Bee Chamber

I found this really impressive and innovative way to detect and diagnose certain illnesses. Designed by Susana Soares, this glass chamber contains bees...yes, bees. They are known for their phenomenal odor-sensing capacity. How it works: The face object has two chambers, the larger one serves as the bee chamber, and the smaller one serves as the diagnosis chamber.  Bees trained to target and specific odor in the breath, a marker of a particular illness or condition, will fly into the smaller chamber. How amazing it this? The bees have the ability to detect pre-ovulation, ovulation and post-ovulation. I think that this is another clever way to use and build off of another species ability. 

Power Plants by 20/2 Collaborative

Design is involved with some of the most innovative and progressive ideas that better our world. I found this proposal for a new energy source. The project proposal is a network of engineered  algae ponds and hydrogen gas-filled balloons will fuel an icelandic city. How it works: "In 1999, researchers at UC Berkeley discovered that algae alternate between hydrogen production and photosynthesis, and that depriving the algae oxygen and sulfur, triggers them to favour the hydrogen cycle. A 10 metre, algae filled pond, easily built into a community landscape, should produce enough hydrogen weekly to power 12 cars. 

Science and Design

I was reading an article in SEED magazine about working in cross-disciplinary teams (science and design). People understand that the world is so complex and that product development is so complex that a single person or a single profession isn't capable of coming up with all the answers. One of the innovations that they showcased was a solar bottle by Alberto Media and Francisco Gomez Paz. It is a four litre water bottle that enhances SODIS technology, capturing UV-A radiation and heat from our most available resource: sunlight. This solar disinfection can purify contaminated water within six hours.

Extras

Andy Millman, Actor. Never forgets his lines because he never gets any. Andy, played by Rickey Gervais, is a desperate man. He's never done any real acting. Instead, he's a lowly film extra, making his mark in the background while the stars do their work. This television show on HBO is a hilarious show that displays a dry sassy humour. Guest stars like Kate Winslet, Ben Stiller and Samual L. Jackson, have a good time poking fun at themselves. 

The Design Revolution

I was reading an article by Cheryl Heller, in Communication Arts about an innovative design revolution called D-Rev. Created by a man named Dr. Paul Polak with the intentions of designing the tools to help increase production of crops in poor countries. He states that "the only difference between poor people and everyone else is a lack of money." Polak says that "90% of the designers in the world design products for 10% of people who have a lot of money." D-Rev focuses on the understanding, talent and innovation of the best designers in the world on the vast majority of people who need it the most. This movement has such a purpose behind it other than designing for the people who have the luxury of possessions. It is educating and aiding societies to function on their own, based on their terms. "Like societies in the dark ages, people struggling with poverty have needs more basic  than good typography. They need the essential things that sustain life and learning, and in order to be relevant to them, we need to think the way they do." This Design revolution is about solving problem versus creating. 

Jeffrey Docherty

This 29 year old New Zealander, lives in New York, and is the art director for the magazine SEED. He is brilliant. I love his intricate works with type and patterns. He creates wonderful custom typefaces for every issue of inside magazine as well. He is also the creator of the typeface Frame. His work inspires me to want to design type. 

My Compliments

My compliments must go out to good old Sue (my mom). I must say, my mother has been working hard for forty years being an upstanding parent to three girls. Finally after we have grown up, it was time for her to indulge in her own talents that she has just discovered recently. My mother is a fantastic realist painter. Who knew? Her work displays an incredible eye for detail, and her precision in spot on. She just picked up this hobby/job about three years ago and has already sold seven paintings. My mother is quite the talented lady, and all of my compliments go out to her.