Dear Reader, Meet Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn1.0. Also known as “Synthia”. In May 2010, Wall Street Journal reported that scientists at the J Craig Venter Institute had created the first synthetic organism. (Ref: WSJ, 21st May 2010. Scientists Create Synthetic Organism.) Here is an excerpt. Heralding a potential new era in biology, scientists for the first […]
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Telephone inventor, Meucci, recognised after death
Dear Reader, Who hasn’t heard of Alexander Graham Bell? He is widely credited as the inventor of the telephone. However, if that is what you know, then you don’t know enough about the telephone. In June 2002, The Guardian reported that the US Congress had recognised that a poor immigrant from Florentine, Italy, was the […]
Death of the ATM Inventor
Dear Visitor, My apologies for not updating this blog recently. On May 15th, 2010, John Shepherd-Barron, widely credited to be the inventor of the ATM machine, passed away at the age of 84. The automated teller machine, or the ATM, as it is usually known, is an example of an invention that has become part […]
Failure & Neglect
The Story of the Inventive Man Who Didn’t Patent His Invention Once, in a faraway land, an inventive man observed a social phenomenon. He saw how society did things, used things, and thought about things. He observed a problem, but society did not know that it had a problem. It was just that he wasn’t […]
Origami & Patents
Introduction How many philanthropists have raised money for charity by making and selling origami? Fifth grader Sebastian Carpenter, only 11 years old, did just that, raising USD$610 for a local charity in Massachusetts. Sebastian created and sold Christmas-themed origami to family friends, hoping to raise only $50. As word about his cause and his creations […]