Tuesday 29 January 2013
Monday 28 January 2013
Modern Meadow aims to print raw meat using bioprinter
When you buy some beef at the butcher's, you know it comes from cattle that once mooed and chewed.
But imagine if this cut of meat, just perfect for your Sunday
dinner, had been made from scratch - without slaughtering any animal.
US start-up Modern Meadow believes it can do just that - by making artificial raw meat using a 3D bioprinter.
Peter Thiel, one of Silicon Valley's most prominent venture
capitalists, Paypal co-founder and early Facebook investor, has just
backed the company with $350,000 (£218,000).
Set up by father-son team Gabor and Andras Forgacs, the start-up wants to take 3D printing to a whole new level.
For three-dimensional printing, solid objects are made from a
digital model. It's also known as additive manufacturing: to make the
structure tiny droplets are "printed" - layer by layer - via a carefully
controlled inkjet nozzle.
Between the pear and the cheese, combing the giraffe is a monkey sandwich story
It was my French flatmate who alerted me to the clunkiness of British idioms. She taught me tenir la chandelle
– the eloquently captured French idiom for the third wheel on a date.
The image of a third person holding up a candle while two lovebirds
enjoy a dimly lit dinner is perfectly rational. You can imagine Miranda
Hart doing it for Carla Bruni and Nicolas Sarkozy.
The English
equivalent – playing gooseberry – is frumpy and seemingly obscure. The
etymology is less allegorical here: the "gooseberry" is the unwanted
guest; it was once synonymous with the devil, or a bored chaperone idly
picking bitter fruit while two lovers sneak off to expose a daring bit
of ankle to one another in a nook of the orchard.
The pun conundrum
To pun or not to pun,
that is the question. The lowest form of wordplay, or an ancient art
form embraced by the likes of Jesus and Shakespeare, asks Sally Davies.
No pun is an island. Within less than a mile of my house in Brooklyn, a wanderer will find:
- Fish & Sip, a coffee and seafood joint
- Prospect Perk Cafe, an allusion to the restorative properties of caffeine and of nearby Prospect Park
- The Winey Neighbor, a liquor store that pays homage to the venerable New York tradition of grumbling about the noise from the apartment next door
Take Summer Classes At Oxford, No Exams Required
A suggestion for your first and best new year’s resolution: learn something! England’s legendary Oxford University,
surely the oldest (almost a thousand years,) most prestigious in the
English-speaking world, is offering a way to do it without the burden of
papers and exams.
The vast and varied menu of more than 60 summer courses, called “The Oxford Experience,” is an intellectual smorgasbord – - a few that caught my eye:
From Rasputin to Putin • Cathedrals of Britain • The Victorian and
Edwardian Home • Spies in British Fiction • The Operas of Verdi.
3-D-Drucker: Revolution aus der Düse
Ein kleiner Laden in Manhattan soll das Epizentrum der nächsten
industriellen Revolution werden. Das Unternehmen MakerBot verkauft dort
3-D-Drucker, mit denen jeder Privatkunde Tassen, Lampen und alle
möglichen anderen Objekte herstellen kann.
Architekturprojekt: Dieses Haus wird in 3D gedruckt
Kann man Häuser drucken? Ein niederländisches Architekturbüro
glaubt daran und will jetzt ein komplettes Gebäude mit einem riesigen
3-D-Drucker erstellen. Als Designvorlage dient das berühmte Möbiusband -
es gibt bereits viele Interessenten.
Architect plans 3D-printed buildings
An architect in Holland has revealed plans to 3D print buildings inspired by the Earth's landscape.
The buildings are designed to resemble a giant mobius strip - a continuous loop with only one side.
Janjaap Ruijssenaars hopes to create the buildings, which he
estimates will cost 4-5 million euros (£3.3- £4.2m), all around the
world.
Museums, visitor centres and private individuals had already expressed interest, he said.
Mr Ruijssenaars is working with large-scale 3D printing expert Enrico Dini on the project.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21121061
How Multitasking Hurts Your Brain (and Your Effectiveness at Work)
In a world of multitasking and constant distractions — from the ping of
texts and emails to everyone having to wear more hats at work than they
used to — time management is one of the biggest challenges. We might
feel like we’re doing more — and, in a way, we are — but we’re actually
getting less done in the process. So, is it possible in this day and age
to streamline your work style, be more productive and get back some
time in your day to focus on big picture stuff, strategy.
Why did men stop wearing high heels?
For generations they have signified femininity and glamour - but a pair of high heels was once an essential accessory for men.
Beautiful, provocative, sexy - high heels may be all these
things and more, but even their most ardent fans wouldn't claim they
were practical.
They're no good for hiking or driving. They get stuck in
things. Women in heels are advised to stay off the grass - and also ice,
cobbled streets and posh floors.
And high heels don't tend to be very comfortable. It is almost as though they just weren't designed for walking in.
Originally, they weren't.
Who Will Control What We 3-D Print?
Last January, the Swedish BitTorrent tracker Pirate Bay quietly
introduced a new category, called Physibles, to its inventory. “We
believe that things like three-dimensional printers, scanners, and such
are just the first step,” one of the site’s managers wrote at the time.
“We believe that in the nearby future you will print your spare parts
for your vehicles. You will download your sneakers within 20 years.”
Monday 14 January 2013
New York, a graveyard for languages
Home to around 800
different languages, New York is a delight for linguists, but also
provides a rich hunting ground for those trying to document languages
threatened with extinction.
To hear the many languages of New York, just board the subway.
The number 7 line, which leads from Flushing in Queens to
Times Square in the heart of Manhattan takes you on a journey which
would thrill the heart of a linguistic anthropologist.
Each stop along the line takes you into a different linguistic universe - Korean, Chinese, Spanish, Bengali, Gujarati, Nepali.
And it is not just the language spoken on the streets that changes.
Street signs and business names are also transformed, even
those advertising the services of major multinational banks or hotel
chains.
In the subway, the information signs warning passengers to avoid the electrified rails are written in seven different languageshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20716344
Eine Mülltonne als Wohnung für arme Rentner
In der Wohntonne des Designstudenten Philipp Stingl gibt es statt Müll
einen Mini-Haushalt. Im Interview sagt er, warum sein Werk die
Altersarmutsdebatte widerspiegelt.
Don't confuse your audience. Six tips for great presentations
The big problem with business presentations is not boredom but rather
confusion, argues author Dave Paradi. Sure, there are times when
presentations are dull, with little information transmitted.
But
more often, says the Mississauga, Ont.-based presentations consultant,
the audience can’t pierce to the heart of the message because the
information is presented so poorly.
Ten questions to ask during a job interview
After months of searching, you’ve finally landed an interview for the
job of your dreams. You’ve chosen your wardrobe, you've Googled the
company so you can intelligently discuss the issues, and you've
considered the questions you could be asked. That’s fine. But if you
haven’t brushed up on the questions you want to ask the interviewer,
you’re neglecting a key part of your preparation – the part that might
win you the job.
Unlucky 2013?
Twenty-thirteen: for most people, another year, much like 2011 or 2012,
nothing special. Okay, the United Nations says it will be the
International Year of Water Co-operation and also the International Year
of Quinoa. If that doesn’t seem special enough (quinoa is, after all,
only a vegetable), maybe this will: 2013 will be the first year since
1987 to have all digits different from one another. Interestingly (to
some people), 20 and 13 add up to 33, which numerologists—crackpots who
assign mystical significance to certain numbers—consider a “highly
charged master number”, full of meaning. But not all crackpots are
numerologists. Some are triskaidekaphobiacs, and for them the prospect
of 2013 is not so much interesting as terrifying.
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