Artificial Intelligence

AI

Pandemics

Now that H1N1 has passed, I fear that we will become complacent about disease. I have heard people talk about media hype and profit motives for the warnings about the flu. My perspective is far different.  Pandemics have the real potential to kill far more people than the things we tend to worry about- like terrorism. Now there are advances that can help to provide vaccines against some of the worst diseases known to man. We live in an exciting era in which more and more advances for health are possible. Please watch the following.

Wow! The democracization of Technology!!

Stewart Brand espouses 4 environmental heresies

The originator of the Whole Earth Catelogue hopes to convince us that 4 environmental heresies are exactly what we need to change our planet for continued survival. He speaks of urbanization and that the rise of the west is over. His opinion is worth considering.

Synthetic life is a reality

The known universe

Here's what scientists know of our universe. This is an amazing presentation for helping us understand proportions.

Eating to Prevent Cancer

Savants

Stephen Lewis talks about the realities

Protection of women

Mysteries of the Brain

Neuroscience of Emotion- Phillipe Golden

Justice, Law and Philospophy

Justice. What is the right thing to do?


I have embedded the first in a series of twelve lectures on the philosophies of justice. Michael Sandel is a Harvard professor who has an interesting and approachable teaching style. I watched all twelve of the lectures and learned a lot. If this is of interest, please watch the 54 minute lecture below and you can find the rest on Youtube.

Teaching Math in a New Way- Dan Meyer

Henry Markham and the Brain's Cortical Columns

Evergreen of Life

This is a beautiful animation about our confidence in the earth to heal after a man made disaster. We all hope it continues to be true.

A quick review of Calculus

How Bacteria Talk to each Other- Awesome Presentation

This woman is a naturally engaging speaker and has so much facinating information to share. Bonny Bassler of Princeton!

Next Generation Bacteria Killers

This man is not a gifted speaker but he appears to be a very gifted scientist. He has come up with a way to get our bodies to seek out and destroy bacteria! Wow- Kary Mullis has something to say!

Ensuring a Greener Future by storing the seed of the World

Jonathan Drori – Storing seeds for the future

How to Grow your Own Fresh Air - Step by Step Instructions

How to grow your own fresh air

Stainglass architecture and interesting teaching video 5 minutes

Clean Water! Made Easy!

One answer to a major world problem

Social Experiments to Fight Poverty- Esther Duflo

2009 MacArthur fellow Esther Duflo is pushing the field of development economics by studying specific causal relationships that lead to or perpetuate poverty. She looks at close-to-home issues: household behavior, education, access to finance and health. At MIT, she's the founder and director of the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), a research network that evaluates social programs. It's concerned less with wide-ranging policy than with specific questions. Sample: If schoolkids could get their uniforms for free, would attendance go up? What's an effective way to reward mothers for immunizing their babies? Randomized trials offer new insights toward creating global equity and prosperity. Her work may blur the lines between economics and activism, but it's a role Duflo not only considers comfortable but vital.

What Does Algae Bloom Look Like? Why is it a Problem?

Phosphates and Eutrophication (?)

Phosphate compounds have been used in consumer and industrial detergents for decades. In the early 1990’s as environmental concerns became more prevalent, phosphates containing detergents were targeted as a contributor to surface water euthrophication. If you were wondering what the heck that was, here is an explanation:
Eutrophication is the process of enrichment of waters with nutrients and subsequent production of large scale algal “blooms”. The nutrients responsible for this process include carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, silica, trace metals, and other minor nutrients. Of the total amount of phosphorous produced each year for North American use, about 70% is used in agricultural fertilizers and animal feeds. A recent Minnesota study showed that less than 3% of the total phosphorous discharged into surface waters originated from consumer and commercial detergents products. Because it is easier to pass laws limiting phosphate in detergents than in animal feed, human food, and fertilizer; many states have passed legislation banning or limiting the use of phosphate in certain detergent products. Every little bit helps.

Dean Kamen- First the Segway and now replacement arms! Nice work!

"Lots of people talk and dream about changing the world. But inventor Dean Kamen is actually doing it."


CBS News







Video of the arm

A Planet in Ecological Debt

Are We Brave Enought to Listen to Every Perspective?

Music With Original Presentation.

Wright's Insights

Wright draws from multiple disciplines -- including science, religion, history and politics -- in his search for big-picture perspectives on today's problems  A Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, Wright also hosts an interview series with celebrated thinkers at Meaningoflifetv.com. Wright's newest book, The Evolution of God, explores the history of the idea of God in the three Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

"Taken together, "The Moral Animal," "Nonzero" and "The Evolution of God" represent a powerful addition to modern thought."

Wall Street Journal

Mahatma Ghandi

Unified Field theory

AskNature.org

I just learned of the most amazing site and I hope to pass the message along to someone who could use the information. It is called AskNature.org and it is intended to get engineers and designers and people in business to consider how nature accomplishes the tasks we are still struggling to accomplish - like using nano technology, like staying dry or like purifying water. I have cut one page and pasted it here so you can get a sense of what they are doing



Biomimicry Taxonomy: Biology Organized by ChallengeWhat is The Biomimicry Taxonomy?

Information organized on AskNature uses a classification system—the Biomimicry Taxonomy—to organize how organisms meet different challenges. Strategies are potential solutions to those challenges. For example, the challenge and Biomimicry Taxonomy of an insect’s strategy might be as follows:


Insect’s challenge


Protect itself from animals that want to eat it.

Strategy Anti-reflective eyes to avoid detection in moonlight via nanoscale protrusions on the eyes' surfaces. View strategy page >
Biomimicry Taxonomy GROUP: Maintain health

SUB-GROUP: Protect from biotic factors

FUNCTION: Protect from animals

STRATEGY: Nanoscale protrusions

Getting to know the Biomimicry Taxonomy
Browse the Biomimicry Taxonomy on AskNature >
Download a one-page visual of the entire Biomimicry Taxonomy (PDF 776kB) >

Browse strategies organized with the Biomimicry Taxonomy >
How do I use it?
Understanding the Biomimicry Taxonomy provides a novel way for designers and biologists to collaborate and approach the next design challenge in a life-conducive way. The key to using the taxonomy is forming the question. Instead of asking how to make less toxic pigments, the designer can "ask" a Morpho butterfly how it modifies its color. Instead of using high pressure and temperatures to manufacture tough, lightweight building materials, an engineer can "ask" a toucan how it manages impact with its strong and light beak.

Here’s an example of how you could use the Biomimicry Taxonomy to solve your next design challenge:
CHALLENGE: You are designing a building in an area of low rainfall. You want your building to collect rainwater and store it for future use.

1. Find the verb: Move away from any predetermined ideas of what you want to design, and think more about what you want your design to do. Try to pull out single functional words in the form of verbs. The questions you might pose through the Search or Browse options might be:

How would Nature…
Capture rainwater?
Store water?
Or_. Try a different angle. Some organisms live in areas that don't experience any rain, yet they still get all of the water they need. So other questions to pose might be:

How would Nature…

Capture water?
Capture fog?
Absorb water?

Manage humidity?
Move water?
3. Turn the question around. Instead of asking how Nature stores water, you might think about how Nature protects against excess water or keeps water out:

How would Nature…

Remove water?
Stay dry?

4. Become inspired. Take some time to explore AskNature and see what inspires you. If you need more help, see our site tutorial on how to navigate the site using the Search and Browse tools.

The Internet and Pandemic Spread- Can the Internet Save Us?

OK so the pandemic is behind us. We are at peace with the viral world (sort of) for the moment (unless you are someone who is infected with a disease at this time.) This talk demonstrates how we tend to gather together when we are sick and how the internet might be exactly what we need to reduce transmission. Take a look!

The Last Mile Problem and Behavior change

The last mile problem – science solves a problem with technology and yet they do not spend any effort on behaviour change.

The Problem of Evil

This is an importnat discussion on 'evil' in human behaviour and its potential remedy. A former prison warden and psychologist  named Phil Zimbardo looks at peer pressure, societal situations and systemic causes.

Susan Greefield and the Booming Buzzing Confusion

Susan Greenfield speaks about cognitive development ,cognitive mind and sensory sense of self.

Steven Pinker Talks about Violence

BrainsightMindlight


Steven Pinker – On the Myth of Violence- This controversial talk provides data for reasons we should be optimistic about the development of humanity.

Brainsight Lecture Series - 4 minutes on the Buiding of Chartre Cathedral

Chartre Cathedral (4 minutes)

A Better Way to Teach Math

I was entranced by this video that was clearly produced by kids. It shows a way to learn and teach that are light years ahead of what is happening in some classrooms to the great sorrow of a generation or two. Take a look and see how much more fun this is than the way you learned these shapes.

Neuroscience is capturing Visual Stimuli in the Brain

Neuroscience capturing visual stimuli with the help of DARPA funding. Paul Sajda is helping science understand how the brain attends novelty.

Microscopic Oceanic Beauty

Two and a half minutes gives us a glimpse of the beauty of micro organisms in the oceans of the world. This clip by National Geographic points to research that will be published in October 2010.

Prioritization of Global Projects

This is a controversial talk. An Economist, Bjorn Lomborg, tries explain how the Copenhagen Concensus weighed world wide problems and compared them against each other. I think the true value of this is in listening to the logic and deciding what you really think the priorities are.

The Power of Stupid?

This is an ad with something to say. Innovation is the watchword of today but where does it come from?
Take a look and let me know what you think!

Brain Power

This 6 minute talk will help you to see the near future in terms of brain science. With MRI imaging, this researcher predicts that new forms of therapy will be available soon.

Innovation through Cooperation

Cooperation


In this 2005 talk, Clay Shirky shows how closed groups and companies will give way to looser networks where small contributors have big roles and fluid cooperation replaces rigid planning. Decentralized technologies like peer-to-peer, wireless networks, social software and open-source development are enabling new kinds of cooperative structures to get things done. They may augment or replace institutionalized structures which are self-limiting. Groups and institutions may be their own worst enemy especially where innovation and creativity are concerned.

The Chemistry of Perfume and Smell

This video which features Luca Turin discussing how we smell. He delves into the chemistry of smell from the perspective of a perfumer. He reduces the science to an approachable and understandable level.

Profound Lessons in Listening from a Deaf Musician

The Grammy-winning percussionist and composer Evelyn Glennie, became almost completely deaf by the age of 12. This loss of hearing brought her a profound understanding of and connection to the music she loves. Can a deaf percussionist teach us how to listen? How can a musician who has almost no hearing play with such sensitivity and compassion? Music involves much more than simply letting sound waves hit your eardrums. Evelyn Glennie challenges us to learn were music comes from. It is far more than simply translating from score to instrument to audience.


I am hoping that we can take some of her lessons and learn how to truly hear people as well.

Speed Dating for Science and Academia

Speed dating for science: perhaps this title is a bit misleading but the clip below shows something that I think has a lot of potential.


Innovation often arises out of two people from different silos realizing that they have something to offer and learn from each other. Academics are notoriously narrowly focused. The best of them is absolutely fascinated with their own field and may not find the time or the temptation to lift their vision from their journal articles or microscopes to learn how their peers' work might inform their own and how they might inform their peers’ work. This idea of "speed dating" which should perhaps more appropriately be called "speed peer informing" has all the ingredients of a winning idea. Sometimes just knowing where to ask a question can make all the difference when a road block in academic work arises. Please see below (and let me know what you think!)

Speed dating for science

Winning the Oil End Game with Amory Lvoins

Winning the oil end game


Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute has written many books and offers one for download on the internet called “Winning the Oil Endgame”. He studied at Harvard and Oxford and is leading the world in thinking about alternative approaches to energy and transportation. With all of the problems that arise out of our use of oil which includes climate change, oil dependency, national security, economic issues and the depletion of natural resources, he declares that it can be done profitably and soon. This is a 20 minute talk and as always, I would love to hear your feedback.