Welcome to Vol. 8 No. 1 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
FINAL MONTH OF BFI'S ANNUAL PLEDGE DRIVE
Happy New Year from the Buckminster Fuller Institute!
We invite you to join us and support this valuable news service and The Buckminster Fuller Institute by MAKING A PLEDGE TODAY!
Enroll or renew your membership at the $100 Associate level before January 31st, 2007 and receive a beautiful stamp cancellation card featuring the limited edition Buckminster Fuller stamp released by the U.S. Postal Service (no longer commercially available). *Note: Associate level members who have already enrolled for 2007 will also receive this gift.
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 by January 31st, 2007.
THANK YOU!
2007 DESIGN SCIENCE LAB ANNOUNCED!
The 2007 Design Science Lab will take place in New York City at the United Nations and United Nations International School from Thursday June 21st to Friday June 29th. The DSL is a rigorous, hands-on training in the problem solving methodology pioneered by Fuller called Design Science. Participants engage in a whole systems and anticipatory approach to develop strategies to solve global and local problems that are based on innovation and thrive on transparency. The 2007 DSL will again be facilitated by Medard Gabel of BigPictureSmallWorld. To find out more about the program and receive updates about applying for the 2007 Lab, please send an email to dsl (at) bfi.org .
NEW SALES IN OUR ONLINE STORE!
This month we are offering Fuller's first book, 4D Timelock at a discounted price of $14.95. Written in 1938, this book introduces the concept of an autonomous housing unit, later called the Dymaxion House.
In addition to 4D Timelock we are happy to announce that Fuller's seminal book, Critical Path, is back in stock!
Click here to visit our online store
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
"Man, as we know him, is a comparative late-comer in the history of the earth and the tenuous film of life which its surface has supported. In certain respects he is one of the most fragile of living creatures yet - in the manner of his explosive appearance on the scene, and the ways in which he has profoundly altered the environment within which he developed, he is the most powerful organism to have emerged so far."
— R. Buckminster Fuller, I Inventory of World Resources, Trends, and Needs; Document 1 1963
TRENDS & PERSPECTIVES
Team awarded for better bulb discovery
A team of scientists at Vanderbilt University have been given an award from Popular Mechanics magazine for a discovery that could someday replace the common light bulb, the researchers say.
Led by Vanderbilt associate professor Sandra Rosenthal, the team nearly a year ago discovered a new way to make solid-state lights that produce white light. They say the finding could replace the common light bulb and cut the world's electricity consumption in half.
The latest award from the magazine is one of several the team has won for experimenting with quantum dots tiny semiconductor crystals of cadmium selenide that absorb light and generate a charge. (Source: Boston.com News)
Bio-ink printer makes stem cells differentiate
An inkjet device that prints tiny "bio-ink" patterns has been used to simultaneously grow two different tissues from the stem cells of adult mice. Surgeons could one day use the technology to repair various damaged tissues at the same time, the researchers say.
Inkjet technology uses a fine stream of droplets to build structures and is employed across many industries - from computer chip design to large scale manufacturing. It also has biomedical applications: researchers use it to place very precise amounts of biological material, on the microscale. For example, some groups have used the technology to print cells, and "build" organs.
Now, Julie Phillippi at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, US, and colleagues have demonstrated a novel bio-ink printer that directs a population of muscle-derived stem cells from adult mice to differentiate into both muscle and bone tissue. It is the first such system to grow multiple tissues from a single population of adult stem cells, the researchers say. (Source: New Scientist)
RESOURCES
Green Design in 2006
Check out this great list of the notable "green" events of 2006 assembled by the folks at Inhabitat.
Inhabitat
Generative Feedback
Gil Friend, in this inspiring blog entry, writes about Generative Feedback, "performance feedback that doesn't just track behavior; it drives it. And changes the way people talk and think about it," and some of the people, technologies, and ideas that are changing the way we think about the world.
Gil Friend: Strategic Sustainability
Fill 'er Up: A Grist Special Series on Biofuels
Cut through the hype and find out the real deal behind what some are calling the answer to our oil problems. Grist's ongoing series on biofuels provides a huge collection of resources from leading experts in the field on every side of the issue.Grist Special Series
Have you come across interesting Design Science news articles, resources, or events?
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