Every Boy Scout or Girl Guide probably had the experience of building a simple solar oven: an insulated box, some aluminum foil, and plastic wrap, and voila! On warm, sunny, summer days, you can bake.

Last summer when our power was out for a week, I really thought about how much we depend on electricity. While my family was lucky enough to have a generator and gas grill, the generator wasn't ...

On one ordinary day back in 2012, a hefty envelope turned up in my snail mail containing a very kind letter along with a mechanical drawing so detailed it made me want to chew my hair. The sender ...