More humane drug testing.
Originally shared by Deborah Teramis Christian
“Organ on a chip” – wow!
https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/harvard-mit-liver-chip-narrows-gap-vitro-vivo-drug-tests-120088/
Aug
15
Aug
14
Jobs of the sort that are traditionally done by women – that is, jobs that require a human to respond to another…
Jobs of the sort that are traditionally done by women – that is, jobs that require a human to respond to another human in a flexible way – are the hardest to automate.
Laura Gibbs will probably like this one (apart from the MOOCs).
Originally shared by Singularity Hub
Why Education Is the Hardest Sector of the Economy to Automate http://suhub.co/2vSbjSX
Aug
13
A little while back, for reasons I mean to explore in public eventually, I decided not to write romance novels -…
A little while back, for reasons I mean to explore in public eventually, I decided not to write romance novels – either under a female pseudonym or under my own name.
This piece goes into the interesting phenomenon of men using female names to sell crime thrillers, and why that might have some issues.
Aug
12
What do we want?
What do we want?
No more Nazis.
When do we want it?
Honestly like 70 years ago I mean it was a whole thing.
Aug
12
Reminds me of Tolkien’s burn about the Bagginses: you could know what their opinion would be on any subject, without…
Reminds me of Tolkien’s burn about the Bagginses: you could know what their opinion would be on any subject, without going to the trouble of asking them.
Originally shared by Kimberly Chapman
This thread is a pure proof for Lewis’ Law.
https://storify.com/Pharniel/you-are-boring-no-one-s-bothered-to-tell-you
Aug
12
This sounds like pseudoscience, but apparently it’s real. In mice, at least.
This sounds like pseudoscience, but apparently it’s real. In mice, at least.
Aug
12
When you turn 50 in New Zealand (assuming you’re a citizen or resident), the government gives you a gift of a free…
When you turn 50 in New Zealand (assuming you’re a citizen or resident), the government gives you a gift of a free screening for bowel cancer.
It’s all done by post.
The sample required is surprisingly small, and sealed in a tube which is sealed in a bag which is sealed in an envelope.
I still wouldn’t want to be the person who has to process them.
Aug
11
if the Google Manifesto was correct, then you would expect to see that Google was full of mediocre female employees,…
if the Google Manifesto was correct, then you would expect to see that Google was full of mediocre female employees, who had been hired by a process biased in their favour despite being inadequate to the task. Whatever the author of the manifesto thinks, Google does not believe this to be the case and as far as I can tell from industry blogs, it isn’t – female employees in tech are generally very good. This would, of course, be consistent with the hypothesis that the current selection process is biased against them.
[…]
If, on the other hand, one had a situation where the writers of windy conservative manifestoes about not getting fair treatment were in fact mediocre whiners who inflated their CVs, then that would be evidence that there wasn’t a bias in the recruitment and retention system, and that in fact there was probably an inefficiency caused by the extent to which mediocrities were able to bump along because their face fitted in a homogeneous techbro culture. The concentration on star engineers, senior executives and Sheryl Sandberg C-Suite geniuses is entirely wrong; the progress of gender equality in the workplace ought to be measured by the extent to which women can get into the ranks of time-serving dead-wood middle management roles.
True equality will be reached when mediocrities of all kinds exist at every level. The fact that minority hires are consistently excellent is an indicator that we aren’t there yet.
http://crookedtimber.org/2017/08/11/from-a-logical-point-of-view/
Aug
11
An interesting angle on diversity: we don’t have a truly “blind” hiring process until employees of all demographics…
An interesting angle on diversity: we don’t have a truly “blind” hiring process until employees of all demographics are equally mediocre.
Via Yonatan Zunger.
Originally shared by ****
if the Google Manifesto was correct, then you would expect to see that Google was full of mediocre female employees, who had been hired by a process biased in their favour despite being inadequate to the task. Whatever the author of the manifesto thinks, Google does not believe this to be the case and as far as I can tell from industry blogs, it isn’t – female employees in tech are generally very good. This would, of course, be consistent with the hypothesis that the current selection process is biased against them.
[…]
If, on the other hand, one had a situation where the writers of windy conservative manifestoes about not getting fair treatment were in fact mediocre whiners who inflated their CVs, then that would be evidence that there wasn’t a bias in the recruitment and retention system, and that in fact there was probably an inefficiency caused by the extent to which mediocrities were able to bump along because their face fitted in a homogeneous techbro culture. The concentration on star engineers, senior executives and Sheryl Sandberg C-Suite geniuses is entirely wrong; the progress of gender equality in the workplace ought to be measured by the extent to which women can get into the ranks of time-serving dead-wood middle management roles.
True equality will be reached when mediocrities of all kinds exist at every level. The fact that minority hires are consistently excellent is an indicator that we aren’t there yet.
Aug
11
I love the idea of vertical forests (and vertical farms).
I love the idea of vertical forests (and vertical farms). My short story “Vegetation” is the only place I’ve explored it so far, but I plan to return to the idea.
Originally shared by Greg Batmarx
Air pollution is the single biggest environmental health risk the world faces today, with outdoor pollution linked to 3 million deaths every year.
It’s no wonder designers and engineers are racing to come up with all kinds of air-purifying solutions, from smog-sucking towers and bikes to moss-covered walls. But one of the most impressive ideas so far can be found in Milan, Italy, the design capital of the world and one of the most polluted cities in Europe.
The brainchild of Italian architect *Stefano Boeri, Bosco Verticale (meaning “Vertical Forest”) is the concept of residential high-rises packed with greenery, which can help cities build for density while improving air quality.
The first “vertical forests” were realized in 2014 in the Porta Nuova Isola area of Milan, where two towers, with over 100 apartments between them, together host nearly 500 medium and large trees, 300 small trees, 5,000 shrubs, and 11,000 plants.
The science is simple: trees are the cheapest and most efficient way to absorb carbon dioxide. The 20,000 trees and plants across this pair of towers can transform approximately 44,000 pounds of carbon dioxide into oxygen each year.
Trees, a perennial gift from nature, can also keep temperatures cool indoors and filter out fine dust particles and noise pollution from traffic below.
The logistics of making it all happen, however, were a lot more complex. The process began with bringing together experts in structural engineering and botany to answer all the essential questions.
For example: how can a tree resist extremely windy conditions at 400 feet in the air? Engineers then had to devise a way to secure the roots of the plants in their containers while making sure they could be properly watered and fertilized.
Laura Gatti an architectural botanist on the project, also conducted a three-year study about local plants to determine which species would survive the conditions of the towers. And, of course, even after they’ve been planted, the trees need regular maintenance.
That’s done by a team of aerial arborists, who, like the familiar skyscraper window washers, make their way up and down the buildings, inspecting and grooming the vegetation.
As cities continue to grapple with air pollution, housing shortages, and climate change, these vertical forests could very well be the residential typology we need for the future. And you can certainly expect to see more of them.
I really hope many other architects, many other urban planners, many politicians will be in condition to replicate and improve what we have done Boeri tells us.
His firm itself is currently working on new vertical forests across Europe and in China, including an ambitious “Forest City” in the city of Nanjing.
Meanwhile, similar projects are being proposed and developed all the time, from a spiraling high-rise in Taiwan that is expected to contain 23,000 trees when complete to new tree-tower variations in Toronto and Bogota, to name a few.
https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/9/16112758/milan-vertical-forest-stefano-boeri-video