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Call it Sesame Street for adults, Dominican-style. Contracorriente has the shocking plot twists of daytime T.V., but with a secret message about savings.

By Ariel Schwartz Instead of relying on almost-never-correct schedules, Kicker Studio has come up with an innovative system to use the city's data streams to give up-to-date transit information. When can we start using it

"It's for anyone in health care who is thinking about innovation," says ILN director Chris McCarthy.

If oil rig operators could see real-time data about how each part of their operation was performing, they might have a better chance of stopping explosions. Nobody wants to see a repeat of last year's Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which saw approximately 4.9 million barrels of oil dumped into the Gulf

The Fast Company reader's essential source for breaking news and innovation from around the web--updated all day. Amazon Getting In The Tablet Game? Amazon is rumored to be prepping 7- and 10-inch tablets with proprietary operating systems, for the low, low prices of $349 and $449, respectively (cheaper than their Android counterparts)

Numbers show that people are giving up on non-toxic cleaning products. But they're really just giving up the ones that are doing it for show.

We may not yet be able to power large airplanes sustainably with biofuels, but there are still ways that the airline industry can easily cut down on its fuel use and CO2 emissions. One ultra-simple solution: Keep planes at the gate longer with their engines turned off instead of having them idle on the runway. The idea comes courtesy of Hamsa Balakrishnan , an MIT professor specializing in airspace efficiency, in a paper published in the MIT Technical Report ( PDF )

Almost 50% of psychiatric patients get a change in diagnosis over a 10-year period--meaning they may end up taking a slew of unhelpful drugs until doctors finally decide what mental illness they have. But what if a simple blood test could help discern whether patients have schizophrenia, major depression, or bipolar disorder? Rules-Based Medicine , a company that specializes in research and development for drugs and diagnostics, thinks it can.

Would you use a pair of skis made out meat and bone meal? What if it meant they were biodegradable and cut down on landfill waste?

Forest certification is a program that ensures that the trees responsible for your paper are treated responsibly. Buy some certified paper and you can rest assured that the trees it came from weren't clear cut and that there are responsible plans for continuing the growth of the forest. But could it be that the world's largest forest certification program-- Sustainable Forestry Initiative- -is a scam

Tiny startups in developing countries have a savior in microfinancing organizations like Kiva , but what about the small- to medium-sized businesses that don't qualify for microloans? These businesses, commonly called "the missing middle," have between 10 and 300 employees and usually seek between $20,000 and $2 million. They are the backbone of economic growth in developing nations, but are tragically undersupported

There are some 700 million people in Africa without access to electricity. As the continent modernizes, those people will need power.

Claustrophobics (and everyone else who hates lying in coffin-like spaces), take note: GE just introduced an MRI machine for arm and leg injuries that requires patients to stick only the affected limb into a doughnut-shaped scanner--no full-body scanning required. The device, dubbed the Optima MR430s , offers imaging of the elbow, wrist, hand, knee, ankle, and foot, all while allowing patients to recline in padded, adjustable chairs

The New York Times often covers Shell Oil's misdeeds and questionable choices, which in past years have included drilling in the arctic and denying human rights abuses in Nigeria . The oil industry is undeniably contentious and filled with scandals and coverups--all the more reason for the Times to write about it. But how can the Times remain objective when it is partnering with Shell Oil on an energy conference

BYD is an automotive company in name only for most Americans. That's because the Warren Buffett-backed Chinese company, named one of our Most Innovative Companies in China , has yet to sell any of its much-hyped electric vehicles--or any of its vehicles, for that matter--in North America (the company sells a gas-powered car in China).