The world needs better batteries, to be sure. Could Angela Belcher create them from viruses and help us all out?

Batteries are a big industry; that’s definitely part of the excitement around Tesla right now. But the problem is, the way we make batteries currently is somewhat ineffective and can be harmful to the environment. What if, instead, we made… Continue Reading

Brief statistical interlude: Jordan, Qatar, and the UAE are the only countries where girls seem to be more comfortable with math

The chart above is from here via here and uses the metric of “feeling helpless” when confronted with a math problem. There are essentially only three countries in the world — Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — where girls are significantly ahead… Continue Reading

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IBM has a food truck debuting March 7 that’s going to reinvent your favorite foods (like burritos) off of cognitive computing

Came across the IBM Tumblr the other day and it’s fairly cool; one thing they’re focusing on now is called “cognitive cooking,” and it’s described in the video above — and also in this video. Essentially, the idea is this:… Continue Reading

72 percent of the Earth is covered by ocean. So desalination seems like a logical answer to drought, right? Not so fast.

California droughts right now might be the worst in 100 years, and Lake Mead’s at a fairly dangerous level (which threatens tourism mecca Las Vegas), so clearly we’re moving to the “answers” stage of our water problem. It would seem… Continue Reading

14.7 million tweets were sent during the 2014 Oscars, mostly related to Gravity, Jennifer Lawrence, and Ellen’s best selfie of all-time

If only Bradley's arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap — Ellen DeGeneres (@EllenDeGeneres) March 3, 2014 That shot above — which is pretty cool — did become the most-retweeted photo of all-time eventually: https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/440340258140323842 Overall, during the time… Continue Reading

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Can Elon Musk and Tesla get the price of an electric car down to $30,000 because of a huge battery factory?

There’s been a ton about Tesla in the news lately — about two days ago, it was on Google Trends — but I’m not going to run that deep on it, since I’m not a business journalist. Here’s what you… Continue Reading

Could a $25 Firefox OS phone be a true game-changer in terms of linking up the developing world?

The Mobile World Congress is going on right now in Barcelona and Firefox OS (Mozilla) believes it’s “unleashing the future of mobile.” Here’s the big corporate money-shot in the press release: “Firefox OS is off to an amazing start. We launched… Continue Reading

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Cities go with low taxes to attract entrepreneurs and new companies; the entrepreneurs want talent and livability

Fact: San Francisco and Boston — two innovation hubs based on coasts, universities, etc. — are becoming more expensive. Fact: cities like Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, right there in the heartland/Rust Belt, are beginning to attract new start-ups and incubators and… Continue Reading