Features

  Paderborn / DPA You may have used one at a theme park to find the nearest hair-raising ride, or to plan a walk in magnificent mountain scenery. Pictorial maps lay out your surroundings not as a map, from above, but in an oblique, eagle’s-eye panorama. Alexander Koenigs is one of the world’s few pictorial map illustrators able to do ...

  TNS Google does not rank websites. It ranks web pages. “On-Page” search engine optimization (SEO) refers to the process of optimizing the content, images, internal linking, URLs, and meta tags of each and every page of your website. Through much testing with clients, which range from law firms to e-commerce companies, I’ve seen that the homepage is the most ...

  Lisbon / AFP Alfama, one of the oldest and most picturesque areas of Lisbon, is becoming a victim of its own charm. Short-term lets to tourists are driving up rents and driving out old residents. “They want to throw me out to rent my home to tourists,” complained retired salesman Antonio Melo, 70. His house has changed owners four ...

  Immokalee / AFP Armed with an orange staple gun and dozens of burlap squares entwined with ratty green roots, Mike Kane wades hip-deep into the swamp to restore what generations of thieves have stolen. The ghost orchid. Once abundant in the Florida Everglades, experts say fewer than 2,000 ghost orchids (Dendrophylax lindenii) are left in the state, where it ...

  Eindhoven / AFP Former refugees Massoud and Mahmud Hassani stunned the world three years ago with an invention like a dandelion puffball that sought to rid the world of landmines. Now the Afghan brothers are back with their latest creation: a low-cost drone to detect and destroy mines, which each year claim thousands of lives. Ridding the world of ...

  Andrew Griffiths / TNS It’s hard to always be feeling “up” in the world of business. There are always going to be those times when there just isn’t any “mojo” left for anything. The real problems arise when it’s not just a bad morning or a bad day, but a bad year. Over the years I’ve certainly had those ...

  Bloomberg Geothermal wells usually provide a steady supply of clean energy flowing from the natural heat of the Earth. In Turkey, because of a quirk in the geology, some of those wells pollute as much as coal-fired power plants. The nation has a layer of subterranean limestone, which lets loose carbon dioxide when it comes in contact with steam ...

  Dan Scalco / TNS Are you a small-business owner looking to have a website built? To someone new, the entire process can seem daunting and leave you feeling confused. Don’t throw up your hands yet! Use these five simple website design tips to make it easier on yourself. QUALITY OVER QUANTITY When it comes to designing and developing a ...

  Bloomberg On a campus in southern India, Kiran Sharma and his team of biologists are perfecting a recipe that may solve the nation’s inflation woes. Sharma for six years has been testing a new variety of pigeon pea, a 3,000-year-old indigenous crop used to make dal, a staple of the diet in India. By adding a gene to the ...

  Guadalupe Gonzalez / TNS As an entrepreneur, you know better than most that time is finite. When you are not working on your business, you are probably spending your free time with loved ones, hatching the next big idea, exercising, or getting some well-deserved rest. So if you could use a tool to help you focus or get more ...