Tag Archives: Science

Building an #innovative economy

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Here in the UK we hear lots about the need to grow the economy but a lot less about how to do it.

If we want to develop an innovative society we need look no further than Silicon Valley which is the most successful example on earth.

Silicon Valley has key attributes which are key to its success in generating billions of dollars in revenue & employing thousands of talented Engineers who earn enviable salaries. These attributes are not immediately obvious:-

  • It may surprise many to learn that Silicon Valley has a strong military connection particularly with the U.S Navy, many early innovations were as a result of collaboration on Radio & communications systems leading to the Arpanet the direct forerunner of todays Internet. Some of today’s smartest innovative individuals work in the Defence Industry so it would be obvious to cultivate those links.
  • The presence of an Internationally renowned eduction establishment – Princeton – has been key to the ‘Valleys’ success. Princeton has developed & encouraged technically educated entrepreneurs to start & grow numerous successful enterprises.The U.K has some of the world’s leading Institutes, unfortunately recent government policy seems to make it increasingly unviable to survive economically as a Student so the reversal of that trend is another positive.
  • People may be surprised to learn that Silicon Valley is the home to numerous large Law firms whose accessibility has allowed start ups to quickly resolve disputes & grow rapidly. We can learn a lot here.
  • Over 30% of SV residents are immigrants. The ability to welcome International migrants who are highly skilled & educated creating a multinational society of entrepreneurs & Engineers is a key component to success. This requires a sensible proactive immigration/visa policy which addresses the need for skilled Engineers whilst improving our domestic training & development policies.
  • There are many Venture Capital firms in the area which provide key access to funding to ensure prosperity & growth. This seems to be a major gap in the UK where the access to venture capital is constrained.

All of these key components are essential if an Innovative Society is to thrive & grow generating huge revenue & employment prospects.

Chris@amberhill.biz

www.amberhill.biz

Mad Scientists construct Human Brain….

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3Dbrain‘Mad Scientists construct human brain’ – you can see the tabloid headlines now. Scientists based in Switzerland are working on the ‘Human Brain Project’ the purpose over the next 10 years is to develop & construct a working model of the human brain. The specialists involved, Computer Scientists, Psychologists, Neuroscientists, telecommunications experts & a host of others will collaborate in an effort to develop a fully functioning brain & to garner an understanding of how it works at a fundamental level.

 
The project is being funded by the E.U & what is intriguing is the funds come from the Future & Emerging Technologies budget.
 
In a previous post I discussed Ron Kurzweils ideas about the development of machine brains whos intelligence would surpass that of the human leading to an event he labels ‘the singularity’ beyond which human development will accelerate beyond our comprehension. The HBP would appear to bring the possibility of this happening ever closer. 
 
Consider the success of other European projects – to map the Human DNA sequence & the discovery of the Higgs Boson at the Large Hadron Collider, tasks which would have seemed impossible & incredible a few short years ago.
 
It is often difficult to appreciate the rapid pace of scientific & technological change unless one deliberately pauses & looks back to see how far we’ve come. 
 

Moonstruck

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apollo11
Today we are celebrating the 45th anniversary of the 1969 moon landings when human beings first set foot on an alien world after travelling from Earth in a tin can piloted by a computer significantly less powerful than the phone on which I type this Blog.
In an era before the Internet, mobile phones, social media or google, when a basic computer was the size of a terraced house a record TV audience of billions tuned in from Alaska to Antarctica & humanity was one family, huddled together on the Worlds sofa, holding their collective breath as tentative steps were taken on a far off world….”one small step for a man….a giant leap for mankind”
Chris@amberhill.biz
www.amberhill.biz

#innovation project of 2012 – Discovery of Higg’s boson at CERN

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“It really is an incredible thing that it’s happened in my lifetime,” said Peter Higgs of the University of Edinburgh. Higgs was speaking on July 4th this year shortly after Scientists at CERN announced the discovery of the sub-atomic particle named after him which he first proposed back in 1964.

Several physicists independently dreamed up the idea of an energy field that would have permeated the early universe (and persisted to the present).

Like a puddle of treacle, the field resists the motion of particles moving through it. Such resistance to motion, or inertia, is the defining quality of mass. Subatomic particles therefore acquire differing amounts of mass depending on how strongly they interact with the energy field.

Known as the Higgs field, its existence also required a new particle — the Higgs boson. (Bosons are a class of fundamental particles defined by their quantum properties.)

Today, CERN scientists hunt the Higgs by smashing two beams of protons together at the $10 billion LHC. (Large Hadron Collider) Out of a trillion proton-proton collisions, perhaps one will create a Higgs particle, which then decays almost instantaneously into other particles. Sensitive detectors placed at the sites of these smashups look for signatures of several ways the Higgs might have decayed.

If each of the LHC’s 500 trillion collisions were represented by a grain of sand, they would fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, said Joe Incandela, a physicist at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a spokesman for one LHC experiment. Yet the grains from the signals of interest — the possible Higgses — would cover only the tip of your finger.

The ramifications of the discovery of the Higgs boson particle are largely unknown but it’s impact on human knowledge will far outshine the current economic malaise as viewed by future generations. It is a major stepping stone in our understanding of the Universe.

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

www.projectsguru.co.uk

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