Jessica Matthews visited family in Nigeria many years ago, and was shocked by regular power outages that left residents hopeless. She was so impacted by the trip that several years later, she developed Soccket, a soccer ball that harnesses energy when you kick it around. Only 30 minutes of play creates 2.7 hours of electricity that people could use to power anything from lamps to cell phone chargers. Her goal was to provide an off the grid energy source, and so far she has succeeded. Her company, Uncharted Play, is currently giving out Socckets at the World Cup, where the spotlight is on soccer, and has delivered over 2,500 of the soccer balls and 100 of it’s newly developed energy generating jump rope in locations across the United States, Mexico, and Nigeria.

The national birth rate in Denmark has swooped down to a 27-year low of only 1.7 births per woman, alarming demographics experts that the country will not be able to sustain it’s population. So, Spies Travel, a company based in Copenhagen has taken it upon itself to help remedy the problem by encouraging Danes to have vacation sex and conceive. The enterprising company has established the Do it for Demark program complete with special discounts to romantic destinations if the couple travels while the female half is ovulating, and it promises that if they conceive on the vacation they will be gifted three years’ worth of baby supplies and a kid-friendly vacation post-birth. By the time I read about it in the July issue of Marie Claire, over 300 couples had enrolled in the program, and Spies claims that even if the mission isn’t successful at least a lot of people will have fun trying.