Welcome to Vol. 7 No. 11 of Design Science News, the e-bulletin of the Buckminster Fuller Institute
Design Science News brings you news from around the world related to humanity's option for success and comprehensive design solutions. It also features updates from BFI and periodic special offers for our members.
BFI UPDATE
BFI'S ANNUAL PLEDGE DRIVE OFF TO A GREAT START
We invite you to join us and support this valuable news service and The Buckminster Fuller Institute by MAKING A PLEDGE TODAY!
Supporting the Institute is one of the ways in which you can participate in designing a world that works for everyone. Our innovative educational programs, research and publications are made possible by our international community, people like you who receive this newsletter, visit our website, and participate in BFI events. Our objective is to inspire in upcoming generations the comprehensive and anticipatory thinking and design skills so urgently required to achieve a sustainable future. Your financial participation in our work will enable us to expand our programming and to build momentum toward that end. Do not wait for another day ...
Click here now to support BFI and help us reach our pledge drive goal of $60,000.
THANK YOU!
CHECK OUT THE NEW HOLIDAY SALES IN OUR ONLINE STORE!
This month we are offering special sales on a number of items that will make great holiday gifts including our maps, posters, DVDs, books, and more! Please visit our store website for detailed information on our sales and specials. bfi.easystorecreator.com
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
"Quite clearly, our task is predominantly metaphysical, for it is how to get all of humanity to educate itself swiftly enough to generate spontaneous social behaviors that will avoid extinction."
— R. Buckminster Fuller, I Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking 1975
TRENDS & PERSPECTIVES
Making water from thin air
A company that developed technology capable of creating water out of thin air nearly anywhere in the world is now under contract to nourish U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq.
The water-harvesting technology was originally the brainchild of the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which sought ways to ensure sustainable water supplies for U.S. combat troops deployed in arid regions like Iraq.
"The program focused on creating water from the atmosphere using low-energy systems that could reduce the overall logistics burden for deployed forces and provide potable water within the reach of the war fighter any place, any time," said Darpa spokeswoman Jan Walker.
The 20-foot machine can churn out 600 gallons of water a day without using or producing toxic materials and byproducts. The machine was displayed on Capitol Hill last week where a half-dozen lawmakers and some staffers stopped by for a drink.
"It was very interesting to see the technology in action and learn about its possible implementation in natural disasters," said Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr., a Republican from Florida whose hurricane-prone district includes Fort Lauderdale. (Source: Wired News)
From photosynthesis basics to renewable energy breakthrough
About 3.2 billion years ago, primitive bacteria developed a way to harness sunlight to split water molecules into protons, electrons and oxygen, the cornerstone of photosynthesis that led to atmospheric oxygen and more complex forms of life - in other words, the world and life as we know it.
Recently, an international team led by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have taken a major step toward understanding this process. Their work, detailed in the November 3, 2006, issue of the journal Science, could help researchers synthesize molecules that mimic this catalyst, which is a central focus in the push to develop renewable energy technologies.
The team, which includes scientists from Germany's Technical and Free Universities in Berlin, the Max Planck Institute in Muelheim and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, used an innovative combination of x-ray spectroscopy and protein crystallography to yield the highest-resolution structures yet of the metal catalyst. (Source: Renewable Energy Access)
Physics promises wireless power
The tangle of cables and plugs needed to recharge today's electronic gadgets could soon be a thing of the past. US researchers have outlined a relatively simple system that could deliver power to devices such as laptop computers or MP3 players without wires. The concept exploits century-old physics and could work over distances of many metres, the researchers said. Although the team has not built and tested a system, computer models and mathematics suggest it will work.
"There are so many autonomous devices such as cell phones and laptops that have emerged in the last few years," said Assistant Professor Marin Soljacic from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of the researchers behind the work.
"We started thinking, 'it would be really convenient if you didn't have to recharge these things'.
"And because we're physicists we asked, 'what kind of physical phenomenon can we use to do this wireless energy transfer?'." (Source: BBC News)
RESOURCES
Buckminster Fuller Wikipedia
There is a great entry on Buckminster Fuller in Wikipedia! The page has grown exponentially since it was created, but there is always room for more. We encourage you Fuller fans and experts to add your insights to the page as well as any interesting links to Fuller-related people and projects.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller
5th International Symposium on Digital Earth: Call for Proposals
It is our great pleasure to invite you to participate in 5th International Symposium on Digital Earth, taking place in San Francisco from June 5-9, 2007.
Please visit the ISDE website for more information on the Call for Papers and Presentations for the Conference.
The deadline for submissions of abstracts is January 15, 2007.
Digital Earth is a visionary concept for "spaceship Earth" sparked by R. Buckminster Fuller, grokked by the Apollo astronauts returning from their moon missions, and popularized by Vice President Al Gore.
On June 5th 2007, the 5th International Symposium on Digital Earth (ISDE5) will open in the Bay Area of San Francisco, California, USA. The symposium will span four days and will address a broad national and international audience across a spectrum of industry, academic, government, and citizen attendees. All individuals who share a common interest in the concept of a digital Earth are urged to participate and attend.
This international vision encompasses the virtual and 3-D representation of the Earth with vast amounts of scientific, natural, and cultural information that is spatially referenced and interconnected with digital knowledge archives from around the planet to describe and understand the Earth, its systems, and human activities.
http://isde5.org
Join BFI's Board and Fuller Fans at Worldchanging launch in San Francisco
Date: Tuesday, December 5th
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Location: 111 Minna Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
RSVP: worldchangingSF (at) gmail.com
Hosted by BFI friends: Brad DeGraf, Gil Friend, and Cameron Sinclair
ABOUT THE BOOK: Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century is a 608-page compendium of the most innovative solutions, ideas and inventions for building a livable, prosperous future, written by more than sixty noted writers and thinkers, with a forward from Al Gore and an introduction by Bruce Sterling.
From consumer consciousness to a new vision for industry; non-toxic homes to refugee shelters; microfinance to effective philanthropy; socially responsible investing to starting a green business; citizen media to human rights; ecological economics to climate change, we think this is the most comprehensive, cutting-edge overview to date of what's possible in the near future - if we decide to make it so. For more information, and to purchase the book, please visit: http://www.worldchanging.com/book
Read Advance praise for the book:
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/005130.html
Read about the event we hosted with Worldchanging on Tuesday, November 21st: http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/005412.html
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