Good Fact

Soros Funding New Ways to Think About the Economy

- Adam Clare

Billionaire George Soros has provided $50 million to establish the Institute for New Economic Thinking that looks to rethink how modern economies work. Modern capitalism is need of a complete overhaul given the ongoing global struggles countries are having running and improving their economies – let alone improving the lives of their people.

It’s good to see that even the people who profited from modern capitalism see it’s failures and want to fix them.

What does the institute aim to achieve?

A radical reorientation of economic theory. Exactly what shape it will take is impossible to predict, but I hope it will recognise the fundamental uncertainties in our economic system. These uncertainties have been ignored for the past 25 years.

Wouldn’t it be better to eliminate the uncertainties, so we can avoid a repeat of the financial crisis of 2008?

We will never be able to do that. There will always be a threat of instability – it’s built into the market. You can’t avoid it, but you can be aware of it. Perfection might be unattainable, but we can become less imperfect by recognising the imperfections.

Tell me about some of the projects that have been selected for funding by the institute.

I am encouraged by the fact that INET is embracing multiple disciplines. The first round of grants have been given to people with backgrounds in law, history, medicine and science, as well as economics and finance. Several projects are taking concepts directly from science, such as the mathematics behind the spread of contagious diseases, and applying the principles to financial markets. During the financial crisis we saw instances of contagion – how a relatively small number of infected institutions made others sick.

Read the rest at the New Scientist.

Backpack Tent for Disaster Areas

- Adam Clare

When natural disasters strike people can lose their homes and end up with no place to stay. This is obviously a problem because people will have no place for shelter. Here’s a neat idea for a tent that can be carried around as a backpack or be dragged around on its wheels.

Intended toward disaster victims, the “Temp-pack” by Asher Dunn is a shelter cum cart that folds into a portable backpack for quick and easy transportation. Comprising two pieces, the body and the door, made in recycled plastic, the portable shelter folds open and snaps the door into a right angle to create a dolly. Featuring two straps, with elastic core, to be used as bungee cords, the backpack straps other items either onto the dolly or in front of the shelter when the door is closed. The backpack also includes a handle that extends upwards to roll it on two wheels, while hooks on either side of the handle add more storage options to the unit. A compartment behind the expendable handle keeps the shelter intact. Made of waterproof fabric, the shelter includes a spring steel wire frame to maintain a freestanding tent structure and extend outward up to seven feet, resting the occupant in comfort. Users may simply push one end of the tent to fold it safely within the backpack.

See it at the Design Blog.

Good Ideas from 2010

- Adam Clare

Foreign Policy magazine has compiled a list of some of the best ideas from 2010. It’s an inspiring list that should make everyone feel a little more hopeful for the future of humanity.

And yet, all the bad news came with a surprising upside. Driven by the need to do more with less, the year’s boldest innovators turned up better, simpler ways to use our shrinking resources to improve global quality of life: ideas like creating demand for development so that poor people can better help themselves and handing money directly to those who need it, as well as new approaches to measuring and mapping that offer better, faster information about what aid needs to go where. This moment of global insecurity has also called into doubt some old shibboleths — not least that national borders as we know them are good and that resource wealth is bad.

In what sometimes looked like the worst of times, it was actually the best of times for ideas — and these ideas will shape how the world recovers in the years to come.

Read the selection of good ideas here.

Science is Great!

- Adam Clare

publicscience.ca is designed to educate the Canadian population about how great science and knowledge is. This a direct reaction to the direct attacks that research, science, and innovation have been under since the Conservative government took power. It’s really good to see scientists taking a stand and promoting all the reasons that science and research makes the world a better place!

It can also highlight important work that is already on the public record but may not be getting the attention it deserves. Of course, scientists who work for the Canadian people must be answerable for the dollars they spend. But too often, critiques of government science begin and end with knee-jerk scoffing when the topics seem frivolous to the ill-informed layman. A study on bird habitats, for example, might teach us something important about the environmental impact of public policy.

Ottawa is a government town. Part of what that means — although Ottawans themselves are prone to forget this — is that it’s a research town. Citizens have a duty to be informed about the world around them. Government has a duty to, at the very least, not get in their way.

Read more

New Type of Styrofoam is Biodegradable

- Adam Clare

Styrofoam lasts a very long time and is thus a large problem for the environment, yet people still like cups so what are we to do? The answer is to make those drink holders out of milk and clay!

The research began with an accidental discovery in the lab. One of Schiraldi’s students freeze-dried clay and got something intriguing enough to warrant a closer look. So, the team started mixing the clay with a variety of materials.

When they added a cow’s milk protein called casein, they ended up with a super-light, fluffy, and foam-like material. With further experimentation, they hit on a recipe that worked well enough for publication in the journal Biomacromolecules.

“The process,” Schiraldi said, “is simplicity itself.”

The researchers start by throwing a scoop of clay and some water into a kitchen blender. Two minutes of mixing produces what Schiraldi’s students call a clay smoothie.

Next, they add some casein powder, a dried version of the most common protein in milk. The final ingredient is a tiny amount of a glycerol-based material, which basically stiffens up the solution’s chemical bonds.

After running the blender one last time, the scientists pour the dirty-looking water into molds and freeze them like ice-cubes. Then, they freeze-dry it get all the water out.

The result, Schiraldi said, is a material that has all the same properties of Styrofoam, but is 98 percent bio-based. At 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit), the milk-containing foam lets out a few drops of water. But it stays sturdy up to 200 degrees Celsius (392 degrees Fahrenheit).

In tests conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, close to a third of the new material broke down after about 45 days in industrial compost conditions. That’s a huge environmental leap beyond Styrofoam and other types of Expanded Polystyrene Foam, a category of materials that is often used as disposable packaging for electronics and other products.

“Compared to expanded polystyrene foam, we’re in a different league,” Schiraldi said. “Styrofoam lives forever.”

Read the rest at Discovery News

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