Author: Jonny Hankins

Jonathan's Author Bio: Co Editor of the International Handbook on Responsible Innovation, and author of Responsible Innovation, A Narrative Approach, Jonny works for the Bassetti Foundation in Milan publishing articles on innovation and responsibility on their website and in academic and trade journals and also blogging about his interests. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Responsible Innovation and member of the the Virtual Institute of Responsible Innovation

Has Geo-engineering Moved On?

1 Reply Jonny Hankins

Last year I wrote a series on this blog about the environment entitled ‘Can We Improve the Health of the Planet?’ Read all of the posts and report on the series here through the Bassetti Foundation website. The posts received a lot of comments, and one of the most commented was a post about geo engineering called ‘Engineering a Solution to Global Warming’.

To summarize the argument we are talking about ways of cooling the planet using technological intervention.

One of the modes put forward and that I addressed in the post is to remove carbon from the atmosphere in an attempt to minimize the problem of global warming due to heat retention.

This week in Nature magazine a short article appeared that described an experiment that according to the researchers that conducted it seems to be the first time large amounts of carbon have been removed from the atmosphere and stored.

In the case in question scientists have used iron sulphate and the ocean. The iron is dropped into the water which causes a chain if events that pulls the carbon from the atmosphere, hopefully for good.

Ocean Fertilization Technique

The iron in powder form stimulates the growth of algae that lives for about 3 to 4 weeks. Their growth relies on carbon from the air, drawn through photosynthesis. When the algae dies or is eaten and excreted it sinks to the bottom taking all of the carbon with it.

One of the scientists involved in the experiments states that a single atom of iron draws 13000 atoms of carbon from the air, a large proportion of which finds its way to the ocean floor.

Many scientists are skeptical however. The amount of carbon removed is quite literally a drop in the ocean compared to that produced, and critics argue that this insignificant result could open the gates for other geo-engineering experiments, some of which (as my previous post outlined) seem rather unwise.

High Technology Sign Language Gloves

3 Replies Jonny Hankins

The winners have just been announced of the Microsoft Imagine Cup and they have created a very interesting product, worthy of a look I feel and also of the $25000 prize money. The Quad Squad team is a group of students based in Ukraine, and they have designed a pair of gloves that are able to convert sign language into sounded speech.

The gloves are fitted with sensors that can read letters as displayed in sign language. Software then interprets the signs and produces the spoken sound through mobile phone technology.

A pair of sign language conversion gloves.

The designers hope that their product will enable communication between someone speaking using sign language and someone who cannot read sign. Incidentally they have small solar panels fitted so they can recharge themselves while in use.

Comments on the Gizmag blog point to limitations, the gloves can only presently recognize letters and not symbols for words, but all agree that the product is definitely a step in the right direction.

If your sign language is not up to scratch you might like to try a pair of Accelagloves. These gloves use a mixture of sensors, software and a video camera attached to your computer to teach the signing of letters. They cost $300 (including software) and are already available from the Institute for Disabilities Research and Training who worked on their development. The Endgadget website offers a demonstration and the author’s verdict on their efficiency in video format.

The gloves are not only designed as a learning tool however, but also as an input for your computer as communication between gloves and computer is two way. Not only do they teach the symbols but they allow the user to input data through sign language, another important use in cases where visual or audio contact is not possible or the input device cannot be easily held (in emergency situations for example).

If your signing is already good you might like to try a pair of Glow Gloves. A simple idea that enables sign language in the dark, they do exactly what it says on the box.

I worked in a school in Italy where sign was taught as a curriculum subject, and now my youngest son is learning it at pre-school, but from my own point of view it remains an underused resource. Maybe this technology could help to spread its use to a larger group of people.

The Future of Paper?

16 Replies Jonny Hankins

Much has been said and written about the future of paper publications with the arrival of downloadable  books, Kindles and a whole world of other hardware, but maybe a company from Cambridge (UK for a change now I am back in Europe) may be about to cause another revolution.

Many people are not drawn to reading books in digital, they like to thumb the pages etc, but a private company is putting what they describe as the ‘future of paper’ into mass production.

The company called Plastic Logic have designed what we could describe as the closest thing to paper that can show video.

An example of Plastic Logic’s invention

As the name suggests we are talking about a plastic paper-thin sheet that has the ability to display video, It can be used as a Wi-Fi fed screen, with the advantages of being flat, thin, flexible and bigger than your standard reader.

This video on the BBC website describes the product in greater detail, including the production process, and states that it should be in full production next year. The CEO of the company also explains the problems that this technology has faced during development as well as explaining why we might need a screen that we can roll up and carry around. He also describes how the computer and receiver part of the structure could be attached in the form of a handle.

All very interesting stuff, but I think the most important part of this application involves telephones. I have a so-called smart phone but I very rarely use it for internet work because the screen is too small. I cannot read an article on a screen that size. But if I had an A4 size screen rolled up in my bag that could show me the screen on a much larger scale (via Bluetooth) I would be happy to use it. And then I could leave my laptop at home.

Others see it as the future for glossy magazines, or the death of them, but the death of newspapers, radio, books, recorded music and commercial TV has been on the cards for a long time, and they are all still alive and kicking.

I look forward to this new product going into full production and appearing in the shops anyway, and the obvious question…. would you have a use for it?