Education – Page 58

Analysis, Big Problems, Education, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues, Latest News, New Discoveries, Science & Technology News

How much radiation are you exposed to on a plane?

October 21, 2011

Radiation is all around you on an airplange.

Since the Fukushima nuclear disaster, you’ve probably heard me and other people talk about the radiation exposure we experience in everyday life. All humans, throughout history, have been exposed to background radiation produced constantly by the natural environment. Then there’s added exposures from modern sources: X-rays and medical scans, living near power plants (both coal and nuclear, and the coal is actually worse), and flying in airplanes…

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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

October 21, 2011

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…

Continue reading… “‘The Lamplighter’ shines bright for Inventor Art Contest winner Tyler Voorhees”

Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, Education, Historical Perspectives, Space

NASA To unfurl the largest Solar Sail ever flown in space

October 20, 2011

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

October 20, 2011

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, Big Problems, Education, government, Health & Fitness, New Discoveries

World Bedbugs Registry Database map

October 18, 2011

Bedbugs are a growing problem.

A bedbug is a wingless insect with a flat reddish body that infests dwellings and bedding and feeds on human blood. The common human bedbug of temperate regions, Cimex lectularis, is largely nocturnal, spending the day in crevices in walls and furniture and in bedding. Its bite causes irritation in many individuals, but it is not known to transmit diseases…

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Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Education, Entertainment, New Discoveries, New Inventions

The OmniTouch makes any surface interactive

October 17, 2011

For all the power and connectivity that modern mobile devices offer these days, why are we still typing on screens (or, God forbid, numerical pads) barely three fingers wide? A new weareable GUI system aims to turn any surface within arm’s reach into an input device.

The OmniTouch system was developed by Carnegie Mellon University in conjunction with Microsoft Research and allows users to interact with applications on any surface…

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Analysis, Education, Historical Perspectives

Uncharted Territory: Scientists sequence the first carbohydrate biopolymer

October 16, 2011

Does the first carbohydrate biopolymer look like you thought it would?

DNA and protein sequencing have forever transformed science, medicine, and society. Understanding the structure of these complex biomolecules has revolutionized drug development, medical diagnostics, forensic science, and our understanding of evolution and development. But, one major molecule in the biological triumvirate has remained largely uncharted: carbohydrate biopolymers…

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Crazy Stuff, Education, Entertainment, Health & Fitness, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues, Human Behavior, New Viewpoints

The teenage plastic surgery boom

October 15, 2011

Teens are vain too?

Here’s a disturbing trend: Between 1996 and 2010 the number of teenagers aged 13-19 having elective cosmetic surgery has increased by 548% – from around 14,000 procedures to 76,841 last year, according to American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The vast majority of these surgeries are rhinoplasty, followed by octoplasty (ear-pinning, typically), breast augmentation, asymmetry correction and reduction, and liposuction…

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Analysis, Big Problems, Breakthrough Thinking, Education, Historical Perspectives, Internet

Why no one company will ever Monopolize the Internet

October 14, 2011

Monopolies are a unbeneficial to overall businesses world.

The pace and power of web-fueled innovation is stunning. One day we’re swearing by Outlook, the next, we can’t live without Gmail. These changes exemplify the beauty of the Internet — the possibility that greener pastures are but a click away.

On the other hand, the list of tech innovations that could have been is quite long. Before we get into those, a few caveats…

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Analysis, Big Problems, Business, Economy, Education, Latest Trend

Wages remain stagnant and won’t catch up until 2021

October 14, 2011

Not even a college degree is going to help much.

Is this the New Normal? Incomes have fallen since the new millennium began and aren’t expected to catch up until 2021, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of economists’ forecasts.

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Analysis, Culture, Education, Globalism, Historical Perspectives, New Discoveries, New Viewpoints

Early Celtic ‘Stonehenge’ discovered in Germany’s Black Forest

October 12, 2011

A new cultural perspective of time.

A huge early Celtic calendar construction has been discovered in the royal tomb of Magdalenenberg, nearby Villingen-Schwenningen in Germany’s Black Forest. This discovery was made by researchers at the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum at Mainz in Germany when they evaluated old excavation plans. The order of the burials around the central royal tomb fits exactly with the sky constellations of the Northern hemisphere…

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Analysis, Big Problems, Crazy Stuff, Education, Health & Fitness, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues

Scientists find relatives of the Bubonic Plague still lurking the earth

October 12, 2011

Death around the bacterial corner.

Turns out the Black Death really was the granddaddy of them all. Scientists have mapped the genome of the bacteria that caused the bubonic plague and traced it to all modern incarnations of the disease.

Scientists recently pinpointed Yersinia pestis as the bacteria that killed 50 million people in the 14th century…

Continue reading… “Scientists find relatives of the Bubonic Plague still lurking the earth”