The One Laptop Per Child initiative has had its share of development hiccups. The project hasn’t gotten the notebooks down to goal of $100 per machine, and a few recent bugs have delayed the recently proposed Give One Get One plan, in which customers in developed countries buy one of the laptops for themselves, and another for someone in need.
But down at the grassroots level, the project seems to be taking hold. In India, for example, the group is developing a cow-powered system in an area short on sunlight, wind and other good renewable energy sources. Cattle would pull on a series of belts and pulleys, activating a dynamo that re-charges spent laptops. Which is exactly how I use my cows
A number of groups are trying to develop memory enhancing drugs to treat patients suffering from Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, but scientists are also concerned about off-label uses. Students might use them to cram for tests. Business people may pop the brain enhancers to gain an advantage over co-workers. How this will all play out over the next few years, or decades, isn’t yet clear, but there’s a good review of the scientific advances—including the memory-enhanced mice at left—and ethical questions involved in this week’s issue of Chemical & Engineering News.
