Posted on Techdirt - 26 March 2012 @ 5:00pm
When you need some good ideas for solving a problem, sometimes nature already has an answer. For example, the original idea for what became Velcro, the hook-and-loop fastener, was inspired by the burrs of the burdock plant which tend to stick easily to fur and clothing. Here are a few other examples of some very sticky adhesives that were inspired by nature.
- Oxford University researchers have developed a molecular superglue inspired by flesh-eating bacteria. To attach itself to human cells, the Streptococcus pyogenes bacterium uses thin hairs made up of a protein with a 3D structure stabilized by a very strong intramolecular isopeptide bond that can survive boiling in detergent and strong acids.[url]
- Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have created a super-adhesive called "Geckskin" that was inspired by gecko feet. The Geckskin is only about the size of an index card, but it can support a maximum weight of about 700 pounds. It can hold a 42-inch flat screen TV to a wall, and be removed and restuck to another surface many times without leaving a residue.[url]
- Mussels, barnacles, and tubeworms are providing the inspiration for future medical adhesives. Aside from clinging to rocks, mussels can also stick to wood, iron, steel, and even Teflon. [url]
- To discover more interesting biological curiosities, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]
By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good
Techdirt articles, too.
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Posted on Techdirt - 23 March 2012 @ 5:00pm
Many people have a weakness for Girl Scout Cookies. They come in so many different varieties -- Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Do-Si-Dos, Trefoils, Shout Outs!, Thanks-A-Lot, Savannah Smiles, Thank U Berry Munch, Dulce de Leche, and Lemonades -- but by far, Samoas are most popular, followed closely by Thin Mints. Too bad the cookie season is ending, but here are a few Girl Scout Cookie-related links to tide you over until next season.
- Apparently, Nestle Crunch Thin Mints Girl Scout Cookie hybrid candy bars are real, in all their "dark chocolate cookie wafers and mint chocolate creme, topped with airy crispies" goodness. These limited edition candy bars will be available later this year, and other popular Girl Scout Cookie flavors, like Samoas and Tagalongs, will also be available. [url]
- If you just can't wait until next season -- or if you object to consuming partially hydrogenated oils -- you can always make your own Girl Scout Cookies at home. There are recipes out there for the most popular flavors, and there are also many variations, like Gluten-Free Thin Mints and Samoas Scones. [url]
- Did you know that the palm oil used to make Girl Scout Cookies endangers rainforests and thousands of species of wildlife, and contributes to human rights abuses? If you want guilt-free cookies, go sign the petition to eliminate the use of unsustainable palm oil in Girl Scout Cookies. [url]
- To discover more food-related links, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon. [url]
By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good
Techdirt articles, too.
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Posted on Techdirt - 14 March 2012 @ 5:00pm
According to the "Infinite Monkey Theorem," a monkey hitting keys randomly on a keyboard for an infinite amount of time will eventually type out the complete works of Shakespeare. There have even been efforts to put that theorem to the test by creating virtual typing monkeys that managed to recreate at least one of Shakespeare's works. But those monkeys were digital – here are a few examples of some real, geeky animals.
By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good
Techdirt articles, too.
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Posted on Techdirt - 28 February 2012 @ 5:00pm
Brand name pharmaceutical drugs are ridiculously expensive, but how much does it really cost to manufacture a drug? A potentially low-cost method is to use microorganisms -- which are plentiful -- to synthesize chemical compounds. For example, synthetic insulin is now made using genetically modified bacteria. Here are a few other examples.
By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good
Techdirt articles, too.
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Posted on Techdirt - 23 February 2012 @ 5:00pm
If you believe in gender stereotypes, then you probably think that men are better drivers than women. However, auto insurance companies are inclined to believe that women are actually safer drivers. It's a hotly debated topic, but it's safe to say that there are lots of bad drivers -- both men and women -- on the road. That's why we need robot cars. Here are a few links to some driving-related studies.
- A New York City traffic study found that male drivers were responsible for 80% of car accidents in which pedestrians were severely injured or killed. Blame it on testosterone, which increases aggression and risk-taking. [url]
- A University of Michigan analysis of 6.5 million car accidents in the U.S. between 1998-2007 found that female drivers were responsible for 68.1% of all crashes. Apparently, women have trouble navigating intersections, as they were most often hit on the driver's or passenger side while trying to turn left or right. [url]
- A more recent UK study showed that women are actually better at parking than men, dispelling the myth that men have better spatial awareness than women. According to the professional driving instructor who created the study, men learn and perform better during driving lessons, but it's possible that women retain what they learn better than men. [url]
- Let the car park itself. Many automakers, including Ford, Toyota, and BMW, are offering self-parking systems in their vehicles now. While they can guide cars into parking spaces with minimal driver involvement, they aren't always reliable. [url]
- To discover more interesting car-related content, check out what's driving around StumbleUpon. [url]
By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good
Techdirt articles, too.
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Posted on Techdirt - 17 February 2012 @ 5:00pm
Chemists routinely use equipment like rotary evaporators, centrifuges, and ultrasonicators to extract, separate, and mix various chemicals in the lab. But, the same equipment can also be used to prepare unique and tasty drinks. Why settle for ordinary? Classic beverages are getting a makeover thanks to the creative use of modern technology. Here are a few examples.
- Manhattan bar Booker & Dax uses molecular gastronomy techniques to give cocktails the "mad scientist" treatment. The bartenders are known to light drinks on fire with a 1,500-degree Fahrenheit red hot poker, extract essences from herbs with a rotary evaporator, clarify fruit juices with a centrifuge, and age wine or whiskey with ultrasonic waves. [url]
- In 2009, Coca-Cola introduced the Freestyle soda fountain, which features a touchscreen interface and more than 100 different flavor options that can be mixed however the user wants. The machines use "PurePour" technology -- originally designed for measuring exact amounts of dialysis and cancer drugs -- and they send data about beverage consumption, peak times, and popular locations to Coca-Cola's Atlanta headquarters, which can order the machines to stop serving drinks immediately in case a flavor is discontinued or recalled. [url]
- In 2011, Pepsi unveiled their Social Vending System, which features a touchscreen interface and allows users to gift a Pepsi drink to a friend, along with a recorded video message. The machine will send a text message to the friend with a special code that they can use to redeem their gift at the nearest Pepsi Social Vending System. [url]
- To discover more food-related links, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon. [url]
By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good
Techdirt articles, too.
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Posted on Techdirt - 10 February 2012 @ 8:25am
In the latest example of questionable taser use, a man walking his two dogs off-leash at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area was tased in the back by a park ranger, who was apparently trying to make an example of him. The problem was that the guy, Gary Hesterberg, was walking the dogs at Rancho Corral de Tierra, which used to be an off-leash walking area until it was just recently incorporated into the National Park. When the park ranger confronted Hesterberg and asked for his identification, for reasons unknown, Hesterberg gave her a fake name, and then tried repeatedly to leave. Finally, when he started to walk away, the ranger shot him in the back... because she was trying to "educate residents of the rule." Then, he was arrested "on suspicion of failing to obey a lawful order, having dogs off-leash and knowingly providing false information."
It seems that the use of a taser in this situation was excessive and unwarranted. The guy wasn't threatening the ranger in any way, and even if he had lied about his name (not that lying should be a reason to tase someone), the ranger wouldn't have known that at the time, since Hesterberg only gave his real name to the authorities after he got tased. Did the ranger accomplish her goal of "educating" visitors of the park rules? Yes, if educating means "scaring into submission." As Eric Cartman would say, "Respect my authoritah!"
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Posted on Techdirt - 9 February 2012 @ 5:00pm
It's kind of ridiculous when researchers actually have to pay to read journal articles about their own research online, but that's how academic publishing works. Even worse, the costs of access are obscenely high, limiting the readership to mostly people with access to libraries that can afford to pay the high subscription fees for journals. However, academics are starting to push back, and the good news is that there are at least a few efforts underway to create open-access online journals. Here are a few interesting links on the subject.
- Did you know that in order to get access to the Arts and Sciences journal collection at an academic search engine company, like JSTOR, university libraries pay a one-time fee of $45,000, and then an annual fee of $8,500 to maintain that access? With tools like Google Scholar available, academic search engines just seem unnecessary. [url]
- A new open-access, online-only journal for biomedical and life science research will be launched this summer. Plus, the journal promises a faster turnaround time for the peer review process, which typically takes several months. [url]
- A website called "The Cost of Knowledge" has been set up so that researchers can take a stand against scientific and medical publishing company Elsevier's business practices. Elsevier also supports SOPA/PIPA and the Research Works Act, which aims to limit the free exchange of information. [url]
- To discover more interesting education-related content, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]
By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good
Techdirt articles, too.
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Posted on Innovation - 30 April 2010 @ 9:58am
The growing demand for greater mobile computing power is rapidly transforming how the semiconductor industry needs to think about designing chips to meet the performance requirements for mobile devices. With GHz-level processor speeds and several GB of data storage, current smartphones have the computational power of high-end desktop computers from just ten years ago. As we move towards smaller and faster computing devices, the use of silicon in chips is making it increasingly difficult to uphold Moore's Law, not only in terms of the laws of physics, but also in terms of economics. However, it's worth mentioning that claims of the end of Moore's Law have been going on for years and are greatly exaggerated when you consider that Moore's Law keeps getting redefined as time passes. In the end, it really isn't as big a deal as the press makes it out to be.
Recently, TSMC's vice president of research and development, Chiang Shang-yi, said that current silicon chip technology should be able to sustain Moore's Law for another decade, but he also pointed out that Moore's Law could come to an end sooner due to economic rather than technological reasons, as it becomes increasingly expensive to develop and manufacture next-generation chips. Even so, he's not really that worried, as his take-home message is that after the end of Moore's Law (whenever that may happen), there are still many more years of what he calls "More Than Moore" technologies, and then even more years of system integration improvements.
Kevin Kelly has presented an interesting and compelling take on Moore's Law -- basically saying that the exponential progress is inevitable in technologies that scale down to microscopic or even nanoscopic sizes. He also points out that once the exponential growth of a technology starts to plateau, we will naturally shift our focus to other alternative technologies, which may subsequently experience their own exponential growth and establish new "laws." He even suggests that Moore's Law could be redefined as a larger trend that can continue indefinitely, encompassing several smaller, overlapping technology trends.
As "the end of Moore's Law" looms ahead, it would appear that people are beginning to shift some of their focus to new alternative technologies that could potentially replace silicon in chips. Here are just a few of the latest technologies that are being investigated for potential use in microelectronics:
In the past couple of years, graphene has been touted as a potential replacement for silicon. Graphene, a single-atom-thick layer of carbon atoms bonded together in a graphitic structure, has been widely studied for its interesting mechanical, chemical, and electronic properties. Graphene sheets have carrier mobilities that are hundreds of times greater than that of silicon, making them ideal for faster chips. However, a major problem with graphene is that it tends to get very hot when devices are operated at the saturation current limits.
Recently, it was demonstrated that memristors -- resistors with memory -- could perform logic operations, and it has even been predicted that memristor-based processors could one day replace the silicon in e-reader displays, as well as in computers.
Diamond, an excellent thermal conductor, can be turned into a semiconductor with the right impurities, and it could be used to make high-performance chips that won't need power-draining cooling systems. However, it is difficult to make diamond wafers large enough for mass production.
Of course, none of these technologies are close to being ready for commercialization yet, but they're a glimpse of what could be the continuation of Moore's Law in its broader sense. In the meantime, companies will try their best to stretch out current technology for as long as it makes sense to.
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Posted on The Entrepreneur's Corner - 20 April 2010 @ 11:09pm
On April 1st, Grist posted an April Fools story about McDonald's that claimed the fast food chain would no longer follow through with its global composting initiative after scientists at the University of California-Berkeley found that none of the items on McDonald's menu were suitable for composting -- and none of the "food" would break down even after 1,000 years.
The story was certainly inspired by a recent blog post by Joann Bruso claiming that the Happy Meal she had purchased and placed on a shelf for an entire year looked virtually unchanged -- no mold, no decomposition or smells. In this case, McDonald's reacted by posting a response on its website, calling Bruso's story an urban legend.
Apparently, many people fell for Grist's joke because it just seemed so plausible. Allison Arieff, a writer for GOOD and The New York Times, tweeted the news -- and just minutes later, McDonald's Twitter contact tweeted back a very odd reply:
Arieff: "McDonald's scraps composting program because the items on their menu WON'T DECOMPOSE. Yikes. http://ow.ly/1tClQ (via@edibleIA,@edibleSF)"
Molly at McDonald's: "They say April Fools jokes are a form of flattery! This one had us laughing too! ^Mol"
Here's a story that's further spreading the idea that the food at McDonald's is so unnatural that it won't even decompose, and what does McDonald's do? Laugh it off, of course. Was this the right response? Well, it was definitely not one that people were expecting. McDonald's had a chance to address the criticism, but instead they chose to just brush it off. Maybe they didn't want to open a can of worms, and since they're so big, they figured that they could get away with it. And they're probably right -- the number of people who were turned off by their response (or even aware of the story) was likely to be insignificant for the fast food giant.
However, it's likely a different story for smaller businesses. They really need to pay attention to and deliver what their customers want. It's probably not a good idea to attempt to brush off customer complaints with "humor." Perhaps even McDonald's should be more careful with its tweets now that everything they say will be
archived for posterity. We'll see how long it takes for tweets to decompose.
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Posted on The Entrepreneur's Corner - 15 April 2010 @ 3:23pm
Many companies have long been taking advantage of young, bright-eyed students and recent college graduates who are eager to work for nothing (or practically nothing) in the hopes that their work experience will eventually land them their dream job. But is it legal for a for-profit company to not pay a full-time intern? Talk to your lawyer, but generally, the answer is no. Only government and non-profit organizations are allowed to use unpaid interns without worrying about breaking the law. Given the rampant (ab)use of unpaid interns during this recession, the Department of Labor is starting to crack down on employers who don't pay their interns fairly. The confusing part, though, is that labor laws are somewhat outdated and open to interpretation.
The six federal legal criteria that must be met in order to hire an unpaid intern are based on a 1947 Supreme Court decision about whether the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was applicable to prospective train yard brakemen. (Hmm. When was the last time you heard about a good train yard internship?) Under the current FLSA, employers can hire an unpaid intern if all of the following conditions are met:
- The training, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to that which would be given in a vocational school or academic institution. The idea here is basically that any work should be for training purposes only -- not for the sake of getting real work done at the company.
- The training is for the benefit of the trainee. This is generally true. Interns are happy to work for no pay if it means that in the end, they can put a company's name on their resume or even get a paid full-time job at the company.
- The trainees do not displace regular employees, but work under close observation. This implies that interns shouldn't be doing actual work that might displace a paid employee.
- The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the trainees and on occasion the employer's operations may actually be impeded. When doesn't an employer gain an advantage from having an intern? This is where many companies can get into trouble. The definition of "immediate advantage" leaves a lot of room for interpretation.
- The trainees are not necessarily entitled to a job at the completion of the training period. Companies often use internships as "working interviews" where the intern is hired as an employee after the internship is over if they perform well.
- The employer and the trainee understand that the trainees are not entitled to wages for the time spent in training. This is generally not a problem, since both parties should agree to the scope of the internship.
So it's quite difficult to meet all six criteria, and hiring an unpaid intern based on a loose interpretation of the laws could cost employers more than just compensating for minimum wage and overtime. Think potentially huge fines and legal bills -- as well as long drawn-out legal proceedings. However, since the enforcement of the intern criteria has been lax for some time, many companies haven't put too much thought into their internship programs. Some startups have even incorporated somewhat questionable unpaid internship work into their
business models. Just last year, the Huffington Post famously had an auction where the
winner actually
paid $13,000 (which went to charity) for an intern position. Clearly, the rules governing internships have not been well-established according to the 'modern' workforce.
The upshot of all this, though, is that unpaid interns have hidden costs and liabilities -- which can be significant. Labor laws seem to favor the benefit of the intern and seem to frown upon companies that might be trying to just get free labor. But besides running afoul of labor laws, unpaid interns
without proper supervision can also come back to haunt employers, especially when interns represent the company and are trusted with interacting with clients. Add the Department of Labor looking into the issue, and there are even more reasons to double-check and make sure internship programs make sense.
What has your experience been with internship programs and training interns? What are your motivations for offering intern positions? Do you think labor laws need to be adjusted to reflect more current trends in the workforce? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
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Re:
I wasn't suggesting that McDonald's should sue – they already know that doesn't work. Since they felt the need to respond to an April Fool's joke, I think they should have just ignored the story and the tweets -- unless they were actually willing to "embrace" the attention and give people real answers, not just the usual runaround.
Some clarification
Sorry for the confusion about this story. What I failed to make clear is that after posting that "humorous" tweet, McDonald's Twitter contact was hit with a bunch of questions about the company's plans for reducing waste. It's here that McDonald's brushed off consumer concerns by simply providing a link to their "environmental responsibility" page, rather than giving people a real response by providing specific examples of what they're actually doing. The company missed an opportunity to engage their audience on an issue that some obviously find pretty serious. So, jokingingly responding to the outrageous claim about their food, and then ignoring the more serious concerns about their plans to manage waste, just shows that they believe they can get away with that kind of response due to their size. And perhaps they can. Many businesses, however, do not have the same luxury. And it's probably not the best idea for McDonald's either.