Apple Yanks Drone-strike-tracking App From App Store

This came across my desk this morning in the course of philanthropic research, and it’s a fascinating portrait primarily of the head of a charitable organization that serves his own community (the blind and visually impaired) but also a mixed-message reconstruction of a man who mysteriously bequeathed $125M – fifteen times the charity’s operating budget – to an organization that never knew his name. 

(A more-or-less transcript of the podcast is also available below the player.)

The Companies That Are Doing The Most (And Least) About The Climate

Governments aren’t doing much to halt global warming but there is hope in the business world. Here are the companies that are facing up to the challenge.

Not my usual climate post. But, BMW is #1.

The Moon Parka - A jacket made of synthetic spider silk

Remember the Japanese biomaterials company Spiber? In 2013, they presented a cocktail dress made of Qmonos (from the Japanese word kumonosu meaning ‘spider web’), their present 11-year-10-design-iterations-and-656-gene-synthesis synthetic version of stronger than steel and more flexible than nylon lightweight spider silk.

Snip from geek.com:

The end result of all that research is a method for producing artificial spider silk through a fermentation process using bioengineered microorganisms to produce the silk proteins. A real spider can only produce so much silk, but an engineered cell that does nothing but spit out silk proteins can be used to scale production up quickly.

Now they presented in collaboration with The North Face a new prototype called The Moon Parka, which is currently touring North Face stores across Japan. It’s intended to show that practical applications of spider silk are possible (cost is now 1/53,000 of what it was in 2008). Spiber aims to deliver the final product next year. Presumably only in Japan. But fingers crossed for a worldwide rollout at reasonable prices.

Watch their promo-launch video below:

[North Face x Spiber] [Spiber] [picture by North Face]

Today I am drawing Christmas card designs. For robots. #christmascard #christmas #xmas #merrychristmas #robot #robotart #art #illustration #instaartist #instaart #jonturner

A good way to remember the human bones in the body. Dope pic

www.learninghumananatomy.com

Bra Fit Science: Why Sampling Methods for Lingerie Research Matter

by Catherine of Kiss Me Deadly

As a psychologist, particularly one of a therapeutic bent, I never felt much like a scientist. I mean, we’re fluffy bunnies in the world of “proper” science, no matter how much we talk about epistemological theory or Feyerabend’s ideas or squeeze gratuitous Greek letters and geometry style diagrams into our work.

As a lingerie professional, however, I’m sometimes quite scared about how little the industry seems to know about what it means to be scientific.

 This is just great.

Teen Starts Company To Make Low-Cost Printers To Help Blind People

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — In Silicon Valley, it’s never too early to become an entrepreneur. Just ask 13-year-old Shubham Banerjee. The California eighth-grader has launched a company to develop low-cost machines to print Braille, the tactile writing system for the visually impaired. Tech giant Intel Corp. recently invested in his startup, Braigo Labs.

For behind this incredible technology go here. 

The astonishing story of Xavier Plassat, a French friar who has fought slavery for decades in the Brazilian Amazon, via Vanity Fair.

READ the abolitionist’s compelling tale here that brought him to the frontlines of 21st century slavery.

Stephen Hawking: robots could give us all material abundance, unless rich people hoard all the wealth

In a Reddit AMA, the eminent physicist warns that while increasing automation could give us a world of “luxurious leisure,” that “most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution.”

Paging Thomas Piketty, your ride is here.

Read the rest