I doubt I have to convince many inclined to read a blog with the word "atheist" in the title how awesome science is. It brings us new and amazing things on a regular basis. And that brings us to Glow-in-the-Dark Highways.
By mid-2013, the country will use photo-luminizing powder to replace road markings and ultimately produce glow-in-the-dark tarmacs, Wired.Co.UK reports.The powder will charge on sunlight, soaking up enough energy to power 10 hours worth of highway light during nighttime. Special paint will also be used to draw snowflakes across the roads. The snowflakes will only become visible when the temperature dips to a certain point, indicating to commuters that the surface is likely slippery.
This is in the Netherlands. Not America. The Netherlands. And this is just one thing. They have further plans.
Within the next five years, the Netherlands hopes to add interactive lights along highway routes that power on when cars pass them and even wind-powered illumination.
I'm not so jingoistic as to think European shouldn't be doing cool stuff. But it would be nice if it were that they doing cool stuff too, instead of them doing it while we do nothing. Can you see something innovative like that happening in America? I can't. At least not with today's current political environment. We're too worried about cutting everyone's taxes instead of paying our bills. How could we be expected to actually make the investments that would get us the technology of the future?
(found via @mashable)
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