Here's What's Awesome: Desert Energy Hubs, Cutting Airline Delays

Word of Mouth's weekly compendium of links is back! Here is, as we say, what's awesome:

I will turn your desert green
The already huge African Sahara expands every year, crowding out already limited resources in northern Africa. But what if there was a way to turn the desert heat into a source of energy and clean water? The Sahara Forest Project says it has a plan to do just that - using heat and light from the sun to convert sea water into fresh water, which can then be used to grow crops that can be turned into biofuels. There's no shortage of ambition here - nor a shortage of questions, including who's going to pay the $100 million-plus needed. We may find out the answers when the Sahara Forest Project is presented at the Future of Science Conference in Venice. [Inhabitat]

Leaving on a jet plane - eventually
If terraforming the largest desert in the world doesn't sound bold enough, how about putting an end to airline delays? Researchers at MIT have built the Route Availability Planning Tool, which compiles flight paths and weather data to give air traffic controllers a potential way to get planes in the air when bad weather interferes with the original schedule. Preliminary testing in New York has saved thousands of hours in delays, which, of course, saves money as well. [Wired]

Come on feel the noise
Barking tree frogs are the latest member of the animal kingdom to use science in their busy lives. Females of this species prefer males with a louder call, believing them to be bigger and stronger. But a researcher at James Madison University in Virginia found that how they determine the loudest call is fairly complex. If a quieter male is nearer to the female, making him sound louder where she's standing, the female will still choose the male who's further away. This explains why there were so many barking tree frogs at the Who concert in Charlton. [NewScientist]

Now it's your turn. What awesome links have you found this week? Share your favorites in the comments.

(Photo by Aleksey Krapukhin)