This is an interesting webcast looking at how our bodies heal wounds to our skin.
Related: Science Explained: How Cells React to Invading Viruses – Tissue Regeneration in Animals – Science Explained: Cool Video of ATP Synthase, Which Provides Usable Energy to Us – Looking Inside Living Cells – A Healthy Lifestyle is More About Health Care than the Sickness Management That We Call Health Care Is
This illustrated webcast introduces the microscopic arsenal of weapons and warriors that play a role in the battle for your health.
TED education has been putting out some good videos which is a wonderful thing to see. It is wonderful to let people everywhere (kids and adults) that are interested in learning (and that have internet access) can learn about the world around us. Traditional educational institutions have not done much with this opportunity to broaden their impact.
The video looks at the cells reaction to a virus infiltrating the cell.
Related: Cells Alive – Science Explained: Cool Video of ATP Synthase, Which Provides Usable Energy to Us – This webcast is packed with information on the makeup and function of eukaryotic (animal) cells – Cool Animation of a Virus Invading a Person’s Body – Cell Aging and Limits Due to Telomeres – Webcast of a T-cell Killing a Cancerous Cell
This is an awesome use of technology to tackle important problems. Engineers are great.
Humanitarian drones to deliver medical supplies to roadless areas
[Andreas] Raptopoulos said the new system would be used to leapfrog the building of infrastructure, in the same way mobile networks have overtaken fixed lines in poorly connected countries.
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In sub-Saharan Africa, 85% of roads are inaccessible during the wet season, cutting off huge swaths of the population and hindering the transport of medical supplies, he said.
There are three parts to the system delivering medical goods: the UAVs themselves, landing stations where packages can be dropped off and transferred, and the software that ensures vehicles get securely from point to point. Because of their short battery life, networks of drones are needed to work together, shuttling between ground stations
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Approximate costings from Matternet put the price of unmanned aerial vehicles at £6,000 each and ground stations at £3,000 each. A network of five ground stations and 10 UAVs, as well as setup and training, would cost a charity in the region of £90,000, according to Raptopoulos. An eight-propeller drone can carry 2kg and travel 10km in good weather. Batteries need to be replaced every 600 cycles.
They are hiring: software engineer and avionic engineering [the broken link has been removed] right now. They are Palo Alto, California.
Related: Appropriate Technology Health Care Solution Could Save 72,000 Lives a Year – Cellphone Microscope – Pay as You Go Solar in India – Water and Electricity for All
Tim Noakes is the Director of UCT/MRC Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Science, University of Cape Town and Professor, Discovery Health Chair of Exercise and Sports Science, University of Cape Town.
Tim examines some questions on science and exercise and health in the webcast. He shows the problem with drinking too much during exercise and the correlation of hospital admissions correlated to the sport drinks marketing and changing of the official drinking guidelines. He also discusses the outdated ideas related to lactic acid and muscles.
He is currently studying the science of food and human health and is skeptical of low fat health claims: “No evidence that dietary fat is related to heath disease.” He is certainly more knowledgable than I but I would still be cautious of completely accepting that premise. It does seem to me there is lots of evidence that claims of causation between eating a high fat diet and heart disease were too strong (many other factors were critical – such as weight, exercise, genetics, unsaturated fat v. saturated fat…).
Tim Noaks: “50% of what we teach is wrong; the problem is we don’t know which 50% it is. Our job as educated people is to spend our lifetime trying to figure out which 50% is which. Until it is disproven accept that for which the evidence appears solid and logical and is free of covert or overt conflicts of interest, because unfortunately industry is driving what you believe in many many things. But don’t ever dismis lightly that for which there is credible evidence… and there is such clear evidence the diets we are eating are horrendous.”
As I have said before, scientific literacy is critical to allow us to make those judgements about what is credible evidence and what are outright lies, foolish claims or highly suspicious claims tainted by conflicts of interest.
Related: Can You Effectively Burn Calories by Drinking Cold Water? – Static Stretching Decreases Muscle Strength – Lack of Physical Activity Leads to 5.3 Million Early Deaths a Year – Science Continues to Explore Causes of Weight Gain – Study Finds Obesity as Teen as Deadly as Smoking
TED education is providing access to really interesting education material. In this webcast learn about fertilization, development and growth in the ocean depths.
Related: Hydromedusae, Siphonophora, Cnidarians, Ctenophores – Darwin’s Jellyfish – The Secret Life of Plankton – Researchers Explain How Rotifers Thrive Despite Forgoing Sex
Fun video with great shots of exotic ocean life that forms the base of the food chain in the ocean from TED Education.
Related: Hydromedusae, Siphonophora, Cnidarians, Ctenophores – Milestones on the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea – Macropinna Microstoma: Fish with a Transparent Head
Bill Gates talking about energy, and climate change, at TED. He is looking at a new type of nuclear reactor using as fuel, what is now nuclear waste.
And, because you’re burning that 99 percent, you have greatly improved cost profile. You actually burn up the waste, and you can actually use as fuel all the leftover waste from today’s reactors. So, instead of worrying about them, you just take that. It’s a great thing. It breathes this uranium as it goes along. So it’s kind of like a candle. You can see it’s a log there, often referred to as a traveling wave reactor. In terms of fuel, this really solves the problem. I’ve got a picture here of a place in Kentucky. This is the left over, the 99 percent, where they’ve taken out the part they burn now, so it’s called depleted uranium. That would power the U.S. for hundreds of years. And, simply by filtering sea water in an inexpensive process, you’d have enough fuel for the entire lifetime of the rest of the planet.
Related: Unless We Take Decisive Action, Climate Change Will Ravage Our Planet – Molten Salt Solar Reactor Approved by California – Wind Power Capacity Up 170% Worldwide from 2005-2009 – Helium-3 Fusion Reactor
Hans Rosling provides another interesting TED talk. As he mentions economics plays a huge role in whether we will slow population growth. The economic condition plays a huge role in child survival which he calls “the new green.” Meaning the fate of the environment is tied to increasing child survival (and decreasing poverty). There are many important factors that will impact the fate of the environment but a big factor is world population.
Related: Data Visualization Example – Statistics Insights for Scientists and Engineers – Very Cool Wearable Computing Gadget from MIT – Understanding the Nature of Compounding – Population Action
The webcast shows a talk by mycologist Paul Stamets on Bioremediation with Fungi (an Excerpt from Mushrooms as Planetary Healers). In response he to the British Petroleum/Halliburton oil spill he posted a message, Fungi Perfecti: the petroleum problem
Related: Saving the World with Science and Mushrooms – Fun Fungi – Thinking Slime Moulds
Pretty cool. I must admit I don’t really see how this would function outside of specifically designed situation. I can imagine it could be very cool for education, especially of young kids. Siftables act in concert to form a single interface: users physically manipulate them – piling, grouping, sorting – to interact with digital information and media. David Merrill and Jeevan Kalanithi originally created Siftables at the MIT Media Lab and have formed a company to commercialize the product and have received a grant from NSF to continue the work.
Related: Cool Mechanical Simulation System – Video Cat Cam – Arduino: Open Source Programmable Hardware – What Kids can Learn
“After a certain basic point, which translates, more or less, to just a few thousand dollars above the minimum poverty level, increases in material well being don’t see to affect how happy people are.”
The speech includes, the first purpose of incorporation at Sony:
To establish a place of work where engineers can feel the joy of technological innovation, be aware of their mission to society, and work to their heart’s content.
Excellent books by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi:
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, 1991. People enter a flow state when they are fully absorbed in activity during which they lose their sense of time and have feelings of great satisfaction.
Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning.
Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, 1997. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with exceptional people, from biologists and physicists to politicians and business leaders to poets and artists, the author uses his famous “flow” theory to explain the creative process.
Related: Honda Engineering – The Science of Happiness – Curious Cat Management: posts on psychology – Engineers Should Follow Their Hearts – The Purpose of an Organization
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