Category: Breakthrough Thinking

Impact Lab > Breakthrough Thinking
Animals, Art, Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, DIY, Entertainment, Historical Perspectives

Printing new homes for Hermit Crabs

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Custom printed crab homes.

Hermit crab homelessness is reaching critical levels, leaving many of these fine clawed fellows without a shell of their own.

Now, thanks to 3d printers and our tireless search for new things to print out, there’s a solution: custom printed hermit crab shells! The printed shells will last longer, look cooler and are sure to stir up feelings of jealousy among other hermit crabs. If only we could print houses for homeless humans!

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Animals, Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Education, Historical Perspectives, Latest News, Space

DARPA wants vampire satellites to harvest parts from dead sats prior to decommissioning

A new DARPA solicition seeks “swarming robot space vampires” (in JWZ’s evocative phrasing) to disassemble and harvest valuable components from decommissioned satellites before they’re decommissioned, to use as spare parts for the stuff that’s still functional…

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Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, Entertainment, Great New Product, Green Friendly, New Discoveries

A solar charger that rewards you for staying off the grid

changers_solar_chargerA solar charger with benefits.

Besides a reduced monthly power bill, there’s a certain smug satisfaction to recharging your gear with solar energy. It’s almost like you want everyone to know how eco conscious you’re being, and with the Changer solar charging system, you’ll actually be rewarded for bragging about it…

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Analysis, Art, Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Education, Entertainment, Historical Perspectives

New synthetic bacteria can detect air pollution & color-code your poop

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Synthetic Biology Could Change the World.

Daisy Ginsberg is an artist and designer currently exploring the frontiers of possibility in the emergent field of synthetic biology. She just gave what was by far one of my favorite talks at this year’s Poptech conference; she discussed the potential boons and pitfalls that products of synthetic biology may yield in coming years. To showcase the nascent field’s unpredictable future, she pointed to E. Chromi, a bacteria that she and a handful of Cambridge students genetically programmed to secrete colorful pigments when it comes into contact with designated toxins.

Think bacteria that could change color to expose contaminants in groundwater, air pollution in cloud cover — perhaps most strikingly, it can even change the color of your poop if it comes into contact with toxins in your digestive system. This great video details the genesis of the bacteria…

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Art, Breakthrough Thinking, Entertainment, Great New Product, Human Behavior

Children’s drawings transformed into stuffed toys

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From the mind of a child.

Child’s Own Studio is a home-based craft business which makes stuffed toys from children’s drawings; some drawings are sent in by adults who want personalized gifts for their children, and sometimes children submit the drawings to make gifts for their parents…

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Art, Breakthrough Thinking, Education, Entertainment, Famous Inventor, Historical Perspectives, New Viewpoints, People Making a Difference

‘The Lamplighter’ shines bright for Inventor Art Contest winner Tyler Voorhees

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The Lamplighter is one of five images in the ‘Jobs of Yesteryear’ series.

As the dust settles on the award ceremonies for the Inventor Art Contest held on Friday, October 14 at DaVinci Institute, ImpactLab took a moment to talk with Best of Show recipient Tyler Voorhees about his work, his future and his studio, Doc’s Lollipops…

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Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, Education, Historical Perspectives, Space

NASA To unfurl the largest Solar Sail ever flown in space

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Come sail away.

In a series of upcoming technology demonstration missions, NASA is hoping to prove that giant solar sails are a practical way to explore the cosmos, even though warp drive engines and rocket powered spacecraft make for better movie fodder.

Starting in 2015, NASA will be launching a series of three experiment driven missions, including one that will confirm the feasibility of using solar sails as a viable means of cheap propulsion. The giant 125×125 foot sail is seven times as large as those previously flown in space, but will one day need to be considerably larger to shuttle astronauts around…

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Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, Current Events, Education, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues, Latest News

Computing building blocks created from bacteria and DNA

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Biocomputers are one step closer to reality.

Scientists have successfully demonstrated that they can build some of the basic components for digital devices out of bacteria and DNA, which could pave the way for a new generation of biological computing devices, in research published October 18 in the journal Nature Communications…

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Analysis, Animals, Breakthrough Thinking, Culture, Games, Historical Perspectives, New Viewpoints

How Angry Birds conquered casual gaming

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Angry Birds are everywhere!

For nearly two years, the casual game market has belonged to Angry Birds. The megahit app has been downloaded over 400 million times and boasts 30 million daily active users.

For Rovio, the developers behind the juggernaut, the success of Angry Birds has led to movie deals, increased funding and rumors of IPO plans.

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Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Great New Product, New Discoveries, New Viewpoints

New Radar technology provides real-time video of what’s going on behind solid walls

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Now you see it. Now you don’t.

The ability to see through walls is no longer the stuff of science fiction, thanks to new radar technology developed at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory…

Much as humans and other animals see via waves of visible light that bounce off objects and then strike our eyes’ retinas, radar “sees” by sending out radio waves that bounce off targets and return to the radar’s receivers. But just as light can’t pass through solid objects in quantities large enough for the eye to detect, it’s hard to build radar that can penetrate walls well enough to show what’s happening behind. Now, Lincoln Lab researchers have built a system that can see through walls from some distance away, giving an instantaneous picture of the activity on the other side…

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Discover the Hidden Patterns of Tomorrow with Futurist Thomas Frey
Unlock Your Potential, Ignite Your Success.

By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.

Learn More about this exciting program.