The border between environment and society is blurring. Natural scarcity may not be reflected in prices because of temporary subsidies, but economics is adjusting to new equations based on population, climate and urbanization. Science is directed to reveal all of the parameters and relationships. Development looks at reuse and hazard reduction. Biotech has a global market base. Computation puts the expanding data into perspective. Technological determinism adds network archaeology. Society learns how to respond constructively to challenging events.
Recent links (about 30):
academic Welcome | MIT150 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology 150th anniversary
biotech The BioBricks Foundation
books
The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing, Evan Marshall, 2001
Writing the Blockbuster Novel, Albert Zuckerman, 1994
Dynamic Characters, Nancy Kress, 1998
climate Climate Change: A Software Grand Challenge | Serendipity
computer Dr Dobbs – IBM Claims World’s Fastest Microprocessor
disaster World Natural Hazards Website | Natural Disaster Management | Disaster Agency Hawaii – PDC
environment
Technology Review: Robotic Storm Tracker Gets a Big Test with Earl
Weather conditions tie fires in Russia to floods in Pakistan | Environment & Development | Deutsche Welle | 01.09.2010
The Deepening Crisis: Scientific American
Hurricane Earl Weakens to Category 3 Storm – WSJ.com
Environmental Hazards: Assessing Risk and Reducing Disaster, Keith Smith, 2004
YouTube – Johan Rockstrom: Let the environment guide our development
mathematics Impossible Soccer Kick Leads to New Physics Equation | Playbook
mobile Mobile App Helps Emergency Crews Assess Damage During Disasters
network Technology Review: Blogs: arXiv blog: The New Science of Network Archaeology
publishing
Subutai Corporation
Moving Tales – Bringing Stories to Life on your iPad
robotics
IEEE Spectrum: NASA Ready to Send Humanoid Robot to Space
Technology Review: Blogs: TR Editors’ blog: Robots Take Out the Trash
science ScienceDirect – Home
semantic The Semantic Puzzle | Why SKOS thesauri matter – the next generation of semantic technologies
sports IBM at the US Open – Analyzing Every Volley, Serve and Overhead Smash – ReadWriteCloud
statistics The Big Data Explosion and the Demand for the Statistical Tools to Analyze It – ReadWriteCloud
telepresence IEEE Spectrum: Telepresence: A Manifesto
urban
How Can Los Angeles Adapt to Coming Climate Change?: Scientific American
Augmented Reality Coming to DC Bus Stops Today (Photo)
video New Microscope Enables Real-Time 3-D Movies of Developing Embryos [Slide Show]: Scientific American
Book review:
Biology Is Technology, Robert H. Carlson, 2010
This is a study of the economics of biology. It reviews the trajectory of technology, biotech, genetic engineering and industrial projections. Gene-sequencing already has international sites and a critical mass is evolving for a growth in synthetic parts exchange. Opensource is creating a participative market. Current applications include biobricks, iGEM, biofuels, and instant vaccines among many others. The turning point is that the human has become a product which redefines the producers and consumers themselves and increases the complexity of behaviors. Limits on innovation concerning rights and patents are discussed. There are risks of runaway effects which need to be better understood and monitored where possible. The opening questions about what biology is, and what biological engineering will be, are ongoing. Readers interested in bioinformatics would need additional sources.
