SmartPlanet's Week in Innovation: battlefield biometrics, renewable railways, artificial lung
Each week our friends at SmartPlanet recap the week's most interesting news and developments in applied technology, science, energy and healthcare. Welcome to the Week in Innovation.
On Monday, we got a sneak peak at the Museum of Modern Art's show on interfaces, learned how our TV could help cure cancer, discovered how we could eat guilt-free tuna sushi, explored how predictive analytics will make decisions for us, watched as a mobile app decided which EV we should drive, read how biometrics are used on the battlefield and thought about blowing four figures on a sweet-looking rain barrel.
On Tuesday, we reconsidered the layout of the university, uncovered how small antennas will change our electronic devices, discussed climate change with an NBC correspondent, warmed our homes with a server (toasty!), scanned our palms at the hospital and watched as MIT worked its magic to show us where our e-waste goes.
Plus, a DIY solar home in Belgium and GE's holographic storage.
On Wednesday, we questioned why Amtrak can't speak German, argued why dirigibles should be used to transport wind turbines, discovered software that roots out fake product reviews, checked out fingerprint scans that determine drug use, asked how city growth will impact our lives, gawked at Arizona's "solar power supertower," discussed the value of FarmVille vs. an electric car and watched as the Russians said they'd let the International Space Station just...fall into the ocean.
Plus, the oil industry is found to be ethically dubious. Surprise!
On Thursday, we read about companies' attract to "energy-in-a-box" schemes, checked out a brilliant artificial lung, simulated explosions to determine their effect on the brain, learned about Japan's attraction to "fire ice" (you've got to see it to believe it), asked if time travel was really possible, watched America move out of the heartland and, awesomely, looked at the science of superpowers in real life.
Finally, on Friday we looked at a refreshing airport design that doesn't involve a pat-down, pondered how to achieve sustainable design, discovered how the iPhone can check blood sugar levels, read why startups aren't the economic engines they used to be, checked out an electric car motor that doesn't need expensive rare earth metals and learned why our golf swing sucks.
Plus, new fuel standards from Obama and Co. and an amazing system that uses our brains, not hands, to drive more safely.
Now, if only I could develop such a system for blogging!
That’s all for this week’s edition. Want more? Sign up for SmartPlanet’s newsletter.