As the Chinese proverb goes, “When the winds of change blow, some build walls, others build windmills.” In the case of several remote villages in Iran and Afghanistan, this could not be more true. For ...

In the village of Nashtifan, vertical-axis windmills made from clay, straw, and wood have been operating for nearly 1,000 years. These ancient Persian windmills harness strong desert winds to grind ...