innovation
oracknows | May 20, 2016it was less than a year ago that I described a bill wending its way through Congress called the 21st Century Cures Act “old vinegary wine in a new bottle.” The reason I characterized the bill that way was because it really was nothing new and it rested on a very old fallacy, namely that the only way to speed up medical “innovation” is to weaken the FDA and its standards for drug and medical device approval, which is exactly what the 21st Century Cures Act would do if passed into law. It’s basically the American cousin to the British Saatchi Bill, which in essence proposed to do very similar…
carlyo | December 28, 2015By USA Science & Engineering Festival Founder Larry Bock
Edison´s contribution to those wondrous beacons of the holiday season is a poignant one. On a wintry night during the Christmas season of 1880 -- just weeks after introducing his revolutionary invention of the first practical incandescent light -- Edison, in a bold move to promote his new technology, wowed thousands of people in front of his Menlo Park lab with a live outdoor display of dozens of incandescent lamps strung together, creating the very first strand of electric lights. Two years later, Edison´s friend and associate,…
lborkowski | June 24, 2015Innovation in healthcare doesn't just mean new drugs and devices; sometimes, studying and updating procedures can result in big improvements for patients' health. In the New York Times, Gina Kolata reports on procedure changes hospitals have made to improve care for heart-attack patients:
With no new medical discoveries, no new technologies, no payment incentives — and little public notice — hospitals in recent years have slashed the time it takes to clear a blockage in a patient’s arteries and get blood flowing again to the heart.
The changes have been driven by a detailed analysis of the…
carlyo | December 22, 2014
As Dean Kamen, inventor of such amazing technologies as the the Segway human transporter and one of the world's most advanced robotic arm prostheses, often says: "Our nation is enamored with sports and entertainment, but how can we groom kids to become as passionate about innovation?"
At the Festival's fascinating all-day X-STEM Symposium, presented by MedImmune next spring, you'll not only meet Dean but also a compendium of other renowned STEM visionaries to explore the passion and excitement of innovation!
Prepare to be amazed and inspired as X-STEM Extreme, set for Tuesday, April 28, 2015…
carlyo | July 31, 2014Guest Blog by Diane Bock
The Age of Enlightenment is associated with intellectual exchange, reason and sharing of the new ideas. We think of names like Isaac newton, Thomas Jefferson and John Locke. Could this new way of thinking also be connected with coffee?
During this period the coffee house emerged as a social center. People from all walks of life mixed and mingled and pollinated each others' ideas. They also started consuming buckets of coffee while moving away from swilling beer morning, noon and night. Prior to that, beer was the safest beverage due to the pollution levels of water…
carlyo | April 20, 2014Guest Blog by Dr. Catherine Mohr
Senior Director of Medical Research, Intuitive Surgical
USA Science & Engineering Festival X-STEM Speaker
I work on surgical robots - at the intersection of cool, high tech, and helping people get well. One of the things I like most is that my job changes every day as I look for new technologies that might help us improve patient outcomes. For example, one day we may play with new kinds of lasers for cutting bone, the next we are looking for new less invasive ways of accessing the body to do more effective surgeries, and the next we are looking out 10 to…
carlyo | April 19, 2014Guest Blog By Bart Gordon
Our nation has a long and proud history as a global leader in the development of technological breakthroughs and the development of revolutionary products that change and save lives around the world. In recent years, however, fewer young Americans are entering fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and as a result, our global competitiveness is in jeopardy. For the past six years, the majority of patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office have been awarded to international owners, and fewer American students are pursuing advanced…
carlyo | April 18, 2014
Many people know Walmart as the largest corporate retailer in the world, but did you also realize it is a leading innovator and employer in STEM? At Festival Expo 2014, you'll discover in unforgettable ways this other side of Walmart, which this year is serving as an Americum-level Sponsor of the Festival!
Walmart's imprint on STEM is significant worldwide, and is especially noted for: developing ways to make its foods more healthful by reducing sodium, sugar and fat; designing high-tech fleet trucks; working with farmers to produce better crop yields; creating energy-efficient retail…
carlyo | February 24, 2014By Barri Gurau, Corporate Energy Initiatives
Lockheed Martin
How long do you think it took for the world’s population to reach 1 billion? It took more than a century for the world’s population to double to 2 billion, which we reached in the 1930s. Since then, the population has grown at an incredible rate to more than seven billion and by 2050, an estimated nine billion people will inhabit the earth.
So how do we meet the demand for energy, food and water?
The world needs new and different solutions to support the growing population and to continue to drive amazing new technologies. Doing the…
carlyo | November 29, 2013Fred Kavli – Physicist, innovator, entrepreneur and philanthropist
He made millions manufacturing high-tech sensors for aircraft, cars and appliances; donated much of his fortune to establish the Kavli Foundation -- a philanthropy to benefit science, and which is also known for the Kavli Prizes in Astrophysics, Nanoscience and Neuroscience
From the start, physicist Fred Kavli was a visionary and an innovator. He left his native Norway for California as a young man and later made millions manufacturing sensors for appliances, automobiles and aircraft. Then late in life he began donating much…
carlyo | October 16, 2013X-STEM - presented by Northrop Grumman Foundation and MedImmune - is an Extreme STEM symposium for elementary through high school students featuring interactive presentations by an exclusive group of visionaries who aim to empower and inspire kids about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). These top STEM role models and industry leaders are sure to ignite your students’ curiosity through storytelling and live demonstrations.
Our spotlight on our X-STEM Speakers continues with Venture Capitalist and Broadway Producer, Mr. Kevin J.Kinsella.
He's sometimes called…
carlyo | September 10, 2013By Jeff Wilcox, Lockheed Martin Vice President for Engineering
Planning for the third USA Science & Engineering Festival is well underway, and I couldn’t be more excited.
As the vice president for engineering at Lockheed Martin, and the father of three sons, I’m proud to be part of a company that serves as the founding and presenting host of this Festival, which will inspire our youngest Americans with the power of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). We have a vested interest in STEM—not just because it’s critical to the future of our company, but because it’s critical to…
jhalper | August 14, 2013Last month we reported on the first people who, around twelve thousand years ago, were lining their loved ones’ graves with flowers. This month, we have a piece on the “extinct” frog that was “resurrected” and then discovered to be a living fossil.
Both of these studies were led by Israeli researchers from other institutions. The Weizmann contributions were what you might call technical: precise radiocarbon dating and x-ray micro-tomography. While the findings, themselves, were publicized in many scientific and popular publications, the technological advances that make these findings possible…
kcollins | January 6, 2012As its new corporate slogan - "Rethink Possible" - suggests, AT&T is known for its long history of continually exploring new ways to reinvent itself through technological innovation, educational outreach and community involvement. The global telecommunications leader is bringing this same spirit to the 2nd USA Science & Engineering Festival in its return as a major Sponsor!
Get ready for a bevy of excitement when AT&T assumes key roles in next year's event, including serving as the official host of the Festival's high-profile Nifty Fifty speaker engagements where four of its…
sastyk | April 26, 2011About a month ago I had the privilege of spending an hour talking (on stage, in front of an audience) to my congressman, Paul Tonko, about energy issues and preparedness. What emerged from this discussion was that *EVEN THOUGH* Tonko is one of the best congresspeople out there on energy and environmental issues, even though he's a tremendously smart guy, even though he actually has had some real education on peak oil issues, the two of us were talking past each other in many ways. It was fascinating - I know that Tonko grasps the basic idea, but the narrative in which efficiency,…
grrlscientist | July 16, 2010tags: The surprising truth about what motivates us, tasks, simple tasks, complex tasks, commissions, innovation, mastery, economics, financial rewards, purpose motive, blog writing, making the world a better place, RSA, streaming video
This video is really interesting for two reasons: first, it's a hand-drawn animation that evolves in front of your eyes, and second, I think it explains why scientists like to write blogs for the public about science -- for free! Adapted from Dan Pink's talk at the RSA, this fascinating video illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home…
grrlscientist | July 15, 2010tags: When Ideas Have Sex, imagination, innovation, group intelligence, exchange of ideas, cumulative ideas, evolution, sexual reproduction, technological specialization, free trade, Matt Ridley, TEDTalks, TED Talks, streaming video
At TEDGlobal 2010, author Matt Ridley shows how, throughout history, the engine of human progress has been the meeting and mating of ideas to make new ideas. It's not important how clever individuals are, he says; what really matters is how smart the collective brain is.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference…
grrlscientist | June 19, 2010tags: Foosball Fever, Foosball, table football, Nokia, film, filmmaking, innovation, technology, wow, television, streaming video
This video is amazing! It captures an amazing series of foosball matches, complete with all the wacky new tricks that were done. Plus, after the main video is over, you are presented with a clickable menu of embedded video links you can choose from, like slo-mo captures of how the tricks were done, behind the scenes footage, etc. All in all, this one video is a very cool innovation for foosball fans, video aficionados and technophiles!
bioephemera | June 23, 2009
Clocky sounds like R2D2 and looks kind of like an ATV's single-axled, pastel cub. In other words, it's really, really cute. Which is why when Clocky wakes you with its piercing warbles, crashes to your floor and rolls under your bed, you won't want to smash its little display with your fist. At least, we hope not! Click through for more details.
Clocky is a clock for people who have trouble getting out of bed. When the snooze bar is pressed, Clocky rolls off the table and finds a hiding spot, a new one every day. Clocky began as a class project. After graduating, Gauri Nanda turned Clocky…
bioephemera | June 23, 2009
I'm here in DC at the Newseum for the State of Innovation Summit, a collaboration between SEED and the Council on Competitiveness. The crowd is pretty awesome - right now Adam Bly, SEED's CEO, is sitting a few rows from me with E.O. Wilson. Earlier, Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, talked about a conversation he'd had recently with Steven Chu about using the Smithsonian's resources to enhance public understanding of climate change. As he spoke, the intense sunshine of a summer day in DC played across the Smithsonian castle turrets directly behind him (the seventh floor…