The Verge - Verge Detourshttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/52801/VER_Logomark_32x32..png2014-10-01T09:30:02-04:00http://www.theverge.com/rss/stream/45845352014-10-01T09:30:02-04:002014-10-01T09:30:02-04:00A Danish company is building a $335 million seawall around New York
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<p><em>Come along with</em> The Verge <em>for the second <a href="http://www.theverge.com/label/verge-detours">season of Detours</a>. We’ve traveled across the country to find the people, groups, and companies that are solving America’s problems in new and unconventional ways.</em></p>
<p>In 2012, Hurricane Sandy destroyed homes, wasted businesses, flooded tunnels, and submerged subways. The storm brought tens of thousands of lives to a halt, and revealed New York City’s vulnerabilities to severe climate conditions and rising waters.</p>
<p>“I saw the devastation,” says Henk Ovink. “But, I also saw the opportunity Sandy brought.”</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2014/10/1/6874925/can-a-massive-seawall-save-new-york-from-flooding">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2014/10/1/6874925/can-a-massive-seawall-save-new-york-from-floodingMona Lalwani2014-09-24T11:26:02-04:002014-09-24T11:26:02-04:00Finally, a fire hydrant for the 21st century
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<p><em>Come along with</em> The Verge <em>for the second <a href="http://www.theverge.com/label/verge-detours">season of Detours</a>. We’ve traveled across the country to find the people, groups, and companies that are solving America’s problems in new and unconventional ways.</em></p>
<p>New York City, with its dense population and endless skyscrapers, is notoriously difficult to fight fires in. Firefighters depend on nearly 100,000 hydrants to do their work, but many of these hydrants are in disrepair. Vulnerable to misuse and exposed to extreme weather, the city’s hydrants are decayed, leaking, and corroding. </p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2014/9/24/6828043/finally-a-fire-hydrant-for-the-21st-century">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2014/9/24/6828043/finally-a-fire-hydrant-for-the-21st-centuryMona Lalwani2014-09-17T10:45:01-04:002014-09-17T10:45:01-04:00Can crowdfunding help San Francisco's homeless?
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<p><em>Come along with </em>The Verge<em> for the <a href="http://theverge.com/label/verge-detours">second season of Detours</a>. We’ve traveled across the country to find the people, groups, and companies that are solving America’s problems in new and unconventional ways. Check in for new dispatches every Wednesday.</em></p>
<p>San Francisco is home to one of the densest concentrations of startup tycoons in the country. But not everyone here enjoys the fruits of the tech revolution — the city also hosts 7,350 people living in the street or in shelters, and thousands more in deep poverty. In neighborhoods like the Mission District and the Tenderloin, multimillion-dollar condos stand in jarring contrast to a sizeable population that sleeps on sidewalks and lives out of shopping carts.</p>
<p>Inspired to connect the...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2014/9/17/6242755/click-to-help-handup-can-crowdfunding-help-san-franciscos-homeless">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2014/9/17/6242755/click-to-help-handup-can-crowdfunding-help-san-franciscos-homelessMona Lalwani2014-09-10T10:15:02-04:002014-09-10T10:15:02-04:00Put a wing on it: how one company's smart wing could change San Francisco's ferries
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<p><em>Come along with</em> The Verge <em>for the second <a href="http://www.theverge.com/label/verge-detours">season of Detours</a>. We’ve traveled across the country to find the people, groups, and companies that are solving America’s problems in new and unconventional ways.</em></p>
<p>Ferries play a critical role in the San Francisco Bay Area: they serve 7 million commuters annually, and provide the region with a service plan in case of emergency.</p>
<p>But in a part of the country that champions environmentally-friendly advances, ferries are a throwback to earlier, dirtier times. “They’re horrendously inefficient in terms of energy use,” says Jay Gardner, co-founder of <a href="http://www.windwingtech.com/">Wind+Wing Technologies</a>. “It’s not something operators want to talk about, but they know it. They’re creating greenhouse gases — that alone is...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2014/9/10/6130917/wind-wing-technologies-hybrid-smart-wing-change-san-francisco-ferries">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2014/9/10/6130917/wind-wing-technologies-hybrid-smart-wing-change-san-francisco-ferriesMona Lalwani2014-09-03T11:41:15-04:002014-09-03T11:41:15-04:00Doctor turns to 3D printers in a race to save a toddler's mind
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<p><em>Come along with</em> The Verge <em>for the second <a href="http://www.theverge.com/label/verge-detours">season of Detours</a>. We’ve traveled across the country to find the people, groups, and companies that are solving America’s problems in new and unconventional ways.</em></p>
<p>On a Tuesday last summer, Erin Mandeville was at a CVS buying medicine for her five-month-old baby, Gabriel. Close to 4PM, she noticed her infant’s eyes roll back in quick succession. It was the first of Gabriel’s many episodes of infantile spasms that would follow.</p>
<p>Spasms or epileptic seizures can be catastrophic for young children. Doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital tried every route and medicine to help Gabriel as his seizures progressed aggressively.</p>
<p>"He was missing huge milestones in his childhood," said Mandeville.</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2014/9/3/6101223/doctor-turns-to-3d-printers-in-a-race-to-save-a-toddlers-mind">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2014/9/3/6101223/doctor-turns-to-3d-printers-in-a-race-to-save-a-toddlers-mindMona Lalwani2014-08-27T13:51:45-04:002014-08-27T13:51:45-04:00How to feed the cities of the future
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<p><em>Come along with </em>The Verge<em> for the <a href="http://www.theverge.com/label/verge-detours">second season of Detours</a>. We’ve traveled across the country to find the people, groups, and companies that are solving America’s problems in new and unconventional ways.</em></p>
<p>At MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Caleb Harper’s CityFARM demonstrates the future of food production. He grows plants through aeroponics, a system that produces plants without soil. Plants are hooked up to servers and misting mechanisms. LEDs fill in for the sun and ladybugs (purchased on Amazon) occasionally make an appearance. Plants are periodically sprayed with a nutrient-rich mist that provides optimal pH balance. Light and temperatures are closely monitored. The environment nurtures plants that have twice the nutrient...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2014/8/27/6074417/how-to-feed-the-cities-of-the-future-mit-cityfarm">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2014/8/27/6074417/how-to-feed-the-cities-of-the-future-mit-cityfarmMona Lalwani2014-08-15T11:00:02-04:002014-08-15T11:00:02-04:00The Verge Detours season 2 returns August 27th
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<p>Come along with <em>The Verge</em> for the second season of <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/9/4820494/verge-detours">Detours</a>. We’ve traveled across the country to find the people, groups, and companies that are solving America’s problems in new and unconventional ways.</p>
<p>We’ve looked far and wide, in Portland, New York, Boston, and San Francisco to find who is driving the next generation of innovation. These are the best and brightest going beyond just apps and gadgets, and they’re using science, technology, and design to attack all sorts of big problems and tough issues. We examine how groups are rethinking New York City's approach to fighting flooding in New York City in a post-Sandy world, a new "wind wing" that could revolutionize boating, how realtime bike data is being used in urban planning, and...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2014/8/15/6002069/verge-detours-season-2-returns-august-27th">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2014/8/15/6002069/verge-detours-season-2-returns-august-27thVerge Staff2013-11-13T11:59:02-05:002013-11-13T11:59:02-05:00The camera next door: how neighbors watch neighbors in New Orleans
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<p>Ordinary people are installing security cameras in high-crime cities to help police, but is it working?</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2013/11/13/4842150/new-orleans-safecams8-citizen-surveillance">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2013/11/13/4842150/new-orleans-safecams8-citizen-surveillanceAdrianne Jeffries