2013 – Page 122 – Impact Lab

Great New Product, Science & Technology News

A chip that can turn body heat into electric energy

January 17, 2013

Body-powered devices eliminate the toxic waste generated by the heavy metals used in the billions of batteries we currently use each year.

A startup in Corvallis, Oregon, has developed a small chip that can turn body heat into electric energy. The chip absorbs heat directly from the skin and then channels energy through a thermoelectric generator that converts it into electric power. In the future, the chip will enable us to power and recharge our handheld and wearable electronic devices with our own bodies.

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Architecture, Great New Product, Great Videos, Recycling, Science & Technology News

New bricks fabricated out of junk we aren’t using

January 17, 2013

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4EeWdogyec[/youtube]

Millions of tons of waste from factories, building sites, and processing facilities are being turned into something besides landfill with a technology that has led researchers to fabricate bricks out of TVs, computers, paper waste, incinerator ash, rubble and other materials that were conventionally considered useless.

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Analysis, government, Latest Trend

The migrant worker underclass in Russia

January 17, 2013

There are as many as 12 million migrant laborers in Russia. Only 2 million work in the country legally.

Bek Takhirov, a 38-year-old ethnic Uzbek, knows all too well the problems that migrant workers face. In 2004, he came to Russia and worked illegally, stacking cargo in a warehouse for alcoholic beverages. Takhirov completed a lengthy application for Russian citizenship in order to step out of the shadows, two years ago. He now works legally in St. Petersburg as a translator by day and moonlights as a security guard by night.

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Analysis, facebook, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News, Twitter

What happened In 60 seconds on social networks in 2012 [Infographic]

January 16, 2013

Something transpires in social media every minute. Whether that is a new like, a new connection, a tweet, or social networks gaining unique visitors, we are spending a lot of our minutes socializing in various forms on an array of social sites. 2012 showed us that we prefer to share images and our location, and that Facebook and Twitter both still remain leaders in the social media world.

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Analysis, Business

IPO’s stifle startups’ creativity and innovation: Study

January 16, 2013

Is going public the beginning to the end of a startup?

A Stanford academic study has found that a firm’s IPO can put the lid on creativity and innovation. Shai Bernstein of the university’s Graduate School of Business studied thousands of startups between 1985 and 2003 to write a paper on the subject, and these are some of his findings:

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Business, Science & Technology News

First bookless library to open in San Antonio

January 16, 2013

The inside of the BiblioTech will be influenced by Apple Retail Stores.

In Bexar County, Texas a new library will open that will provide visitors with a bank of e-Readers for borrowing e-books … but books of the traditional paper variety will be glaringly absent. he project marks the first public library to be built as an all-digital service and just to make sure library-goers are in no doubt that it’s the 21st century, the interior will feature a design influenced by Apple retail stores.

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Business, Latest Trend

The future of coworking and why it’s not just for startups and freelancers anymore

January 16, 2013

Coworking is not just for entrepreneurs or freelancers anymore.

Do you define your workplace as fun, friendly, inspiring, collaborative, or productive? If you don’t, then you may need to ditch your desk and head for the nearest coworking space. According to Deskmag’s annual Global Coworking Survey, you don’t need to be an entrepreneur or freelancer to gain the benefits of coworking. Seventy-one percent of participants reported a boost in creativity since joining a coworking space, while 62 percent said their standard of work had improved.

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Alternative Transportation, Business, Great Videos, Science & Technology News

Audi first automaker to get autonomous vehicle license

January 16, 2013

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Audi has became the second company (Google was first) to be licensed to run autonomous vehicles in Nevada. As seen at an exhibition of the tech from its Electronic Research Laboratory, its cars are already well on their way to ditching the driver.

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Analysis, Health & Fitness, Latest Trend

Record number of military suicides tops number of troops killed in combat in 2012

January 15, 2013

Record number of 349 military suicides in 2012.

More U.S. military service members have been lost to suicide than combat last year as the number of troops who took their lives rose to a record high.

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Analysis, Business, Science & Technology News

Do taller workers earn more money because they are more intelligent?

January 15, 2013

Are taller workers smarter?

Taller workers earn a substantial wage premium. Studies that go back to the middle of the last century attribute the premium to non-cognitive abilities, which are associated with stature and rewarded in the labor market. More recent research argues that cognitive abilities explain the stature-wage relationship.

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Analysis, Science & Technology News

Quantum physicists agree to disagree about the nature of reality

January 15, 2013

Quantum physicists are still very divided on how quantum mechanics is to be interpreted.

Quantum mechanics is real. We wouldn’t have superconductors, lasers, and many forms of computing and cryptography without its microscopically small probabilistic effects. But despite our laboratory certainty, what’s less clear is the role it plays in the fundamental nature of reality. And as a recent survey published by Anton Zeilinger at the University of Vienna has revealed, quantum physicists are still very divided on how it’s to be interpreted.

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Analysis, Business, Latest Trend

China’s one-child policy stifles innovation: Study

January 15, 2013

China’s one-child law may be stifling its citizens’ innovation.

Development of a child can greatly be influenced by the number of siblings they have. But what happens when you have an entire nation of only children? China’s one-child law indicates that the policy may be stifling its citizens’ innovative instincts because single children born under the law there are less likely to be competitive, are more pessimistic, and less inclined to take risks, according to a new study. Those were the findings of researchers from Monash University in Australia.

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