Engineering to inspire

Mod thy body: Human engineering

We’re never satisfied.

We’ve got to be faster, stronger, prettier, smarter and wiser (although that’s arguable) than the next person. That’s why we Humans are fascinated with modifying and augmenting our bodies; be it with ink on skin, or a pirate’s hook hand, or a chip implanted in the brain, or bones borne from wood.

Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

After all, if the deaf could hear again, if we could help people walk once more, if we could access and manipulate information through a chip in our head – then why not?

For this blog post, we’ll look at how engineers and inventors have improved upon the human body in augmenting reality with digital information and of course, replacing lost body parts.

Don’t forget to check out this week’s cybernetic series at UCreateChange!

7 green tech to look out for in 2010

We went gaga over green tech in 2009, and Copenhagen 2009 was supposed to be the highlight of the year. Sadly it went bust like Frannie Mae, and now we’re all left to our own devices.

Fine.

It's time to go down to the grassroots and find out what’s happening there. After all, the best engineering ideas had worked its way up from the ground. Not ever down. So we’ve put together 7 types of green technologies that we’d like to see more of in 2010.

5 sports that were changed by technology

Love sports? Then you’ll know how important it is to get good sporting gear.

The best ones will enhance your gameplay and give you that edge over other players. It’s because millions of dollars are spent researching and improving sporting gear each year. Thus you’ll get new technology on the courts, fields or tracks all the time.

That’s a far cry from the 720 BC Grecian games when athletes once competed in the nude!

In this post we’ll look back at 5 sports that were greatly changed by engineering and technology since their naked beginnings:

5 things to know about engineering

*Creator of Tomorrow, Andrew McGlinchey, guest blogs*

In case you didn’t catch it, I was on 938Live Passion People. It was crazy cool talking about UCreateChange, innovation and engineering, as well as whether locals are creative (they are, you just don’t know it yet).

It’s a great first step at dispelling old-fashioned notions about engineering (and engineering folk).

And that’s what the Creators of Tomorrow are here -- to let people know that it’s a lot more fun, exciting and creative then the usual engineering myths. For this blog post, I’d like to expand on five engineering characteristics that I’ve mentioned in the interview* and give examples on what’s cool about them.

* FYI, my interview with 938Live is posted at the bottom. :)

Students' take: Is engineering, business, or medicine cool?

We love coolness.

We pick the coolest handphones and the funkiest fashion; and for students in their final year of junior college – perhaps coolness is a factor when choosing a course and career.

But what’s cool as a course and career? Is it engineering, business or medicine or something else? Is “coolness” even a factor for students?

938Live’s radio show hosted by DJ Dave Martin at Anderson Junior College featured the topic “that probably factors into every student’s mind at one point or another – ‘what do I want to do with my life? How do I decide on a course of study?”’

And the responses from panelists and students, très interesting.

Congratulations to Top 5 finalists!

Congratulations to the top 5 finalists of Create 2010!

We did it!
It took our judges a looong time to pick and choose because every submission is awesome! But our judges must decide, so here are your finalists:
• Weighing Wheel by Team IV
• Gdome by Great Ideas Association
• Pendulamp by Frontier
• Expired Food by Create!
• Virtual Cloning by Nimnix3

Check out their ideas at ucreatechange.com/create2010.

Go Joe!: A UCC Roundup

A wuzzup!!! from UCreateChange.com(08/06/2009)

Hey all,

One upon a time, GI Joe and Transformers struck a pose like Madonna in Vogue. Snake Eyes would strut about like a cowboy, and Bumblebee did push-ups before Megatron who sat cross-legged.

It was all very complicated.

But there are only so many ways to contort, twist, turn and bang on these garish bits of plastic. That's why I'm so taken with the Wii, Guitar Hero and MMOGs (Massively Multi-player Online Games for you N00bs :P).

These games (or toys) let us live out our imagination and share what's in our head with others. Just last week, the line between reality and imagination was blurred with avant-garde motion controllers (see Who needs controllers?), and world-creating games such as Little Big Planet.

Who knows what's next for games? Leave your thoughts in the post!

See you soon at UCreateChange.com!
Your Friendly Change Champ,
E.

Ps: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opens on 24 June! Don't miss it!