Alan+J

As this year ends, the seniors in our class will go off to college seeking a higher education while the rest of us progress through high school, picking up the skills needed to go to college ourselves. With the education, comes the responsibility that we use, share and teach to benefit the rest of the world. Poverty, terrorism and global warming along with many many other global issues remain unsolved, plaguing the world. After being told countless times this year that we will be the ones that will change the world, I feel that is important that we get started. media type="custom" key="23279846" width="70" height="70" align="left"media type="custom" key="23279850" width="100" height="100" This TED talk features the invention [|MaKey MaKey], a kit that allows the user to change how the world works around them. By combining objects that would normally never work together, speaker Jay Silver shares an idea that should be encouraged much more throughout all levels of education. Although the project itself is really cool conceptually, the important thing is the way it works. This toy, tool or invention is run solely by the belief that people all have the ability to change the future. As Silver explains, it is difficult to realize the true potential of an object once a purpose has been given to it. When given a book, everyone can say that it exists so that it can be read. This perception inhibits creativity by placing a guaranteed method to which it is to be used. Only those who do not know how a book works, much like the baby in the video are willing to do other things with it other than open it and flip through the pages. The MaKey MaKey encourages its users to look upon the entire world as a construction kit and by doing so, opens up limitless possibilities. The ideas that are being created now are clearly ineffective with the amount of problems we have in the world and it is time to think differently and with creativity acting as our vehicle of choice, its possible for everyone to change the future.

About 70% of the Earth is covered in water yet without fail, we as humans struggle to share this luxury among us, wasting and polluting it while others suffer without it. In actuality, only about 3% of the water is freshwater and able to sustain us and an even less amount available to humans. Despite this, many do not see the importance of preserving this clearly limited resource, a decision that may eventually decimate life on Earth. Many first world country inhabitants in particular cannot fathom that other people live poorer lives leading to some of these [|absurd statistics]. Just to name a few, The Water Project estimates that 1 in 8 people do not have safe drinking water and a stunning 80% of diseases in developing countries are directly linked to poor water and sanitation reasons.

media type="custom" key="23224348" width="120" height="1.5; height: 120" align="left"In this TED talk, Ludwick Marishane, who was 17 at the time, created what is known today as [|DryBath]. Driven by his dislike of baths, Ludwick created a lotion that would basically act as a cleaning agent so that it could substitute as a bath without water. However, what started as a fun project that would get him out of bathing, instead became a mission to help his entire continent once he found out how many people in Africa lacked water and the detriments the paucity caused. 4 years later, Ludwick created the DryBath which allows people without water maintain a level of hygiene to ward off diseases and infections. Ironically enough, the product appealed to rich children who had all the water they would ever need, allowing them to save 80 liters per bath and further highlighting the enormous gap between the rich and poor. Whereas one eagerly sought the product because they needed to, the other eagerly bought up the product because they wanted to. "A rich man's convenience, and a poor man's lifesaver", Ludwick Marishane created a product that will hopefully make a sizable dent in the world's water crisis.

On a side note, this particular water conserving solution interested me because of the way it was created. With a simple motivation and even simpler tools, Ludwick became the youngest patent holder in South Africa with little more than a high school education. With only a Nokia 6234, he researched, wrote a 40 page business plan and also wrote his patent leaving viewers with a motivating quote at the end, "On the gravel streets of Limpopo, with an allowance of 50 rands a week, I came up with a way for the world not to bathe. What's stopping you?"

A trip to Robbins park this week followed by finding hundreds of macro-invertebrate looking through microscopes revealed extraordinary forms of life that otherwise go unnoticed. In particular, at site 10, an ordinary knee high plant was covered with yellow spots at the top looking much like pollen. However, upon closer inspection, these small yellow dots were moving on 8 tiny legs confirming that on this plant, there were at least 200 spiders clumped in a web smaller than our wiffle ball. These small things often are overlooked, yet they could potentially contribute vast amounts of information to humans.

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In this Ted talk, Cheryl Hayashi talks about the incredible capabilities of spiders and their silk. Found in fossils dating back to 380 million years ago, spiders and their silk have survived throughout the years developing over 40,000 species. Used for reproduction, protection, foraging and safety draglines, spider silk is essential to spiders and are versatile in use. Each species of spiders can make 7 different types of silk and all spiders produce silk in at least one part of their lives. Dubbing it as " one of the most high-performance materials known to man”, Hayashi is studying new ways to implement this material so that humans can benefit. In a study done with 21 different species of spiders, 19 of the them had tougher dragline silk than nylon fiber, silkworm silk, wool, Kevlar and carbon fiber.

This [|link] talks about the potential uses of spider silk which include lighter, strong bulletproof clothing, artificial skin, better and biodegradable bandages and stitches, gentler airbags and elastic ligaments. The reality is that spider silk is up to three times stronger than steel while far more flexible and biodegradable. In other words, it actually is one of the most high-performance materials known to man. The problem is that spiders are extremely territorial making it extremely difficult to create spider farms which does not give us a practical method of harvesting this silk. Written in January, this [|article] is about Franz Vollrath, a researcher at Oxford University, and his discovery of the most efficient method of harvesting silk to date. Able to produce 2 centimeters of silk per second, this technique may have a huge impact on spider silk technology.



Over the course of history, humans have overcome their physical deficiencies by utilizing their intellectual gifts, creating basic tools to aid them in survival. However, as technology becomes more advanced and complex, we've learned that while we as a species do reduced amounts of work with the implementation of technology, the Earth must often supply the rest of the energy in our stead. Burning away these valuable nonrenewable resources, technologies are evolving far too quickly for us to discover more resources to fuel them. As Alex Steffen said in the TED talk we watched this week, continuing the rate at which we use these fossil fuels and other such resources would result in the need for ten planets to sustain us. With a growing population and only one planet, the need to conserve resources and to find alternative sources of fuel has gained awareness around the world. A key concept of sustainability, conserving our already dwindling supplies to benefit humanity has made large steps forward to make our steps or footprints smaller. media type="custom" key="23084154" width="70" height="70" [|Soccket, a soccer ball that generates electricity] Coming across this article on yahoo.com, where all news headlines look interesting, my week one page wrote itself for me as I watched how far technology has come and how much emphasis is being put on this issue. In this video, it shows a soccer ball that converts kinetic energy, from when it is being kicked around, into electricity by storing it into a battery so that it can be used as a source of light later. Dubbed Soccket, the ball contains a spinning weight that powers a miniature generator much like how wind powers wind turbines. With only 30 minutes of play, an LED can shine for up to 3 hours, illuminating third world countries without electricity.

Another invention that intrigued me, the underwater kite uses the pull of ocean currents to convert kinetic energy much like the Soccket. Following the link found in the title, a Huffington post article explains the details.

As the mass of the moon pulls the tides of ocean waves, these kites use the tidal energy to produce electricity. Flying in a figure 8 shape, the kites house generators that are powered by water flow. Since these kites only need the ocean tide to generate energy, they would become an ultra-reliable source, as tidal forces are always present and extremely predictable. Having received over $560,000 over a 2 year span, Minesto, the company behind this project, continues to push this piece of technology forward, hoping that this investment will yield worthwhile results future of mankind. media type="youtube" key="1qCDRj8TE9Y?feature=player_embedded" height="324" width="576" align="right"