BR!NKer Yael Cohen, Founder of Fuck Cancer, does a 30-Second MBA vid for Fast Company about leadership. Check her out! (And read our more-than-30-second interview with Yael here.)

Did you know there’s a device out there that will “un-print” printed paper? Spearheaded by researchers at Cambridge University, this device-of-the-future is currently in development, but its sheer existence has weighty implications for the future of recycling, carbon emissions, and the health of our planet.

Read our exclusive, blog-only interview with David Leal-Ayala below. 

How’s this for innovation? The state of Washington is now allowing — get this — voter registration via Facebook. Yes, Facebook. 

While other forms of electronic voter registration has cropped up before, this is the first time a social network will be used for, well, civic duty. 

Well done, Washington. Well played.

You can check out GOOD Magazine’s coverage here. 

MIT researchers develop software to land unmanned aircraft using hand signals.

How did this project get started? Were you approached by the military, or was this just something you thought would be cool and the brass agreed?

Yale: The project is funded by the Office of Naval Research.

David: I have always been fascinated with creating ways for humans to interact with machines. I have built human-tracking and gesture-based human-machine interaction systems for over 10 years now. When Yale told me about this opportunity, I jumped on the chance to collaborate with him and Professor Davis.

Yale Song & David Demirdjian, The Unmanned Men

Read the Interview »

Afghani telecommunications company proves that for-profit businesses can improve the community.

It seems like Roshan picks up new projects as it goes… like you identify a problem and then start working on that. How do you identify problems? What steps do you take to figure out what to do?

Very early on when the strategy was set, we knew there were so many problems in Afghanistan that we couldn’t do everything. We said we’d look at problems that the community was facing and then evaluate which problems we could tackle with our expertise: business expertise and tech expertise (…)

Shainoor Khoja, Telecommunity Leader

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Young man goes from producer’s assistant on The Avengers to Marvel’s Creative Exec for Iron Man 3.

What’s your role on Iron Man 3 that you’re currently working on?

My prior job on The Avengers, I was assistant to the Executive Producer, but now I’m a Creative Executive. What’s hard to explain about the Creative Exec role is that it’s so different at Marvel, in a good way, than at other studios because Marvel is so tied in with the comics, and the toys, and the merchandise, and Comicon…Part of [my job] is script revisions and keeping the script pages up-to-date. But I love it when I find myself on the phone with Creative Executives from Marvel’s other films, and we’re comparing notes about elements of our scripts — making sure they are honoring the overall Marvel Universe and timeline, keeping each other honest in that way (…).

Trenton Waterson, Marvel-ous Producer

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Detroit-based organization fights for sustainable, healthy food for all communities

Tell me about [your] book, Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All.

There is a need for a more national conversation about the solutions to a food system that is broken and not serving many of us…I’ve been involved with many fair food “solutionaries” over my career. I wanted to lift up the solutions that are actually working, to lay out the framework of what a fair food system would be like — a system that would work for our environment, our community, our economy, and, most importantly, I wanted to answer the question, “What can I do?” (…).

Oran Hesterman, Mr. Fair Food

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Homeless shelters rethought as community centers, designed by innovative architect.

And how is the [Haven for Hope] structure unique, sustainability-wise?

To start with, the whole area of the site was really a redundant portion of the city. It was an incredibly challenging and disconnected piece of the city. We felt it was very important to look at how the site itself could knit portions of the city together…The initial site planning was the most critical from a sustainable perspective (…).

James Andrews, Sustainable Architect

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Looks like we’re living in the future, kids.

BR!NK loves firsts, and this is a big one. The fist alternative gas station has opened in the United States. 

From Business Week:

Last month, the chief executive officer of Propel Fuels opened the country’s first station where drivers can pump gasoline, ethanol, and biodiesel, cyclists can get tune-ups, and commuters can find public transit schedules. Backed by more than $19 million in venture capital and nearly $12 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission, the 23-person Redwood City (Calif.) startup received yesterday an additional, $10.1 million grant from the commission to help build 100 stations around the state in the next four years.

Read the rest of the article here, and get ready for the future of alternative energy.

The BMW Guggenheim Lab, created by BR!NKers David van der Leer and Maria Nicanor, has opened in Berlin today after its first stint in New York City. As GOOD writes:

The BMW Guggenheim Lab is a unique project that combines some of the most innovative ideas and people dealing with urban planning, and brings those big ideas to cities across the world. … Focusing on citizen participation in the future of cities, the project, which runs in Berlin from June 15 to July 29, offers free programs designed to empower residents to change the city they live in.

Learn more about the Lab from our interview with the creators.

(Source: GOOD)