XPrize

The largest XPrize competition ever conducted has given out its first prize money, with 23 student teams receiving cash injections to further technologies that take aim at the problem of mounting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

A six-year competition to capture CO2 emissions from operational power plants and convert them into useful products has drawn to a close, and produced dual winners with technologies that promise to reduce the environmental footprint of concrete.

The XPrize foundation has today launched a new US$10 million competition geared towards preserving the world's rainforests, a process that begins with building new technologies to help us better appreciate what they have to offer.

After revealing the five finalists earlier in the year, the XPrize foundation has today announced the grand prize winner, which outshone almost 100 competitors with its superior ability to harvest fresh water from thin air.

Launched in 2015 and yesterday whittled down to 10 finalists, the Carbon XPrize has now progressed to its final stage. As these teams prepare for this final phase, New Atlas chatted with XPrize's Dr Marcius Extavour about the possibilities that their solutions may bring.

​​Back in October 2016, the XPrize foundation turned its attention to the issue of water security, launching a US$1.75 million Water Abundance Prize aiming to inspire ideas that can draw water from the atmosphere. It has just announced its five finalists.

XPrize's Water Abundance competition represents new territory for the foundation. We chatted with XPrize's head of Global Development & International Expansion Zenia Tata about the water problems facing the world, and how her team hopes to use technology to bring the stuff of life to those in need.