David Lidsky's Blog, page 3279
April 22, 2014
Getting Planes To Their Destinations Faster, Through The Power Of Data
With its Flight Quest contest, GE is crowdsourcing solutions for better flight planning, to save time and emissions.
It seems like it should be relatively simple math to plan the most efficient route for an airplane. But for airlines trying to get thousands of airplanes to destinations around the world, on time and safely, it gets to be an extremely complex problem, especially when a single last-minute change to a flight can create a ripple effect in the routing of dozens of other flights.
April 21, 2014
Scientists Discovered A Way To Create Graphene Using Common Kitchen Tools
Just mix some graphite powder with dish soap in a blender--and voila: graphene.
Graphene has been hailed as the wonder material that could revolutionize the electronics industry. It is among the lightest materials in the world, just an atom thick, but is 100 times stronger than steel. Commercial facilities have had trouble producing graphene at scale. Now, scientists in Ireland have discovered a way to create the material using common kitchen ingredients, a technique that could potentially produce graphene much faster than current methods.
Why Nike Is (Probably) Killing Off The FuelBand
Why wait for Apple to kill a bad product when you can team up instead?
On Friday, CNET reported that Nike is planning to layoff as much as 80% of the company's Digital Sport division, the team behind the Nike FuelBand. For its part, Nike is denying the scope of layoffs, but the wording of the company's statement seems to suggest that even if the scope of the layoffs is being misreported, the sneaker company could still distance itself from FuelBand and not upgrade the hardware going forward.
Barbell Denim: Jeans Built To Fit Big, Muscly Legs
Fed up with jeans that don't accommodate strong legs and a great booty, a group of athletes decided to make their own denim.
The same jeans that look divine when you're posing in front of a dressing room mirror often turn into restrictive, unwearable leg-vices when you take them home and try to bend over or sit. Those with athletic bodies--sporting bulky calves, quads, and butts--have an especially hard time finding jeans that don't cramp their active lifestyles.
How A Supervolcano Would Disrupt International Flight
The global air traffic network may be more vulnerable to natural disasters than you realize.
In April of 2010, an Icelandic volcano erupted largely without warning. It left travelers throughout Europe stranded as tons of volcanic dust and ash spewed into the atmosphere and grounded planes. By the time the airports reopened five days later, 60% of European flights had been canceled, affecting more than 100,000 travelers.
This Is Your Brain On Code, According To Functional MRI Imaging
Non-coders often associate programming with math, but researchers have used fMRI readings to discover a possible link to the language processing centers of our brains.
This story contains interviews with Christian Kästner, assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University; Amy Hirotaka, state policy and advocacy manager at Code.org; and Janet Siegmund, researcher at the University of Passau.
If Nike Kills The FuelBand, Is An iWatch Partnership With Apple Imminent?
Nike is reportedly laying off its FuelBand team to focus on fitness software, instead.
You might want to think twice about purchasing a new Nike FuelBand. Over the weekend, CNET reported that Nike has decided to stop production of the fitness bracelet, which included a slimmer version planned for the fall. Of the company's 70 FuelBand employees, 55 were reportedly let go.
The Surprising Accuracy Of Crowdsourced Predictions About The Future
Do you know whether Turkey will get a new constitution? It turns out you do: A group of well-informed citizens can predict future events more often than any foreign policy expert or CIA analyst.
If you have a question about what's going to happen next in Syria or North Korea, you might get more accurate predictions by asking a group of ordinary people than from foreign policy experts or even, possibly, CIA agents with classified information. Over the last few years, the Good Judgment Project has proven that crowdsourcing predictions is a surprisingly accurate way to forecast the future.
If Nuclear Power Is Too Dangerous For Land, Why Not Float A Plant In The Ocean?
Want to prevent another Fukushima and get rid of people's "not-in-my-backyard" concerns? MIT researchers say offshore nuclear is the way to go.
When a tsunami surged through the Fukushima nuclear power plant, cutting its systems and leaving an overheated wreck, many people wanted nothing more to do with nuclear energy. Inherently unsafe, they said. To nuclear's fans, however, the disaster was more like a challenge: Find a reactor design that isn't so vulnerable to freak events.
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