Not So Funny – (WD-) 40 Inventive Principles

Darrell Mann

All hail the mighty WD-40. If there is ever going to be a 41st Principle, WD-40 will very likely point the way. Or it might actually be Principle 41. Meanwhile, it is already all of the 40 we … Read More

Robust Design: Macro & Meta Contradictions

Darrell Mann

I’m speaking at a Robust Design conference this month and I think my job is to shake things up a bit. It shouldn’t be too difficult. The Robust Design world is still thinking it’s a good idea to … Read More

Best of The Month – Excellent Sheep

Darrell Mann

There’s no such thing as a root cause in a complex system. I know that. But I also know there can be a root contradiction. Provided we understand the system at a first-principle level. In the same way … Read More

Patent of the Month – Robotic Bouncing Ball

Darrell Mann

Well, I never expected to be featuring a patent assigned to Disney in this section of the ezine, but here we are. Never say never. I suppose, too, the presence of California Institute of Technology has a bearing … Read More

Short Thort

Darrell Mann

“Civilization did not rise and flourish as men hammered out hunting scenes on bronze gates and whispered philosophy under the stars, with garbage as a noisome offshoot, swept away and forgotten. No, garbage rose first, inciting … Read More

Investments – Programmable Materials

Darrell Mann

Living organisms expand and contract soft tissues to achieve complex, 3-D movements and functions, but replicating those movements with human-made materials has proven challenging.

A University of Texas at Arlington researcher recently published groundbreaking research in Nature Communications … Read More

Biology – Australasian Grebe

Darrell Mann

Like most grebes, the Australasian grebe is a poor flier and even worse on land due to its short wings and its legs being placed far back on its body. Grebes have large feet with flat rounded “lobate” … Read More

Wow In Music – Lost Ones

Darrell Mann

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the debut solo album by American singer and rapper Lauryn Hill. It was released on August 25, 1998. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 422,624 copies … Read More

Generational Cycles – Reservoir Dogs

Darrell Mann

Published in 2002, The Cinema of Generation X by Peter Hanson, is an early study of the youthful voices who defined American movies in the 1990s. Each chapter analyzes various themes in Generation X cinema and the creators … Read More

Not So Funny – Pet Rock Redux & Other Barely Essential Luxuries

Darrell Mann

One thing I’ve never been able to properly forgive my parents for is their refusal to let me have a pet-rock when I was a boy. Spool forward 35 years, and it got re-launched as the USB version. … Read More

Case Study: Friction And No-Friction

Darrell Mann

Anyone that follows me on Twitter may have noticed that I’m not very good at following other people. It’s nothing personal, just that my brain is not capable of tuning in to fast moving streams of information/noise. That … Read More

TRIZCON2019

Max Sherer

The Altshuller Institute for TRIZ Studies will be holding our 21st annual international conference, TRIZCON2019, at Purdue University from 20th-22nd May, 2019, under the theme “TRIZ in Science, Education, Creativity and Industry”.

Who should attend? Anyone involved in … Read More

Best of The Month – LikeWar

Darrell Mann

Here’s one guaranteed to polarize. Doesn’t everything these days. Whatever one person likes, a thousand other will shortly describe as the worst thing ever. In a lot of ways, that’s kind of the premise of the book. Who’s … Read More

Making Sense Of Fake News #1 – Problem Definition

Darrell Mann

When we were assembling the narrative for the TrenDNA book and the likely triggers of the S-Curve-shifting Crisis the world is inexorably moving towards, all of our analyses concluded that it wasn’t possible to know which of the … Read More

Short Thort

Darrell Mann

“INDECISION, n. The chief element of success; “for whereas,” saith Sir Thomas Brewbold, “there is but one way to do nothing and divers way to do something, whereof, to a surety, only one is the right way, it … Read More

Investments – Liquid Crystal Elastomers

Darrell Mann

A new material developed by University of Colorado Boulder engineers can transform into complex, pre-programmed shapes via light and temperature stimuli, allowing a literal square peg to morph and fit into a round hole before fully reverting to … Read More

Biology – Mole

Darrell Mann

Despite the havoc they’ve managed to wreak in my vegetable garden this summer, I still maintain a sneaking admiration of moles. Weighing about 100g and having a length of about 12cm, they somehow manage to burrow their way … Read More

Wow In Music – Happy

Darrell Mann

Earworms. Yes. And no. Earworms are songs that you’re unable to get out of your head. Sometimes that’s a good thing, and sometimes it isn’t. Scientists at the University of St Andrews have named the Top 20 official … Read More

Generational Cycles – The Over-65 Gold-Rush

Darrell Mann

From a recent article in The Washington Post:

Executives at Gillette have for decades defined shaving as a rite of passage. The company famously mails out free razors — with “welcome to manhood” cards — to … Read More

Patent of the Month – Electro-Manipulation of Cells

Darrell Mann

Patent of the month this month comes from a sextet of inventors at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. US10,070,914 was granted on September 11, and primarily seems to concern the treatment of cancer cells, but it would … Read More