Better Worlds

usagov: Image description: This brain-controlled modular...

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:48:41 -0500

Image description: This brain-controlled modular prosthetic limb (MPL) is controlled by surface electrodes, which pick up electric signals generated by the muscles underneath the skin. The electrodes then convert those patterns into a robotic function.

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, along with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Labratory and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), developed the limb for military veterans who lost limbs in action.

The arm is the first to be created and has the same dexterity as a natural arm, including independent movement of the fingers.

On January 24, 2012, Air Force Tech Sgt. Joe Delauriers was the first patient to use the MPL. Delauriers was injured in an IED blast in Afghanistan where he lost both his legs and part of his left arm. With the help of the MPL, Delauriers is able to live off base, drive a car and hold his infant son without worrying about infections.

Amputees go through training before being fitted for the MPL. The training records muscle movements and collects data before the MPL is fitted.

Those involved in the program are hopeful about the future of the MPL and creating more limbs for those in the military and hopefully eventually for the public.

Image from the U.S. Navy.

This is a science fiction idea that’s been in the wings...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:48:40 -0500

This is a science fiction idea that’s been in the wings for a really long time.

Now it’s becoming science fact.

realcleverscience:

8bitfuture:

Innovega to release contact lens displays.

Innovega Inc has developed contact lenses capable of presenting high resolution images for entertainment or augmented reality applications.

“Conventional mobile device screens are too small to read and certainly too small to enjoy. Over the past months we have demonstrated contact lens enabled eyewear for mobile devices including smartphones, portable game devices and media players that deliver panoramic, high-resolution experiences for entertainment and planned Augmented Reality (AR)* applications”, said Steve Willey, Innovega CEO. “During this same period, we collaborated with partners to finalize initial specifications of launch platforms which include a screen size that is equivalent to a 240 inch television (viewed at a usual distance of 10 feet)”.

The lens uses ‘micro components’ which are so small that, when switched off, the user is able to focus normally on everyday objects. When switched on, it allows light from the display to pass through the center of the pupil, and light from the surrounding environment to pass through the outer portion of the pupil. Each of these sets of light rays produces an image on the retina simultaneously with the other set. They are superimposed to form a single integrated image.

While a consumer release of the product is likely 2-3 years away, the company is also working with DARPA for a military version of the device.

!!!

I knew some groups were working on this, and had written about it before (including recently here and here), but I had no idea they were this far along! 2-3 years till we start to see it! That’s pretty amazing! (And I’m completely un-surprised that DARPA - aka the US’ fringe science division - has their hands in this.)

Btw, google and motorola are rumored to be working on some AR specs as well. Unlike these AR lenses, the google version is a pair of glasses, which is less sexy, of course, but they seem to be much more versatile - including a flash camera and a way to control the ‘screen’ with subtle movements.

Who knows, in 3 years the idea of buying a huge screen TV or computer monitor might seem antiquated since you could just have a pair of glasses or lenses which could fully immerse your vision in the experience (and perhaps make the viewing experience more dynamic, such as showing peripheral scenery if we look away from the main characters). Also, they’re obviously very portable. Plus, if they’re hooked up to your smart-phone or computer, they can do all sorts of other interesting Augmented Reality stuff. So I could definitely see this taking off once they get a properly working and affordable version. 2-3 years? Too long, and yet not long at all.

unconsumption: Tsai Design studio repurposes a 12 metre long...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:00:06 -0500

unconsumption:

Tsai Design studio repurposes a 12 metre long shipping container into sports centre in Capetown South Africa.

(via INSPIRE / NEWS & ARTICLES | Design Indaba)

And we're back!

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:29:00 -0500

Hey all,

BW has been on hiatus for the past couple months as we plan the future for our organization, but now we’re back with new plans and will return to posting regularly.

It’s good to see you all again.

-The BW team

Nano-industrial revolution? Yes...

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:00:05 -0500

Nano-industrial revolution? Yes please.

infoneer-pulse:

World’s Smallest Steam Engine Is Size of Fog Droplet

Engineers have made a tiny engine a few micrometers wide, or roughly the size of a water droplet found in fog.

The device is both confined and powered by a “trap” of laser light, and it sputters a bit. The fact that it works at all, however, may push the boundary of what’s possible in engineering microscopic machines.

“The machine is so small that its motion is hindered by microscopic processes which are of no consequence in the macroworld,” said physicist Clemens Bechinger of the University of Stuttgart in a press release. A study about the microscopic Stirling engine was published Dec. 11 in Nature Physics.

» via Wired

A small diversion to make you smile. theatlantic: Obsolete...

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:00:05 -0500

A small diversion to make you smile.

theatlantic:

Obsolete Gadgets Play ‘House of the Rising Sun’

This virtuoso rendition of “The House of the Rising Sun” uses old machines as instruments, with “absolutely no sampling or audio effects.” Read more.

Photo

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:05:05 -0500

We’re trying to include more stories about how individual...

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:00:06 -0500

We’re trying to include more stories about how individual people are working to make better worlds for themselves and their families.

theadventureproject:

“If we do our business well, our son can be educated.” Sudo and his wife, Prossie, work together selling charcoal-efficient stoves in their community. Learn more at www.theadventureproject.org.

A comparison of different living situations in terms of...

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 16:05:05 -0500

A comparison of different living situations in terms of heat/carbon footprint. Useful in planning how to recognize and fix your current impact.

Want to be a part of making a better world for...

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:00:05 -0500

Want to be a part of making a better world for someone?

agrifinance-magazine:

Remember Naigaga? Last week she applied for a loan but unfortunately her loan was fully funded but the interest rate remained to high. Let’s make it happen this time!

View the loan on MYC4

A set of six cool paradoxes explained in a fun, approachable...

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:27:05 -0500

A set of six cool paradoxes explained in a fun, approachable way…in historical order.

It’s nice to see all these things that make math and science more approachable.

Found via David Brin’s feed on Google+, which is well worth following.

Science for the people! The best kind of...

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:22:05 -0500

Science for the people!

The best kind of science.

jtotheizzoe:

Scientific American Needs Your Help to Identify Whale Calls

We know that whales communicate through the magic of song. Sometimes using frequencies that the human ear can not even detect, whales have been known to communicate over hundreds of miles. Some scientists have even claimed that their ability to teach specific songs to their pods and transfer those songs between groups constitutes a form of culture.

Despite what we do know about whale songs, most of them are still a mystery. Scientific American and Zooniverse are teaming up for a citizen science project, where you can help them classify whale songs.

Thousands of whale songs are collected each year from remote aquatic microphones, but researchers can’t depend on computers to match them up perfectly. On the whale.fm website, you can listen to whale calls and help match them to different sounds in the database. This will help classify the sounds by location and species.

Think of it! Studying cetaceans without even leaving your living room! Click here to participate in the Whale Song Project at whale.fm.

(via Observations, image of a humpack whale call spectrogram via Wikimedia)

The red neurons (nerve cells) are human, and the green ones are...

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 14:33:05 -0500

The red neurons (nerve cells) are human, and the green ones are mouse.

This photo is from a paper where the researchers showed that transplanted nerves grown from stem cells can be used to control original nerves! That means that regrowing nerves from stem cells via transplants could rebuild whole circuits in the brain to make damaged regions work again.

Wavefunctions: once thought to be a mathematical means to describe where an electron could be. Now,...

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:35:06 -0500

Wavefunctions: once thought to be a mathematical means to describe where an electron could be.

Now, possibly a physical object. Kinda wild.

At the heart of the weirdness for which the field of quantum mechanics is famous is the wavefunction, a powerful but mysterious entity that is used to determine the probabilities that quantum particles will have certain properties. Now, a preprint posted online on 14 November¹ reopens the question of what the wavefunction represents — with an answer that could rock quantum theory to its core. Whereas many physicists have generally interpreted the wavefunction as a statistical tool that reflects our ignorance of the particles being measured, the authors of the latest paper argue that, instead, it is physically real.

ANNOUNCING Immodest Proposals XIII: Occupying the Ethical Bank

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 14:15:06 -0500

Better Worlds is happy to announce the return of its discussion series for a lively meeting about Occupy Wall Street!

With panelists:

Kimberly Warner-Cohen, novelist and economic activist
Manny Jalonschi, journalist for the Indypendent

RSVP on meetup.com (for advance cover)

RSVP on facebook

THE EVENT

After a short break, Immodest Proposals triumphantly returns!

We’ve worked hard in trying times to bring you an amazing panel of people who have been on the ground for Occupy Wall Street and have come back to tell the tale.

OWS is one of those movements that’s really gotten people talking, and we could probably get ourselves lost in a world of arguing over whether you approve of their method of protest, or if their attitudes are justified.

But we don’t think that’s going to bring about the kind of conversation that Immodest Proposals is all about; namely, making connections and growing relationships through out of the box thinking.

So we’re going to try something a little different. OWS raises a premise to us:

The banking system, and the larger corporate world, is an immoral scheme that funnels money to the very few at the expense of the many, without creating more value overall.

With that in mind, we’ll discuss:

What does ethical capitalism look like? Is it even possible?
What does an ethical corporation look like?
What does an ethical bank look like?
And finally, what do we have to do, as individuals, to bring about the world we just envisioned?

For those of you wishing for a light-and-funny Immodest Proposals, we’ll make you a promise: Do your best to make the world stop throwing huge, serious, culture-changing events at us to discuss, and we’ll stick to light and funny.

We’ve put together a really exciting panel this one:

Author and economic activist Kimberly Warner-Cohen
Writer and Journalist (with the Indypendent) Manny Jalonschi

We’re working on possibly a third and fourth panelist, as well.

THE VENUE

We’ll get together at The Waystation, an awesome bar in Prospect Heights, and discuss these questions.

Waystation is the only steampunk bar we’ve ever heard of, and for anyone who is a Doctor Who fan, it’s also got a TARDIS restroom that’s bigger on the inside!

For those of you who don’t like British science fiction, the bar slings some excellent drinks and always has a good craft brew on tap.

THE GORY DETAILS (and COST)

$8 (+ $0.55 paypal fee) in advance/$12 at the door (no fees)

We’ve set it up so that you can pay in advance when you RSVP with meetup! Online RSVPs will be open though December 12th at 4 PM.

DOORS at 7:30, event starts at 8:00.

As last time, if we get more than 20 attendees, we’ll be raffling off a free Better Worlds t-shirt! Hopefully we’ll see one or two of our past winners there with their t-shirt.

ALSO AS LAST TIME, the Way Station is offering happy hour pricing to us throughout the event, so you get even more with your attendance.

All costs go right back in to getting awesome opportunities and venues for Immodest Proposals meetings. Not a cent is wasted.

Sadly, we cannot offer refunds if you miss the event.

Growing fish in rice paddies is good for everything.

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 16:40:06 -0500

Translated from science: If you grow fish in rice paddies, the fish protect the rice and fertilize it, and then you can harvest both rice and fish using less pesticide and fertilizer.

Awesome. Two problems solved, one approach.

From the paper abstract.

For centuries, traditional agricultural systems have contributed to food and livelihood security throughout the world. Recognizing the ecological legacy in the traditional agricultural systems may help us develop novel sustainable agriculture. We examine how rice–fish coculture (RF), which has been designated a “globally important agricultural heritage system,” has been maintained for over 1,200 y in south China. A field survey demonstrated that although rice yield and rice-yield stability are similar in RF and rice monoculture (RM), RF requires 68% less pesticide and 24% less chemical fertilizer than RM. A field experiment confirmed this result. We documented that a mutually beneficial relationship between rice and fish develops in RF: Fish reduce rice pests and rice favors fish by moderating the water environment. This positive relationship between rice and fish reduces the need for pesticides in RF. Our results also indicate a complementary use of nitrogen (N) between rice and fish in RF, resulting in low N fertilizer application and low N release into the environment. These findings provide unique insights into how positive interactions and complementary use of resource between species generate emergent ecosystem properties and how modern agricultural systems might be improved by exploiting synergies between species.

jtotheizzoe: DIY Thanksgiving Projects for the Pilgrim...

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:20:05 -0500

jtotheizzoe:

DIY Thanksgiving Projects for the Pilgrim Geek

Cosehedron pecan pie, anyone? More fun at the link, many involving fire.

(via Popular Mechanics)

There are some things that are simultaneously amazing and...

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:41:05 -0500

There are some things that are simultaneously amazing and scary.

Making a lot of robots on the cheap? Cool!

But what do you do with them? That’s where it might get a little scary.

futuramb:

Buy Your Own Robot Swarm | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation

At $14 a pop (in construction costs), the Kilobots are actually cheap enough to create a swarm, if you’re so inclined. Unlike other robot swarm prototypes, they can be programmed en masse with an infrared controller and charged simply by moving in between a pair of conductive surfaces.
When price as falling under a certain point things will be available and even attractive to the masses. In this case the masses might be nerds trying to understand swarm behavior or maybe even develop swarm algorithms that might solve difficult problems. One step closer to engineering swarm behavior in a scale never seen before…

Very exciting. poptech: poptech: The Low Line: A plan for a...

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:36:06 -0500

Very exciting.

poptech:

poptech:

The Low Line: A plan for a new park banks on subterranean photosynthesis, a neat project from PopTech staffer Dan Barasch.

From The New York Times:

Ever since it opened in 2009, the High Line has drawn out-of-town visitors who hope to replicate its success. Observers of the elevated park on the West Side of Manhattan have come from nearby municipalities like Jersey City and Philadelphia and places as far away as Hong Kong.

Lately, those observers have been coming from across town, with plans for another attention-grabbing green space on a former transit site. But this one comes with a twist — the proposed park would be underground, in a dank former trolley terminal under Delancey Street that is controlled by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Though its promoters call it the “Delancey Underground,” another nickname has already been coined: the Low Line.

From CNN:

Ramsey and Barasch’s romantic vision includes a polished, undulating ceiling plane from which the “remote skylights” — developed by Ramsay to filter out harmful ultraviolet and infrared light frequencies — will flood the park with sunrays all year-round, night and day.

According to Ramsey, the technology is “like a cross between a telescope and an endoscope” — capturing light from the sun and then transporting it through fiber-optic cables onto a relatively small focal point.

smartercities: 6 TEDx Talks on Cities | Sustainable Cities...

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:16:05 -0500

smartercities:

6 TEDx Talks on Cities | Sustainable Cities Collective

It’s TEDx season. Between now and mid December, 100′s of independently organized TEDx events will be held throughout the world, including here in Vancouver as well as Phoenix. For those unfamiliar with TEDx events, here how the main TEDx site describes them:

Created in the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading,” the TEDx program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level. TEDx events are fully planned and coordinated independently, on a community-by-community basis.

As a TEDx alumnus, I have a special place in my heart—and mind—for these local events. Sure, the main TED events boast an impressive array of the world’s top minds, but the diversity that is on display at TEDx is unparalleled. The is especially true when it comes to talks about urbanism and cities. While was challenging to simply find five TED talks on cities, I had the opposite problem with TEDx; my challenge here was narrowing it down to just 5. In the end I failed to narrow the list to simply 5 and had to throw in an extra one.

Here are 6 of my favourite TEDx talks on cities.