Imagine a sponge. Swipe it over a wet surface and it will draw up water; squeeze it and the water will trickle out. Now imagine a city made of sponges, or spongelike surfaces, able to soak up rainwater, overflowing rivers or ocean storm surges and release stored water during droughts. Engineers, architects, urban planners and officials around the world are seeking ways to retrofit or reconstruct cities to better deal with water — basically, to act more like sponges. While water management has always been an essential service in cities,…
Tag: Sweden
Nils van der Poel, Swedish Speedskater, Has Something to Say
In the 10,000, skaters must push themselves to skate just below their maximum effort, and then hold on for dear life through 25 laps. Van der Poel’s training for the event differs from most of his competitors in that it includes no strength training. Instead, in the spring and summer he does enormous amounts of low-intensity training, like those ultramarathons and bike rides. When speedskating season arrives in the fall and winter, van der Poel switches to high-intensity training, but mostly only speedskating itself. He estimates that he has skated…