Monthly Archives: October 2018

Harlem Globetrotters and the Magnus effect

Just about everybody is interested in science these days and the Harlem Globetrotters (basketball team) are no exception,,

Here’s more about science and Harlem Globetrotters from an October 17, 2018 news release (received via email),

(Dallas, TX – Oct. 17, 2018) To prepare for their new world tour, the Harlem Globetrotters demonstrated acts of science at the “highest” level when Zeus McClurkin made two trick shots from the roof of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in downtown Dallas.  Showing off the Magnus Effect, Zeus spun a basketball on his finger and shot a “curve ball” from nearly 200 feet up – hitting nothing but net in a hoop below.

The video was released today and is available via the hyperlinks below.  The footage and accompanying music are approved for media (courtesy Harlem Globetrotters).

Via YouTube

Via Facebook

As a two-time Guinness World Record holder, Zeus was joined by Cindy Hua, one of the “Brainiac” science educators from the Perot Museum.  Cindy took Zeus through the concept of the “Magus Effect” and how a spin of the ball will affect his shot.

The Globetrotters will bring their new Fan Powered World Tour to Dallas and Frisco over Thanksgiving Weekend.  The world famous team will play the Dr Pepper Arena on Friday, Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.  Plus, two more games at American Airlines Center on Saturday, Nov. 24 a 1 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 25 at 2 p.m.  The full schedule of the Globetrotters’ games in Texas and around the world are available at HarlemGlobetrotters.com.

The top cultural attraction in Dallas/Fort Worth and a Michelin Green Guide three-star destination, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science is a nonprofit educational organization located in Victory Park in the heart of Dallas, Texas. With a mission to inspire minds through nature and science, the 180,000-square-foot Perot Museum delivers exciting, engaging and innovative experiences through its education, exhibit, global research and collections programming for children, students, teachers, families and life-long learners. To learn more, please visit perotmuseum.org.

For anyone who’s curious about the Magnus effect and its impact on ‘ball sports’, there’s this from its Wikipedia entry (Note: Links have been removed),

The most readily observable case of the Magnus effect is when a spinning sphere (or cylinder) curves away from the arc it would follow if it were not spinning. It is often used by soccer players, baseball pitchers and cricket bowlers. Consequently, the phenomenon is important in the study of the physics of many ball sports. It is also an important factor in the study of the effects of spinning on guided missiles—and has some engineering uses, for instance in the design of rotor ships and Flettner aeroplanes.

Frankly, I’m thrilled it never occurred to me that I’d ever have a chance to include the Harlem Globetrotters in any of my postings. Thank you to whomever dreamed up this piece of publicity.

Canadian fans will have a number of opportunities to see the Harlem Globetrotters in action on their world tour. Check it out here.

Finally,, I have not received any rewards (money or tickets or merchandise); quite simply, I love the Globetrotters for their expression of joyous athleticism.

Canadian research into nanomaterial workplace exposure in the air and on surfaces

An August 30, 2018 news item on Nanowerk announces the report,

The monitoring of air contamination by engineered nanomaterials (ENM) is a complex process with many uncertainties and limitations owing to the presence of particles of nanometric size that are not ENMs, the lack of validated instruments for breathing zone measurements and the many indicators to be considered.

In addition, some organizations, France’s Institut national de recherche et de sécurité (INRS) and Québec’s Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST) among them, stress the need to also sample surfaces for ENM deposits.

In other words, to get a better picture of the risks of worker exposure, we need to fine-tune the existing methods of sampling and characterizing ENMs and develop new one. Accordingly, the main goal of this project was to develop innovative methodological approaches for detailed qualitative as well as quantitative characterization of workplace exposure to ENMs.

A PDF of the 88-page report is available in English or in French.

An August 30, 2018 (?) abstract of the IRSST report titled An Assessment of Methods of Sampling and Characterizing Engineered Nanomaterials in the Air and on Surfaces in the Workplace (2nd edition) by Maximilien Debia, Gilles L’Espérance, Cyril Catto, Philippe Plamondon, André Dufresne, Claude Ostiguy, which originated the news item, outlines what you can expect from the report,

This research project has two complementary parts: a laboratory investigation and a fieldwork component. The laboratory investigation involved generating titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles under controlled laboratory conditions and studying different sampling and analysis devices. The fieldwork comprised a series of nine interventions adapted to different workplaces and designed to test a variety of sampling devices and analytical procedures and to measure ENM exposure levels among Québec workers.

The methods for characterizing aerosols and surface deposits that were investigated include: i) measurement by direct-reading instruments (DRI), such as condensation particle counters (CPC), optical particle counters (OPC), laser photometers, aerodynamic diameter spectrometers and electric mobility spectrometer; ii) transmission electron microscopy (TEM) or scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) with a variety of sampling devices, including the Mini Particle Sampler® (MPS); iii) measurement of elemental carbon (EC); iv) inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and (v) Raman spectroscopy.

The workplace investigations covered a variety of industries (e.g., electronics, manufacturing, printing, construction, energy, research and development) and included producers as well as users or integrators of ENMs. In the workplaces investigated, we found nanometals or metal oxides (TiO2, SiO2, zinc oxides, lithium iron phosphate, titanate, copper oxides), nanoclays, nanocellulose and carbonaceous materials, including carbon nanofibers (CNF) and carbon nanotubes (CNT)—single-walled (SWCNT) as well as multiwalled (MWCNT).

The project helped to advance our knowledge of workplace assessments of ENMs by documenting specific tasks and industrial processes (e.g., printing and varnishing) as well as certain as yet little investigated ENMs (nanocellulose, for example).

Based on our investigations, we propose a strategy for more accurate assessment of ENM exposure using methods that require a minimum of preanalytical handling. The recommended strategy is a systematic two-step assessment of workplaces that produce and use ENMs. The first step involves testing with different DRIs (such as a CPC and a laser photometer) as well as sample collection and subsequent microscopic analysis (MPS + TEM/STEM) to clearly identify the work tasks that generate ENMs. The second step, once work exposure is confirmed, is specific quantification of the ENMs detected. The following findings are particularly helpful for detailed characterization of ENM exposure:

  1. The first conclusive tests of a technique using ICP-MS to quantify the metal oxide content of samples collected in the workplace
  2. The possibility of combining different sampling methods recommended by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to measure elemental carbon as an indicator of NTC/NFC, as well as demonstration of the limitation of this method stemming from observed interference with the black carbon particles required to synthesis carbon materials (for example, Raman spectroscopy showed that less than 6% of the particles deposited on the electron microscopy grid at one site were SWCNTs)
  3. The clear advantages of using an MPS (instead of the standard 37-mm cassettes used as sampling media for electron microscopy), which allows quantification of materials
  4. The major impact of sampling time: a long sampling time overloads electron microscopy grids and can lead to overestimation of average particle agglomerate size and underestimation of particle concentrations
  5. The feasibility and utility of surface sampling, either with sampling pumps or passively by diffusion onto the electron microscopy grids, to assess ENM dispersion in the workplace

These original findings suggest promising avenues for assessing ENM exposure, while also showing their limitations. Improvements to our sampling and analysis methods give us a better understanding of ENM exposure and help in adapting and implementing control measures that can minimize occupational exposure.

You can download the full report in either or both English and French from the ‘Nanomaterials – A Guide to Good Practices Facilitating Risk Management in the Workplace, 2nd Edition‘ webpage.

Boron nitride nanotubes

Most of the talk about nanotubes is focused on carbon nanotubes but there are other kinds as a May 21, 2018 Rice University news release (also received via email and on EurekAlert and in a May 21, 2018 news item on ScienceDaily), notes,

Boron nitride nanotubes are primed to become effective building blocks for next-generation composite and polymer materials based on a new discovery at Rice University – and a previous one.

Scientists at known-for-nano Rice have found a way to enhance a unique class of nanotubes using a chemical process pioneered at the university. The Rice lab of chemist Angel Martí took advantage of the Billups-Birch reaction process to enhance boron nitride nanotubes.

The work is described in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Applied Nano Materials.

Boron nitride nanotubes, like their carbon cousins, are rolled sheets of hexagonal arrays. Unlike carbon nanotubes, they’re electrically insulating hybrids made of alternating boron and nitrogen atoms.

Insulating nanotubes that can be functionalized will be a valuable building block for nanoengineering projects, Martí said. “Carbon nanotubes have outstanding properties, but you can only get them in semiconducting or metallic conducting types,” he said. “Boron nitride nanotubes are complementary materials that can fill that gap.”

Until now, these nanotubes have steadfastly resisted functionalization, the “decorating” of structures with chemical additives that allows them to be customized for applications. The very properties that give boron nitride nanotubes strength and stability, especially at high temperatures, also make them hard to modify for their use in the production of advanced materials.

But the Billups-Birch reaction developed by Rice Professor Emeritus of Chemistry Edward Billups, which frees electrons to bind with other atoms, allowed Martí and lead author Carlos de los Reyes to give the electrically inert boron nitride nanotubes a negative charge.

That, in turn, opened them up to functionalization with other small molecules, including aliphatic carbon chains.

“Functionalizing the nanotubes modifies or tunes their properties,” Martí said. “When they’re pristine they are dispersible in water, but once we attach these alkyl chains, they are extremely hydrophobic (water-avoiding). Then, if you put them in very hydrophobic solvents like those with long-chain hydrocarbons, they are more dispersible than their pristine form.

“This allows us to tune the properties of the nanotubes and will make it easier to take the next step toward composites,” he said. “For that, the materials need to be compatible.”

After he discovered the phenomenon, de los Reyes spent months trying to reproduce it reliably. “There was a period where I had to do a reaction every day to achieve reproducibility,” he said. But that turned out to be an advantage, as the process only required about a day from start to finish. “That’s the advantage over other processes to functionalize carbon nanotubes. There are some that are very effective, but they may take a few days.”

The process begins with adding pure ammonia gas to the nanotubes and cooling it to -70 degrees Celsius (-94 degrees Fahrenheit). “When it combines with sodium, lithium or potassium — we use lithium — it creates a sea of electrons,” Martí said. “When the lithium dissolves in the ammonia, it expels the electrons.”

The freed electrons quickly bind with the nanotubes and provide hooks for other molecules. De los Reyes enhanced Billups-Birch when he found that adding the alkyl chains slowly, rather than all at once, improved their ability to bind.

The researchers also discovered the process is reversible. Unlike carbon nanotubes that burn away, boron nitride nanotubes can stand the heat. Placing functionalized boron nitride tubes into a furnace at 600 degrees Celsius (1,112 degrees Fahrenheit) stripped them of the added molecules and returned them to their nearly pristine state.

“We call it defunctionalization,” Martí said. “You can functionalize them for an application and then remove the chemical groups to regain the pristine material. That’s something else the material brings that is a little different.”

The researchers have provided this pretty illustration of boron nitride nanotube,

Caption: Rice University researchers have discovered a way to ‘decorate’ electrically insulating boron nitride nanotubes with functional groups, making them more suitable for use with polymers and composite materials. Credit: Martí Research Group/Rice University

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Chemical Decoration of Boron Nitride Nanotubes Using the Billups-Birch Reaction: Toward Enhanced Thermostable Reinforced Polymer and Ceramic Nanocomposites by Carlos A. de los Reyes, Kendahl L. Walz Mitra, Ashleigh D. Smith, Sadegh Yazdi, Axel Loredo, Frank J. Frankovsky, Emilie Ringe, Matteo Pasquali, and Angel A. Martí. ACS Appl. Nano Mater., Article ASAP DOI: 10.1021/acsanm.8b00633 Publication Date (Web): May 16, 2018

Copyright © 2018 American Chemical Society

This paper is behind a paywall.

Vancouver (Canada) Podcast Festival, November 8-10, 2018, and the Fear of Science

It seems that DOXA (The Documentary Media Society), an organization that once a year in the Spring produces a documentary film festival is expanding its empire.

According to an October 15, 2018 posting by Rebecca Bollwitt (Miss 604 blog), DOXA is presenting something new, The Vancouver Podcast Festival in November 2018 (Note: A link has been removed),

A new festival dedicated to highlighting the power of podcasting as a non-fiction medium will present an array of public and industry events from November 8-10, 2018. Vancouver Podcast Festival, presented by DOXA features three days of panels, hands-on workshops, and live podcast presentations and tapings to celebrate one of the world’s fastest-growing mediums.

Vancouver Podcast Festival

When: November 8-10, 2018
Tickets: Available now online
Where: Rio Theatre, CBC Vancouver, The Post @ 750, Secret Location, and the Vancouver Public Library Central Branch.

The theme of the festival is “True Crime and Justice,” and will feature internationally acclaimed shows, including You Must Remember This, hailed as “addictive” by The Guardian and “essential” by Vanity Fair. Other exciting talents include the award-winning Someone Knows Something and Peabody winner In The Dark, shows that take justice into their own hands and cause real change, overturning cases, uncovering killers and exposing flaws in our legal systems. At the Vancouver Podcast Festival, these journalists will reveal how they make and share their groundbreaking work.

Despite the ‘true crime’ theme, some brave soul has included a science podcast event, from the Vancouver Podcast Festival 2018 programme webpage,

Featured Podcast: The Fear of Science

Vancouver Public Library

Filter events by “Vancouver Public Library ”

FREE EVENT

Filter events by “FREE EVENT”

Thursday, November 8, 11 AM – 12 PM @ Vancouver Public Library

Admission is free but seating is limited on a first come, first served basis. Please arrive early to guarantee entry.

There’s a bit more information on the ‘Fear of Science’ event webpage,

Thursday, November 8, 2018 11:00 AM
Vancouver Public Library

FREE EVENT

View all events tagged “FREE EVENT”

The Fear of Science brings together scientists and common people for an unfiltered discussion about complicated and sometimes controversial science-fears in a fun and respectful way. We dive into the wide world of science to demystify, debunk and delight! Each show features a new science fear, with special guests and more surprises along the way.

Vancouver Public Library
350 W Georgia St
Vancouver, BC V6B 6B1
November 8, 2018, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

They are offering a range of events that include politics and podcasting, journalism and podcasting, live shows, and panel discussions. Most of these events are free. Go here for tickets and more information.

Media registration is open for the 2018 ITU ( International Telecommunication Union) Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-18) being held 29 October – 16 November 2018 in Dubai

I’m a little late with this but there’s still time to register should you happen to be in or able to get to Dubai easily. From an October 18, 2018 International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Media Advisory (received via email),

Media registration is open for the 2018 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-18) – the highest policy-making body of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations’ specialized agency for information and communication technology. This will be closing soon, so all media intending to attend the event MUST register as soon as possible here.

Held every four years, it is the key event at which ITU’s 193 Member States decide on the future role of the organization, thereby determining ITU’s ability to influence and affect the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) worldwide. It is expected to attract around 3,000 participants, including Heads of State and an estimated 130 VIPs from more than 193 Member States and more than 800 private companies, academic institutions and national, regional and international bodies.

ITU plays an integral role in enabling the development and implementation of ICTs worldwide through its mandate to: coordinate the shared global use of the radio spectrum, promote international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, work to improve communication infrastructure in the developing world, and establish worldwide standards that foster seamless interconnection of a vast range of communications systems.

Delegates will tackle a number of pressing issues, from strategies to promote digital inclusion and bridge the digital divide, to ways to leverage such emerging technologies as the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, 5G, and others, to improve the way all of us, everywhere, live and work.

The conference also sets ITU’s Financial Plan and elects its five top executives – Secretary-General, Deputy Secretary-General, and the Directors of the Radiocommunication, Telecommunication Standardization and Telecommunication Development Bureaux – who will guide its work over the next four years.

What: ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2018 (PP-18) sets the next four-year strategy, budget and leadership of ITU.

Why: Finance, Business, Tech, Development and Foreign Affairs reporters will find PP-18 relevant to their newsgathering. Decisions made at PP-18 are designed to create an enabling ICT environment where the benefits of digital connectivity can reach all people and economies, everywhere. As such, these decisions can have an impact on the telecommunication and technology sectors as well as developed and developing countries alike.

When: 29 October – 16 November 2018: With several Press Conferences planned during the event.

* Historically the Opening, Closing and Plenary sessions of this conference are open to media. Confirmation of those sessions open to media, and Press Conference times, will be made closer to the event date.

Where: Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

More Information:

REGISTER FOR ACCREDITATION

I visited the ‘ITU Events Registration and Accreditation Process for Media‘ webpage and foudn these tidbits,

Accreditation eligibility & credentials 

1. Journalists* should provide an official letter of assignment from the Editor-in-Chief (or the News Editor for radio/TV). One letter per crew/editorial team will suffice. Editors-in-Chief and Bureau Chiefs should submit a letter from their Director. Please email this to pressreg@itu.int, along with the required supporting credentials below:​

    • ​​​​​print and online publications should be available to the general public and published at least 6 times a year by an organization whose principle business activity is publishing and which generally carries paid advertising;

      o 2 copies of recent byline articles published within the last 4 months.
    • news wire services should provide news coverage to subscribers, including newspapers, periodicals and/or television networks;

      o 2 copies of recent byline articles or broadcasting material published within the last 4 months.
    • broadcast should provide news and information programmes to the general public. Independent film and video production companies can only be accredited if officially mandated by a broadcast station via a letter of assignment;

      o broadcasting material published within the last 4 months.
    • freelance journalists including photographers, must provide clear documentation that they are on assignment from a specific news organization or publication. Evidence that they regularly supply journalistic content to recognized media may be acceptable in the absence of an assignment letter at the discretion of the ITU Media Relations Service.

      o a valid assignment letter from the news organization or publication.

 2. Bloggers may be granted accreditation if blog content is deemed relevant to the industry, contains news commentary, is regularly updated and made publicly available. Corporate bloggers are invited to register as participants. Please see Guidelines for Blogger Accreditation below for more details.

Guidelines for Blogger Accreditation

ITU is committed to working with independent ‘new media’ reporters and columnists who reach their audiences via blogs, podcasts, video blogs and other online media. These are the guidelines we use to determine whether to issue official media accreditation to independent online media representatives: 

ITU reserves the right to request traffic data from a third party (Sitemeter, Technorati, Feedburner, iTunes or equivalent) when considering your application. While the decision to grant access is not based solely on traffic/subscriber data, we ask that applicants provide sufficient transparency into their operations to help us make a fair and timely decision. 

Obtaining media accreditation for ITU events is an opportunity to meet and interact with key industry and political figures. While continued accreditation for ITU events is not directly contingent on producing coverage, owing to space limitations we may take this into consideration when processing future accreditation requests. Following any ITU event for which you are accredited, we therefore kindly request that you forward a link to your post/podcast/video blog to pressreg@itu.int. 

Bloggers who are granted access to ITU events are expected to act professionally. Those who do not maintain the standards expected of professional media representatives run the risk of having their accreditation withdrawn. 

If you can’t find answers to your questions on the ‘ITU Events Registration and Accreditation Process for Media‘ webpage, you can contact,

For media accreditation inquiries:


Rita Soraya Abino-Quintana
Media Accreditation Officer
ITU Corporate Communications

Tel: +41 22 730 5424

For anything else, contact,

For general media inquiries:


Jennifer Ferguson-Mitchell
Senior Media and Communications Officer
ITU Corporate Communications

Tel: +41 22 730 5469

Mobile: +41 79 337 4615

There you have it.

Quantum dots derived from tea leaves inhibit growth of lung cancer cells

A May 21, 2018 news item on phys.org announces some intriguing work borne of a UK-India research collaboration,

Nanoparticles derived from tea leaves inhibit the growth of lung cancer cells, destroying up to 80% of them, new research by a joint Swansea University and Indian team has shown.

The team made the discovery while they were testing out a new method of producing a type of nanoparticle called quantum dots. These are tiny particles which measure less than 10 nanometres. A human hair is 40,000 nanometres thick.

A May 21, 2018 Swansea University (UK) press release (also on EurekAlert but dated May 20, 2018), which originated the news item, fills in the details,

Although nanoparticles are already used in healthcare, quantum dots have only recently attracted researchers’ attention.  Already they are showing promise for use in different applications, from computers and solar cells to tumour imaging and treating cancer.

600 x 292

Picture: Size comparison of quantum dots with football and with human hair, in nanometers.

Quantum dots can be made chemically, but this is complicated and expensive and has toxic side effects.  The Swansea-led research team were therefore exploring a non-toxic plant-based alternative method of producing the dots, using tea leaf extract.

Tea leaves contain a wide variety of compounds, including polyphenols, amino acids, vitamins and antioxidants.   The researchers mixed tea leaf extract with cadmium sulphate (CdSO4) and sodium sulphide (Na2S) and allowed the solution to incubate, a process which causes quantum dots to form.   They then applied the dots to lung cancer cells.

The researchers found: 

  • Tea leaves are a simpler, cheaper and less toxic method of producing quantum dots, compared with using chemicals, confirming the results of other research in the field.
  • Quantum dots produced from tea leaves inhibit the growth of lung cancer cellsThey penetrated into the nanopores of the cancer cells and destroyed up to 80% of them.  This was a brand new finding, and came as a surprise to the team.

The research, published in “Applied Nano Materials”, is a collaborative venture between Swansea University experts and colleagues from two Indian universities.

600 x 281

Picture: microscope images of A549 lung cancer cells:  left, untreated; right, treated with quantum dots

Dr Sudhagar Pitchaimuthu of Swansea University, lead researcher on the project, and a Ser Cymru-II Rising Star Fellow, said:

“Our research confirmed previous evidence that tea leaf extract can be a non-toxic alternative to making quantum dots using chemicals.

The real surprise, however, was that the dots actively inhibited the growth of the lung cancer cells.  We hadn’t been expecting this.

The CdS quantum dots derived from tea leaf extract showed exceptional fluorescence emission in cancer cell bioimaging compared to conventional CdS nanoparticles.

Quantum dots are therefore a very promising avenue to explore for developing new cancer treatments.

They also have other possible applications, for example in anti-microbial paint used in operating theatres, or in sun creams.”

Dr Pitchaimuthu outlined the next steps for research:

“Building on this exciting discovery, the next step is to scale up our operation, hopefully with the help of other collaborators.   We want to investigate the role of tea leaf extract in cancer cell imaging, and the interface between quantum dots and the cancer cell.

We would like to set up a “quantum dot factory” which will allow us to explore more fully the ways in which they can be used.”

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Green-Synthesis-Derived CdS Quantum Dots Using Tea Leaf Extract: Antimicrobial, Bioimaging, and Therapeutic Applications in Lung Cancer Cells by Kavitha Shivaji, Suganya Mani, Ponnusamy Ponmurugan, Catherine Suenne De Castro, Matthew Lloyd Davies, Mythili Gnanamangai Balasubramanian, and Sudhagar Pitchaimuthu. ACS Appl. Nano Mater., 2018, 1 (4), pp 1683–1693 DOI: 10.1021/acsanm.8b00147 Publication Date (Web): March 9, 2018

Copyright © 2018 American Chemical Society

This paper is behind a paywall.

UK (United Kingdom) leads world in ‘compassionate’ technology

I’m not sure they can claim world leadership status but some group which calls itself ‘Public’ has indicated the UK (United Kingdom) outpaces its European brethren where ‘compassionate’ technology is concerned according to a May 17, 2018 article by Rick Kelsey for BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) news only,

The UK has more investments in compassionate technology companies than the rest of Europe put together, data from Public – which supports industry start-ups – suggests.

These companies are part of a sector estimated to be worth about £7bn, more than the financial tech sector – the new services such as current account apps disrupting traditional banking.

And the UK technology industry as a whole grew by 4.5% between 2016 and 2017, according to a Tech Nation report released today.

This is nearly three times the rate of UK gross domestic product (GDP), the amount the economy produces, which grew by 1.8% during the same period.

An example of ‘compassionate’ technology from Kelsey’s article,

[An] area where compassionate technology is growing is in combating loneliness in older people.

Technology is often designed for younger users, with touchscreens often failing to work for older users with dry hands, leaving them unable to communicate with others as easily.

“I find with my mobile, I have to sit down very carefully and do all this business,” says 84-year-old Marian, from Bromley. “I can’t do what the children do.”

But now she has a high-resolution screen, called Komp, controlled with a single dial.

It allows her to connect with her grandchildren, who can update it remotely with fresh pictures.

Karen Dolva, head of the company No Isolation that’s behind the product, says: “We’ve been forcing tech made for millennials on to seniors, and it doesn’t work.

“You can’t give them something that is just altered [for older people], you have to start over.”

There was also this (from Kelsey’s article),

The UK technology sector grew 2.6 times faster than the UK economy as a whole last year, new figures show. One of the biggest growth areas was in compassionate tech, with new apps and online services helping society’s most vulnerable.

“I ended up sofa surfing from place to place, so I didn’t really have anywhere [of my own],” 27-year-old Davina tells the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme.

She has been homeless for seven years.

She is training to become an accountant, thanks to funding raised through compassionate technology – a thriving UK sector in which private start-ups are using tech to provide health and welfare services for those most in need.

Maybe not ‘world-leading’, although it seems to me they have a good case for the claim, the combined efforts are quite impressive.

Café Scientifique Vancouver (Canada) talk on October 30th, 2018: Solving some of Canada’s grandest challenges with synthetic biology

From an October 16, 2018 Café Scientifique Vancouver announcement (received via email),

Our next café will happen on TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30TH at 7:30PM in the
back room at YAGGER’S DOWNTOWN (433 W Pender). Our speaker for the
evening will be DR. VIKRAMADITYA G. YADAV. His topic will be:

SOLVING SOME OF CANADA’S GRANDEST CHALLENGES WITH SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY

A warming climate, unrepressed mining and logging, contamination of our
water resources, the uncertain price and tight supply of crude oil and
the growing threat of epidemics are having a profound, negative impact
on the well-being of Canadians. There is an urgent need to develop and
implement sustainable manufacturing technologies that can not only meet
our material and energy needs, but also sustain our quality of life.
Romantic and unbelievable as it sounds, Nature posses all the answer to
our challenges, and the coming decades in science and engineering will
be typified by our attempts to mimic or recruit biology to address our
needs. This talk will present a vivid snapshot of current and emerging
research towards this goal and highlight some cutting-edge technologies
under development at the University of British Columbia [UBC].

When he joined the University of Waterloo as an undergraduate student in
chemical engineering, Dr. Vikramaditya G. Yadav coveted a career in
Alberta’s burgeoning petrochemical sector. He even interned at Imperial
Oil during his first summer break from university. Then, one fine
evening during second year, he stumbled upon a copy of Juan Enríquez’s
As the Future Catches You in the library and became instantly captivated
with biological engineering. His journey over the past few years has
taken him to Sanofi Pasteur [vaccines division of the multinational
pharmaceutical
company Sanofi], the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT],
Harvard University, and finally, the University of British Columbia,
where he now leads a wonderful group of researchers working on
wide-ranging topics at the interface of biology, chemistry, engineering,
medicine and economics.

We hope to see you there!

Oftentimes, the speaker is asked to write up a description of their talk and assuming that’s the case and based on how it’s written, I’d say the odds are good that this will be a lively, engaging talk.

For more proof, you can check out Dr. Yadav’s description of his research interests on his UBC profile page. BTW, his research group is called The Biofoundry (at UBC).

All about gene editing, sexual reproduction, and the arts (an October 27, 2018 ArtSci Salon event in Toronto, Canada)

This ArtSci Salon event is part of the third world congress, GeNeDis (Genetics, Geriatrics, and Neurodegenerative Diseases Research). GeNeDis 2018 was organized by The Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Human Electrophysiology, Department of Informatics of the Ionian University (Corfu Greece) in cooperation with the Fields Institute (for Research in Mathematical Sciences) at the University of Toronto (Ontario, Canada) and Wilfrid Laurier University (Waterloo Ontario).

The ArtSci Salon will be presenting (from the ArtSci Salon GeNeDis event page) Note: Read carefully as this is a multi-pronged event,

GeNeDis Panel and Exhibition – Gene Editing, sexual reproduction and the arts: Oct 27, 2018

ArtSci salon is proud to present an event to explore the entangled issues of sex and sexual fantasy, sexual reproduction and sexual regulation, fertility and sexual technologies. We invited artists and scholars to address these themes using their preferred approach: the result is a thought provoking series which interrogates and imagines these issues through human/non-human sexual fantasies, interrogates them by means of modified gynaecological instruments, rewrites potential scenarios as enhanced and/or elderly humans, or offers unexpected ways to hack sex right here, right now.

Our goal is not just to imagine how media, technological enhancement, gene editing and medical treatments will transform our idea of sex and our sexuality as human beings and as part of the wide non-human world that surrounds us. It is also to think of how creative/critical initiatives may facilitate a sustained dialogue to help us cope with unresolved issues in the present. Interdisciplinary so!

The event will be accompanied by an exhibition on display Oct 18-Nov.8 in the Koffler Students Centre Cabinets, University of Toronto

Panel discussion

Gene editing, sexual reproduction and the arts: the present, the future and the imagined

ArtSci Salon will participate in the scientific conference GeNeDis (Genetics, Geriatrics, and Neurodegenerative Diseases Research) with a special panel addressing the topic of gene editing and sexual reproduction from a sciart perspective. The discussion will be preceded by the official opening of an exhibition illustrating how present issues in gynaecology and sexual regulation, hormonal management, human enhancement and sexual and cultural identity may be addressed, redressed, hacked and reimagined through the arts.

The Panel will be followed by a reception

Chair: Roberta Buiani, ArtSci Salon, Fields Institute
Speakers: Byron Rich, Samira Daneshvar, Adam Zaretsky & Dolores Steinman.

Saturday, Oct 27,
18:00-19:30

Lennox Hall
77 Adelaide Street W.

please, RSVP here 

For a little more detail about the event, you can check an Oct. 19, 2018 news item in Clot magazine,

On October 27th [2018], interdisciplinary group ArtSci Salon will present a panel discussion addressing the topic of gene editing and sexual reproduction from a sciart perspective. Preceding the discussion will be the official opening of an exhibition featuring the work of four of the speakers; a show that reimagines issues relating to gynaecology, sexual regulation, hormonal management and cultural identity through the arts.

During the conversation itself, the panel will focus on the current status of genome editing, presenting a nuanced alternative to sensationalist media narratives that often frame genome editing as a set of dichotomized future predictions, either utopian or dystopian. Stepping back into the present, the speakers will rethink the implications of genome editing through a creative lens, exploring the intersection of scientific and artistic interventions as they relate to human enhancement. Both panel and exhibition will approach these topics with an emphasis on their social implications, exploring in particular issues relating to sexual reproduction, fertility and sexual technologies – simultaneously raising awareness of sexual politics and the medicalization of the body.

The news item goes on to briefly describe the panelists.

Brain Talks: Epigenetics and Early Life Experiences on October 22, 2018 in Vancouver (Canada)

An October 3, 2018 announcement arrived from the Brain Talks folks (Vancouver, Canada) in my email box,

BrainTalks: Epigenetics and Early Life Experiences

Monday, October 22, 2018 from 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM

Join us on Monday, October 22nd for a talk on Epigenetics and Early Life Experiences. We are honoured to host three phenomenal presenters for the evening: Dr. Michael Kobor, Dr. Liisa Galea, and Dr. Adele Diamond.

Dr. Michael Kobor is a senior scientist at the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics and BC Children’s Hospital, and a Professor at UBC [University of British Columbia]. He studies social epigenetics and medical genetics, with a focus on studying how the environment shapes the human epigenome, and how this in turn might affect children’s susceptibilities to chronic disease and their mental health. He has received numerous awards for his research, and runs the Kobor Lab at UBC.

Dr. Liisa Galea is a Professor in the Department of Psychology, and Director of the Graduate program in Neuroscience at UBC. The vision for her research is to establish how sex hormones influence brain health and disease in both females and males. Her goal is to improve brain health for women and men by examining the influence of sex and sex hormones on normal and diseased brain states, and how this can effect offspring development. She has received numerous awards for her research, and runs the Galea Laboratory for Behavioural Neuroendocrinology.

Dr. Adele Diamond is a well known and respected expert in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, the way the developing young brain evolves in its ability to make intelligent sense of the world around it, and how it evolves in response to the surrounding environment. She will address the effect of early adverse experiences on the brain from a developmental perspective. She has spoken at TedTalks and runs her Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Lab associated with UBC.

Our event on Monday, October 22nd will start with presentations from each of the three speakers, and end with a panel discussion inspired by audience questions. For physicians, the event is CME accredited for a [sic] MOC credit of 1.5. After the talks, at 7:30 pm, we host a social gathering with a rich spread of catered healthy food and non-alcoholic drinks. We look forward to seeing you there!

You can get tickets here (no more free tickets, the ones that are left cost $10),

Date and Time

Mon, 22 October 2018

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM PDT

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Location

Paetzhold Theater

Vancouver General Hospital; Jim Pattison Pavillion

Vancouver, BC

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Refund Policy

Refunds up to 1 day before event

There you have it.