Innovation is about finding a better way of doing something. Like many of the new development buzzwords (which many of them are over-used on many business documents), the concept of innovation originates from the world of business. It refers to the generation of new products through the process of creative entrepreneurship, putting it into production, and diffusing it more widely through increased sales. Innovation can be viewed as t he application of better solutions that meet new requirements, in-articulated needs, or existing market needs. This is accomplished through more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are readily available to markets, governments and society. The term innovation can be defined as something original and, as a consequence, new, that “breaks into” the market or society.
Innoveracy: Misunderstanding Innovation article points out that there is a form of ignorance which seems to be universal: the inability to understand the concept and role of innovation. The way this is exhibited is in the misuse of the term and the inability to discern the difference between novelty, creation, invention and innovation. The result is a failure to understand the causes of success and failure in business and hence the conditions that lead to economic growth. The definition of innovation is easy to find but it seems to be hard to understand. Here is a simple taxonomy of related activities that put innovation in context:
- Novelty: Something new
- Creation: Something new and valuable
- Invention: Something new, having potential value through utility
- Innovation: Something new and uniquely useful
The taxonomy is illustrated with the following diagram.
The differences are also evident in the mechanisms that exist to protect the works: Novelties are usually not protectable, Creations are protected by copyright or trademark, Inventions can be protected for a limited time through patents (or kept secret) and Innovations can be protected through market competition but are not defensible through legal means.
Innovation is a lot of talked about nowdays as essential to businesses to do. Is innovation essential for development work? article tells that innovation has become central to the way development organisations go about their work. In November 2011, Bill Gates told the G20 that innovation was the key to development. Donors increasingly stress innovation as a key condition for funding, and many civil society organisations emphasise that innovation is central to the work they do.
Some innovation ideas are pretty simple, and some are much more complicated and even sound crazy when heard first. The is place for crazy sounding ideas: venture capitalists are gravely concerned that the tech startups they’re investing in just aren’t crazy enough:
Not all development problems require new solutions, sometimes you just need to use old things in a slightly new way. Development innovations may involve devising technology (such as a nanotech water treatment kit), creating a new approach (such as microfinance), finding a better way of delivering public services (such as one-stop egovernment service centres), identifying ways of working with communities (such as participation), or generating a management technique (such as organisation learning).
Theorists of innovation identify innovation itself as a brief moment of creativity, to be followed by the main routine work of producing and selling the innovation. When it comes to development, things are more complicated. Innovation needs to be viewed as tool, not master. Innovation is a process, not a one time event. Genuine innovation is valuable but rare.
There are many views on the innovation and innvation process. I try to collect together there some views I have found on-line. Hopefully they help you more than confuze. Managing complexity and reducing risk article has this drawing which I think pretty well describes innovation as done in product development:
8 essential practices of successful innovation from The Innovator’s Way shows essential practices in innovation process. Those practices are all integrated into a non-sequential, coherent whole and style in the person of the innovator.
In the IT work there is lots of work where a little thinking can be a source of innovation. Automating IT processes can be a huge time saver or it can fail depending on situation. XKCD comic strip Automation as illustrates this:
System integration is a critical element in project design article has an interesting project cost influence graphic. The recommendation is to involve a system integrator early in project design to help ensure high-quality projects that satisfy project requirements. Of course this article tries to market system integration services, but has also valid points to consider.
Core Contributor Loop (CTTDC) from Art Journal blog posting Blog Is The New Black tries to link inventing an idea to theory of entrepreneurship. It is essential to tune the engine by making improvements in product, marketing, code, design and operations.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientists Discovered How to Control the Casimir Effect—and Supercharge Tiny Machines
The breakthrough clears the way for smarter, more agile nanotech.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a61148470/casimir-effect-control-nanotech-breakthrough/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kvanttidataa lähettiin kuidussa ensimmäistä kertaa
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/16358-kvanttidataa-laehettiin-kuidussa-ensimmaeistae-kertaa
Kvanttitietokoneiden kehittyessä yksi tutkimuksen aiheita on se, miten kvanttikoneiden dataa voisi lähettää internetissä. Tällä hetkellä kvanttitieto on epävakaata, pitkien etäisyyksien päässä ja kvanttibitit eli kubitit katoavat helposti tai pirstoutuvat lähetyksen aikana.
Klassisia bittejä lähetetään nykyään valopulsseina kuituoptisten kaapeleiden yli. Signaaleja vahvistetaan toistimilla matkan varrella. Jotta kubitteja voisi lähettää samalla tavoin, tarvitaan laitteita, verkon yli riippumatta siitä, kuinka pitkälle datan on kuljettava.
Tällaisia laitteita on tutkittu Lontoon Imperial Collegessa, Southamptonin yliopistossa sekä Stuttgartin ja Wurzburgin yliopistoissa Saksassa. Tutkijat väittävät nyt lähettäneensä kubitteja ensimmäistä kertaa tavallisten valokuitukaapeleiden yli. Tulokset on julkaistu Scientific Advances -lehdessä.
Tomi Engdahl says:
PillBot may revolutionize stomach cancer detection via telemedicine. https://ie.social/V0Kbg
Tomi Engdahl says:
MIT Predicted the Collapse of Today’s Society in 1972. And We’re Right On Track.
MIT’s 1972 World3 model was strikingly accurate, based on modern data.
https://interestingengineering.com/science/mit-predicted-the-collapse-of-todays-society-in-1972-and-were-still-on-track
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a61145577/mysterious-microwave-emitting-object-milky-way-discovery/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2024/06/18/the-guinness-brewery-invented-one-of-sciences-most-important-statistical-tools/
The Guinness brewery has a long history of innovation, but did you know that it was the birthplace of the t-test? A t-test is usually what underpins a declaration of results being “statistically significant”. Scientific American has a fascinating article all about how the Guinness brewery (and one experimental brewer in particular) brought it into being, with ramifications far beyond that of brewing better beer.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-guinness-brewery-invented-the-most-important-statistical-method-in/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2024/06/18/programming-robots-is-hard-figuring-out-how-to-make-it-easier-is-harder/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2024/06/24/the-book-that-could-have-killed-me/
Tomi Engdahl says:
SCIENTISTS ATTACHED LIVING, LAB-GROWN SKIN TO A ROBOT’S FACE AND IT LOOKS LIKE IT CRAVES THE SWEET RELEASE OF DEATH
https://futurism.com/the-byte/living-skin-robot-face
Remember that one movie where a killer robot is disguised as a human using “living tissue” over its “metal endoskeleton”?
Lest you interpreted that as a cautionary tale, scientists at the University of Tokyo have gone full Torment Nexus by growing living skin in a lab and attaching it to a robotic face, so that it can create rudimentary facial expressions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Maan ytimessä tapahtuu jotain outoa
Uusi tutkimus vaikuttaisi vahvistavan aiempaa kiistanalaista tutkimustulosta maan ytimen kierrosta.
https://www.iltalehti.fi/ulkomaat/a/d8e25e89-fad8-4bd5-b200-11a87db10f1a
sellerdash says:
SellerDash (Private) Limited is a powerful product hunting tool for Daraz & Lazada. With a wide array of features, SellerDash simplifies your product hunting operations, providing you with the tools you need to succeed in a highly competitive marketplace. Click here : Seller Dash
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.tweaktown.com/news/98925/study-finds-starlink-satellites-could-be-killing-the-ozone-layer/index.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a61160291/scientists-witness-black-hole-waking-up-unprecedented-event/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vaihtoehto fuusioenergialle – Tutkijat saivat yhtä hyvän tuoton helpommalla ydinreaktiolla
Atomiydinten fuusioitumisen sijaan reaktiossa siirtyy neutroni, kun atomiytimet törmäävät keskenään.
https://www.tekniikkatalous.fi/uutiset/vaihtoehto-fuusioenergialle-tutkijat-saivat-yhta-hyvan-tuoton-helpommalla-ydinreaktiolla/2d62b4a6-edee-4472-bc59-b81f3079d761#Echobox=1719292802
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://iai.tv/articles/modern-problems-require-medieval-solutions-auid-2873
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://techxplore.com/news/2024-06-thermal-safety-high-capacity-lithium.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iflscience.com/physicists-accidentally-discover-a-whole-new-way-to-write-pi-74768
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://iai.tv/articles/reality-and-objective-truth-diverge-auid-2868
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mathematicians Are Suddenly Rethinking the Equal Sign
The simple symbol we’ve known forever may be fundamentally flawed.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a61042424/mathematicians-rethinking-equal-sign/
All equals are not created equal—mathematicians sometimes play fast and loose.
In programming, equal signs mean different things, and variables have different types.
Turning intuitive math expertise into step-by-step coded proofs involves filling in some “holes.”
In a new preprint paper—which, for context, is not peer reviewed, and is more of an editorial or set of observations than a theory or study—mathematician Kevin Buzzard is grappling with a simple idea from coding that becomes a “thornier concept” when translated into math: what does the equal sign actually mean? And what does it not mean?
Buzzard has been in the news for his efforts to turn classic math proofs into code that can be verified by a computer, including Fermat’s Last Theorem. For him, as a classically trained mathematician, the world of computer code includes some surprises.
Buzzard learned something that every Coding 101 student learns pretty quickly, whether in class or by doing it wrong in their work. In coding, there are different kinds of equal, and you have to completely work through some of the steps the human mind easily skips over when doing math in order to code properly. “The three-character string ‘2 + 2,’ typed into a computer algebra system, is not equal to the one-character string ‘4’ output by the system, for example; some sort of ‘processing’ has taken place,” Buzzard wrote.
Before any “keyboard warriors” start trying to alert the world that this is overcomplicating things or somehow undermining tradition, it’s important to remember that just because something is an edge case, that doesn’t mean it isn’t important and worth discussing. And there’s actually a lot of nuance to be addressed in this particular discussion: should the same equal sign account for terms you’ve rounded up or down? Does the equal sign cover all of the necessary bases if we imply the passage of time between one side and the other (like, for example, how two chickens eventually become three)?
This is not a question of redefining anything in mathematics—it’s one of precision and intention.
Buzzard points out a specific moment where Grothendieck doesn’t just loosely type—he asks math peers to understand when he uses an entirely new term, “canonically isomorphic,” as a new variety of equality. “Lean would tell Grothendieck that this equality simply isn’t true and would stubbornly point out any place where it was used. Let me emphasize once more: Grothendieck was well aware of what he was saying, but Lean would argue that he was confusing = and ≅,” Buzzard explained.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Food Trends 2025 – This is how we will eat in the future
https://www.ktchnrebel.com/food-trends-2025/
What can the Food Trends 2025 do? How do they influence each other? And what opportunities does this open up for the gastronomy and food industry?
2025 there will be no radical innovations or changes to the food trends in 2024 or 2023. But there will be shifts, synergies and interconnected effects.
The first major food trend cluster covers the topics of health, sustainability and climate protection.
Meat is being reimagined. This includes the plant-based food trend. Despite some setbacks from large companies such as Beyond Meat or Impossible Foods, this trend will continue.
And in terms of taste, consistency and sensory senses, people are increasingly leaning towards the originals of meat, seafood and milk.
Retailers are now entering the market with cheaper private labels. But those mostly don’t impress in terms of taste, appearance and smell, and often also contain a lot of additives.
There is competition in the field of high-quality meat substitutes. There is also competition in the development of Lab grown or Cultured Meat. This is already approved in the USA and Singapore. And itcould also be introduced in the EU, Switzerland and the UK in the future.
In the medium term, the future probably belongs to plant-based protein products (including mushrooms and algae).
The second major trend cluster in the Food Report 2025 comprises two topics that appear to be contradictory at first glance: regionality and globalization.
“Waste is an invention of the industrial era,”
Today, food trends such as Zero Waste or Circular Food are focusing on encouraging an environmentally friendly approach to eating and cooking, but also on correcting the enormous amount of food waste and tons of packaging material thrown away in recent decades.
Waste is no longer seen as waste, but as a starting product for something new. Sustainable food trends and concepts such nose-to-tail and leaf-to-root are having a big impact, especially in the higher-level gastronomy sector.
However, the motivation behind this is not to avoid waste. Instead, it is to use all ingredients – whether potato peel, fish skin or left-over bread – in dishes or at least preserve them using traditional or modern cooking methods.
Digital technologies and artificial intelligence can’t compete with her here. At least not yet. Hanni Rützler says: “I personally think AI is really exciting because it gives us access to millions of data sources. It makes it very easy to measure and understand concepts here and now. You can see which products are on the market worldwide, where they are. But you can not see how they will develop and what this means for the market. There is certainly still potential for further development here too, but we aren’t there yet.”
Artificial intelligence in the gastronomy industry is generally a topic that unleashes potential but also carries risks.
https://www.ktchnrebel.com/food-trends-2025/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/06/25/microplastics-damage-the-body-like-trojan-horses-biologist/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.funidata.fi/blogi/miksi-ohjelmistokehittajan-kannattaa-meditoida-ota-vinkit-talteen
Tomi Engdahl says:
Uusi fysikaalinen ilmiö kahden erilaisen materiaalin rajapinnassa
https://www.nanobitteja.fi/uutiset.html?237236
Tsukuban ja Rennesin yliopistojen yhteistyöllä on löydetty pieniulotteisista rakenteista valoaltistuksen avulla uusi ilmiö, joka mahdollistaa ainutlaatuisen elektronien pakoreitin.
Havainto esittelee lupaavia mahdollisuuksia erilaisiin sovelluksiin, kuten nopeiden optisten rakenteiden luomiseen, elektronien ja muiden hiukkasten nopeaan hallintaan ja tehokkaaseen lämmönpoistoon laitteista.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Perovskiiteistä 1D-nanolankoja ja topologisia polaroneita
https://www.nanobitteja.fi/uutiset.html?237174
Purduen yliopiston insinöörit ovat kehittäneet patentoitavan menetelmän korkealaatuisten, kerrostettujen perovskiittien nanolankojen syntetisoimiseksi, joilla on suuret sivusuhteet ja viritettävä orgaanis-epäorgaaninen kemiallinen koostumus.
Apulaisprofessori Letian Dou kertoo, että Purduen menetelmä luo 2D-metallihalogenidiperovskiitista kerrostettuja perovskiittien nanolankoja, joissa on poikkeuksellisen hyvin määritellyt ja joustavat kaviteetit eli ontelot, joilla on laaja valikoima epätavallisia optisia ominaisuuksia tavanomaisten perovskiittien lisäksi.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Uusia toiveita sinkki-ilma akuille
https://www.nanobitteja.fi/uutiset.html?237019
TU Darmstadtin tutkijat ovat onnistuneet parantamaan merkittävästi vesipitoisten sinkki-ilma- akkujen tehokkuutta ja latausominaisuuksia.
Professori Schneiderin epäorgaanisen kemian työryhmä kehitti ongelmaan täysin uuden lähestymistavan: metallianodien ja katodien sijaan tutkijat suorittavat lataus- ja purkuprosessin suoraan homogeenisesta elektrolyyttiliuoksesta.
Elektrolyytti on olennainen osa jokaista akkua ja toimii uudessa konseptissa yhtäältä johtavana väliaineena ja toisaalta lähteenä sinkkianodin kerrostumille ja liukenemiselle. “Saostamalla ja liuottamalla aktiivisen metallisinkin suoraan liuoksesta nanorakenteiselle (VACNT) hiilielektrodille, käynnistämme paradigman muutoksen”, sanoo Daniel Deckenbach tutkimusryhmästä. “Olemme siis onnistuneet kehittämään toimivia ja tehokkaita ladattavia sinkki-ilma-akkuja.”
Uuden tekniikan avulla nämä anodittomat akut voidaan ladata yli 200 kertaa korkealla suorituskyvyllä ja energiatiheydellä.
“Koska akkukennon käyttämiseen ei tarvita metallielektrodeja ja vain vähän kemiallisia aineita, tehokkuus kasvaa merkittävästi ja saavutamme valtavia painosäästöjä verrattuna aikaisempiin sinkki-ilma varastointijärjestelmiin”, korostaa Schneider.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Täysin optinen fotonisiru tunnistaa ja käsittelee
https://www.nanobitteja.fi/uutiset.html?237041
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2024/07/02/access-to-fresh-and-potable-water-an-ancient-and-very-current-challenge/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Retrotechtacular: The Tools And Dies That Made Mass Production Possible
https://hackaday.com/2024/07/03/retrotechtacular-the-tools-and-dies-which-made-mass-production-possible/
Here at Hackaday we’re suckers for vintage promotional movies, and we’ve brought you quite a few over the years. Their boundless optimism and confidence in whatever product they are advancing is infectious, even though from time to time with hindsight we know that to have been misplaced.
For once though the subject of today’s film isn’t something problematic, instead it’s a thing we still rely on today. Precision manufacturing of almost anything still relies on precision tooling, and the National Tool and Die Manufacturers Association is on hand in the video from 1953 below the break to remind us of the importance of their work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU6nsfoNWDI
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2024/07/01/a-brief-history-of-perpetual-motion/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2024/07/01/modeling-home-heating-systems-with-circuit-simulation-software/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://iai.tv/articles/the-many-answers-to-the-quantum-measurement-problem-auid-2871
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2024/07/07/new-battery-has-no-anode/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.is.fi/tiede/art-2000010552146.html
HELSINGIN yliopiston ja HUS Helsingin yliopistollisen sairaalan tutkijat ovat onnistuneet luomaan soluja, joista ei synny syöpää. Asia selviää Helsingin yliopiston tiedotteessa
Tomi Engdahl says:
“This is the first time we have ever seen a hint of an atmosphere on a habitable zone rocky or ice-rich exoplanet.” https://trib.al/ItDw8gf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chinese researchers created a solid-state battery with a new electrolyte, reducing costs by 90%. https://ie.social/V5Aag
Tomi Engdahl says:
Myrkkyä aivoille – Nämä ruoat vaarantavat aivoterveyden, vaikka söisit muuten terveellisesti
On helppo elää luulossa, että pitkälle prosessoitua ruokaa voi nauttia maltillisesti, kunhan ruokavalio pysyy pääsääntöisesti terveellisenä. Yhdysvaltalaistutkimus haastaa käsityksen.
https://www.iltalehti.fi/elintavat/a/57789e1d-226f-486f-8c05-9d103dc0a817
Pitkittäistutkimuksesta paljastui vastikään, että maltillisetkin lisäykset ultraprosessoitua ruokaa voivat heikentää kognitiivisia toimintoja sekä kasvattaa aivohalvausriskiä. Jopa 10 prosentin nousu prosessoidun ruoan kulutuksessa voi altistaa häiriöille ja sairauksille.
Vältä tällaisia ruokia
Ultraprosessoituihin elintarvikkeisiin kuuluvat muun muassa sipsit, sokeriset välipalat, teollisesti pakatut leivät ja leivonnaiset, makeiset, sokeroidut ja makeutetut limut ja energiajuomat, pikanuudelit, valmisateriat sekä suolatut ja savustetut lihatuotteet.
Prosessoidut hiilihydraatit pilkkoutuvat elimistössä nopeasti yksinkertaisiksi sokereiksi, mistä seuraavat insuliinihuiput altistavat paitsi sydän- ja verisuonitaudeille ja tyypin 2 diabetekselle, myös suoliston ja aivotoiminnan häiriöille.
Tyypillisesti ultraprosessoitu ruoka sisältää runsaasti sokeria tai suolaa, rasvaa ja keinotekoisia väri- ja säilöntäaineita, joita lisätään ruokaan toki runsaammin Yhdysvalloissa kuin Suomessa.
Associations Between Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Adverse Brain Health Outcomes
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38776524/
Background and objectives: Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are linked to cardiometabolic diseases and neurologic outcomes, such as cognitive decline and stroke. However, it is unclear whether food processing confers neurologic risk independent of dietary pattern information. We aimed to (1) investigate associations between UPFs and incident cognitive impairment and stroke and (2) compare these associations with other commonly recommended dietary patterns in the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study. This prospective, observational cohort study enrolled Black and White adults in the United States from 2003 to 2007.
Results: The cognitive impairment cohort (n = 14,175) included participants without evidence of impairment at baseline who underwent follow-up testing. The stroke cohort (n = 20,243) included participants without a history of stroke. In multivariable Cox proportional hazards models, a 10% increase in relative intake of UPFs was associated with higher risk of cognitive impairment (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.16, 95% CI 1.09-1.24, p = 1.01 × 10-5) and intake of unprocessed or minimally processed foods with lower risk of cognitive impairment (HR = 0.88, 95% CI 0.83-0.94, p = 1.83 × 10-4). Greater intake of UPFs (HR = 1.08, 95% CI 1.02-1.14, p = 1.12 × 10-2) and unprocessed or minimally processed foods (HR = 0.91, 95% CI 0.86-0.95, p = 2.13 × 10-4) were also associated with risk of stroke in multivariable Cox models. The effect of UPFs on stroke risk was greater among Black than White participants (UPF-by-race interaction HR = 1.15, 95% CI 1.03-1.29, p = 1.50 × 10-2). Associations between UPFs and both cognitive impairment and stroke were independent of adherence to the Mediterranean, DASH, and MIND diets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2024/07/10/supercon-2023-why-more-hackers-should-earn-their-wings/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Researchers realize time reversal through input-output indefiniteness
https://phys.org/news/2024-07-reversal-output-indefiniteness.html
A research team has constructed a coherent superposition of quantum evolution with two opposite directions in a photonic system and confirmed its advantage in characterizing input-output indefiniteness. The study was published in Physical Review Letters.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A new approach to realize quantum mechanical squeezing
https://phys.org/news/2024-07-approach-quantum-mechanical.html#google_vignette
Tomi Engdahl says:
New technique offers unprecedented control over light at terahertz frequencies
https://phys.org/news/2024-07-technique-unprecedented-terahertz-frequencies.html
Researchers have developed a novel method for generating structured terahertz light beams using programmable spintronic emitters. This breakthrough offers a significant leap forward in terahertz technology, enabling the generation and manipulation of light with both spin and orbital angular momentum at these frequencies for the first time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Researchers grow 1D sub-1nm transistor
https://www.eenewseurope.com/en/researchers-grow-1d-sub-1nm-transistor/
Researchers in Korea have grown two and one dimensional structures on silicon to build a transistor with a gate electrode of under 1nm.
The team led by Director JO Moon-Ho of the Center for Van der Waals Quantum Solids within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) has implemented a novel method to achieve epitaxial growth of 1D metallic materials with a width of less than 1nm. The group applied this process to develop a new structure for 2D semiconductor logic circuits with the 1D metals as a gate electrode.
The International Roadmap for Devices and Systems (IRDS) by the IEEE predicts semiconductor node technology to reach around 0.5 nm by 2037, with transistor gate lengths of 12 nm. The research team demonstrated that the channel width modulated by the electric field applied from the 1D MTB gate can be as small as 3.9 nm, significantly exceeding the futuristic prediction.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What causes migraines? Study of ‘brain blackout’ offers clues
The blinding headaches are poorly understood — a mouse study suggests that the content of spinal fluid is a trigger for pain.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02222-x#Echobox=1720178069-1
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why the Mystery of Consciousness Is Deeper Than We Thought
Despite great progress, we lack even the beginning of an explanation of how the brain produces our inner world of colors, sounds, smells and tastes. A thought experiment with “pain-pleasure” zombies illustrates that the mystery is deeper than we thought
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-mystery-of-consciousness-is-deeper-than-we-thought/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Does Being Creative Help Your Mental Health?
https://mdpiblog.wordpress.sciforum.net/2024/07/04/does-being-creative-help-your-mental-health/
Creativity comes in many different forms, the most obvious being things like painting, drawing, and writing. It also encompasses things like creative thinking and strategizing. People have always reveled in the process of being creative. Some people are creative for their jobs or have a business selling the things they create. But apart from monetary gain, what else do people gain from being creative?
Some create for no other reason other than the feeling of joy they obtain from the activity. It leaves the question, how does being creative affect our mental health?
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/people/2024/07/07/do-plastic-chopping-boards-shed-microplastics-into-food/
Tomi Engdahl says:
It’s not them, it’s us: the real reason teens are ‘addicted’ to video games
https://www.theguardian.com/games/article/2024/jul/09/its-not-them-its-us-the-real-reason-teens-are-addicted-to-video-games
On Sunday the Observer magazine published a sensitive piece about video game addiction, speaking to therapists working in the sector and one affected family. Genuine, compulsive, life-altering addiction, whether to video games or anything else, is of course devastating for those affected by it. Since the WHO classified gaming addiction as a specific disorder in 2018 (distinct from technology addiction), the specialist National Centre for Gaming Disorders set up in the UK has treated just over 1,000 patients. Thankfully, the numbers suggest it is rare, affecting less than 1% of the 88% of teenagers who play games.
Tomi Engdahl says:
And even without parental anxiety hemming them in: where are teens to go? In the last decade, YMCA data shows that more than 4,500 youth work jobs have been cut and 750 youth centres shut down. According to the Music Venue Trust, two grassroots music venues are closing every week. The nightclub industry is in freefall. Teenagers can’t hang around in parks without arousing the suspicion of overprotective adults who have decided these rare recreational spaces belong to their toddlers alone; city squares and skate parks and pedestrian zones that were once public are now being insidiously privatised, monitored via CCTV and policed by private security guards.
No wonder then, that teens withdraw to online video game worlds, the last spaces they have left that remain unmediated by their parents or other authority figures – the last places where they are mostly beyond the reach of adult control.
https://www.theguardian.com/games/article/2024/jul/09/its-not-them-its-us-the-real-reason-teens-are-addicted-to-video-games
Tomi Engdahl says:
Photons from quantum dot emitters violate Bell inequality in new study
https://phys.org/news/2024-07-quantum-dot-photon-emitters-violate.html#google_vignette
A new study in Nature Physics demonstrates a novel method for generating quantum entanglement using a quantum dot, which violates the Bell inequality. This method uses ultra-low power levels and could pave the way for scalable and efficient quantum technologies.
Quantum entanglement is a requirement for quantum computing technologies. In this phenomenon, qubits (quantum bits)—the building blocks of quantum computers—become correlated irrespective of their physical distance.
This means that if the property of one qubit is measured, it impacts the other one. Quantum entanglement is verified through the Bell inequality, a theorem that tests the validity of quantum mechanics by measuring entangled qubits.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New shapes of photons open doors to advanced optical technologies
https://phys.org/news/2024-07-photons-doors-advanced-optical-technologies.html
Researchers from the University of Twente in the Netherlands have gained important insights into photons, the elementary particles that make up light. They ‘behave’ in an amazingly greater variety than electrons surrounding atoms, while also being much easier to control.
These new insights have broad applications from smart LED lighting to new photonic bits of information controlled with quantum circuits, to sensitive nanosensors. Their results are published in Physical Review B.
In atoms, minuscule elementary particles called electrons occupy regions around the nucleus in shapes called orbitals. These orbitals give the probability of finding an electron in a particular region of space. Quantum mechanics determines the shape and energy of these orbitals. Similarly to electrons, researchers describe the region of space where a photon is most likely found with orbitals too.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Curb ‘stupid plastics’ and stop industry BS: urgent actions to prevent a plastic crisis
The worst of microplastics is yet to come. Here’s what we need to do now to begin mitigating the wide-ranging harms
https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/article/2024/jul/09/microplastics-health-crisis