I am fortunate to be hosting the first Hourglass carnival of 2009, on this historical day of Obama’s inauguration. There is a sense of great hope for both America in general, but also more specifically for improvements in health care under his administration. We will have to wait and see if his health policies include…
Category: Uncategorized
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Work on something that matters
by Ward • • 0 Comments
Image byTim O’Reilly / Flickr via CrunchBase Tim O’Reilly, over at O’Reilly Radar has an very nice post on the value of deciding to work on something that matters (rather than focusing purely on money – though he is not arguing that what you decide to work on has to be non-profit). This leads to…
productivity, Uncategorized
Another productivity tip – leaving enough in the tank for the next day
by Ward • • 0 Comments
Yesterday, I gave you the author Cory Doctorow’s tip about finding 20 uninterrupted minutes each and every day, which is enough for him to write a novel (typically 100,000 words) a year. I asked you what do you think you could accomplish if you dedicated 20 minutes each day to a goal or dream. Now…
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Low cost microscopes added to cell phones – another 2008 health breakthrough
by Ward • • 0 Comments
Previously, I have written about a few of the 2008 science breakthroughs (here and here). The ability to build cheap microscopes and adapting them into cell phones may lead to many lives saved in the future. Granot et. al., 2008 (freely available) point out the need for cell phone based medical imaging, as 3/4 of…
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BIL conference – just signed up.
by Ward • • 3 Comments
Image by billerickson via Flickr I previously wrote about the BIL conference – which is an alternative to the high-end TED conference. I mentioned at the time that TED was already full (not to mention you have to invited and it cost 6,000 a year). Well it turns out BIL is just as popular as…
longevity, Uncategorized
Frozen in time – thaw me out: a 2008 Breakthrough
by Ward • • 1 Comment
Image via Wikipedia We probably have all watched or read some sci-fi movie where either animals (e.g. Jurassic Park) or humans (e.g. Austin Powers) are brought back to life after being dead and frozen for a considerable time. Welcome to our apparent every accelerated rate of change in our modern world, as a group of…
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Rebooting a synthetic genome – a potential 2009 breakthrough
by Ward • • 0 Comments
Image via Wikipedia Rebooting a synthetic genome – think of what that really means. “Printing” off of a genome of whatever combination of genes, or even newly invented/tweaked genes, then taking that DNA and inserting it into an inert empty lipid bilayer of a cell and booting up the cell into a living organism. Now…
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Hope and change: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
by Ward • • 0 Comments
Image by richliu(???) via Flickr I was fortunate enough to watch, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” a couple times a few days ago, and at many levels (too obscure to explain) it made me ponder. Art in it various form was invented by humans for many reasons. It allows us to be creative, but…
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BIL conference – a TED alternative.
by Ward • • 7 Comments
TED (ideas worth spreading) is a world famous conference, and many of us have watched incredible videos of the talks from this conference. However, the attendance of TED is by invitation only (though you can apply for membership). The cost of membership is $ 6,000 a year. Okay, you can only attend if you are…
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What will change everything?
by Ward • • 0 Comments
“What game-changing scientific ideas and developments do you expect to live to see?” Over the last several years the Edge organization asks a question to many of the leading intellects and on January 1 of the New Year releases the experts personal answer. I have enjoyed pondering each year’s question and reading the thoughts of…