Computers have a real problem when it comes generating truly random numbers, which has led one web-critical cybersecurity firm to reference an array of lava lamps to create unique and unpredictable code.

The lamps are recorded on video in Cloudflare’s San Francisco headquarters, then translate those movements to create encryption keys for the web. The results help protect internet giants including Uber, OKCupid, FitBit and others, totaling around 10% of global traffic.

As Tom Scott reports, Cloudflare has good reason not to trust algorithm-generated code, relying instead on the effectively erratic movements in groovy retro fixtures set on shelves instead. Anything made using algorithms could potentially be guessed at or reverse-engineered by sophisticated hackers — fluid dynamics of lava lamps, not so much.

And these top-secret cryptographic devices are not hidden behind lock and key, but publicly on view. In fact, additional disturbances from human proximity can add more randomness to the equation. In the end, it’s a surprisingly low-tech solution, but it mixes things up and ultimately does the job.

In the early 2000s, the city of Glasgow, Scotland, changed over to blue street lighting in an effort to improve the appearance of the city, but areas with the newly blue lights saw an unexpected and disproportionate decrease in crime.

No one could say for sure whether there was a causal correlation, but half a world away another city followed suit – Nara, Japan, experimentally began turning their street lamps blue. They also saw a decrease in crime.

In  the years that followed, similar deployments were tested, including the addition of over 150 blue lights to an expressway near Tokyo, aimed at reducing accidents.

The Keihin Electric Express Railway Co. even changed the color of eight lights on the ends of platforms at Gumyoji Station in Yokohama, Japan, to curb track-jumping suicides. A subsequent report showed that in the years following, the station saw no suicide attempts (after previously being the site of multiple suicides per year).

There are a number of theories about why the blue light could be causing a decrease in criminal behavior.

Some argue the association of blue with police presence, except: Japanese police use mostly red lights.

Another theory posits that blue light has a calming effect, feeling more pleasant than orange or red. Indeed, studies have shown that blue lights (associated with calm waters and open skies) can reduce stress responses in fish and be used to treat SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) in humans.

Of course, it is also possible that the new colored lights are simply different and unfamiliar enough to cause people to feel awkward engaging in illicit or dangerous behavior where they are present. And if that is the case, changing all the public lights in the world to blue might be at best temporary fix, working until people get used to the new blue lighting. Experts have warned not to read too much into the effect, regardless, since the causal mechanism or connection has not yet been definitively determined.

Aiming to bring low-cost illumination to residents of the Philippines, a nation of 7,000 oceanic islands, the Salt Lamp uses a free and abundant resource to reduce fire risk from candles and replace the cost of traditional lighting.

Developed by engineer Lipa Aisa Mijena of De La Salle University, the Salt Lamp requires a single glass of water with two tablespoons of salt to provide a night’s worth of a light (complimenting approaches like Liters of Light that work in dark spaces during the day), but, best of all, it can run off the naturally salty water of the surrounding ocean.

A pair of electrodes, the other key ingredient, can run for up to a year without requiring replacement. The next-generation version of the Salt Lamp will also have the capacity to charge batteries in portable electronic devices including cellular phones. Essentially, “this lamp uses the science behind the Galvanic cell, the basis for battery-making, changing the electrolytes to a non-toxic, saline solution — making the entire process safe and harmless.”

Currently, many households in the Philippines lack access to or funds for electricity, resorting instead to oil lamps (which can cause house fires) or normal battery-powered lights (which cost more to use). Worse, during times of critical need (the area being prone to natural disasters) the resources required to make light are all the more essential yet difficult to acquire. From experience spending time with locals around the country and as a member of Greenpeace Philippines, Mijena developed the Salt Light as an eco-friendly, low-footprint alternative to other conventionally-connected lamps and lights.

The lamp is also being made available commercially but, first and foremost, it is designed to be deployed via non-profit organizations to those in need. “There are no materials and components inside the lamp that may cause fire accidents. One less thing to worry about for families that rely on kerosene lamps as their main source of lighting.”

Opening this year in Newark, this 69,000-square-foot space will grow 2 million pounds of pesticide-free produce each year, turning an old steel factory into the largest indoor farm on the planet, 75 times more productive per square foot than open fields. This AeroFarms facility is to serve both as the company’s global headquarters as well as the anchor project for a Maker’s Village designed to grow business in the city and provide a prototype for scaleable urban agriculture.

Plants rooted in reusable microfleece cloth and stacked in modular planters will be sprayed by a nutrient mist and illuminated by LED lights. These crops require no soil, 95% less water and create no harmful runoff.  Located on a 3-acre industrial site in the Ironbound neighborhood, the structure will expand the role of affordable and local urban farming in the community and provide nearly 100 long-term jobs for residents. Such an approach offers a new potential future role to rundown industrial districts around the world, turning unused infrastructure in struggling cities into fresh indoor farming space.

More on the process and key materials: a “reusable cloth medium [supports] seeding, germinating, growing, and harvesting.” This critical cloth “has a number of benefits such as durability and reusability, increased cleanliness and sanitation, and the efficient harvest of a dry and clean product.”

In terms of LED innovation and efficiency, the company is “targeting specific wavelengths of light for more efficient photosynthesis and less energy consumption. LEDs can also be placed much closer to the plants, enabling greater vertical growing for even greater productivity per square foot.”

Aeroponics is the key to the solution, limiting the need for conventional watering and representing “a cutting-edge type of hydroponic technology that grows plants in a mist. The aeroponic mist most efficiently provides roots with the nutrients, hydration and oxygen needed, creating faster growing cycles and more biomass than other growing approaches. AeroFarms has designed its aeroponics as a closed-looped system, recirculating our nutrient solution and using over 95% less water than field farming.”

“We are delighted to introduce AeroFarms, a farming and technology leader, to the City of Newark, creating jobs for local residents and greater access to locally grown produce for our community,” said Ron Beit, founding partner and CEO of RBH Group. “AeroFarms will anchor our broader ‘Makers Village’ development project in the Ironbound neighborhood that will compete toe-to-toe with the Brooklyn Navy Yard in terms of a superior cost structure and greater transmodal access, bringing 21st century ‘maker-type’ businesses to Newark and the State of New Jersey.”

Unveiled in Spain and planned for the streets of several towns and cities in 2015 and beyond, these grid-free street lighting units are completely energy-autonomous, powered by solar and wind energy without needing to be connected to the electrical grid.

While other examples of self-sufficient streetlights exist as prototypes and installation art pieces, this system is set to be the first on the planet to be installed at scale for public use. As a working prototype, this deployment could mean big things for the future of street lighting: imagine the possibilities of being able to span rural off-the-grid stretches without requiring connective energy infrastructure. Equally promising in urban areas: with greater storage capacity these lights could even feed back into local power networks.

Ramon Bargalló of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Barcelona College of Industrial Engineering (EUETIB) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) has been working with Eolgreen, a private company, to engineer the system.

At roughly 30 feet tall, the posts feature leafy solar panels and turbines as well as built-in batteries for energy storage – relatively little wind or light are required to make the system work. Over 700 are set to be created in 2015, but the man and company behind their design are still working on increasingly efficient models for future deployment, testing and building as they proceed. An online system will allow citizens to monitor the status of the individual lampposts in the system, providing novel interactivity as well as public accountability.

From their press release: “This system, developed after four years of research, is designed for inter-urban roads, motorways, urban parks and other public areas. It is unique in the world and reduces the cost by 20% compared with conventional public lighting systems. The turbine runs at a speed of 10 to 200 revolutions per minute (rpm) and has a maximum output of 400 watts (W). An electronic control system manages the flow of energy between the solar panel, the wind turbine, the battery and the light. “