Category Archives: Fun Stuff

Fun Stuff

Matchmaker, Matchmaker Make Me An Algorithm: STEM Contest Winner Pairs Data

Leave a comment

The world of matchmaking won’t have to rely on luck, as much as math, thanks to one very accomplished teenager.

Yunseo Choi, a senior at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, came up with a matching theory that can be applied to people looking for a life partner.

Instead of matching a finite number of people, the 18-year-old figured out how to pair an infinite number of potential couples.

The idea being that when your options are infinite, your matched date will likely be better suited for you.

“Essentially I studied these stable matchings, but in the context of the infinite matching market,” She explained in an interview with NPR’s Morning Edition. “Where instead of matching a finite set of men to another finite set of women, we’re matching an infinite number of men to an infinite number of women.”

Choi’s matchmaking tool that uses algorithms came in first place Wednesday night in a prestigious STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) competition that’s run by the biotech company Regeneron and the Society for Science. Read More >>

Fun Stuff, New Ventures

VOLOCOPTER WILL START TESTING ITS ELECTRIC AIR TAXIS IN PARIS NEXT YEAR

Leave a comment

Volocopter, the German aviation startup specializing in urban air mobility, will be the first company to test its full-scale electrical air taxis near Paris after spending nearly a decade in development. Organized in partnership with Groupe ADP and RATP Groupe, the company hopes to revolutionize transportation with a specific focus on electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles. Not only does Paris offer a significant strategic advantage as a major European hub generally, but the upcoming 2024 Olympics and Paralympics set to take place there only provide more opportunity for Volocopter to make its mark. By making waves in the next couple of years, the startup could corner the burgeoning market for novel intra-city air travel before any significant competitors arise. But because the technology involved is still in its infancy, the testing site won’t be too close to the city center just yet. A designated area, specifically, the Pontoise airfield located nearly 22 miles northwest of Paris. The first half of 2021 will see Volocopter setting up the necessary infrastructure, first in the air and then in the boarding areas within the nearby buildings. With the cooperation of the DGAC (the local Civil Aviation Authority), parking, take-off and landing operations, as well as operations around the vehicle, whether maintenance or electrical recharging, will be tested beginning in June 2021. Read More >>

Fun Stuff, Innovation and Technology, Lifestyles, Management and Strategy, New Ventures

STARTUPS BET THAT LONELY FREELANCERS CRAVE COMPANY

Leave a comment

Work clubs say productivity improves when you have a buddy.  This has become a problem from remote workers, who miss the interactions of nearby co-workers in the office.  There is a new trend of ventures coming into fruition: transforming remote work into a group activity. Many people get more work accomplished where there is no distraction at home, but feel more motivated in the workplace surrounded by peers.  Start-ups like Focusmate are trying to solve this problem. This start-up features fifty minute video sessions with randomly assigned partners. For $4 a month, users have unlimited access to the program, which can be an asset for people with deficit hyperactivity disorder.  Read More >>

Entrepreneurship, Fun Stuff, Growing new Business, Innovation and Technology, Lifestyles, New Ventures, Society & Ethics, Start Ups

Ready For Meat Grown From Animal Cells? A Startup Plans A Pilot Facility

Leave a comment

Memphis Meats, a California based company, plans to build a pilot production facility to grow meat from animal cells. They have funds raised from high-profile investors including Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Kimbal Musk, as well as two giant players in the animal protein and feed space: Cargill and Tyson Foods. The company says its latest funding round has brought in $161 million in new investment. Memphis Meats is still technically made from animals, but helps fight against the environmental impact of livestock agriculture. Read More >>

Ethics, Fun Stuff, Leadership, Lifestyles, Management and Strategy

Your Work Friends and Enemies are Affecting your Performance

Leave a comment

Conflict may appear to be two-sided, but this is not usually true.  The basis of most conflict at work is tryadic: when there are three parties involved.  The third party is often the key to relieving tension and restoring balance. When employees feel socially balanced at work, they tend to perform better.  Researchers from Northwestern University, Harvard Business School, and University of California teamed up to discover how social triangles change over time.  They ruled relationships into four categories: a friend of a friend is a friend, a friend of an enemy is an enemy, an enemy of an enemy is a friend, and an enemy of a friend is an enemy.  If all four rules are satisfied in a tryad, the tryad is balanced. There are two possibilities for this, which are when all three people like each other, and when two friends have a mutual enemy.  Balanced relationships are important because employees tend to make better and more profitable decisions than when they are in an unbalanced situation.  Read More >>

Fun Stuff, Innovation and Technology, Learning Issues, Lifestyles, Management and Strategy

Why Your Next Brainstorm Should Begin with an Embarrassing Story

Leave a comment

New research from the Kellogg school shows that embarrassment can be a gateway to creativity.  It turns out that holding cringe-worthy anecdotes back creates an unintentional barrier of self-censorship.  “When you have a brainstorming session, what you’re hoping is that people are putting out any idea, without regard to any judgment or evaluation,” says Leigh Thompson, a professor of management and organizations at Kellogg and author of Creativity Conspiracy: The New Rules of Breakthrough Collaboration.  Sharing embarrassing stories is also a good way for groups to break the ice, as it creates a humorous space where people are allowed to feel vulnerable. This is opposed to traditional ice-breakers where people share their accomplishments. Adding this sense of pride inevitable turns ice-breakers into a competition.  Bragging about one’s accomplishments may be a confidence boost, but it results in a hindering of innovative thinking. Instead of closing people off from each-other, reinforcing funny or embarrassing stories can lead to trust and better performance.  Read More >>

Fun Stuff, Innovation and Technology, Learning Issues, Lifestyles

In Bed, Bath, or the Bus: The Secret to Solving your Problems

Leave a comment

Brainstorming is a task that many people find difficulty in.  Humans tend to hit mental blocks when it comes to problem-solving.  According to Professor Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries, taking breaks from wicked problems could be the key in finding solutions.  The idea is that ‘Eureka!’ moments cannot be forced, and many breakthroughs are found while tapping into one’s creativity. According to the Three B’s of Creativity, the best way to receive a solution from out-of the blue, is by being in bed, bath, or on the bus.  Dreaming, relaxing, and following routine leads the mind to wander, and gives rise to insight previously not thought of. Read More >>

Entrepreneurship, Fun Stuff, Growing new Business, Innovation and Technology, Start Ups

The revival of Jeri Ellsworth’s AR glasses

Leave a comment

Tilt Five was started by Ceo and Ex valve engineer Jeri Ellsworth and a few castAR employees who put together enough funds to buy back assets of their former company castAR in 2017. after 2 years of reworking, they are all set to launch an improved version of their AR glasses that is encased in a sleek polycarbonate shell making it futuristic in design and also comes with a customisable nose piece. They aim to integrate the experience of board games and video games with AR and make tabletop gaming affordable. Read More>>

Fun Stuff

NASA Prepares for First Ever Female Spacewalk

Leave a comment

In the latest of a series of firsts for women in STEM, March 29th of this year will see the first all-female extravehicular spacewalk. Timed perfectly to coincide with Women’s History Month, the seven-hour walk will be carried out by NASA’s Anne McClain and Christina Koch on the International Space Station. Coordinating the walk from the ground will be a crew of all female scientists. The walk gains special significance in the fact that McClain and Koch are both part of the NASA astronaut class of 2013, which was the first ever to have an equal number of men and women. This is another landmark in the history of women in space, a legacy that began in 1984 with cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becoming the first woman ever to do a spacewalk. This is an exciting step in the continuation of the reduction gender imbalance in space exploration and bodes well for the future of extraterrestrial expeditions. Read more>>