posted by admin on Sep 7

What if I told you that you had to seriously change what you ate to limit your carbon emissions and reduce world hunger?

It seems as though this may well be the way that the world is leaning with all this worry about rising population numbers, world hunger, less fertile land for farming, rising sea levels, water shortages and our continuing drive for more!

So, should grasshopper farms go into overdrive and the cucumber be forced into extinction?

The Small Idea:
No longer should things be big.  Big is bad for the planet at the moment and small is good – so why shouldn’t this apply to food?

Humans (and other plants and animals) have to eat to stay alive – I mean without proteins and fats, our bodies would fall apart: dry skin, poor digestion, low muscle, less energy, and on and on.  But we have gone past the bare bones ‘survival’ stage and we now eat for the fun of it (ironically sometimes causing all the above symptoms from our excesses).

However, what with all the global concerns at the moment – and the drive for local and sustainable foods; why not take it 1 step further?

In the same way that some people think that that we buy to much technology and console games, clothes and other belongings – some people think that we are eating too much ‘empty food’.

The idea being that cucumbers, for example, contain virtually nothing worth eating: being 95% water with some Vitamin C.  Now apart from a few ‘holistic’ benefits like bowel cleansing and lowering cholesterol (if you eat enough) they are virtually pointless in terms of nutrition. 

So why do we waste valuable land, fertilisers and water growing them when people are starving to death from lack of food?  Rather than growing these fruits that make a salad ‘crispy’ and are a dieters dream – shouldn’t we be using the land and resources to grow wheat or something more substantial?

Bugs, Bugs, And More Bugs:
Similarly, there isn’t really much going for the humble cow anymore either!  It grazes on land that could be used for growing cereals, it’s supplementary foods are grown on fields that could be used for growing cereals and it is farting out methane into an already globally warmed atmosphere.

Step up the new cow, the cow of 2010: the grasshopper!

You may think that this is all ridiculous – but there is the virtually the same amount of protein weight for weight in grasshoppers as there is in ground beef!  Would you notice the difference in your (only 60%) beef burgers anyway?

Needless to say you can farm these insects in tiny tubs stacked up in big warehouses – all on the same spot.  Compare this to millions of cows wandering all over Argentina where there used to be rainforest!

The UN have taken this on board themselves – as they think that it is a great way forward for food security in developing countries.  With an estimated 1000 insect species already on the menu around the world – this (they think) could well be the way forward for guaranteeing good nutrition levels for millions of people who can’t get cheap grains anymore as we are using them for eco friendly fuels!

So, will you be opting for that cricket stir fry or that red ant ravioli?

posted by admin on Aug 16

Hello Again – and what a great time to be at the fore-front of the latest inventions and technology!

Almost every day, there is an announcement about something great to advance our thinking or challenge our current ways of thinking – the future looks so different – if only we would make the change!

Looking back over time Adam Park takes us through his top 10 Tech Milestones That Changed The World for a glance at the past – and hopefully they can take us places in the future!

Add to this some of the following technological information here from Susan, as she details her best 25 Startups Revolutionizing Biotechnology. Even small things can make a huge difference!

Staying with the prefix ‘bio’ – take a look at the amazing advances and technology involved with Mike’s great article on: Massive Future MRI Machine Promises to Unravel the Secrets of Human Biochemistry! Great stuff!

Moving on to inventions today – read on if you want to know about something new: Coming Soon to a Classroom Near You: 10 Things To Know About Robot Teachersby the converted Erin Lenderts! Now I’m not sure if these will ever really take over in mainstream schools – but the idea for smaller groups or adult learners could really be a good thing!

And, if you ignore all the adverts at the top – scroll down to a very thorough article by Rick Cole as he reviews the difference between to very similar in-car technologies: Garmin vs TomTom. Worth a peak if you are considering a sat nav in the future.

And finally – How to use Twitter in a way I hadn’t really thought off: Sharons719 offers us 50 “Healthy” Ways to Use Twitter. Very interesting!

And on that note – get back outside and enjoy the nice weather before winter sets in!

posted by admin on Jul 2

Imagine lighting your rural home all night without the cost – and danger – of kerosene fuel and fumes!

Millions of homes in rural Africa are now all proud owners of the new eco lamp called The Kiran.  It is a simple solar powered lamp that is free to power and could save the lives of over 1.5 million people a year based on current statistics!

Now, that is a good enough advocate for this new lamp as it is – but it is also very eco friendly as well – and infact that is what it has recently won the Ashden Award 2010 for Sustainable Energy.  

The Lamp:
Basically, it is just a simple hand held lamp that harnesses the sunlight during the day, and releases it when needed during the evening.

However, it has been specially designed to be not only durable and cheap to produce and sell – but made to offer the same if not better lighting than the existing alternative: kerosene.

Over 75% of households in Africa have no access to electricity – and for those that do, the supply is not always 24 hour!  Therefore they have no alternative than to light with other means, and this is usually kerosene gas.  A gas that is known to gives of unpleasant and dangerous fumes when used internally or in badly ventilated areas.

Infact it is estimated that over 1.5 million people a year in Africa alone die from bad ventilation in combination with kerosene fumes.  Not to mention the cost of buying and storing the fuel in the first place – and the risks of house fires and personal injury.

Needless to say, D Lights small solar lamp eliminates all of that worry for the consumers!

It has 2 light settings depending on your use requirements and also has various positions for the handle so you can carry it, suspend it or fix it to a wall.  It’s fat base allows it to stand freely on a table of the floor as well. 

The Result:
This just goes to show you that the simplest things are still some of the best inventions!

Just the right design at the right time in the right place – and the invention is a winner.  I mean you have been able to get a chain of little solar lights for your garden for years now; but they didn’t win any awards!

They didn’t need to be so practical and so durable – and were infact made to be priced as profitably as possible rather than as affordable as possible!  Ironically it is the cost effective version here that is winning awards and selling millions of products.

So maybe you budding inventors need to think of something else simple and everyday that could be tweaked to make another great invention!

Get designing!

posted by admin on Jun 16

This edition is all about medical technology and advances – and there have been plenty sent in this month……

Lets start small with Peggy Stoppelmoor well researched article on 25 Ways Nanotechnology is Revolutionizing Medicine. and we can only get bigger from there, can’t we?

Just a short one from Glory Scott comes next with a few impressive links about How To Learn About Xray Technology for Free, and then another 2 quickies by Heather Sanders highlighting the technology needed for Everything You Need to Know About Radiology Technology and Top 50 Medical Technology Blogs.

Whoopie Patterson comes in here with her list of 10 Essential Web Tools for Research Scientists if you are already researching the next medical advances – and you might even be able to get yourself a grant from it!

And maybe the health-care professional out there may want some web tools too to help keep their CPD on the move – so take a peek at John Laugherton short piece on 10 Essential Webtools for Healthcare Professionals.

Of course, it wouldn’t be complete without some apps now would it?

So let’s join Elisha Knackwood with her Top 25 Android Apps for Your Health and Happiness -and Melissa Seyfried with hers: 5 Excellent iPhone Apps for Health & Medical Reference.

Feel Better Now?

posted by admin on May 21

There are always situations where time rules your life – so here are 5 ways to keep on top of it!

Whether it’s self control when working from home, getting your kids in order or to stop your busy schedule affecting others – these are the gadgets for you!

Lets start with time in the morning and work through your day with you…..

1) Alarm Call For Just You:
Why wake up the entire house when you need to get an early start for that all important meeting?  Whether it’s an annoying bleeping, or soft music – your partner or young baby do not need to hear your alarm at 05.30am.  So keep it to yourself!

That’s where the Shake-N-Wake would be perfect!  It does exactly what it sounds like – it’s a vibrating alarm that makes no sound at all – it just shakes about a bit until it wakes you up and you turn it off like a normal alarm.

You can either strap it to your wrist for maximum effect, or set it under your pillow (as long as you don’t usually rollover onto the other side during the night!

2) Clocking In First Thing:
Whether you get paid by the hour, or whether you are a boss running a tight ship – you need a clocking in system that works.  But the old ‘punch cards’ style can be tricked by friends using each others cards through the day to make it look like they were ‘on time’ or didn’t leave early all the time.

Well, the Ethernet Time Clock is almost 100% fail-proof.  It uses biometrics to check individual finger prints for the time stamp – eliminating wasted money and time in the workplace.

3) Wasting Time In Meetings:
Now you can prove to your boss that their weekly meetings really are costing them too much money by using a new gadget called TIM.  Basically – with a bit of programming – can work out how much your time is worth – and then he will clock up how much money you waste in generic meetings week after week.

Time is money these days, so this can also be used to calculate how much time/money you are worth when you are surfing the net for business research, or when running your own business – you can find out how much it actually costs you in time to drive to meetings or clients houses!

4) Better Planning Can Save Time:
We all know that sitting in traffic is a waste of your time and therefore your money – so why not plan ahead to avoid busy routes, avoid roadworks and everything else in life that wastes your time.

Plan better with a (not in existence at the moment) Apple iWatch!  There have been a few articles recently on the internet that refer to an idea of having a fantastic typically ‘Apple-looking’ giant wrist watch!  Obviously it would like up wireless to all your other gadgets – and you could even talk into it like a spy!

Some of the articles say that there might even be the chance that it can play movies – just like IN the movies!  Cool!!!!

5) And Even For The Kids:
Don’t save all the great gadgets for yourself!  Get you kids in the mood for some time-scheduling too.

Whether it’s learning an new language, music lessons or playing on the computer or games station – get the kids to control their own time from an early age.  By setting the timer on the Time Tracker, you can get repeated alarms, nice melodies or you can even put it on a pause.

No more ‘…. just another 10 minutes, Dad!’ You can set this in stone now – set their own clock to prove it!

Now, Come along – spit spot!