Reuse is good, right? And the notion conjures in most of us an image of linking code modules. Which is why I was astounded to run into the following case, while touring the beautiful island of Sicily. Here you see your intrepid tourist in front of the Duomo (cathedral) of Siracusa, the city where Archimedes … Read more
Technology innovation often happens serendipitously, and the kind I like best is when something from one knowledge domain triggers an analogous design in a completely different field. I mean, inventing a plane with wings because you notice that birds have wings is OK, but not a huge leap (the real leap of the early aviation … Read more
See the book on the left. It’s been around for centuries, issued by countless publishers, translated into many tongues… and no one ever doubted what it was, because it has a name: Macbeth. Now see the book on the right. This is Edison’s Eve: a magical history of the quest for mechanical life, by Gaby … Read more
Off-topic it may be, but I had a delightful experience last week judging in a round of the FameLab competition organized by the British Council in the Jerusalem Science Museum. This international event strives to encourage scientists to communicate their work and their excitement about it to the public; young scientists (mainly graduate students) were … Read more
Do you recognize the glass object in this photo? If not, you may want to check “Prey to Oblivion“, the March article on my Possibly Interesting web site, which has a bunch of everyday objects that were quite familiar a century ago but are now all but forgotten. To avoid confusion: This here Commonsense Design … Read more
And now, from the murky past, a serious lapse in designing for the intended user… When my son was a toddler, many years ago, he had this habit of going into my den in my absence, climbing onto the lab bench and wreaking havoc (here, I once captured him on film reaching for a hammer). … Read more
A new blog… like a newborn baby: you have high hopes for it, but you can’t really imagine what it will turn out like. You just have to nurture it as best you can, then wait and see. I’m a technologist. I grew up immersed in the wonderful hobby of amateur radio, graduated in applied … Read more
