Author Archives: curiouscat

Inventor for Hire

Inventor for hire, Pioneer Press, Minnesota (update – sigh the newspaper removed the page, argh! poor usability):

Nicholas Powley, an MIT graduate, quit his engineering job at Guidant to work as a consultant and an inventor.
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“My whole goal is to make my life user-friendly so I can devote all my time to thinking,” he said.

One of Powley’s former professors calls him a “nouveau nerd,” someone with not only the requisite engineering knowledge, but also lots of people skills and business savvy.

Woodie Flowers, an engineering professor at MIT for 40 years, said America needs more Nick Powleys if it is to succeed against overseas competition. Engineers can no longer be the equation-spouting geek loners in the back room, he said.

Good luck Nicholas. The combination of engineering knowledge and business acumen is exactly what drive economic success and why those striving for healthy economies try to create as many Nicolas’ as possible. The article is very good but why do people write such articles without links to relevant web sites site still? Learn more at the Open Design Forum web site.

Update, Jan 2007 (update – sigh the newspaper removed this page too, argh!):

Powley has been inundated with requests from ordinary people who want him to help them make their invention ideas become reality since he was profiled Oct. 15 on the front page of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. But he said one beguiling request came from a group of top executives and sales people in the health care industry who read the story about the MIT graduate: Come work for them as the head of research and development for a new medical products company they want to create in New York City.

“It was an offer I couldn’t refuse,” Powley said last week as he, his mother, his girlfriend and his business partner on a medical catheter cover he helped develop five years ago were driving to New York for a weekend business dinner. Powley said his partners want to remain unnamed for now. He was reluctant to say how much the position would pay him but he did say it was “fabulous.”

China Robot Expo

Teachers view a detective robot during the Robot Teaching and Research Seminar of Chinese Colleges and Universities in Beijing

2006 China Robot Expo

Robot research seminar held in Beijing (photo shown here): Teachers view a detective robot during the Robot Teaching and Research Seminar of Chinese Colleges and Universities in Beijing, China.

2006 China Robot Expo

Please comment if you know of other web resources on this meeting.

The World’s Smallest Genome

The World’s Smallest Genome Just Got Smaller by Joe Palca:

Scientists used to think the number was around 300, but now researchers have found a bacterium that gets by with only 182 genes. The bacteria live inside tiny insects called psyllids. Researchers posit that the bacterium is in the evolutionary process of becoming a part of the insect.

Some of the smallest bacterial genomes are in bacteria that have what is called a symbiotic relationship with a host. The bacteria make something the host needs, and the host can take care of many of the bacteria’s biological needs.
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Johnson says most scientists believe that cells of higher organisms achieved their lofty status by enslaving bacteria that gave up a few too many genes. For example, our cells have something in them called mitochondria. Mitochondria are known as the power plants inside cells.

Johnson says mitochondria were once bacteria that lost too many genes.

“Of course, these events occurred a very, very long time ago,” she says, “and what I think is extremely exciting about this new research is that we might be seeing this happen in real time.”

There is so much interesting science and so little time to absorb it.

Hawaiian Jellyfish

Video of Jellyfish find in Hawaii

Science Fair Project on Bacterial Growth on Packaged Salads

Recently we have all seen quite a few stories on – Tainted spinach: All bacteria may not come out in the wash. Last year a high school student did her science projected on the problem. Hillel Academy student first tested spinach for science fair by Stacey Dresner

“Last year I heard some rumors going around about how some people were getting sick and scientists thought that the illness was coming from these convenient packaged salads,” explained Kaili, now a ninth grader at the Hebrew High School of New England in West Hartford. “This caught my attention and I decided that I wanted to look more into the issue for my science fair project.”
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In her project, “Quantitative Analysis of Bacterial Growth on Packaged Salads and Effect on Antibiotic Resistance and Nutrient Content,” Kaili investigated several varieties of bagged salad greens.

She tested the bagged greens for bacteria content, and found “extensive growth of bacteria within 24 hours in the fresh “unwashed” samples.”

“I found the highest percents of bacteria in dark, leafy varieties such as spinach and Mediterranean” showing “a correlation between high levels of iron and high levels of bacteria.”

She washed the samples using different cleaning techniques n cleaning with sterile water, cooking with boiling water for five minutes, and using commercial cleaning rinse n water with a pinch of bleach. The only method that killed most of the bacteria was the commercial rinse. The others did not really inhibit bacterial growth.

NSF $76 million for Science and Technology Centers

NSF Awards $76 million for 2006 Science and Technology Centers to spur interdisciplinary research.

Centers offer the research and engineering community an effective mechanism to undertake long-term scientific and technological research and education activities, to explore better and more effective ways to educate students and to develop mechanisms to ensure the timely transition of research and education advances into service in society.
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Each center receives roughly $19 million dollars over 5 years, and if approved, receives an additional 5 years of support following a thorough evaluation.

Centers include: Layered Polymeric Systems at Case Western Reserve University and Multi-Scale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes at Colorado State University.

China’s Gene Therapy Investment

We have recently added a new blog to our offerings: the Curious Cat Investing and Economics Blog. For those of you interested in those topics I hope you will give it a try.

Our favorite economics radio (pre-podcast technology) show is Marketplace from National Public Radio. Today they have a story on China’s commitment to gene therapy as a economic strategy to get in on a potentially huge market: China bounds ahead in gene therapy.

This is happening at a time of conservatism toward gene therapy in the United States. Investment in the U.S. slowed after an 18-year-old Pennsylvania boy died in a gene therapy trial seven years ago. His parents filed a lawsuit. The Food and Drug Administration put other trials on hold.
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Patients in China are less likely to file lawsuits, and Chermak says Chinese regulators are more open-minded to new treatments. They see the slowdown in the United States as an opportunity to get ahead.

At the same time, a lot of Chinese researchers who studied in the U.S. are returning home because in China, you can get much more bang for your research buck.

This is an example of the future we discuss in: Diplomacy and Science Research

Green Energy

In Ontario, Making ‘Clean Energy’ Pay

Canada’s Ontario province has ordered local utility companies to pay homeowners or businesses for any electricity they generate from small solar, wind, water or other renewable energy projects, beginning next month.

The plan is unique in North America, but it is modeled after similar schemes in Europe that have spawned a boom in small “clean energy” projects.

One more example of green energy projects. Those planning for the future can see that such efforts are needed. And my guess is that those that develop solutions now will be rewarded in the marketplace. Europe and Japan are taking the lead in energy technology and as renewable energy (and energy saving technology) become more and more important those companies that have built up a expertise will benefit.

Autonomous Flying Vehicles

Photo of Flying Robots

MIT’s intelligent aircraft fly, cooperate autonomously

Each UAV is networked with a PC. The setup allows a single operator to command the entire system, flying multiple UAVs simultaneously. Moreover, it requires no piloting skills; software flies the vehicles from takeoff to landing.

The vehicles in MIT’s test platform are inexpensive, off-the-shelf gadgets; they can be easily repaired or replaced with a new vehicle, just as might happen in a real-world scenario involving numerous small UAVs on a long-term mission. The researchers can thus experiment constantly without concern for mishaps with expensive equipment.
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In addition, the team recently achieved a milestone in autonomous flight: landing on a moving surface. Using “monocular vision,” one of the quadrotors successfully landed on a moving vehicle — a remote-controlled lab cart. A video camera fastened to the UAV uses a visual “target” to determine in real time the vehicle’s distance relative to the landing platform. The ground station then uses this information to compute commands that allow the UAV to land on the moving platform. This technology could enable UAVs to land on ships at sea or on Humvees moving across terrain.

More cool stuff: La Vida Robot – Autonomous Vehicle Technology Competition – Robot Football (Soccer) – More Unmanned Water Vehicles

Gel Stops Bleeding in Seconds

Self-assembling gel stops bleeding in seconds by Robert Adler:

Swab a clear liquid onto a gaping wound and watch the bleeding stop in seconds. An international team of researchers has accomplished just that in animals, using a solution of protein molecules that self-organise on the nanoscale into a biodegradable gel that stops bleeding.
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Their work exploits the way certain peptide sequences can be made to self-assemble into mesh-like sheets of “nanofibres” when immersed in salt solutions.
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Still, they caution that extensive clinical trials are needed to make sure the materials work properly and are safe. The MIT researchers hope to see those crucial human trials within three to five years.