Construction has begun on a giant observation tower in the heart of the Amazon basin to monitor climate change. The Amazon Tall Tower Observatory is expected to rise 325 meters from the ground. Its instruments will gather data on greenhouse gases, aerosol particles and the weather in one of the largest continuous rain forests on the planet. Brazilian and German scientists hope to use the data to better understand sources of greenhouse gases and answer questions on climate change. The tower is being constructed out of steel that was brought thousands of kilometers from the south of Brazil to the site, about 160 kilometers from the Amazonian city of Manaus. Because of its height, the tower will make it possible to investigate the alteration and movement of air masses through the forest over a distance of several hundred kilometers. The Amazon jungle is one of the world's most sensitive ecosystems, with a powerful influence on the intake and release of carbon into the atmosphere. ""The tower will help us answer innumerable questions related to global climate change," said Paulo Artaxo, from the University of Sao Paulo and project coordinator for the Brazilians. The tower will be integrated into an existing structure of smaller measuring towers in the region. When finished, it will complement a similar observatory built in 2006 that already stands in Central Siberia (lower photo).

The World Cup 2014 completed, but our eyes are focused to the Mineirao stadium. This 1965 soccer stadium in Belo Horizonte was recently equipped with a whopping 6,000 solar panels on its roof just in time for the international competition. An initiative by local electricity company CEMIG, this is the first ever World Cup stadium completely powered by the sun. Originally built in 1965, the public listed Estadio Governador Magalhaes Pinto is one of this year's World Cup venues. Topped with 6,000 rooftop solar panels, it doubles as a complete photovoltaic solar plant (USF) capable of supplying power to 1,200 households. The plant was built by the Minas Gerais State Electricity Company (CEMIG), in partnership with German bank kfW and Minas Arena, the group that manages the Mineirao. Because the panels produce more energy than is necessary to power the stadium (1,600 megawatts-hour per year), 10 percent of the remaining power goes directly to regular consumers. It will be distributed to surrounding homes, giving back to the local grid with clean energy. Although the Mineirao is the First World Cup stadium completely supplied by solar power, is not the first one in the world. This idea takes inspiration from Germany's Freiburg and Switzerland's Bern stadium, which also works thanks to the brightest star. Estadio Mineirao opened its solar-savvy doors in 2013. German bank KfW and CEMIG provided funding for the massive US$ 16.1 million stadium power plant project.

Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, who designed some of the 20th Century's most famous modernist buildings, has died just before his 105th birthday. Last year on December 15 he feted his 104th birthday in his Rio workshop overlooking Copacabana beach. He rose to international fame as the architect of the main government buildings in the futuristic Brazilian capital, Brasilia, inaugurated in 1960. During a long career in which he received top professional honors (in 1988, he was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Prize) Mr. Niemeyer also worked with Swiss-born modernist architect Le Corbusier on the UN building in New York and, as a lifelong communist sympathizer, designed the French party's head office in Paris while in exile from Brazil's military rulers. He continued to work on new projects until earlier this year. Last year the official opening of Niemeyer Center (Centro Niemeyer) was held in Aviles, (Asturias, Spain). Through his designs, Mr. Niemeyer protested the "orthodox functionalism" of modern building style that he thought left little room for sensuality. A bikini admirer, he often chose to link his work with Brazil's shapely beach women. "Form follows feminine," he said, twisting architect Louis Sullivan's famous remark about function. For inspiration, he drew on Brazil's colonial heritage with its ornate, baroque architecture, and applied new building materials and methods of construction. He favored reinforced concrete in an economy lacking in steel and created works of voluptuousness and space-age allure: smooth ramps leading to broad esplanades, domes shaped like soup bowls and entire buildings resembling flying saucers. His style was not to everyone's taste, and for a communist some people say his work was not very people-friendly - focusing more on the architecture's form than on its inhabitants or functionality. Niemeyer went on to create more than 600 buildings around the world. His legacy endures in museums, monuments, schools and churches in Brazil and beyond. Many of the designs were initially sketched on a table overlooking his beloved Rio de Janeiro and its famous Copacabana beach, replete with the women, waves and hills from which he drew such inspiration.

Brazil's star architect Oscar Niemeyer, who revolutionized modern architecture with his sensual curves inspired by "the body of the Brazilian woman," feted his 104th birthday on December 15 in his Rio workshop overlooking Copacabana beach, reported Yahoo News. During his seven-decade career, Niemeyer has designed more than 600 projects around the world, and is famous for some of Brazil's most distinctive buildings. Niemeyer, a disciple of Le Corbusier, designed his first building, the Ministry of Education and Public Health in Rio de Janeiro in 1943. His iconic buildings also include the National Congress of Brazil, the Cathedral of Brasilia, the Niteroi Contemporary Art museum, and he was a part of the panel that designed the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. He recently designed a new theater for Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine. Niemeyer, who won the 1988 Pritzker Prize -- "architecture's Nobel" -- chose his birthday to launch the 11th edition of "Nosso Caminho (Our Way)," the architecture magazine he publishes with his wife Vera Lucia. For a birthday present, he was given "Laura," a bronze sculpture with breasts exposed which was designed by famed Brazilian caricaturist Lan and made in bronze by artist Marcos Andre, according to the daily O Globo. Last August, Niemeyer told reporters that there were still a few things he would like to do, such as "a beautiful project for Copacabana." "I was once asked what I thought about life. My reply: As long as I have a woman next to me, come what may," he joked.