Year: 2011

Impact Lab > 2011
Analysis, Brain, Health & Fitness, Science & Technology News

Eating less helps the brain stay young: study

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Eating less turns on a molecule that helps the brain stay young.

Overeating can cause brain aging while eating less turns on a molecule that helps the brain stay young.  Researchers at the Catholic University of Sacred Heart in Rome have discovered that a molecule, called CREB1, is triggered by “caloric restriction” (low caloric diet) in the brain of mice. They found that CREB1 activates many genes linked to longevity and to the proper functioning of the brain.

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Business, Latest Trend, New Inventions, Science & Technology News

Mompreneurs – if they can’t find it, they invent it

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Mom inventors growing trend.

Tamara Monosoff came up with an invention, eight years ago that she was sure mothers like herself would appreciate: a device that prevents children from unspooling toilet paper from the roll. But she had no idea how to transform the concept into a marketable product.

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Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Culture, Current Events, Entertainment, Globalism, government, Humor

China Post beams letters into orbit via a Space Post Office

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What would you send into space via a space post office?

Young children living the Western world will often spend December writing letters to be sent the North Pole in the hope of reaching Santa Claus. In China, however, people of all ages now have a new reason to get the pen and paper out again as China Post are now offering a service that sends letters into space…

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Analysis, Crazy Stuff, Culture, Education, government, Historical Perspectives, Human Behavior, New Discoveries

Secrets of the Hexagon Spy Satellite

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Top Secret for years after the project was completed.

In the 1970s, during the heights of the Cold War, more than 1,000 engineers worked on a project so secret that they couldn’t tell their wives and children decades after it was over.

In September 2011, the project – a series of spy satellites so advanced that it could see objects about 2 feet wide from space (mind you, this was in the 1970s before the ubiquity of computers so the satellites were built with slide rules), was declassified and with it, the stories of the men who kept their secret for 45 years…

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Analysis, Big Problems, Breakthrough Thinking, Globalism, Green Friendly, Historical Perspectives, New Discoveries, New Viewpoints

Computerized air-traffic control could save CO2 equivalent of Denmark’s economy

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Bringing Air-Traffic Control in the 21st Century could really save CO2.

If you are going somewhere in a vehicle that burns a lot of fossil fuels, it’s never a good idea to take unnecessary detours. Sadly, most airplanes can’t take the most elegant and efficient route to their destinations because of the limitations of the air-traffic control system that guides them. It’s not the fault of the traffic controllers – they do a good job – but rather of the technology with which they have to work; the foundations of the system are 50-60 years old and produce flight paths that are far from optimal when it comes to saving fuel (and thus reducing CO2 emissions), saving money, and saving time for passengers. So what can we do about it?

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Great New Product, Science & Technology News

Polaroid Instant Z340 – an instant camera for the digital age

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Polaroid Instant Z340

There is nothing quite like a classic Polaroid instant camera. The photos may be murky and the film costs as much as some standalone cameras, but for decades, it was the most magical format in all of photography. Point and shoot, shake the photo for a few minutes, and you’ve got an instant memory preserved in silver and celluloid.

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Analysis, Robots, Science & Technology News

Will future robots be capable of following moral principles?

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Moral machines in the future?

Will robots in the future be capable of follow moral principles and understand them?  A robot walks into a bar and says, “I’ll have a screwdriver.” That is definitely a bad joke. But what if the robot says “Give me what’s in your cash register?”  That would be even less funny.

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Analysis, Business, Famous Inventor, government, Science & Technology News, Weapons

Drones: garage invention spawns multibillion-dollar defense industry

Abraham Karem

Abraham Karem began tinkering with drones in his garage in 1980.

Abraham Karem, is an engineer who had emigrated from Israel.  In 1980 he retreated into his three-car garage in Hacienda Heights outside Los Angeles and, to the bemusement of his tolerant wife, began to build an aircraft.

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Breakthrough Thinking, Entertainment, Historical Perspectives, New Discoveries, New Viewpoints

Exploding holiday tree ornaments

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BANG! Color.

If you’ve had about enough holiday cheer for one year, you can take comfort in the fact that you’re not alone. Photographer Alan Sailer likes to shoot Christmas ornaments with a high-powered pellet gun and photograph them with a high-speed camera as they explode into a million shiny pieces. Bah-humbug, indeed!

(more explosions after the jump…)

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Entertainment, Globalism, New Viewpoints

Glass igloo hotel in Finland

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Cozy cold view.

Located in the wilderness near Finland’s Urho Kekkonen National Park, the Igloo Village of Hotel Kakslauttanen offers a crystal clear view of the Northern lights and stars, all while comfortably relaxing in your room.

Thermal glass walls not only insulate the interior to keep it warm, but also make sure that view stay clear even when the temperature drops to -22 degrees Fahrenheit (-30°C). That’s why it is an excellent place to see the Aurora Borealis, one of the world’s seven natural wonder, or in other words, the burst of colored light caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere. The lights are visible from August to April, however the peak viewing time is during the winter months…

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