On alien planet

Building a better space suit

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Thu, 11/06/2014 - 14:03

MIT professor Dava Newman presents the design and possible uses for a new spacesuit design. In addition to providing a history of space suit design and an overview of current designs, she elaborates on additional uses for the research such as better protective suits for healthcare workers and eventually exoskeletons to solve many of today's limitations for those without the ability to walk or maintain their posture for long periods of time.

Futurepath: 3D printing

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Sat, 10/11/2014 - 21:29

3d printer setup If you pay any attention to the tech world, you realize 3D printing, also called additive manufacturing, is the next big thing as dozens of startups are racing to get their product to market ahead of the competition. Everything from toys to guns, shoes to pizza - there are printers being developed to print anything we buy.

The Martian

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Fri, 05/16/2014 - 10:33

A Martian storm forces Mark Watney's crew to end their mission just a few days into their 31 days on Mars. Separated from his crew, Watney is left behind to find ways to survive with slim hope of a rescue. An engaging novel from page one, The Martian provides detailed engineering and scientific realities as Watney, a botanist and engineer, overcomes a range of issues in his quest to survive as the lone occupant of the planet.

I'll make no bones about it, The Martian is the best novel I've read in years. Weir picks up right at the beginning of Watney's realization his crew has abandoned him, and keeps you on the edge of your seat. In addition to Watney's perspective, he includes the workings and politics of NASA, and presents a world where all of Earth is rooting for one of our own stranded alone. Weaving it all together offers the reader a roller coaster full of science and engineering that will teach as much as it entertains.

Filtering falsehood in the future

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Mon, 04/28/2014 - 12:36

Liar card from eCards This past week, Facebook launched the FB Newswire, "...a resource for journalists that aggregates newsworthy social content shared publicly on Facebook by individuals and organizations." The service offers some hope that information shared through social media can become a bit more trustworthy, helping to clean up some of the misinformation and lies easily shared in an age where every person with a data line can publish content with very few restrictions.

It's an important development when the largest network in history adds a feature with this much potential impact. One of the reasons we value social media is the ability to get updates as soon as content is posted. Facebook provides sharing among acquaintances, friends, and family members while Twitter provides a near endless churn of news from any and every account and hashtag you follow. If news happens, whether the news is personal or global, we can know about it within hours, minutes, and even seconds of its posting. Sadly, the strength of social media is also a weakness when misinformation or outright lies are shared at the same speed. As Winston Churchill said...

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

Futurepath: human food sources and preparation

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Fri, 04/25/2014 - 13:00

Diet pyramid Food is one of our most basic needs, yet it represents culture, history, and individuality through our choices. Furthering our individuality, each person has medical and gastronomical limitations that add another layer of complexity to how we select what we eat. As such, it is a multilayered issue when you look at the future of food and how we might raise and prepare our food, with perhaps consumption being the only practice set in stone (unless they find a way for us to inhale our food, which doesn't sound very interesting to me).

In this futurepath, we'll look at the history of the human diet, current research on eating practices, and current food issues in order to identify how our food culture might change in the future.

Will social media splinter (us)?

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Thu, 04/24/2014 - 11:15

Social media apps Mathew Brian Beck offers a look into the future of social media and forecasts new forms of digital tribalism. About this, he says,

"Every platform will be socialized, but every user base will be judged on quality of life, not sheer numbers. Big data will not matter as much as small relationships."

His is an interesting idea about how social media will change our relationships and our choices will reflect our interests and lifestyles. As social creatures, we have circles of relationships in which we are members and which in turn influence our lives.

Protect your DNA

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Fri, 04/11/2014 - 10:52

A young John Lennon John Lennon was gunned down 34 years ago. If still alive, he would be 74 years old. In 2011, one of Lennon's former housekeepers sold one of Lennon's teeth at an auction in England. The winning bid belonged to Dr. Michael Zuk, a Canadian dentist. Zuk is making headlines this week by admitting plans to have Lennon cloned from DNA remaining in the tooth and raising the resulting child as his own. It brings up many questions, including the morality of cloning someone famous and who owns your DNA once you pass on.

Will drugs + devices = superhuman intelligence?

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Wed, 04/09/2014 - 13:38

Colorful pills Raw intelligence is a major factor in our individual level of success - some develop more and some develop less. Whether attempting to maximize your income, research a cure for cancer or win a sporting contest, the ability to take a range of information, internalize it, and turn it into effective decisions can heavily influence whether we encounter failure or success at each task. Human intelligence is the outcome of millions of years of evolution and access to opposable thumbs has provided the ability to make the tools we have used to conquer our world. While there are proposed methods for increasing our intelligence, some individuals are using different technologies and chemicals to increase their own.

A world of living data - Wikipedia on steroids?

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Fri, 04/04/2014 - 11:34

Robot wearing a press hat Humans have issues with data. Data on its own is hard to turn into information, which we can understand much more easily. Weather data is a great example, as it is both a global and local phenomenon impacting almost every day of our lives. If my phone's weather app presented data, I would receive information about regional climates as far as the Arctic and Gulf of Mexico. It would be difficult for most anyone but a meteorologist (amateur or otherwise) to make an accurate prediction using this data.

Ventus

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Fri, 03/28/2014 - 16:02

Ventus is one of those scifi novels that strikes a great balance between plot, characters and new technologies - and a few old ones. One of my favorites and it's free on his website (or you can donate something for a novel that offers both education and entertainment with 4 stars on Amazon and 4.6 on Manybooks) if you're looking for something to occupy your weekend until winter finally sails away.