Alexandra Carmichael

January 21, 2012

Happy weekend, everyone! Here’s a smattering of inspiring things we’ve been reading at QS Labs this week:

• Seth Roberts’ series of posts on Vitamin D3 and sleep. The lesson: what time you take your supplements could matter a lot.
• Transforming behavior change from the Social Brain Project at the RSA (UK): Some really interesting insights into behavior change and the role of neuroscience and reflexivity.
• The latest issue of Bruce Schneier’s always interesting Crypto-Gram newsletter, with fascinating accounts of data breaches and hacking attacks, personal data vulnerabilities, and – for a bonus – an intelligent call to get rid of the United States’s Department of Homeland Security.
• Schedule your creative tasks for when you’re most tired – a thought-provoking look at a circadian effect on creativity.
• An opinion piece on the Research Works Act, the piece of legislation that threatens to roll back public access to federally funded research.
• Smart Geotextiles for ground and building monitoring (from our friend David Pescovitz at BoingBoing.)
• Transistors developed to monitor molecular processes – listening to enzymes. QS is moving to the molecular level!
• Psychotropic Medications Affecting Biological Rhythms. (PDF) Looking at mood disorders and medications in the context of circadian rhythms as well as shorter and longer cycles will play an increasing role in good medical practice. This has applications to other health issues as well, and will require increasing self-awareness of empowered patients.