’t be done.

A new invention might fix that. It’s a 20-foot shipping container called the Sterile Box, and it contains everything needed to clean and sterilize surgical equipment. It’s designed to be dropped into most any setting where people need medical attention but can’t get it due to infrastructure problems.

People living in rural Malawi, for instance, lack easy access to electricity and piped water, which means it’s not really possible for them to undergo potentially lifesaving surgeries without traveling to an urban center — even in a relatively routine situation like childbirth.

The Sterile Box provides a few solutions. It’s solar-powered and contains a water filtration system. It sterilizes medical equipment with steam via an autoclave device. Surgery doesn’t happen in the unit itself, but it’s there to provide clean tools, light and electricity to doctors.

read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/sterile-box-surgery_us_56feb407e4b0daf53aef9c28?ir=World&section=australia&utm_hp_ref=world

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Artist Dan Phillips hopes to change the lives of low-income families by bringing new life to trash.

He takes discarded items — empty cans, license plates, bottle caps — and adds them to overstock high-end materials like fancy tile and marble to create livable structures.

Phillips has worked in a variety of careers, including teaching modern dance, traveling with a carnival, co-owning an antiques shop and driving a taxi. But it’s the organization he founded, Phoenix Commotion, that’s been a constant over the last 15 years.

That’s where Phoenix Commotion steps in, to salvage dilapidated structures with materials that some would consider “trash.”

“All these houses are built from between 70 and 80 percent recycled material,” Phillips says. “It seems picky to be throwing materials away when you have these families that would do anything to own a house.”

read more at: http://www.sfgate.com/homes/article/Texas-based-organization-builds-unique-homes-out-7221041.php

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California, which offers rebates of up to $2,500 to electric vehicle buyers to help meet a goal of getting 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles onto its roads by 2025, is overhauling its incentive program in response to a common criticism: The state’s rebates are sometimes just a windfall for the wealthy.

The California Legislature passed a bill on Thursday to phase out EV rebates for well-off buyers, as well as offer new incentives for low-income car owners who scrap a car and use public transit or join a car-sharing service.

“The income cap is meant to ensure we keep the program in the black while not undermining progress” toward the state’s EV goals, said Max Baumhefner, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.

For years, the state has offered a $2,500 rebate for buyers of EVs such as the Nissan Leaf or Tesla Model S. Buyers of plug-in hybrids such as the Chevrolet Volt are eligible for a $1,500 rebate.

These credits have recently drawn complaints in California due to fast-growing sales of the Tesla Model S, which starts at $72,240 including shipping before the $7,500 federal tax credit and the $2,500 California rebate. The car’s popularity in tech-savvy areas such as Silicon Valley has chafed lawmakers, who argue that the rebate gives a windfall to millionaire buyers who would have bought the Model S even without it.

read more at: http://www.autonews.com/article/20140829/OEM05/140829854/california-to-phase-out-ev-incentives-for-the-wealthy?CSAuthResp=1%3A1073604447665955%3A423310%3A17%3A24%3Aapproved%3AD0890D277AC2ABEBDA6DBD26C90E509

Disclaimer: for entertainment and information purposes only.