Welcome to Vol. 8 No. 5 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.
THE NEW AND IMPROVED BFI.ORG HAS BEEN LAUNCHED!
We are pleased to announce that bfi.org is back and better than ever with a host of new tools for the BFI network! We apologize for the downtime over the past few weeks.
Stop by the new ‘Community Content' section and feel free to add comments and post your own content. Keep in mind that although we have performed extensive testing on the new site, we are officially still in ‘beta’ phase. Keep your eyes peeled for more new features to be added over the next few months, in particular social networking and ‘groups’ for members. Check out the help section for more information at bfi.org/help.
DESIGN SCIENCE LAB APPLICATION DEADLINE EXTENDED UNTIL MAY 20TH!
The application deadline for the 2007 Design Science Lab has been extended until May 20th, if you want to be a part of this year's team act quickly - we have only 10 spots left!
We are geared up for a very exciting program this year and have received applications from groups and individuals in Mexico, Hong Kong, Israel, Palestine, Venezuela, Turkey, Canada, the U.S. and many other countries.
The DSL is a rigorous, hands-on training in the problem solving methodology called Design Science pioneered by Buckminster Fuller and other visionaries. Participants engage in a whole systems and anticipatory approach to develop strategies to solve global and local problems within the frame of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The 2007 DSL will again be facilitated by Medard Gabel of BigPictureSmallWorld.
To get a sense of what the program is like, please watch our short movie below:
To learn more about the program or to start an application please visit: www.designsciencelab.org.
SALES IN OUR ONLINE STORE!
We have had a great response to last month's sale on our Bucky-related DVDs and videos and have decided to continue the $5.00 discount for an additional month!
SALE $34.95 Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud
SALE $29.95 Basic Bucky DVD
SALE $29.95 World of Buckminster Fuller DVD
For more information about each film and to view all of the educational tools and resources for sale click here to visit our online store
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
"I never try to tell anybody else what to do, number one. And number two, I think that’s what the individual is all about. Each one of us has something to contribute. This really depends on each one doing their own thinking, but not following any kind of rule that I can give out, any command. We’re all on the frontier, we’re all in a great mystery — incredibly mysterious. Each one possesses exactly what each one is working out, and what each one works out relates to their particular set of circumstances of any one day, or any one place around the world." Buckminster Fuller, Only Integrity is Going to Count
TRENDS & PERSPECTIVES
Recruiting plankton to fight global warming
Can plankton help save the planet?
Some Silicon Valley technocrats are betting that it just might. In an effort to ameliorate the effects of global warming, several groups are working on ventures to grow vast floating fields of plankton intended to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and carry it to the depths of the ocean. It is an idea, debated by experts for years, that still sounds like science fiction — and some scholars think that is where it belongs.
But even though many questions remain unanswered, the first commercial project is scheduled to get under way this month when the WeatherBird II, a 115-foot research vessel, heads out from its dock in Florida to the Galápagos and the South Pacific. (Source: The New York Times)
Map software pinpoints environment hotspots
Web connoisseurs have grown accustomed to going online and getting an aerial view of their neighborhoods, or even their houses, using software like Google Earth.
Now they can look at the same world and get a subterranean view.
A sophisticated new breed of mapping software on the Web is allowing users to pinpoint toxic hot spots and hazardous sites beneath the ground using a wealth of new information and mashed-up existing technology. Those developments have opened up business opportunities for consulting firms and new ways for government and advocacy organizations to inform the public about hazardous, environmentally dangerous sites. (Source: The San Francisco Gate)
To try a demo of this new software, please visit: Locus Technologies
Music made to measure from nature's proteins
Beethoven it is not. But it does sound mellow and jazzy. It is music designed to enliven the sometimes dry subject of molecular biology by translating nature’s millions of proteins into a musical form.
"It's more powerful than learning about it from letters on the page," says Rie Takahashi, a classically-trained pianist and microbiologist at the University of California at San Diego, who has been "musicalising" the proteins along with colleague, Jeffrey Miller.
Such music has been created before, but Takahashi and Miller have fleshed out the sound and melody to make it fuller, more rhythmic and less jumpy than previous attempts.
The "notes" available are the 20 natural amino acids from which all proteins are constructed. The basic concept is simple: assign each amino acid to a different musical note, so leucine could be middle C on the piano, for example, serine could be D, and so on till all 20 have their own note.
To create a musical score based on a specific protein, simply go through the entire amino acid sequence of the protein and transcribe the amino acids into notes.
(Source: New Scientist)
How did the universe survive the big bang? In this experiment, clues remain elusive
An experiment that some hoped would reveal a new class of subatomic particles, and perhaps even point to clues about why the universe exists at all, has instead produced a first round of results that are mysteriously inconclusive.
“It’s intellectually interesting what we got,” said Janet M. Conrad, professor of physics at Columbia University and a spokeswoman for a collaboration that involves 77 scientists at 17 institutions. “We have to figure out what it is.”
Dr. Conrad and William C. Louis, a physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, presented their initial findings in a talk yesterday at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, outside Chicago, where the experiment is being performed. (Source: The New York Times - requires free registration)
RESOURCES
Shapes in other dimensions
A lifelong obsession leads to the mysterious hedecatope—a seemingly impossible geometric form that, in its own small way, links together the whole universe.
Read the whole story, Discover Magazine
Data Mining: Text Mining, Visualization and Social Media
This fantastic blog reveals the power of data, when presented visually, to change the way we think about our world from the built environment, to political debates, to the structure of the Internet.
Visit the blog
EVENTS
The Fifth International Symposium on Digital Earth
Fifth International Symposium on Digital Earth
June 5-9 2007 Berkeley, California, USA
(Youth Leadership Session June 2-3)
ISDE5 Bringing digital earth down to Earth.
Astronauts, ambassadors, youth leaders, CEOs, indigenous elders, and everyday people are gathering with an international panel of scientists to solve the planet’s most pressing problems with today’s available technology.
Where will you be?
Digital Earth is an emerging standard for a virtual 3-D representation of the Earth, displaying vast amounts of organized scientific, natural, and cultural information. The information is geographically referenced and interconnected with online knowledge archives from around the planet.
The Digital Earth community is dedicated to creating a global commons where all people can freely access a virtual world of information and knowledge resources to promote “down to earth” solutions for a sustainable future.
Previous symposia have been held in China, Canada, Japan, and the Czech Republic. Join us on the campus of U.C. Berkeley in June 2007 to participate in this unique event!
Online registration and information available at isde5.org
ISDE5 - it's not just a symposium!
Fifth Annual SNEC Workshop on Quantum Building
Synergetics Collaborative (SNEC) presents its Fifth Annual Workshop on Quantum Building in Oswego, NY, 22, 23, & 24 June 2007
Description: The Synergetics Collaborative's Fifth Annual Summer Workshop in Oswego will focus on "Quantum Building: The First 28 Most-Efficient-Minimum Geometrical Systems". The main workshop will be led by Thomas Miller who writes:
"The workshop is about learning to clone the four basic cloning grids that make the volume quanta (Fuller's term) the 'a' module, a-b module, mite and 't' module. We will concentrate on the first three. The grids become self-organizing which needs four abilities: self-stabilization, self-correction, self-regeneration and self-innovation. The overall idea is that these modules have a modular building system inside them and we will explore that system."
In addition, there will be artifact exhibit space for participants and a session for participants to discuss their work.
When: Friday Reception 22 June 2006, 7 - 10PM ($15; pre-register to get directions)
Saturday 23 June 2006, 8AM - 10PM (Registration: 8 AM)
Sunday 24 June 2006, 8AM - 6PM
Registration: Pre-registration is required! Please fill out this form
Housing: Contact John Belt
Where: SUNY Oswego Department of Technology, Design Studio Wilber Hall, Design Studio, Room 350 Oswego, NY
Event Website
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