The #1 innovation of 2011 – the pocket microscope – is a marvel of the cellphone age. For $10 a phone can be turned into a laboratory and offer poor areas – with no hospital – access to sophisticated medical tests. From The Scientist:
Diagnosing malaria or other blood-borne illnesses used to require analyzing cell slides under a bulky, costly light microscope—which can be difficult to find in impoverished, remote locations. Enter LUCAS (Lensless, Ultra-wide-field Cell monitoring Array platform based on Shadow imaging), an easy-to-use, pocket-size holographic microscope that weighs less than 50g, uses inexpensive, off-the-shelf parts.
The parts attach to the camera and can analyze blood and saliva samples; testing for diseases like HIV and malaria and discovering water quality problems. Listen to Professor Aydogan Ozcan – the same one who discovered the 3D motion of sperm cells – explain it himself:
Times have changed and women are changing them. From Jezebel:
A new study has found a possible reason for the much-vaunted decline in marriage: people are afraid of having to go through a divorce. And women are more likely than men to fear getting “trapped” in a relationship they can’t easily exit.
And exiting is the new factor. Now that women can leave marriages and have the financial stability to do so – everything is changing. They are even avoiding getting married in the first place. Preferring to stay single longer and closely evaluating the men in their lives. While men seem more open to marriage than ever before.
There are many who dream of owning the smallest home they can find; a strong reaction to those who dream of owning a two-story mini-mansion. Here is a CNN profile of a young couple who did just that – moving their two kids, cat and dog into a 168 square foot home (on 3 acres of land):
“The things we have are beautiful, enriching our tiny space. We got rid of so much and kept the beautiful things,” Hazi Berzins said. “Freeing ourselves from consumer debt and living mortgage-free has cleared the clutter to help us see what is truly important: our relationships, our happiness, each moment.”
And Mayor Michael Bloomberg agrees – or he wants to improve the city’s studios – as he announced a contest to design and build 1.8 million studios in Manhattan. Each unit is to be less than 300-square feet and contain a kitchen and bathroom.
New Yorkers love their studios, young quirky families love their tiny homes, how about you – do you enjoy your small or large space?
If nature finds the best way, then move in a spiral pattern to get there the quickest, from the UCLA Newsroom:
The team developed a lensless computational imaging platform that accurately tracked more than 24,000 individual sperm cells in a large volume. This involved observing the individual rotations of each sperm cell, including helical movement patterns, rotation speed, and linear and curved distances traveled.
90% of them move in a right-handed spiral – damn I’m left-handed – and they move fast for microscopic entities, 20-100 micrometers/second.
That’s a big difference in speed…one sperm cell could be 5x faster than his brother.
Image demonstrating three-dimensional motion of human sperm cells. (source: UCLA)
Tom Sims is a legend in all board sports. He had the largest skateboard company in the world – in the early 80s. Built the first snowboard when he was 12, and created half-pipe and freestyle snowboarding, and the first professional snowboard.
A 25-minute short video covers his early years, from Vice’s Powder & Rails:
As far as philosophers go, Aristotle ranks amongst the best of the best, considered one of the most influential founding figures in Western philosophy.
A polymath, he not only studied almost every subject possible at the time (384 BC – 322 BC), but made significant contributions to most of them. In physical science, he studied anatomy, astronomy, embryology, geography, geology, meteorology, physics and zoology. In philosophy, he wrote on aesthetics, ethics, government, metaphysics, politics, economics, psychology, rhetoric and theology. He also studied education, foreign customs, literature and poetry.
Suffice it to say, he did a lot of studying…a lot of thinking.
So I appreciate this nifty little chart he put together (okay, he didn’t actually create a chart) that serves as a tidy set of guidelines for living:
Aristotle’s 12 Virtues and Associated Vices of Excess (via bcresources.net)
Of course, these are a diluted interpretation of his compiled thoughts and books on ethics referred to as Nicomachean Ethics, which originally consisted of ten separate scrolls, and is understood to be based on notes from his lectures at the Lyceum, which were either edited by or dedicated to his son, Nicomachus.
But for the sake of this post, and our attention-limited lifestyles, the visualization works.
Another reason I like Aristotle? He believed man’s highest good is happiness. Not pain, not suffering, but happiness. And, according to Aristotle, the attainment of happiness ultimately depends on the activation of our individual powers and talents. Self-realization produces the happiest life; whereas, the individual whose potential remains unfulfilled will inevitably suffer extreme frustration and discontent (via Ideas of The Great Philosophers).
So there you have it. A little bit of philosophy, a little bit of ethics, to guide your day and light your way.
In Bunpei Yorifuji’s new book, Wonderful Life with the Elements, each element in the periodic table has personality. From the scary poison of Beryllium to the battery power of Lithium. And not to forget Carbon:
“The house generates twice as much energy in Hungarian conditions and three times as much in Madrid as the house itself spends,” the Odooproject team states. “This amount is able to serve two other house’s needs, or provide a 70-kilometer (43.5-mile) long travel distance – daily – for an electric car.”
Designs like these bring us closer to taking homes off the electrical grid. And that is something I’ve heard engineers say is the solution, and the where the trend is going.
Photos of the home:
The central idea is the home is 100% energy-efficient. In winter that means the slightest amount of heat from the sun gets trapped in the house, and can provide the majority of winter heating.
“The Holy Grail is figuring out how to get the public engaged on this issue. The problem is that the typical output of climate studies is statistical information that’s impenetrable to most people,” said Karen Akerlof. “If you can help people feel they’ve actually experienced what’s happening, they may be able to better acknowledge the risks.”
Researchers found 27 per cent of people felt they had personally experienced global warming…(this feeling) was so meaningful, it positively predicted concern for local risks related to climate change: think forest fires, drought, changes to animal and plant species, and public health.
This is obvious but still worth reporting because I’m finding people more open to the question, do you think this is global warming?
Mostly I receive warm responses and pleasant discussions. Which is so different from years ago when it would spark political arguments or a heated debate on the merits of being environmental.
I want to urge you to ask the question and discuss it with people. You may find yourself engaged in a charming conversation. And maybe pass along a green tip or receive one in return.
