Airplane Launches On Fuel-Cell Power

This Tuesday, the Antares DLR-H2 took off at Hamburg Airport in Germany using only power from Hydrogen Fuel Cells, a feat that its builders say is a first for a piloted aircraft.

The motorglider, built at the German Aerospace Center, flies with zero carbon-dioxide emissions and is much quieter than similar aircraft. "

This motorglider achieves new quality standards in the field of high-efficiency, zero-emission energy conversion and clearly demonstrates the progress that has been made in fuel-cell technology.

The DLR-H2 is based on the Antares 20E motorglider, and has a wingspan of 66 feet. With its fuel-cell propulsion system, the aircraft can stay aloft for five hours and reach speeds of about 105 mph.

With the successful first flight, they have verified the feasibility of fuel-cell-powered flight and their next steps will focus on improving efficiency levels and on extending the service life of these systems.

At this stage, they have only tapped into a fraction of the performance capabilities of this technology for aerospace applications. The Antares DLR-H2 will help make much greater use of these areas of potential.

To accommodate the fuel cell and its hydrogen supply, two external pods were attached under the aircraft's wings, which were reinforced to carry the load. The total efficiency of the drive system from tank to powertrain, including the propeller, is about 44 percent, making it about twice as efficient as conventional propulsion technologies based on combustion processes, according to the Aerospace Center.

For more details about the project, click here to read the Aerospace Center's lengthy news release.

Or watch a short video on the Antraes DLR-H2 Maiden flight!

Q: How many bloggers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Rene Daalder, said @ SpaceCollective Project:

'The real answer to this timeworn question of course is one. It took just one Gandhi to set off a wave of enlightenment across the planet; and one maverick scientist by the name of Nikola Tesla to invent the electric age, prompting us to screw in a never ending supply of lightbulbs. On the other hand, the will of just one zealous despot, Adolf , almost succeeded in throwing us back into the dark ages.

It only takes one mutant cell to change the course of human evolution. And every time one internet user shares a good idea, it may exponentially reach the minds of two, four, or perhaps a million people who come across it on their non-linear path.

We owe the rapid rise of human civilization (and our ability to screw in a light bulb) to a simple evolutionary modification of our digital extremities known as the opposable thumb.

Now we have the mouse, which at this very moment puts you just one click away from playing a role in the future of everything.'

Go figure?!

Click here to read full piece (press 'read on' on site).

Or read about how and what the SpaceCollective is all about.

Hyperart That Vibrates Off Radical Evolution.

A phrase from the book Radical Evolution has been linked to art in an intriguing way by Los Angeles artist Folkert Gorter.

His project, he says, 'aims to showcase artists and connect visual art with ideas in interesting ways. The post in question presents generative art created by Leonardo Solaas, constructed with the use of software algorithms.'

In my experience the notion that producing art in an environment without barriers between ideas and their 'physical' incarnation is one of the most interesting activities to be engaged in.

Hyperart: the multidimensional interconnection of artistic ideas. Emm!!

Brit Tech Genius.
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Think all your gadgets are dreamt up across the pond or in secret Far East bunkers owned by the world’s biggest tech titans?

Think again?

Britain is at the forefront when it comes to bleeding edge gadgetry, whether it’s the latest shiny must-have from Apple, or a motor that’s all set to break the land speed record.

It’s easy to forget British boffins are behind some of the world’s greatest gadgets.

One omy favrite inventors is Richard Palmer, founder D3O In Hove, Brighton UK.

D3O is about to revolutionise gadgets. You might not know its name, but it’s one of the world’s first smart materials, and it was invented by a Brit! Chemical engineer Richard Palmer set up his own business to create the substance, which acts like silly putty in your hands, but stiffens up to absorb shocks and bumps whenever it’s hit.

It’s a silicon polymer that has the look and feel of playdoh, and is already in laptop and iPod cases from Tech 21, saving your precious tech from taking a battering.

Palmer also says it could go into body armour too. Think futuristic football shin pads that mould to your legs but harden up when you’re hit by a crunching tackle. Smart materials are the future, and Palmer proves you needn’t be a mega multinational to make your mark.

View his companies work, click here.

Or click Wiki-3do here to see list of achivments!

One Giant Leap for Man, One Giant Leap for Robots!

Robots have been employed by a number of NASA’s missions in the past, particularly those to the Moon, where they have been used to scan the surface and collect samples and various kinds of data. NASA has also been a pioneer in semi-autonomous robots exploring the surface of Mars; the twin Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity are still operating on the surface of the Red planet several years after their initial mission was completed. The Phoenix robot successfully landed on Mars last year and completed its 3-month mission. Moreover, NASA is preparing to launch soon a new generation Mars rover aka the Mars Science Laboratory while testing the ATHLETE rover for a mission to the Moon.

But none of these very cool robots have been able to walk—or build Japanese rock gardens.

In a presentation entitled “Realization of Moon Exploration Using Advanced Robots by 2020,” Toyota shared plans about the future use of its innovative Toyota Partner Robot series. Initially, these humanoid robots were designed to help with life down here on Earth, specifically with elderly care and assistance. A result of Japan’s aging population and a lack of labor force, they are able to perform a variety of tasks, including transporting passengers and helping citizens in need. Their application, however, is set to be taken quite a big step further—to the moon.

There, the Toyota Robots will assemble space tents and relay stations, as well as deploy solar array and use a telescope. Additionally, they will work alongside a Rover to collect further data of the moon. The presentation also showed them building a traditional Japanese rock garden, which is rather cooler than planting a simple flag. To perform these tasks, they will be equipped with a number of big upgrades. As the specs in the yellow table predict, they will have:

• joints that are protected from regolith
• a small capacity solar battery onboard
• their internal status showing on screen on chest
• arms exchangeable for different tasks
• ability to jump with springs in legs
• keep warm during night covered in a metal cloak

That last one paints quite the endearing picture of our robot helpers working all day and camping out beneath the stars at night on a lonely desolate planet. With 2020 being the proposed date, however, we are still a decade away from finding out whether this is yet possible.

Remote radio control of insect flight.

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California at Berkeley and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, USA, and 3 School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, USA;

Have demonstrated the remote control of insects in free flight via an implantable radio-equipped miniature neural stimulating system.

The pronotum mounted system consisted of neural stimulators, muscular stimulators, a radio transceiver-equipped microcontroller and a microbattery. Flight initiation, cessation and elevation control were accomplished through neural stimulus of the brain which elicited, suppressed or modulated wing oscillation.

Turns were triggered through the direct muscular stimulus of either of the basalar muscles. We characterized the response times, success rates, and free-flight trajectories elicited by our neural control systems in remotely-controlled beetles.

I believe this type of technology will open the door to in-flight perturbation and recording of insect flight responses.

Further, a new spy, the size of penny stamp, is about to become the new 007!

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Click here to view paper.

Retinal implant helps blind man see again.

A really great breakthrough in the fight against blindness!

This story sounds like it is taken out of a science fiction novel but news reports around the world say that Mr. Peter Lane, 51, from Stretford, has his lost sight partially restored using a new device under development by California-based Second Sight Medical Products.

The story is that Lane is one of several blind people who are testing the new device known as Argus II Retinal Stimulation System and he is the one who recently found fame in the media having his lost sight partially restored to the extend that he can now read some small words and navigate the outside world with increased ease.

According to Second Sight, the device consists of a small camera and an electrode-studded array implanted on the patient's retina.

See how it works @ Second Sight Medical Products Inc.

IdeaCycles - Free Course on Innovative Thinking

Explore IdeaCycles, a short course on innovative thinking.

This 1-hour online workshop will help you disect problems and through divergent thinking processes, create unusual, unexpected solutions.

View the Innovative Thinking Course.

Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the Wii Remote.

Using an infrared camera in the Wii remote and a head mounted sensor bar (two IR LEDs), you can accurately track the location of your head and render view dependent images on the screen.

This effectively transforms your display into a portal to a virtual environment. The display properly reacts to head and body movement as if it were a real window creating a realistic illusion of depth and space.

You may need the most recent version of DirectX installed for this to work the Software to run the DesktopVR program.

Click here to watch video!

FusionGFX is a company based just down the road from where I live.

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Fusion GFX are a Hyperinnovative concern that provide 3D visualisation and simulation equipment, including Real-Time Dynamic Immersive 3D Applications; Immersive Displays, 3D Laser Scanning, and Consultancy.

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Wiew their web:

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http://www.fusiongfx.com/

Horizon Scanning.

Future studies gets into government.

'This short guidance document outlines how particular futures techniques can be used for particular parts of policy development. It is based on a detailed analysis that is available as a separate document.1 It builds on the guidance provided in the Foresight Horizon Scanning Centre (HSC) toolkit'

Read on:

Click here.

The world's first universal programmable quantum computer has been put through its paces.

But the test program revealed significant hurdles that must be overcome before the device is ready for real work.

Earlier in the year, a team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, USA, built a quantum computer capable of processing two quantum bits, or qubits.

Qubits store more information than the simple "on" or "off" bits of conventional computing, which means that a quantum computer outperform conventional computers in tasks such as cryptanalysis.

As in a classical computer, a series of logic gates processes the information – although here the gates are quantum logic, or qubit, gates. For example, a simple single-qubit gate would change a 'one' to a 'zero' and vice versa.

But unlike the physical logic gates of a classical computer, the quantum logic gates used in the team's device are each encoded into a laser pulse.

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So what does all this mean?

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The size of pin a head: more computing-power-per-nanosecond than all the computing power the world has received until now. That means watches, phones and other such devices with super-ultra-computing power for pennies within a decade.

Click here: Nature Physics, DOI: 10.1038/nphys1453

Well!.

Remember Thunderbirds?

Now it's here.

Take alook at these video(s).

How Do We Think About the Future?

New scientific work shows that the brain works much differently about reasoning a future scenario than we thought.
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For any serious futurist, this is a must read.

Click here to read paper.

A Really Good Mind-Controlled Artificial Hand.

The human hand is by far the most complex appendage. It is extraordinarily hard to make an artifical one.

One that is controlled by your mind is even harder. One that also allows you to feel sounds like science fiction.

So here it is.

Click here to read paper.

Toward a Virtual Economy.

And I don't mean it doesn't 'exist' in reality.

Millions of people are spending real money on virtual clothes in online hangouts, digital items in multiplayer games and presents for their friends in social networking sites.

This digitalisation of consumption is an inherent consequence of the increasing involvement of communication technology in everyday social activities, says Helsinki Insititute for Information Technology HIIT Researcher Vili Lehdonvirta. Lehdonvirta's thesis "Virtual Consumption" will be examined on 14th of Dec at Turku School of Economics, Finland.

You don't have to be an Internet addict or live in an online community to appreciate virtual goods. Today, around 10 percent of users in a typical online service are likely to be spending money on microtransactions, such as virtual items and gifts. Much of this spending relates to social activities involving friends and family, says Lehdonvirta.

In public discourse, spending real money on virtual goods is frequently dismissed as an irrational fad or as a result of abusive marketing. But Lehdonvirta's thesis suggests that the fundamental drivers of virtual consumption are found in individuals' social and hedonic motivations.
- People buy virtual goods for the same reasons as they buy material goods. In online spaces, virtual goods can function as markers of status, elements of identity and means towards ends in the same way as material consumer goods do in similarly contrived physical spaces, says Lehdonvirta.

In his doctoral thesis, Lehdonvirta also considers the economic and ecological consequences of the digitalisation of consumption. According to Lehdonvirta, the present economic downturn may turn out to be a boost to virtual consumption, because consumers spend more time at home and favour small purchases over large ones. The ecological sustainability of virtual consumption depends on whether it continues to spur additional computer hardware purchases or whether it substitutes material consumption by providing an alternative use for money.

From a macroeconomic perspective, it does not matter what consumers buy, as long as they keep on spending. Virtual consumption might offer an ecological way out of this consumer society's dilemma, says Lehdonvirta.

According to Lehdonvirta's thesis, people in East Asian countries such as Korea, China and Japan have been quicker to adopt virtual consumption styles.

What is considered as an appropriate way to spend your time and money varies between cultures and changes over time. Perhaps in three years' time, virtual consumption is considered rational in the West, and the rationality of filling your house with expensive objects starts to be questioned, ponders Lehdonvirta.

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So my question is: When will the VR Economy become bigger than the physical?

Desktop Factory Unites with 3D Systems.

Continued effort to find the best financial alternative for Desktop Factory. That search, which put them on the road to a sale of the company, has finally come to an end. What I could not confirm at that time is that their buyer is the leadership brand in the Additive Manufacturing industry, which means that they have the resources and desire to deliver on the promise of a truly low cost, easy to use 3-D printer.

The complete terms of the sale, which closed on August 31, 2009, have not been disclosed. However, 3D Systems Corporation of Rock Hill, South Carolina has acquired the key assets of Desktop Factory including intellectual property, know-how and tools. Recognizing the importance of continuity, the core team of remaining Desktop Factory employees was invited to join 3D Systems, underscoring their intention to move forward with the development of a sub-$5K 3-D printer.

Paula Apsell, NOVA's senior executive producer laments the sad state of science journalism and discusses how NOVA is more essential than ever.

In a world where the public understanding of science is diminishing, she makes a strong case for NOVA's tradition of depth and substance, tackling the most pressing issues in science, in a thoughtful and visually complex manner.

Apsell brings clips from some recent NOVA programs to illustrate the role of television's most prestigious science documentary series in the vast television and web content landscape.

She provides insights into the editorial processes of topic selection, treatment, and production standards. In a world of decreasing attention spans, Apsell considers the challenges of providing meaningful science content, keeping it interesting, while not leaving the audience behind.

Click here to see her talk.

Driver-less car in high-speed rally.

Imagine driving at top speed on a steep, winding mountain pass in the Alps, or the Himalayas, or the Rocky Mountains.

Now, take your hands off the steering wheel and cover your eyes. Or grab a camera and take some pictures of the snowy mountain peaks. Or send a text message to a friend describing the scenery. You'd skid off the road and plunge into a deep ravine within seconds, right? Not if a group of graduate students at Stanford University can program the car to drive itself.

The mechanical engineering students are creating an autonomous -- or driverless -- car that they plan to race up and down the treacherous Pikes Peak highway in the Rocky Mountains next year. The vehicle is the latest creation of a Stanford team, funded in part by Volkswagen, that in recent years has won awards for speed and manoeuvrability in competitions among unmanned cars.

The students say programming a car to run by itself up a curving mountain road is more than simply an engineering exercise; it's a way of creating and testing safety systems they hope one day will be used in all vehicles.

WEDGE.

The`WEDGE' immersive projection theater has been built as an affordable installation for university VR infrastructure in Australia. It achieves a 'semi-immersive' sense of presence without, apparently, giving rise to significant discomfort.

The vertex region of the theater appears to be especially effective in giving a sense of presence.

See click here for more details.

Note: the paper starts way down the pages!

DARPA Challenge!

In the interests of investigatng how broad-scope problems can be solved using Internet technologies (and to remind everybody that they invented the Internet 40 years ago), DARPA is offering $40,000 to the first person who can solve the following problem.

On Dec. 5, 2009, for one day, DARPA 1s going to put out a large red weather balloon in each of 10 locations, in plain sight, across the continental U.S. First person to identify the locations of all 10, wins.

Go here!

Ever been homeless?

I expect not!

However, when was the last time you thought positively about someone on the street or living in rusty van?

Becky Blanton has not only a great idea, but an insight gained through experiance.

Click here to view her TED speak!

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I 'HOPE'you get it!

Nick's Blog Below has a Rather 'Cleaver' Paper.

You know the parable: 'Pascal's Wager?'

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Or Pascal's Gambit is a suggestion posed by the French philosopher Blaise Pascal that even though the existence of God cannot be determined through reason, a person should wager as though God exists, because so living has everything to gain, and nothing to lose. It was set out in note 233 of his Pensées, a posthumously published collection of notes made by Pascal in his last years as he worked on a treatise on Christian apologetics.

Historically, Pascal's Wager was groundbreaking as it had charted new territory in probability theory, was one of the first attempts to make use of the concept of infinity, marked the first formal use of decision theory, and anticipated the future philosophies of pragmatism and voluntarism.

However! Nick has probably moved it on a good march.

Well click here to read 'Pascal's Mugging.'

Nick Bostrom has something to say about the furture of man.

'Suppose we get many little things right and make some progress. What use, if we are marching in the wrong direction? Or wasting our resources on projects of small utility while pivotal tasks are left undone? What if we are profoundly mistaken about what matters most?

There are big potential gains from getting better at thinking about the right kinds of macro-questions, because at stake is our whole scheme of priorities.

Some of these questions are about moral judgment and values. Others have to do with rationality and reasoning under uncertainty. Still others pertain to specific concerns and possibilities, such as existential risks, the simulation hypothesis, human enhancement, transhumanism, and the singularity hypothesis.

My working assumption: These high-leverage questions deserve to be studied with at least the same level of seriousness, scholarship, and creativity that is routinely applied to all sorts of insignificant micro-questions.

This assumption might be wrong. Perhaps we are so irredeemably inept at thinking about the big picture that it is good that we usually don’t. Perhaps attempting to wake up will only result in bad dreams. But how will we know unless we try?'

View Nick's blog by clicking here.

or

Read his fantastic paper on 'The Future of Humanity.'

BigDog Beach'n.

Amazing how far we have come. One of my favorite robots, BigDog kicks back at a beach in Thailand in this video. Wet sand, salt water, no problem. Would love to think he's carrying fruity drinks and paper parasols.

Click here to watch latest BigDog robot video.

The UK Needs to Follow US Form.

Quote from Egils Milbergs Center for Accelerating Innovation Website.

'U.S. Commerce Secretary Locke announced a new Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Inc. 500/5000 Conference.

Recognizing that new businesses are vital to the economic growth of the USA, the Office will focus on removing barriers for entrepreneurs seeking to take ideas and translate them into new products and services. The Office will work with the White House and other federal agencies to find ways to encourage entrepreneurship, including training, access to capital and policy incentives.

The National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship will advise the Secretary and the Administration on key issues relating to innovation and entrepreneurship. It will include successful entrepreneurs, innovators, angel investors, venture capitalists, non-profit leaders, and other experts on these issues.

The Council will identify and recommend solutions to issues critical to the creation and development of entrepreneurship ecosystems that will spawn new businesses and jobs. It will also serve as a vehicle for ongoing dialogue with the entrepreneurship community and other stakeholders.

Secretary Locke speaks about entrepreneurship and its importance to economic growth and job creation.'

End quote.

Now me:

We (the UK) need to set up a similar agency. Innovation and Entrepreneurship is not getting the support or the notion required to reach effectivity.

Click here to view Secretary Locke's talk.

Batman: Dead End....

.... is a fan film made by Sandy Collora that premiered at the San Diego Comic Con, and on the internet shortly thereafter.

The film, made for a reported $30,000,[1] stars Clark Bartram as the Batman, who is chasing down an escaped Joker, played by Andrew Koenig.

But there's a surprise move, but ????

Batman character has previously fought the ???? in the comic books from Dark Horse Comics, and the film draws some of its imagery from those comics and possibly why Batman wasn't surprised at them.

Film director and comic book writer Kevin Smith called it "possibly the truest, best Batman movie ever made"[3], and comic book artist Alex Ross praised it as "Batman the way I've always wanted to see him"[4].

Film director Collora has stated in interviews that the film was made as a demonstration reel to attract attention to his directing skills, and as such, succeeded in its goal.

Fan Films Quarterly listed Batman: Dead End as one of the 10 most pivotal moments in fan film history.

Click title to view.

The Jill and Julia Show!

Two of TED's favorites, Jill Sobule and Julia Sweeney, team up for a delightful set that mixes witty songwriting with a little bit of social commentary.

Click here to view act!

Electrifying!

Organ virtuoso Qi Zhang plays her electric rendering of "Ridiculous Fellows" from Prokofiev's "The Love for Three Oranges" orchestral suite.

This exhilarating performance from TED features the Yamaha Electone Stagea, a rare, imported instrument specially programmed by Qi herself.

Click here to see her performance!

Building Innovative Teams.

Thanks Robin, I'm flattered.

'This is an impressive book by any standards and I for one have very much appreciated that Harris has chosen to share his methodologies...I have read the book three times, such is the level of richness and guidance provided, and each time I pick it up I get new insights. I strongly recommend Building Innovative Teams.'

Robin Campbell, Journal of Management Development.

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Click here to review.

The BIG C Detector.

It will happen to about a third of us.

But it is the time it takes to euclidate the illness that expands the fright.

Now a new micro chip has been invented that can detect Cancer within 30 seconds.

Click here to see how it works!

Who's in Big Brother's Database?

On a remote edge of Utah's dry and arid high desert, where temperatures often zoom past 100 degrees, hard-hated construction workers with top-secret clearances are preparing to build what may become America's equivalent of Jorge Luis Borges's "Library of Babel," a place where the collection of information is both infinite and at the same time monstrous, where the entire world's knowledge is stored, but not a single word is understood.

At a million square feet, the mammoth $2 billion structure will be one-third larger than the US Capitol and will use the same amount of energy as every house in London combined.

Unlike Borges's "labyrinth of letters," this library expects few visitors. It's being built by the ultra-secret National Security Agency—which is primarily responsible for "signals intelligence," the collection and analysis of various forms of communication—to house trillions of phone calls, e-mail messages, and data trails:

Web searches, parking receipts, bookstore visits, and other digital "pocket litter." Lacking adequate space and power at its city-sized London sized headquarters, the NSA is also completing work on another data archive, this one in San Antonio, Texas, which will be nearly the size of the Alamodome.

And so, 2 things?

1. Be careful what you say over the net/com.

Because:

2. A spy centre that requires the energy input of a city, well that means Yottabytes (1024 Bytes) by 2015. Roughly equal to about a septillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) pages of voice, text and numbers. And that every call, every day, for the foreseeable future.

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Click here to resume!

Global Ethic: I'm not one for political propaganda!

But this TED talk by Gordon Brown (PM) took me by surprise.

At last a leader with a Global Vision. A whole world view that is intent on manifesting global economic stability, ecological correction, wolrd poverty disolvement, and wholistic political morality.

Gordon Brown is - like it or not - becoming the world's first Global Politician, based on a Global Ethic.

Click here to see his talk.

All Marketers are Liars!

Fundamental theorem-that perception trumps reality-informs this dubious marketing primer.

In an age when consumers are motivated by irrational wants instead of objective needs and there is almost no connection between what is actually there and what we believe, presenting stolid factual information about a product is a losing strategy.

Instead, marketers should tell "great stories" about their products that pander to consumers' self-regard and worldview. Examples include expensive wine glasses that purport to improve the taste of wine, despite scientific proof to the contrary; Baby Einstein videotapes that are useless for babies but...satisfy a real desire for their parents; and organic marketing schemes, which amount to "telling ourselves a complex lie about food, the environment and the safety of our families."

Because consumers prefer fantasy to the truth, the marketer's duty is to be "authentic" rather than honest, to live the lie, fully and completely so that "all the details line up"-that is, to make their falsehoods convincing rather than transparent. Troubled by the cynicism of his own argument, Godin draws a line at deceptions that actually kill people, like marketing infant formula in the Third World, and elaborates a murky distinction between "fibs" that "make the thing itself more effective or enjoyable" and "frauds" that are "solely for the selfish benefit of the marketer."

To illustrate his preferred approach to marketing, the author relates a grab bag of case studies, heavy on emotionally compelling pitches and seamless subliminal impressions. Readers will likely find the book's practical advice as rudderless as its ethical principles.

Brain Researchers Open Door to Editing Memory.

Suppose scientists could erase certain memories by tinkering with a single substance in the brain. Could make you forget a chronic fear, a traumatic loss, even a bad habit.
For all that scientists have studied it, the brain remains the most complex and mysterious human organ; and now the focus of billions of $, £, & Y, worth of research to penetrate its secrets.

Researchers in Brooklyn N.Y. have recently accomplished comparable feats, with a single dose of an experimental drug delivered to areas of the brain critical for holding specific types of memory, like emotional associations, spatial knowledge or motor skills.

The drug blocks the activity of a substance that the brain apparently needs to retain much of its learned information. And if enhanced, the substance could help ward off dementias and other memory problems.

Millions of people might be tempted to erase a severely painful memory, for instance — but what if, in the process, they lost other, personally important memories that were somehow related? Would a treatment that “cleared” the learned habits of addiction only tempt people to experiment more widely?

In this field we are merely at the foothills of an enormous mountain range, and unlike in other areas of science, it is still possible for an individual or small group to make important contributions, without any great expenditure or some enormous lab.”

But, how on earth can a clump of tissue possibly capture and store everything — poems, emotional reactions, locations of favourite bars, distant childhood scenes? The idea that experience leaves some trace in the brain goes back at least to Plato’s Theaetetus metaphor of a stamp on wax, and in 1904 the German scholar Richard Semon gave that ghostly trace a name: the engram.

What could that engram actually be?

The answer, previous research suggests, is that brain cells activated by an experience keep one another on biological speed-dial, like a group of people joined in common witness of some striking event. Call on one and word quickly goes out to the larger network of cells, each apparently adding some detail, sight, sound, smell. The brain appears to retain a memory by growing thicker, or more efficient, communication lines between these cells.

Bottom line is: we’re getting close to controlling memory, and that means closer control of our thoughts! Imagine no more off days, no more regrets, and no more getting over it!..... That’s big.

Wireless Electricity Delivered Over Distance.

Imagine a future in which wireless electricity makes everyday products more convenient, reliable, and environmentally friendly.

Cell phones, game controllers, laptop computers, mobile robots, even electric vehicles capable of re-charging themselves without ever being plugged in. Flat screen TV’s and digital picture frames that hang on the wall—without requiring a wire and plug for power.

Industrial systems and medical devices made more reliable by eliminating trouble prone wiring and replaceable batteries.

WiTricity Corp. is working to make this future a reality, developing wireless electricity technology that will operate safely and efficiently over distances ranging from centimeters to several meters—and will deliver power ranging from milliwatts to kilowatts.

WiTricity Corp.’s vision is to develop a family of wireless electric power components that will enable OEM’s in a broad range of industries and applications to make their products truly “wireless.” Wireless electric power delivered over room scale distances, and with high efficiency.

Wireless electric power that is safe for people and animals. Wireless electric power—imagine no more… it’s here!

Click here!

The three elements of full employment

You will never be out of work if you can demonstrably offer one of the following:

1. Sales
   


2. Additive effort
   


3. Initiation

Sales speaks for itself. If you can sell enough to cover what you cost and then some, there will always be someone waiting to hire you.

Additive effort is distinguished from bureaucracy or feel-good showing up. Additive effort generates productivity far greater than the overhead you add to the organization. If your skills make the assembly line go twice as fast, or the sales force becomes more effective, or the travel office cuts its costs, then you've produced genuine value. That surly receptionist at the doctor's office--she's just filling a chair.

The third skill is the most difficult to value, but is ultimately the most valuable. If you're the person who can initiate useful action, if you're the one who makes something productive or transformative happen, then smart organizations will treasure you.

The quest for prolonged youthfulness has now migrated from the outer fringes of alternative medicine to the halls of Harvard Medical School.

At a conference on aging held there talks where held about ‘Resveratrol,’ a chemical found in some red wines. Resveratrol has been found to activate proteins called ‘Sirtuins.’ Activation of sirtuins is thought to help the body ride out famines.

Mice and rats put on a diet with 30 percent fewer calories can live up to 40 percent longer. Sirtris’s researchers think that drugs that activate sirtuins mimic this process, strengthening the body’s resistance to the diseases of aging.

In mice, sirtuin activators are effective against lung and colon cancer, melanoma, lymphoma, Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease, said David Sinclair, a Harvard Medical School researcher. The drugs reduce inflammation, and if they have the same effects in people, could help combat many diseases that have an inflammatory component, like irritable bowel syndrome and glaucoma.

Many theories of aging attribute the build-up of mutations in a person’s DNA. Dr. Sinclair said that in his view “aging can be reversed” because the DNA mutations did not directly cause aging. Rather, they induce the sirtuin molecules that help control the genome to divert to the site of damage. With the sirtuins absent from their usual post, genes are not regulated efficiently, and the cells’ performance degrades. Diversion of the sirtuins should be a reversible process, in Dr. Sinclair’s view, unlike DNA damage, which is not.

The quest for longevity drugs is founded on solid and promising research. But most drugs fail at some stage during trials. So there is no guarantee that any of Sirtris’s candidate compounds will work in people. The first result from a Phase 2 clinical trial is not expected until the end of next year at the earliest.

Meanwhile, it is a pleasant and not wholly unfounded thought that, just possibly, a single drug might combat every degenerative disease of Western civilization. So in about 5 or 6 or 7 years there may be drugs that prolong longevity.

Quote of the week (and it's only Monday)!

Lemmy said...

"Both the revolutionary and the creative individual are perpetual juveniles. The revolutionary does not grow up because he cannot grow, while the creative individual cannot grow up because he keeps growing."

Eric Hoffer.

http://www.lemsworld.com/

One of my favorite companies is GoInnovate. They know their stuff when it comes to strategic innovation!

As they say, 'In innovation you must continually move between the car and the helicopter!?'

Click on above 'GoInnovate' and read an article about project management and innovation.

My favorite comedy take @ TED is Julia Sweeney's 'Letting go of God.'

Controversial?..... Maybe?

Funny?.... Absolutely!

And if ever you meet her, please don't touch her hair!

Click here to see Julia's TED sketch.

FusionGFX is a company based just down the road from where I live.

Fusion GFX are a Hyperinnovative concern that provide 3D visualisation and simulation equipment, including Real-Time Dynamic Immersive 3D Applications; Immersive Displays, 3D Laser Scanning, and Consultancy

They say:

'By 'fusing' together media from an ever-growing range of sources such as; print, photography, CAD, real-time databases, film, multi-media and the Internet, we are able to create dynamic interactive content to suit any requirement. Our extensive knowledge not only covers visualisation & simulation but the installation and management of the environments that they are used in. These range from Large Scale Immersive Environments such as; Domes, CAVEs™, Reality Rooms, Media Walls etc. to interactive web sites.'

Once again, by interconnecting ideas in n-dimensions you get an emergence that's greater then the individual parts.

Click here to view their website.

Tinker, Tinker Little Star, How I Wonder What You're Creating?

Do you (and if you have any) and your kid(s) tinker? Play around with stuff? Just get some old bits and pieces and make creative thing-up?

Play is the harbinger of creativity, and tinkering is at it root.

Click here to begin to learn the importance of tinkering around!

Serioussss Playyyy!

What's play all about?

Is it something grown-ups shouldn't? Should we all grow up and stop acting the kid?

Well a man called Stuart Brown says something quite different!

Stuart Brown has researched that notion and nature of play through research on murderers -- unlikely as that seems (glup) -- after he found a stunning common thread in killers' stories: lack of play in childhood. Since then, he's interviewed thousands of people to catalog their relationships with play, noting a strong correlation between success and playful activity.

With the support of the National Geographic Society he has observed animal play in the wild, where he first concieved of play as an evolved behavior important for the well being -- and survival -- of animals, especially those of higher intelligence.

Now, through his organization, the National Institute for Play, he hopes to expand the study of human play into a vital science -- and help people everywhere enjoy and participate in play throughout life.

"Finally, a good excuse to goof off … Brown builds a compelling case for the importance of recreation to success and creativity -- and insists that grown-ups need it too."
Discover Magazine.

Click here and watch his TED talk! (I'm off to play with my dinner!!!!)

World Friendly and Free!!!!!!

It’s the Ecology Stupid and I’ve been harping on about this for bloody years.

Reducing CO2 emissions - even if we had a magic wand and stopped it immediately - will not stop climate change and global warning.

CO2 does create a green house effect and does accelerate global warming. But even if emissions were drastically reduced, the climate will still march on upward by 2 degrees C over the next 30 to 40 years.

Why?

Because the ecology is dying due to the size of the human population. 7.3 billion of us chewing up the environment, turning green lands into deserts, pastures into barren waste lands – by the mega-square-meter per day.

So, reduce population growth dramatically, and reduce consumption not only by technological efficiency and innovation (as my blog), but by behaviour change. By changing our culture of progress lead by want want want.

By the (linear) projection trends by 2020 consumption will have doubled, and raw material demand and urbanisation will grow by a third. Again pushing the ecology to near deaths door.

A moon-shot-like project to make us reduce CO2 emissions wont work.

What we need is to bring about the equivalent of a 60s’ 'like' cold war competition between the superpowers to battle intellectually and innovativelly with each other on ecological efficiency and growth. Not a green movement. But an world wide bio-ecological boom.

Think about!!! Not World War III. But World Friendly and Free!!!!!!!!!

Scientists are only months away from creating artificial life, it was claimed.

Dr Craig Venter – one of the world’s most famous and controversial biologists – said his U.S. researchers have overcome one of the last big hurdles to making a synthetic organism.

The first artificial lifeform is likely to be a simple man-made bacterium that proves that the technology can work.

But it will be followed by more complex bacteria that turn coal into cleaner natural gas, or algae that can soak up carbon dioxide and convert it into fuels.

They could also be used to create new vaccines and antibiotics.

The prediction came after a breakthrough by the J Craig Venter Institute in Maryland USA.

Researchers successfully transferred the DNA of one type of bacteria into a yeast cell, modified it and then transferred it into another bacterial cell.

Read on, click here.

New Book: The Genie in the Machine.


Can you believe that we've reached the era of Artificial Innovation.

"We've entered the Artificial Invention Age, where programs can automatically synthesize new product designs given only a description of what's required. What's the invention here? Is it the new design? The program? The requirements? And which of these should be patentable? The Genie in the Machine lays out the choices for patent and invention policy with compelling clarity. It's an essential roadmap for anyone concerned with the future of innovation."

Hal Abelson
Professor of Computer Science and Engineering,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

We've come a long long way. Now machines are beginning to create artifacts. The book is clear, the designers of the now need to move on to this technology just as they did with CAD in the 1980s.

Well, what's next? I'll keep you posted.

To review the book click here.

6 Mega-Trends for the Future.

Forecast #1: The Race for Genetic Enhancements Will Be What the Space Race Was in the 20th Century—Genetic therapies and biomedical enhancements will be a multibillion-dollar industry. New techniques will enable doctors to change your DNA to revitalize old or diseased organs, enhance your appearance, increase your athletic ability, or boost your intelligence.

Forecast #2: Water Becomes the New Oil—Water desalination may soon become one of the world’s largest industries. By 2040, at least 3.5 billion people will run short of water—almost 10 times as many as in 1995. The huge demand, plus new more efficient desalination technologies, will create enormous profit opportunities and bring new life to arid regions.

Forecast #3: WiMAX Networks Will Soon Create Country-Wide Wireless Internet Access—Often described as “Wi-Fi on steroids,” WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) will cover entire countries with a vibrant, high-speed wireless communications network. Internet access and other data and video applications will be available anywhere with many applications for automobiles.

Forecast #4: By 2025, the Worldwide Average Life-Span Will Be Extended by One year Per Year—Only 15% of deaths worldwide will be due to naturally occurring infectious diseases.

Forecast #5: Bioviolence Becomes a Greater Threat—In the next decade, biological technologies that were once at the frontiers of science will become available to anyone with minimal scientific training. Emerging biotechnologies, such as genomics and nanotechnology, will allow bacteria and viruses to be altered to increase their lethality or make them more resistant to antibiotics.

Forecast #6: Invention Becomes Automated Tomorrow’s inventors won’t toil away in workshops painstakingly building, testing and refining their creations. Instead, the Edisons of the next decade will spend their days writing descriptions of the problems they want to solve, and then hand those descriptions to computers to work out the solutions. This technology has already designed a successful antenna for a NASA space mission and invented innovative consumer products. It promises to spark a revolution in innovation and allow non-technical people to become inventors. Click here a vistit the Automation Invention website.