14 Greatest Engineering Challenges

The National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency in the US, announced today 14 grand engineering challenges for the 21st century that, if met, would greatly improve our life! They have not ranked it any order, but have left it to the public to vote. The list of 14 was arrived to by a committee of Engineers and Scientists - including Larry Page.

The final choices fall into four themes that are essential for humanity to flourish, - Sustainability, Health, Reducing Vulnerability and Joy of Living, the group said. They also added that rather than focusing on predictions or gee-whiz gadgets, the goal was to identify what needs to be done to help people and the planet thrive.

The final 14 of these fascinating challenges are -

Make solar energy economical.

Provide energy from Fusion.

Working on ways to capture and store excess carbon dioxide to prevent global warming.

Help restore balance to the nitrogen cycle with better fertilization technologies.

Provide access to clean water.

Restore and improve Urban Infrastructure.

Advance health Informatics

Engineer better Medicines.

Reverse engineer the brain.

Prevent nuclear terror.

Secure cyberspace.

Enhance virtual reality.

Advance personalized learning.

Engineer the tools of scientific discovery.


One of the comments on the NAE site was "They forgot to include the need to eliminate the dependence on politicians and lawyers."


Click here to vote for what you think are the top challenges (its a popup on the page, so make sure you allow popups to vote)

Oscar 2008 Nominees Clips

A clip created by Filipe from Brazil, for the 80th Annual Academy Awards Nominees. The score by Michael Giacchino, LOST Soundtrack - "Parting Words".




Another clip here, with the top 8 Oscar nomination categories. Notice the "Typewriter Score", written by composer Dario Marianelli for Atonement.

Best Villain Ever?

I think he is. Even better than Hannibal Lecter! Javier Bardem is Anton Chigurh, a haunting and brilliantly chilling hired hit-man, killing his victims with a slaughterhouse cattle-gun in No Country for Old Men, which I saw last week. Bardem is my pick for this year's Best Supporting Actor Oscar. And if No Country for Old Men does win the best movie Oscar, it will be because of Bardem. This is one villian who is sure to haunt viewers long after the final credit has rolled.

My pick for the Best Movie Oscar?

Of the 5 shortlisted, I have seen Atonement, No Country for Old Men and Juno. Atonement is superb, with brilliant performances allround (the best part for me was using the typewriter as a musical instrument). No Country for Old Men is probably the favourite to win, but I really want Juno to win! Ellen Page plays 16 year old Juno MacGuff, with the knack of being funny and brutal at the same time. This has to be one of the best comedies lately, and yeah, the soundtrack is great too.

Take this Oscar Quiz to test how much you know about this year's event.

Click here to find out this year's Oscar picks as determined by my fellow IMDb users

Are you a Certified "Orifice"?

Do you feel surrounded by incompetent idiots – and you can’t help letting them know the truth every now and then? You are often jealous of your colleagues, and find it difficult to be genuinely pleased for them when they do well? Or you constantly interrupt people because, after all, what you have to say is more important? Then take this ARSE (Ass**** Rating Self Exam) to find out if you are a "Workplace Orifice".

Other interesting "ARSE TOOLS" developed by Bob Sutton include the ACHE (Ass**** Client from Hell Exam) and questions to determine if your future boss is a certified orifice!

Let me know if the tests told you a bit more about yourselves or your clients ;)