Inspiring Innovations in 2013 - Hippo Drum (water transportation system) and spectacles with adjustable lens.

• THE FOOD FIGHTER
  

Shocked by numerous reports of food scandals in China, historical geography student Wu Heng, 28, started a one-man battle to keep his country's food safe. He launched China's first food-safety monitoring website, which allows users to upload reports of food-safety breaches.

By exposing safety violations and mapping out how the various provinces fare on food safety, the site pressured food manufacturers and government officials into taking action on complaints and reports of dangerous and unhealthy practices.

• THE HIPPO ROLLER
• 
  

This simple invention has saved many an aching back: Rollable water barrels that allow villagers in Africa to fetch water easily.

While villagers have traditionally carried water on their backs or heads, the Hippo Roller - a durable plastic water drum that can be quickly turned into a wheelbarrow-like wheel - allows them to carry more water home without stressing their backs and necks.

Tens of thousands of the why-didn't-I-think-of-it-before invention have been distributed to more than 20 African countries, making the arduous task of fetching water easier and less painful for more than 300,000 people.

• AFFORDABLE VISION
  

With the turn of a little wheel, these inexpensive adjustable spectacles can be instantly customised, bringing clear vision to poor villagers anywhere.

The idea came from a Dutchman who realised that none of his short-sighted classmates at a university in Tanzania wore glasses, because corrective eyewear was expensive and hard to obtain.

That prompted five years of research and design, which resulted in Focusspecs, which are made up of two sliding lenses that can be adjusted to correct a range of myopia, hyperopia or astigmatism.

Focus on Vision, a non-profit foundation set up by the inventor, now aims to produce 10 million of its Focusspecs glasses by 2020.

• TRAVELLERS WITH A CAUSE
  

Unlike most holidaymakers, the Colas family from Paris decided to mix adventure with a worthy cause when they took off on a world tour in 2010.

Raising funds and tapping contacts through their own website, We Like The World, they raised more than $70,000 to build a school in Burkina Faso.

They are among a growing tribe of "backpack philanthropists" who have helped to make the world a better place - while on holiday.

- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/top-the-news/story/flashback-they-made-impact-last-year-20140412#sthash.TZKjSdot.dpuf

Creativity is about liberating ideas - Sir John Hegarty

Liberating ideas

Advertising powerhouse Sir John Hegarty says the key to creativity is to be aware of your surroundings

By Lisabel Ting

You could walk past Sir John Hegarty on the street and never know that you had brushed shoulders with one of the greats of the advertising industry today.

With a mopful of tousled grey hair, a crumpled casual jacket and mismatched striped Paul Smith socks peeping over the tops of grey lace-ups, Hegarty embodies one of the key concepts he writes about in his first book, Hegarty On Advertising: Irreverence.

"Irreverence encourages you to be challenging and it doesn't accept the status quo. It injects into your ideas a sort of vibrancy that makes people want to find out, why are you saying that, why are you challenging? And because we live in a competitive world, that's exactly what you have to do," says Hegarty, 69.

It was that attitude which turned Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), founded by Hegarty, John Bartle and Sir Nigel Bogle in 1982, into one of the powerhouses of the advertising world today. Their first major campaign over three decades ago was for Levi's black denim. It featured a sea of white sheep, with a single black sheep facing the other way. The slogan for it was "when the world zigs, zag". It was so successful that BBH adopted the black sheep as its logo, and the campaign's slogan as its motto.

Hegarty was in town earlier this week to promote his second book, Hegarty On Creativity - There Are No Rules. The 128-page book is a collection of aphorisms and observations on creativity, distilled from Hegarty's years of experience in the industry, accompanied by a few of his light- hearted doodles.

Speaking to SundayLife! from BBH's Singapore office in Clarke Quay, Hegarty says: "I felt that somebody needed to write something on creativity. Everybody talks about it... but nobody talks about what is needed or how to be creative, what you should do and what you should expect."

Having been a stalwart of the advertising industry for more than three decades, Hegarty, who is divorced, has seen it through its ups and downs. "This is probably the most exciting time to be in advertising because of what's happening with digital technology. It's coming at us like a tsunami, and understanding how to use it is actually quite difficult.

"People often say that digital technology has revolutionised the communications industry, but I keep telling them, 'No, I don't think it's revolutionised it, it's liberated it'.

"What it's allowed us to do is have an idea, and take that idea in an interesting way to a community of people out there, which we couldn't do before."

Hegarty, who was knighted last year, says that it will take time for creative minds to wrap their heads around the potential of the digital age. "When you look at the development of any piece of significant technology, there's always what I call the creative deficit - nobody knows quite what to do with it. When the Lumiere brothers invented the moving camera, they didn't realise they had invented Hollywood. It takes creative people to go, 'I think we can do this with that.'"

In order to be one of those creative pioneers, Hegarty says that the key is to constantly be aware of your surroundings. He is notorious for his disdain of headphones: "One of the things I always say to creative people is, 'Please take off your headphones.' If you wear them, you create a little bubble to walk around in. Great creative people absorb all the time, and that comes back out in your work without you realising it."

While Hegarty thinks that the advertising industry is now in the "creative deficit" phase of its approach to the digital age, he is optimistic about its future. "I think it has a phenomenal future. A creative industry constantly evolves, constantly questions and constantly challenges," he says.

"But increasingly, as there's more and more stuff out there, the need for the disciplined thinking of advertising is ever more essential."

lting@sph.com.sg

Hegarty On Creativity - There Are No Rules (2013, Thames & Hudon, $15.90), will be available at major bookstores from Jan 27.

Bluegill Fish Monitor Water Supplies for Terrorist Attack

Maryann Mott
for National Geographic News

September 28, 2006

The common bluegill fish is being used to protect public drinking water for millions in the United States from terrorists and accidental contamination.

An automated machine developed by the U.S. Army uses bluegills—a hardy species about the size of a human hand—to continuously monitor water quality in New York City; San Francisco, California; and Washington, D.C.

Unlike current humanmade sensors, bluegills can respond to a wide range of chemicals and provide rapid detection of developing toxic water conditions.

The Army system, for example, can quickly detect toxic materials such as cyanide, organic solvents, and pesticides.

(Related: "Loons Sound Alarm on Mercury Contamination" [May 2003].)

"It's definitely gone well beyond the 'canary in the coal mine' aspect," said Tom Shedd, a biologist with the U.S. Army Center for Environmental Health Research in Fort Detrick, Maryland, who co-invented the system. Miners once used the health of canaries to monitor for the presence of deadly methane gas.

"It's a high-tech technology that has been brought to this new millennium because of advanced hardware and software capabilities."

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, federal law has required nearly all communities to assess the vulnerability of their water systems to terrorism or other intentional acts that would disrupt delivery of safe and reliable drinking water.

Tank Monitors

The Army started development of its early-warning system—now sold under the commercial name 1090 Intelligent Aquatic BioMonitoring System—about six years ago, Shedd says.

The system works by monitoring the behavior of eight bluegills that swim freely in tanks where dechlorinated water flows at reservoirs or treatment plants.

Electrodes mounted in the aquarium monitor the fishes' respiratory behavior.

Complex software then analyzes the fishes' actions in reference to tank conditions such as temperature, acidity, and dissolved oxygen levels.

When an abnormality is detected in at least six of the fish, the computer calls or emails the technician on duty.

"It gets a human involved right away," said Bill Lawler of Intelligent Automation Corporation (IAC) in Poway, California.

The private company developed the system's software and sells the unit at a starting price of $45,000 (U.S.).

IAC says there's no humanmade sensor available that can measure toxicity harmful to humans in the same manner as bluegills.

The fish were chosen because of their commercial availability and an established database on their response to toxins.

To keep the fish from being stressed or sick, they "work" for two weeks. Then the bluegills get a break and are fed brine shrimp to keep them "happy."

Sensitive Species

Lawler says bluegills are highly attuned to water quality changes.

During routine cleanings in the New York City and San Francisco reservoirs, the fish caused an alert after divers kicked up sediment about 40 miles (64 kilometers) away, he says.

And in New York City bluegills detected a diesel leak before it got out of control.

"There's a lot of emphasis on their ability to deter terrorism, but they are also doing a lot in terms of potential watershed monitoring and accidental chemical spills in source water," Lawler said.

Under a pilot project with the U.S. Army, bluegills have monitored New York City's drinking water since 2002.

The biomonitoring unit is currently on loan from the government, but plans are underway to purchase and expand the system, says Ian Michaels, a spokesperson for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, which supplies water to nine million people.

"We considered it to be worth investigating as an additional layer of security," Michaels said, adding that other tests—literally tens of thousands every year—are also performed to ensure safe drinking water.

Just One More Tool

The push for aquatic biomonitoring first took place in Europe about 20 years ago after a major chemical spill in Switzerland, according to Shedd, the Army biologist.

In addition to fish, other aquatic creatures such as clams and daphnia are used as indicators of chemical changes (see fish photos, profiles, and more).

"It's just recent that the U.S. has become interested in this capability," Shedd said.

"It's one tool in an arsenal of tools to monitor for water quality and to protect surface waters," he added.

"It's not a stand-alone technology. It's a complement to the current technology we already have out there."

Best Inventions of 2013 as reported in Time Magazine

Here is very interesting list of inventions that some of you may have read in the media ranging from the edible like cronut to science-fiction type solutions like the edible password.

Check out this link to see the list compiled by the people at Time Magazine

http://techland.time.com/2013/11/14/the-25-best-inventions-of-the-year-2013/

Here is a sample:

After watching the Air Force win plaudits for its MQ-1 Predator drone, the Navy is upping the unmanned ante by developing the carrier-based X-47B. Unlike the 1-ton Predator, with its four-cylinder, 115-horsepower engine, the 20-ton X-47B is powered by the same jet engine used on fighters of similar size. It’s projected to carry 4,500 lb. (2,040 kg) of weapons, compared with the Predator’s paltry pair of Hellfire missiles. A special bonus: an X-47B fleet would have a greater range than piloted planes, keeping the mother ship farther from shore-based enemy defenses.

Online education is a good idea but the guidance of teachers is still core to the design of any such system.

The key to the digital education revolution

Online education is a good idea. But the guidance of teachers is still core to the design of any such system.

 

Published on Oct 26, 2013

SILICON Valley is abuzz with investments in education start-ups. The National University of Singapore has also just announced that it plans to put many of its courses online.

But whenever there is potentially disruptive innovation of the kind we’re witnessing in education today, there will inevitably be a period of experimentation and uncertainty.

Indeed, it is not always clear what works and what doesn’t.

Fortunately, there are some models worthy of serious study. Moocs (massive open online courses) are a good example.

Massive online courses

COURSERA, the immensely popular Mooc launched last year, offers an online library of college courses taught by professors from top universities.

Since its inception, a staggering 4.7 million students worldwide have signed up to view lectures. Coursera is partnered with 87 leading academic institutions such as Stanford, Duke and Yale, and boasts over 400 courses in seven languages.

Using a combination of video lectures, online quizzes, homework assignments<NO1>,<NO> and forums, courses are interactive and provide the student with grades, feedback and the ability to collaborate with peers. The best part: It is absolutely free, and a certificate costs only between US$30 and US$100 (S$37 and S$123). By comparison, an Ivy League university course costs thousands of dollars and was previously only available to the fortunate few admitted to the university’s gilded halls.

Yet a growing number of critical observers feel that Moocs are ineffective platforms for education. Providers acknowledge that about 90 per cent of those who take Moocs never watch all the lectures, seldom do the homework and don’t debate projects on the forums. They resemble couch potato auditors more than serious students. However, the mathematics is impressive even at a 10 per cent completion rate. For Coursera, this means that about 470,000 students have benefited from its offerings, a number far higher than most universities can teach in decades.

Over half of Mooc students come from growth markets such as Brazil, China and India. For that twenty-year-old in Bangalore sitting at his computer after working 10 hours at a call centre, Coursera is an unprecedented opportunity to learn from the best and compete in the global workforce. He will quickly become your or your child’s competitor.

College and career

PARENTS of school children beware: Universities will increasingly take Mooc results into account in judging applications. For the first time this year, admission forms at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have space to list the Moocs and associated grades that applicants have taken. When facing the choice to study hard to get 10 A*s on the GCSE or to get nine A*s and do well on one college level Mooc, the applicant who wants to stand out on a college application will choose the latter combination. Admissions officers will value the college-readiness of a high school student that excelled at a Mooc taught by a highly regarded professor. These courses are harder than the GCSE and underscore exceptional talent in a particular field such as Robotics or Art History.

If the first wave of disruption in education is the prevalence of high-quality online courses and the decoupling of physical campuses from course work, then you might not be surprised when young people begin to ask: Why should I apply to college at all?

The “unbundling” of the college degree is the most radical revolution in the nature of education. We will soon consider a university certificate alone to be a second- best assessment of a student’s skills. Instead, as LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman describes it, the future of education will be a “fully networked certification platform”. Scores from a variety of online courses offered by Moocs, employers and universities will be collated and augmented with your social influence, portfolio of projects, recommendations from colleagues and clients and work experience. The result will be a much more accurate picture of your true capabilities and value in the job market.

A company housing a person’s “digital lifelong diploma” will collect and format all digital education activity, creating a seamless picture for employers.

Employers already agree that college assessments are poor indicators of performance at work. Google, for example, recently revealed that it gives grade point averages (GPAs) increasingly lower weight in assessing candidates. High GPAs and job success have shown little correlation.

Given the media coverage and investments from venture capital firms, colleges are enthusiastically jumping onto the e-learning bandwagon. But teaching effectively using web and mobile delivery is a skill that most colleges sorely lack. The result is that the “online” version of the course is nothing more than a collection of lecture videos and materials. Somehow, in all the rush to adopt new technologies, the tendency is to underestimate someone who is still core to the success of the education revolution: the teacher.

Flip teaching model

THE most effective digital learning model for colleges and schools is the flip teaching model. This involves students receiving instruction at home through online lectures, and then attempting homework in class where the teacher can mentor and aid them. They can also collaborate with other students. The instructional tools used at home are modular and interactive to aid knowledge retention. The focus is on mastering the content through constant practice quizzes.

In addition, educational systems such as Knewton Adaptive are capable of personalising the teaching and quizzes by identifying a student’s weaknesses and strengths while tracking skills development.

Khan Academy, which offers online courses for millions of school-going children, has been particularly adept at creating a system of learning that in corporates the flip teaching model. It has been piloted in California and now increasingly across the US (80 schools in Idaho just signed up for Khan Academy courses).

The best part of this model is its blended learning approach, involving a combination of class mentoring with virtual instruction. This allows the teachers to focus on student learning rather than lecturing.

But let’s not forget that Mr Salman Khan, the founder of Khan Academy, came to the public eye for one reason: he is an exceptionally gifted teacher.

The courses he videotaped from his closet and put on YouTube were even watched by Mr Bill Gates when he wanted to teach his son maths.

The lesson is that whenever online and mobile courses are introduced in colleges or schools, teachers must be given sabbaticals to rework their current approach into the flipped teaching model. At North Carolina State University, for instance, prospective teachers can now take the Flipped Classroom Training Programme, a trend that will be increasingly favoured by schools and parents alike.

The blended and flipped teaching models represent the future of education. But in order for it to be done well, colleges should take the opportunity to work with their own teachers and outside experts to create classes that produce measurable improvements in school performance.

stopinion@sph.com.sg

The writer is CEO of Urban Intel, a digital platform for professional skills development.

Innovations for Third World Countries

Here are innovations that are making a difference in various parts of the world

1. The Socket Ball, a power-generating football invented by two Harvard students which stores energy when kicked about. A 30-minute game produces enough energy to light up a lamp for three hours, bringing light to communities without electricity.
2. Hippo drum, a rotating 90-litre plastic drum, which women could roll on the ground when fetching water from distant wells, a daily chore for many, rather than having to bear the load on their shoulders or heads.
3. Focusspecs, the nifty adjustable glasses which help address the problem of myopia in poor countries. They have lenses that can be moved along frames by turning a dial. This brings better vision to places where people do not have ready access to ophthalmologists. 

Source : 2013 Impact Journalism Day 

Technological innovations inspired by nature

Here is a link that shows how

1) Bees inspire Harvard researchers to come up with a robotic version that can be used in search and rescue operations
2) Porcupine's quills that inspired that idea for less painful injections or an alternative to hypodermic needles
3) Shark suits that was inspired by animals that swim unharmed around sharks like the pilot fish, etc.
4) Armadillo that inspired electric-powered cars that fold itself that save space when parking.

Tech from Nature - source: The Sunday Times (20 October)