A city is a large, permanent human settlement. But try and define it more carefully and you’ll soon run into trouble. A settlement that qualifies as a city in Sweden may not qualify in China, for example. And the reasons why one settlement is classified as a town while another as a city can sometimes seem almost arbitrary.
Continue reading… “‘Natural cities’ emerge from location-based social media”
A demonstration of two sugar biobatteries connected in a series to power a digital clock.
Almost all living cells break down sugar to produce energy. Researchers at Virginia Tech say they have developed a battery that can store the most energy for its weight using sugar as a fuel source by mimicking what plants and animals do naturally..
Continue reading… “Sugar battery could soon be powering your electronics”
Even a moderately innovative idea can become a huge success.
If you want to be a success and an economic opportunity, it’s important that your idea meet certain criteria for it to be groundbreaking. Even a moderately innovative idea can become a huge success if it has all the right “ingredients.” But keep in mind, some ideas could go either way depending on the execution and the choices you make in developing your idea into a real product.
Continue reading… “Top 10 must-have ‘ingredients’ for a successful invention”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXeVgEs4sOo[/youtube]
The Hugo Award was given to Philip K. Dick in 1963 for his novel The Man in the High Castle. He beat out such sci-fi luminaries as Marion Zimmer Bradley and Arthur C. Clarke. The Guardian writes about this novel, “Nothing in the book is as it seems. Most characters are not what they say they are, most objects are fake.” The plot—an alternate history in which the Axis Powers have won World War II—turns on a popular but contraband novel called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. Written by the titular character, the book describes the world of an Allied victory, and—in the vein of his worlds-within-worlds thematic—Dick’s novel suggests that this book-within-a-book may in fact describe the “real” world of the novel, or one glimpsed through the novel’s reality as at least highly possible.
Last year, Los Angeles decided to replace its high-pressure sodium streetlights, which are know for their distinctive yellow hue, with new, blue-tinted LED’s. The new streetlights might have a profound effect on at least one local industry.
Continue reading… “How LED streetlights will change how Hollywood looks on film”
Scholarly articles in digital forms overtook printed ones, but survey suggests increase in reading may have reached a peak.
A 35-year trend of researchers reading ever more scholarly papers seems to be leveling off. In 2012, US scientists and social scientists estimated that they read, on average, 22 scholarly articles per month (or 264 per year). That is, statistically, not different from what they reported in an identical survey last conducted in 2005. It is the first time since the reading-habit questionnaire began in 1977 that manuscript consumption has not increased.
Continue reading… “Scientists reading habits may be leveling off”
The top coding languages for 2014 have been named by CodeEval, and we see a couple of interesting surprises. Year after year, C# was the second-fastest growing language. And Internet powerhouse PHP was the biggest loser, down 55 percent from 2012.
Continue reading… “Top programming languages for 2014”
Breastfeeding is an important strategy to ensure a healthy balance of good bacteria in an infant’s gut.
Babies have legions of microbes that set up shop in their guts, skin, and more right from birth. These microbes are vital. They help the growing human to digest its food, and to keep harmful microbes away. They are so important that newborns temporarily suppress their own immune system to give their microbial partners a chance to establish themselves.
Continue reading… “How a breast milk antibody plays an important role in infant gut development”
Discoveries in the field of telomere biology will have an impact on how we can stay young naturally and look younger than our chronological age.
Research in telomere biology has the potential to extend human life span, to dramatically lower rates of the great remaining killer diseases: heart disease, stroke, and Alzheimer’s. All three diseases increase exponentially with age, and their toll will be slashed as we we learn how to address the body’s aging clocks.
Continue reading… “The most promising medical technology on the horizon today”
Vehicle-to-vehicle communications would report where every car, bus, and truck is, where it’s going, and how fast it’s moving.
The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has announced plans to move forward with vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication systems. After years of experimentation and a real-world trial in Ann Arbor, MI the government is almost ready to make peer-to-peer networking a required safety feature on all new cars.
Continue reading… “U.S. Department of Transportation wants our cars to ‘talk’ to each other”
Utilities are under fire from technologies such as rooftop solar.
Duke Energy is the biggest utility in the U.S. The recently retired head of the utility company, Jim Rogers, has had some interesting things to say about the fate of the traditional utility, particularly with the proliferation of rooftop solar.
Continue reading… “Why the days are numbered for traditional utility companies”
Google Glass
The Yale University Library, in cooperation with the Instructional Technology Group (ITG) and the Student Technology Collaborative (STC), has added the futuristic eyewear, Google Glass to its collection of media devices at the Bass Library. The eyewear has unofficially been dubbed “Yale Bass Glass.” The device will be loaned to faculty and student groups during the spring semester who can use it to explore the potential of Google Glass in enhancing classroom instruction and the research experience.
Continue reading… “Google Glass available to students and faculty at Yale University”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.