Innovation
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We humans revere the best: the best coffee, the best cars, the best phones, the best apps, the best schools, the best doctors, the best chefs, the best companies, the best CEOs, the best athletes, the best coaches, the best designers, the best actors, the best movies, the best dresses, the best designers of the best dresses, the best directors of the best actresses wearing the best dresses, and that catch-all category: the best of the best doing what they do best. Moreover, it is insufficient for our reptilian brains to simply recognize the best; we must recognize them publicly. To highlight our admiration for excellence, we have human-engineered lists, ribbons and ceremonies; red carpets, awards, and shiny trophies; prizes, certifications, and halls of fame. We may be able to feed our hunger, but we simply cannot satiate our collective appetite for awesomeness. We live to revere ourselves.
The Concept Of Wabi-Sabi, And Why Perfection Is The Wrong Goal
Feb 28, Neuroscience Researchers have electronically linked the brains of pairs of rats for the first time, enabling them to communicate directly to solve simple behavioral puzzles. Credit: Duke University Medical Center Researchers have electronically linked the brains of pairs of rats for the first time, enabling them to communicate directly to solve simple behavioral puzzles. A further test of this work successfully linked the brains of two animals thousands of miles apart—one in Durham, N.C., and one in Natal, Brazil.
Brain-to-brain interface allows transmission of tactile and motor information between rats
The airways are getting crowded, thanks to smartphone and tablet data transmission that doubles every year. One solution: cognitive radio devices, whose signals automatically jump back and forth between frequencies in a fraction of a second to find open spectrum. A prototype developed at Rutgers University can switch to a new frequency in less than 50 microseconds while sending eight times the data of a typical home wireless system, taking advantage of openings on the AM and FM radio, TV, and cellular frequency bands. And Florida-based xG Technology has already set up a demo network in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., that uses cognitive radio for mobile broadband and VoIP links. Crucially, the FCC announced in September a pending rule change that will pave the way for spectrum-sharing technologies such as cognitive radio to use previously restricted frequencies.
The 10 Tech Terms to Know in 2013
Companies See High-Tech Factories as Fonts of Ideas
Heather Ainsworth for The New York Times Workers at a G.E. battery plant in upstate New York. G.E. has researchers nearby, which allows for more collaboration. A growing chorus of economists, engineers and business leaders are warning that the evisceration of the manufacturing work force over the last 30 years might not have scarred just Detroit and the Rust Belt. It might have dimmed the country’s capacity to innovate and stunted the prospects for long-term growth. “In sector after sector, we’ve lost our innovation edge because we don’t produce goods here anymore,” said Mitzi Montoya, dean of the college of technology and innovation at Arizona State University.
Nesta’s work on Accelerators ( The Startup Factories http://goo.gl/XKjbK ) has been followed up with a series of reviews about developments in incubators , science parks and angel investing , as well as in accelerators (summarised below). Reviews in progress include: Harwell’s incubator; DesignLondon - the RCA’s incubator; GSK’s incubator at Stevenage; Northampton University’s social enterprise work and incubator;
Tracking innovations in the development of innovations - whatmore's posterous
32 Innovations That Will Change Your Tomorrow
Electric Clothes Physicists at Wake Forest University have developed a fabric that doubles as a spare outlet. When used to line your shirt — or even your pillowcase or office chair — it converts subtle differences in temperature across the span of the clothing (say, from your cuff to your armpit) into electricity.
Design Thinking for Social Innovation
Designers have traditionally focused on enhancing the look and functionality of products.
Adobe Study Reveals Japan As The Most Creative Country
A recent study by Adobe has revealed Japan as the most creative country. But the Japanese and Americans do not see the Japanese as creative; Americans believe that America is the most creative.Thoughts | Designing the new normal
+ When we contemplate the future, we may find ourselves wondering what we should be designing. Our world is changing; it always has and it always will. Our greatest challenge is often not how to recognize change, but what to do about it.
We live in a time of information abundance, which far too many of us see as information overload. With the sum total of human knowledge, past and present, at our fingertips, we’re faced with a crisis of attention: which ideas should we engage with, and why? Big Think is an evolving roadmap to the best thinking on the planet — the ideas that can help you think flexibly and act decisively in a multivariate world. A word about Big Ideas and Themes — The architecture of Big Think
How Not to Kill Creativity – Jonah Lehrer LIVE on Big Think | Big Think TV
Why Nations Fail
Co-authored by the M.I.T. economist Daron Acemoglu and the Harvard political scientist James A. Robinson, “Why Nations Fail” argues that the key differentiator between countries is “institutions.” Nations thrive when they develop “inclusive” political and economic institutions, and they fail when those institutions become “extractive” and concentrate power and opportunity in the hands of only a few.by Maria Popova How to assess the believability of claims without succumbing to cynicism.
The Baloney Detection Kit: A 10-Point Checklist for Science Literacy
Design Probes
Philips Design Probes is a dedicated ‘far-future’ research initiative to track trends and developments that may ultimately evolve into mainstream issues that have a significant impact on business.By JONAH LEHRER Creativity can seem like magic.