A Boy and His Atom
It takes a truly tech-savvy scientist to understand the awesome technology at play in your computer’s disk drive. For everyone else, there is one basic fact that remains clear. Since each generation of disk drives holds more information, whatever is representing that information must be getting smaller. IBM started making disk drives for computers in […]
Mystery Meat
During my son’s freshman year at Colorado State University, I had several occasions to visit him and eat in the dorm cafeteria. Among the various foodie temptations were a carvery, a pizza counter, a burger grill and both sushi and salad bars. As for desserts… don’t get me started. Things have changed since my first […]
Bend Me, Shape Me
“Bend me, shape me Anyway you want me Long as you love me It’s all right Bend me, shape me Anyway you want me You got the power to turn on the light”* I’ll give you the compressed version of this for now since I don’t have the bandwidth for more. If you are still […]
Group Hugs
“Can we all get along?” This famous line (often misquoted) was poignantly spoken by Rodney King. He was appealing for calm after the verdict in his police brutality trial that triggered the ’92 Los Angeles riot, a rampage that cost the city over $2 billion dollars. If you think anyone listened, just Google “Ferguson, Missouri.” […]
Taking Pictures
There are certain elements of technology that have saved my butt in tense situations. Example: We are at some sort of family gathering/vacation/dinner/graduation/party /wedding/ etc. when my wife turns to me and says, “You brought the camera, right?” A “yes” answer would, at the very least, postpone a dirty look until the film was taken […]
Innovative Intersections
It is often said that innovation occurs at the intersection of seemingly unrelated ideas. As an example, consider urine and origami. A recent paper in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A titled “Urine-Activated Origami Microbial Fuel Cells to Signal Proof of Life” by researchers at UWE Bristol has the details. The problem statement would seem […]
PancakeBot to the Rescue
One of the most important skills you must have in order to be a good parent has nothing to do with diapers or shoelaces; we’re talking about pancakes here. When our kids were growing up, it was absolutely essential that I produce “Mickey Mouse” pancakes. The taste, color and texture were secondary; the most important […]
Class of ’04
“People who have so much of their personality invested in the Internet can’t really survive as whole individuals without it.” Mark A.Rayner – The Fridgularity Good technology is assimilated effortlessly into our daily tasks. This is why automobile turn signals are always controlled by a lever mounted on the steering column, and never by a […]
i Hedgehog
Hedgehogs are known for being cute, and for having sharp spines. While neither barbed nor poisonous, these spines are nonetheless their first line of defense. When threatened by a predator, the hedgehog will curl into a tight ball with all of its spines pointing outward. How little hedgehogs are made remains a mystery. Innovation often […]
Zipperbot
Marvel Comics currently has 10 characters with names beginning in “Z”, but Zipperbot is not one of them. The ability to automatically unzip might pass for a super-power in some settings but that was not what the team at MIT had in mind. In a world where robots can put out fires, respond to disasters, […]