Transparent solar cell.
Developed by researchers in Michigan State University, a new material, called a transparent luminescent solar concentrator, can be used to cover anything that has a flat, clear surface. Transparent solar cell technology has been attempted before, but the energy the cells produced was poor and the materials they were made out of were highly colored.
Google Glass medical applications have already gotten more interesting.
Google Glass wasn’t necessarily designed for medicine, but that use continues to be a hot topic of conversation among medical technologists and the investors who love them.
Continue reading… “Inventor of Google Glass envisions big things for the wearable in medicine”
Manipulations of a neurotransmitter could give criminals more prison time within a shorter-length sentence.
Oxford University’s Rebecca Roache has some thoughts about how we could treat our criminals differently. She envisions a future where we can use chemicals to manipulate an inmates sense of time. Through these chemicals, a criminal could be made to feel like she or he is spending 1,000 years in jail, even though the person might only be in jail for days or months or a year.
Continue reading… “Future biotechnology could make prisoners think they are in jail for 1,000 years”
Caesar Augustus died two thousand years ago, on August 19, 14 AD. He was Rome’s first emperor, having won a civil war more than 40 years earlier that transformed the dysfunctional Roman Republic into an empire. Under Augustus and his successors, the empire experienced 200 years of relative peace and prosperity. Here are 40 maps that explain the Roman Empire — its rise and fall, its culture and economy, and how it laid the foundations of the modern world.
The death of newspapers is sad, but the threatened loss of journalistic talent is catastrophic.
By Clay Shirky: The Roanoke Times, the local paper in my family home, is a classic metro daily, with roots that go back to the 1880s. Like most such papers, it ran into trouble in the middle of last decade, as print advertising revenue fell, leaving a hole in the balance sheet that digital advertising couldn’t fill. When the 2008 recession accelerated those problems, the Times’ parent company, Landmark, began looking for a buyer, eventually selling it to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Media Group in 2013. The acquisition was greeted with relief in the newsroom, as Buffett had famously assured the employees at his earlier purchases “Your paper will operate from a position of financial strength.” Three months after acquiring the Times, BH Media fired 31 employees, a bit over a tenth of the workforce.
One hundres dollars goes further in some states than others. A map released by the Tax Foundation, via Elliot Turner, shows the relative value of $100 in every state compared with the national average using the data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Continue reading… “How much $100 is worth in every state: Map”
Kindle readers performed significantly worse on the plot reconstruction measures.
Readers that used a Kindle to read were “significantly” worse than paperback readers at recalling when events occurred in a mystery story. This new study is part of major new Europe-wide research looking at the impact of digitization on the reading experience.
Continue reading… “People absorb less on e-readers than print book readers”
Social media is changing the way we relate to each other.
Social media is still a young and new form of communication. It’s too early to take anything as a given, so we’re all experimenting, testing and learning together. New studies and research are showing us more about how social media is changing the way we relate to one another, share information and even form our identities.
Continue reading… “Top 7 social media psychology studies that will make us better marketers”
Chairless Chair
Noonee, a Zurich-based startup, is looking to change the way production line workers work. Most production line workers are often required to stand for a majority of their shift. Noonee’s solution is a futuristic exoskeleton that’s simply called the “Chairless Chair.” (Video)
Continue reading… “The ‘Chairless Chair’ – an exoskeleton that lets you sit anywhere”
Engineering students design a bike that cannot be stolen.
Three engineering students at Chile’s University of Adolfo Ibáñez have designed a bicycle that cannot be stolen. More than a novel idea, Project Yerka solves a very common problem. This innovative cycle will be a game changer. (Videos)
Continue reading… “Project Yerka: The world’s first unstealable bike”
CultLab3D Scanner
The Smithsonian opened a virtual museum last year. The Smithsonian X 3D Explorer allows users to take a virtual tour of (and even 3D print) high-definition digital models of artifacts like Lincoln’s life mask or the Wright Brother’s plane. (Video)
Continue reading… “CultLab3D scanner digitally immortalizes invaluable artifacts in 5 minutes”
John Goodenough created the cathodes used by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.
When it comes to innovation, older people are as capable of new thinking as the young. Below, in order of age, are seven innovators over the age of 70 who have been at it for decades.