Propellers have owned propulsion in the seas since roughly 1775. Their reign might soon be ended by what we have learned from Cuttle Fish and other marine animals–none of which have a propeller. Animals with fins and flippers silently and quickly move through the water with an incredible agility to swim forwards, backwards but also…
Category: Innovation
Smart glasses find a very smart application in airports
The Port of Seattle recently announced a new pilot programme for Smart Glassses to help people who are blind or visually impaired access a new assistive technology to safely and independently use Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The glasses connects people who are blind and low vision to certified, live agents via the smart glasses and a…
If only they would use their genius for Good not Evil–Maxwell Smart
Age-related eye disease affect over 100 million people worldwide, a number which is expected to double by 2050! Of the diseases, Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in the working age population. Early detection and treatment can prevent 98% of severe visual loss resulting from diabetes. DeepMind, an artificial intelligence company owned…
Iceland– a leader in football and climate change solutions!
Tiny Iceland is poised to give the world a huge solution for climate change
Making eye care more accessible
Globally, 246 million people have low vision and 39 million are blind. Incredibly, 80% of ALL visual impairment can be avoided or cured with regular exams and treatment. Sounds easy, but challenges such as access to early eye care, its cost and education are hurdles that many people can not overcome. Ophthalight Digital Solutions’…
Gyroscopes and a glove hold new promises for Parkinson’s patients
Parkinson’s, a disease that affects one in 500 people, has typically been managed through medication, and more recently deep brain stimulation (implantable medical device)–both having not so nice drawbacks. The use of wearable gyroscopes is a new approach being taken by a group of students from Imperial College London. Like the spinning tops…
Smart medication packaging helps keep Grandma healthier
Two thirds of Americans over 65 have two or more chronic diseases and require the patient to take 4 or more daily drugs. Unfortunately they don’t always follow their medical plans, costing the US healthcare system $290 billion annually and resulting in 10% of the avoidable hospital admissions. For the caregiver, the cost of this…
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft skims 48 KMs above the south pole of Saturn’s moon at 30,600 KPH
Talk about high speed maneuvers, today, Cassini will storm through a jet of water vapour and frozen particles erupting from the south pole of Enceladus, one of Saturn’s many moons. A global liquid ocean is believed to exist beneath the frozen crust of 480-kilo metre-wide Enceladus. This dive will be the deepest one yet through…
When senior managers in professional services won’t share
Professional service firms, in response to an increasingly complex world, have created internal groups that are very narrowly focused. Based on my unscientific research, it has driven employees to be highly protective of their client contacts. Unfortunately it also leaves a lot of money on the client’s table! One tactic that professional service firms are starting to…
Google Translate for medical may be bad for your health.
If you happen to find yourself deathly sick and in Africa, Asia or Eastern Europe you may want to think twice about using Google to translate the medical information. A recent study showed that of 260 common medical phrases Google translated incorrectly 143 in African and Asian languages, 100 incorrectly in Eastern European languages and 67 incorrectly…
A new cardiac defibrillator takes flight, literally.
Finally a drone that is designed to bring life to people. The “Ambulance Drone” has a commercial automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) attached to it and actually will fly to the person who needs help. When it lands, its propellers fold back to get out of the way and electrode pads slide out of the nose with…
Medical device that uses spit, blood and boogers as the interface
A new device called Cue could be the first iOS accessory that uses boogers as a primary user input. The tabletop analyzer brings the power of a medical laboratory into the home and allows people to test their levels of testosterone, inflammation, vitamin D, and fertility with small amounts of blood, saliva, or nasal swabs. While…
Wear Your Doctor
Normally I am not a big fan of Time Magazine, but lately they have been doing a great job looking at trends. In this article they explore the question of; What if getting a checkup were as simple as slapping on a Band-Aid? Read more: http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/14/10-big-ideas/slide/wear-your-doctor/
The Art and Science of Glass
Glass is one of the most interesting materials, atleast to me. It can wrap around the handset of a telephone (Corning Unveils Flexible, Paper-Thin Glass) or be worked art. If you are in Vancouver this weekend a new glass studio is opening up at the Medgatroid Building. It is Canada’s first co-operative glassblowing & flameworking…
Assistive Technology–a $50 billion market that you can feel good about
Like many people, I never really considered the Assistive Technology sector a big “Market Opportunity”. My views changed quickly after tearing my nearly 50-year-old calf muscle piggy backing a 20-year-old. Besides feeling like an old fart I also realized that we are all only temporarily able bodied and we are all going to need varying…
Bringing industry back to the city centre
For many years we have seen the flight of manufacturing from the core of our cities. For many reasons a company that manufacturers a product in the middle of a city seems like a poor choice–or is it? In Vancouver we have taken nearly all the industrial land and developed it into high rises. Now…
How B.C.’s economy can be green and still growing
Reprinted from Business in Vancouver May 19-25, 2009; issue 1021 http://www.biv.com It’s tough to sit down and put your feet up to watch a good hockey game or laugh through a sitcom these days without being bombarded by political statements about our province’s future and the green economy. But what is a green economy? Is…
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