German designer Aaron Moser created the Symbios buoy system, designed for ecologically sustainable cultivation and farming of seaweed. Initially, this concept was presented as part of a bachelor's thesis at the Bauhaus University in Weimar.
German designer Aaron Moser created the Symbios buoy system, designed for ecologically sustainable cultivation and farming of seaweed. Initially, this concept was presented as part of a bachelor's thesis at the Bauhaus University in Weimar.
The project aimed to study how product design can contribute to creating a more sustainable and environmentally sensitive form of oceanic farming. The resulting structure, Symbios, is a network of interconnected buoys that control the depth of seaweed growth.
During warm months, air chambers allow cultivation lines to descend into cooler, deeper waters, which helps maintain favorable growing conditions throughout the year. This enables continuous farming regardless of the season.
The system solves the problem of constant monitoring of marine crops faced by aquaculture farmers. Sensors in the buoy system collect environmental data and transmit it to a digital display, allowing farmers to remotely monitor conditions.
To ensure the durability and sustainability of the equipment, the buoy system is designed modularly, which facilitates the replacement or repair of individual components. The development of Symbios involved extensive research and consultation with experts in marine biology, engineering, and seaweed farming.
The goal of Symbios is to increase yield while supporting marine biodiversity by maintaining continuous seaweed growth, instead of seasonal harvesting and replanting of crops. The design received recognition with the Green Concept Award.
On June 30, 2020, Southern Brazil faced one of the most severe mornings in its recent history due to the passage of bomb cyclones. Wind gusts exceeding 100 km/h resulted in 13 deaths, left nearly 3,000 people displaced, and caused power outages in areas of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and Paraná.
This disaster was attributed to the phenomenon known as bomb cyclones, or bombogenesis, which occurs from the accelerated meeting between large masses of hot and cold air. This process involves a cycle of air heating and rising, followed by cooling and sinking, a movement called convection. This repetition generates a sudden decrease in atmospheric pressure at the center of the system, which gives the cyclone its rapid strength, justifying the name 'bomb.'
Several municipalities were impacted by the passage of this cyclone that year. In Santa Catarina, cities such as Florianópolis and Balneário Camboriú suffered destruction caused by the phenomenon.
Santa Catarina was the most affected state, recording 11 confirmed deaths. Data from the Regional Civil Defense Coordinators on the day of the event pointed to 25 affected municipalities, a number that increased to 184 municipalities, representing 62% of Santa Catarina's cities. In Chapecó, a 78-year-old woman died after being struck by a tree. In Santo Amaro da Imperatriz, a pedestrian did not survive after being hit by high-voltage wires resulting from a fallen tree.
The subsequent early mornings required the Santa Catarina Government to declare a state of public calamity. On July 1, winds reached 90 km/h, and 369,600 residences remained without power for more than 24 hours after the first blackout.
In Rio Grande do Sul, the bomb cyclone left 2,331 people homeless or displaced in 23 cities, due to flooding and strong winds. In Porto Alegre, although the gusts were milder, around 80 km/h, there was falling poles and trees, blockage of at least 28 roads, and structural damage to buildings.
In Paraná, the cyclone caused damage in at least 84 of the 399 municipalities, according to the Civil Defense report, and registered at least one death. In Curitiba, winds close to 100 km/h knocked down trees and left 193,000 properties without electricity.
The effects in the Southeast were milder, as the cyclone only touched the state of São Paulo during its trajectory in the region.
Concern about the arrival of new bomb cyclones is high, especially in the South regions and parts of the Southeast, considering the year 2026. In South America, these extratropical cyclones generally originate in the ocean, near the coasts of Argentina and Uruguay. The 2020 episode started near Paraguay and followed the southern Brazilian coast, dissipating into the sea.
With global warming, there is a trend for the impacts of bomb cyclones to become more intense. This occurs because the increase in temperature in the oceans and atmosphere tends to accentuate the contrast between the hot and cold air masses that cause the phenomenon. It is relevant to note that the cyclone preceding the 2020 one, which occurred in 2016, was less severe. Furthermore, a report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) points out that humanity is experiencing the ten hottest years in its recent history.
Eclipses are astronomical phenomena defined by the darkening, either total or partial, of a celestial body due to another object intervening in the path of the light source. Recently, in 2026, both a total lunar eclipse, known as the 'Blood Moon,' and an annular solar eclipse were recorded, which generated a 'Ring of Fire' over Antarctica.
The year still has two more events, both scheduled for August; the first will be a total solar eclipse, expected next week. The season will culminate with a partial lunar eclipse, visible throughout Brazil between the 27th and 28th.
The fundamental difference between lunar and solar eclipses lies in the arrangement of the three celestial bodies. In the case of a lunar eclipse, the Earth is positioned between the Sun and the Moon, allowing its shadow to obscure the satellite. In a solar eclipse, the Moon intervenes between the Sun and the Earth, casting its shadow onto an area of the planet and covering the Sun, totally or partially.
According to the Time And Date platform, there are three main categories of solar eclipses: partial, annular, and total. However, there is also a fourth standard, considered more uncommon, that combines characteristics of the others: the hybrid, exemplified by the event in April 2023.
A partial solar eclipse occurs when the Moon covers only a section of the solar disk, resulting in a 'piece' missing from the edge of the Sun. This is the most frequent type and can be observed in significantly larger regions than those affected by the Moon's densest shadow.
In an annular solar eclipse, the Moon aligns directly with the Sun but is farther from the Earth, making it appear smaller in the sky. Because it cannot completely cover the solar disk, a luminous circle remains visible around the Moon, a phenomenon popularly called the 'Ring of Fire.'
A total solar eclipse happens when the Moon completely covers the Sun for those located in the narrow band hit by the most intense shadow. For a few minutes, the sky darkens as if it were sunrise or sunset, allowing the appearance of brighter stars and planets, as well as making the solar corona, the atmosphere around the Sun, visible to the naked eye.
Finally, the hybrid solar eclipse is the rarest. Its appearance varies as the Moon's shadow travels across the Earth: at certain times it manifests as annular, and at others, it transforms into total. This change is attributed to the curvature of the Earth and the variation in distance between the Moon and observers along the eclipse trajectory.
On the following Wednesday (the 12th), the Sun may be seen completely covered in the Arctic, Greenland, Iceland, northern Spain, and a small part of Portugal. The partial phase will be visible in the rest of Europe, northern Africa, and the eastern part of North America.
This event begins at 12:34 PM (Brasília time) at an isolated point in the Arctic Ocean, north of Siberia, when the lunar penumbra first reaches the Earth, initiating the partial phase. The spectacle ends just over four hours and twenty minutes later, at 4:55 PM, in an area of the Mediterranean Sea, west of Italy.
The most notable moment should occur near the west coast of Iceland, where totality may last up to two minutes and eighteen seconds. In Spain, which has not witnessed a total solar eclipse on its continental territory for over one hundred years, the total darkness will be shorter, approaching one minute.
The collective housing project located in Vila do Conde was developed by architect Raulino Silva Arquitecto.
