"...reviews her 2009 growing season from her farm in Kabuyu Village, 50 kilometers north of Livingstone, Zambia. She grows several types of high value vegetable crops using IDE's "Mosi-o-Tunya" Pressure Pump and furrowing to irrigate her fields. Veronica is a member of the Mukamba Cooperative, and is looking forward to new market links facilitated by IDE in 2010 to supply hotels and catering firms in Lusaka and Livingstone."
MIT Professor Mitch Resnick and Media Lab colleagues are hosting ~300 teens from around the world from the Intel Computer Clubhouse network! These Clubhouses provide... "...a creative and safe out-of-school learning environment where young people from underserved communities work with adult mentors to explore their own ideas, develop skills, and build confidence in themselves through the use of technology."And this week in Boston is their Teen Summit! The Computer Clubhouses were co-founded by the Media Lab two decades ago and today are a global community in a couple dozen countries...
Great to see MIT's MEET -- Middle East Education through Technology -- program this Summer 2010 spotlighted in a MediaLine piece by Felice Friedson & Arieh O’Sullivan, Israeli and Palestinian Teens Mix at MEET... "For some students in the Middle East conflict resolution takes root in high school. Most people don’t believe Israeli and Palestinian high school students can get together and get along. But a summer program in Jerusalem proves they can. For four weeks this summer, 100 Palestinian and Israeli students cross paths as they learn not only basic science and business skills, but also how to communicate with the other in a unique program aptly called MEET"Founded in 2004 by Anat Binur and team, MEET has bold ambitions for growth, engagement, and entrepreneurial impact this coming decade...
Very exciting to see IDDS 2010 happen this Summer! Nine very compelling concepts advanced with a special emphasis on Designs for Dissemination...
Delightful to reconnect with Nol Browne, the founding 
Managing Director of the Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSE) here in Cambridge, MA on my MaximizingProgress.tv show! Nol and I have known each other since his time in the MIT Sloan MBA program where he founded the epic MIT Energy Conference, the premier student-run energy innovation venue of its kind. Since graduation, Nol went on to work in the solar industry and has for the last two years taken on this R&D innovation leadership role. Fraunhofer CSE is... "...a non-profit applied research and development laboratory dedicated to the commercialization of clean energy technologies. CSE engages in collaborative research and development with private companies, government entities, and academic institutions, performing research that broadly benefits firms, industries, and society. These partnerships take a wide variety of forms, including confidential co-development programs, third-party technology validation, and joint applications for grant programs."Their latest achievement is becoming the Research Team Leader for Building America, an industry-driven research effort sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to accelerate advanced building energy technologies in homes.
Kenneth Chang writes in the NYTimes Observatory about High-Speed Video Shows How Sphagnum Moss Spreads! Lurid and hyperbolic subtitles -- e.g. "Exploding Moss", "Launching Spores", and "bit like an atomic bomb" -- are indeed delivered upon! "In the current issue of the journal Science, [Dwight L. Whitaker, a physicist at Pomona College in California and Joan Edwards, a biologist at Williams College in Massachusetts] report how sphagnum moss shoots its spores like an atomic bomb. "It’s nature’s weapon of mass reproduction," Dr. Whitaker said."Hilarious! See the video! It's like our Howtoons Air Cannon!
Very interesting to read Judith Dobrzynski's NYTimes piece Botanical Gardens Look for New Lures about reinvention and renewal... "Botanical gardens are experiencing an identity crisis, with chrysanthemum contests, horticultural lectures and garden-club ladies, once their main constituency, going the way of manual lawn mowers. Among the long-term factors diminishing their traditional appeal are fewer women at home and less interest in flower-gardening among younger fickle, multitasking generations. Forced to rethink and rebrand, gardens are appealing to visitors’ interests in nature, sustainability, cooking, health, family and the arts. Some are emphasizing their social role, erecting model green buildings, promoting wellness and staying open at night so people can mingle over cocktails like the Pollinator (green tea liqueur, soda water and Sprite). A few are even inviting in dogs (and their walkers) free or, as in Cleveland, with a canine admission charge ($2). "We’re not just looking for gardeners anymore,” says Mary Pat Matheson, the executive director of the Atlanta Botanical Garden. “We’re looking for people who go to art museums and zoos."
"Scientists here are using a chopped up jetliner to study bad taste. Their aim is to understand the decline in haute cuisine at high altitude. Initial test results: Perceptions of sweetness and saltiness drop by up to 30%. Sour, bitter and spicy flavors are barely affected. Resulting culinary turbulence can spoil the most eye-catching dishes. Quantifying something as subjective as taste isn't easy. That's why chefs from Deutsche Lufthansa AG's LSG Sky Chefs, the world's largest inflight catering company, came to one of the world's biggest low-pressure chambers."
MIT's Nitin Sawhney sends word of his latest activities in Gaza on the Voices Beyond Walls project, including compiling this 3-minute Re-Imagining Gaza slideshow of photos and films produced by kids at the Jabaliya refugee camp this summer...
"When Halldor Orri scores a great goal he decides to go fishing and catch on his mate Johann Laxdal or Johann the Salmon. The game was Stjarnan against Fylkir in the top league in Iceland and the goal was the winning goal in extra time."
"A 30-member medical team carried out the full face transplant, giving the man a new nose, skin, jaws, cheekbones, teeth and other features. Oscar has been described as a 31-year-old farmer who was unable to breathe or eat on his own after accidentally shooting himself in the face five years ago."
We need to maximize progress towards more such smart personalization of medical innovations! And also full salutes to the very inspirational Frenchwoman Isabelle Dinoire, the first face transplantee, and the first American, Connie Culp.
"America’s system of rail freight is the world’s best. High-speed passenger trains could ruin it."I'm very skeptical about that and urge savvy mixed-use.
Read in Urban Igloos about Hong Kong’s Cage Homes... "Inhabited by more than 53,000 people, these 15-square-foot cubicles, usually eight of them to a room, are renting for up to HK$1,500 ($193.20) [per month...] While the financial hub of Hong Kong enjoys a reputation as one of Asia’s most affluent cities, its wealth gap is among the worst in Asia, with around 100,000 of the city’s 7 million people living in tiny units of less than 60 square feet [...] "People choose to live in bedspace apartments and cubicles probably because these apartments are mostly conveniently located in the urban areas," said a government spokesman."
Eric Moskowitz writes in the Globe about competing visions for the future of the Longfellow Bridge in his piece, Linking Cities and Eras... "...the rebuilding of the Longfellow is about more than saving it from collapse. It comes at a time when key policy makers, from Boston’s mayor to the Obama administration, have pledged to rethink transportation and pull back from decades of favoring drivers and cars over bicycles and walkers. As a result, the Longfellow has emerged as a touchstone and test case in the debate over urban transportation, with officials, highway engineers, civic leaders, and community advocates grappling over whether to reclaim some of the pavement used by automobiles to make more room for everybody else. It is a thorny issue that remains unresolved even as construction begins on a bridge that is both a treasure to preservationists and a lifeline for thousands who traverse it each day by subway, car, bicycle, and foot."Here, for instance, you can see the cross-section plans proposed by the Livable Streets Alliance (versus the MassDot plans or the current situation)...
In any case, renewal is sorely needed, as this Portrait of the Aging Longfellow illustrates...
One of my favorite urban innovation ventures, the Dutch Tempohousing, just sent word that their factory in China has shipped the promised ~70 prefabricated hotel units of their so-called "King" design (see above two containers side-by-side making 2 wide rooms with central hallway) for imminent delivery to Haiti. This is just one example of fast, urgent solutions desperately needed in that devastated land... "Once the necessary funds were secured, TempohousingThis is fantastic. Check out the "King" room more closely here...was able to immediately make available these hotel rooms, that are shipped with all internal furniture and finishes to reduce on site construction as much as possible. The complete hotel is scheduled to be ready in October / November this year. [...] Speed and budget have been key issues in this hotel project, but quality and the delivery of an integrated storm and hurricane proof solution have made Tempohousing the first choice among several global suppliers. The manufacturing facility in China is capable to make layouts and interior finishes exactly to customer wishes with components that meet all international standards. Together with the separate façade system, the end results is simply amazing. An impressive hotel where nobody can see or expect it all started with complete rooms shipped in containers from the Far East."
"...for all the gloomy fascination that surrounds ageing, precious littleSounds very compelling. I'm adding it to my reading pile. The innovation frontier of Gerontechnology is indeed wide-open and, apart from Neurotechnology, perhaps the single most important research theme of today.research has been done into its causes. The question of why we grow old and die still divides evolutionary biologists. Strictly speaking, ageing does not seem to be inevitable. After all, both cancer cells and some very simple forms of life appear highly resistant to the passage of time. And while we know plenty about the consequences of ageing, we know much less about the exact biological processes involved. [...] Improvements in technology, particularly the ability to sequence DNA quickly, have made the serious study of ageing possible. All this is carefully chronicled in “The Youth Pill” by David Stipp, a former medical writer for the Wall Street Journal and an able guide to this young science. His book draws readers down the blind alleys and experimental dead ends that are an inevitable part of scientific research, as well as explaining the advances that have been made and the hunches that led to them."
"...until recently, no one has really studied what makes scientists productive. "There are a lot of anecdotes and stories but no serious empirical basis for studying the funding of science," says Julia Lane, program director for the Science of Science and Innovation Policy group at the NSF. Within the last decade, however, a number of economists with MIT links have been shedding new light on the ways scientists work. "This topic has had a high ratio of pontificating to actual research achievements," says Pierre Azoulay, PhD '01, an associate professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management. "But we want to bring the scientific method to bear on the scientific enterprise." [...] In the 1990s, a few labor economists (including MIT's Joshua Angrist) discovered new ways to conduct "natural experiments," studies that mimic laboratory-style randomized trials. They began using historical data to pinpoint the impact a single difference makes between two otherwise equivalent groups of workers. At the same time, detailed Internet citation databases began cropping up, giving economists a source of hard data for natural experiments that assessed the influence, productivity, and teamwork of equivalent groups of scientists. These developments enabled economists to study scientists closely for the first time, says Scott Stern of Kellogg, a former MIT economist and a prominent figure in the analysis of science."For results, read the piece -- and, of course, the scientific papers published by these researchers!
I've mentioned the Russian UAC's Beriev Be-200 a couple years before but it's such an fantastically interesting aircraft, I want to spotlight it again! Beyond the obvious firefighting, emergency response, and marine-industrial capabilities, I'm especially keen on the huge tourism implications -- i.e. opening up small islands, connecting with floating docks linked to cruiseships, accessing inaccessible coastlines, lakes, and riverways, and more! 
P.S. Here you see as of 8 August 2010, the Be-200 in-use fighting the fires ravaging Russia... 
P.P.S. And here as of 12 August 2010, you see Russian Prime Minister Putin flying a Be-200 waterbomber on a fire fighting run... 
Second, the German Lufthansa Technik, top manufacturer-independent provider of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services for aircraft, engines and components... 
And third, Korean-owned STX Europe's ship repair and conversions yards...
After visiting MIT-alums Jason Kelly, Reshma Shetty, TK and colleagues at Ginkgo, plus seeing Ted Acworth from Artaic during lunch at local seafood house -- two robotics and automation ventures, btw, focused on synthetic biology and mosaic art, respectively -- I got very excited about the boomzone business park they're located in. This is the newly christened Boston Innovation District... "A new approach is called for on the waterfront -- one that is both more deliberate and more experimental... The massive expanse of the South Boston waterfront, with its existing knowledge base, opportunity for growth, and world-class infrastructure is ripe to produce world-class products and services." -- Boston Mayor Menino
P.S. In Mon 26 July 2010 Globe, there's a nice piece by Andrew Ryan, Ideas percolate in Innovation District, which includes this map...
Great to see the latest use of microneedles for vaccine delivery done by researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University and reported in Sunday's edition of Nature Medicine according to PhysOrg... "In this study, we have shown that a dissolving microneedle patch can vaccinate against influenza at least as well, and probably better than, a traditional hypodermic needle," said Mark Prausnitz, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Just 650 microns in length and assembled into an array of 100 needles for the mouse study, the dissolving microneedles penetrate the outer layers of skin. Beyond their other advantages, the dissolving microneedles appear to provide improved immunity to influenza when compared to vaccination with hypodermic needles."In addition to this initial use for flu vaccines, this method has many compelling potential applications for other diagnostic and therapeutic pharmaceuticals.
"...an important evolutionary step to become a comprehensive university. With a vision for the University "to be on the frontiers of scientific and humanistic knowledge," [they plan] to offer programmes in the liberal arts, media and communications, law and public policy, and government [and] to build several new campuses and to embark on regional integrated health care strategies in South and Central Asia and East Africa."
"...venerated visions of future technology that totally missed the mark. [...] From Jules Verne to Stanley Kubrick and beyond, writers and artists have imagined what the future would be like. Their visions range from the comically bizarre to the uncannily accurate to the wildly optimistic..."
Given the tremendous interest in ecological cities, for instance the carbon-neutral Masdar in Abu Dhabi, it makes sense to take a look at Arcosanti, a 40-year old "urban laboratory" in central Arizona... "...demonstrating ways to improve urban conditions and lessen our destructive impact on the earth. [...] Arcosanti is designed according to the concept of arcology (architecture + ecology), developed by Italian architect Paolo Soleri. In an arcology, the built and the living interact as organs would in a highly evolved being. This means many systems work together, with efficient circulation of people and resources, multi-use buildings, and solar orientation for lighting, heating and cooling. In this complex, creative environment, apartments, businesses, production, technology, open space, studios, and educational and cultural events are all accessible, while privacy is paramount in the overall design. Greenhouses provide gardening space for public and private use, and act as solar collectors for winter heat."It sounds wonderful and visionary, but I wonder why it has the aura of egomaniacal lunacy?
While reading about Partners in Health, I happened upon this WGBH/NOVA/Vulcan production Rx for Survival about critical and emerging threats to global health. It... "Examines what makes us sick, what keeps us healthy, and what it would take to give good health the upper hand through two broadcast components -- a complete six-hour series and a special 2-hour program. [...] The ultimate objective of the project is to translate awareness into action."See the Preview and here's an excerpt on transportation challenges... Addressing these challenges are what my D-Lab Health and Global Health Delivery colleagues specialize in at MIT.
