3 Questions. 3 Hints. 3 Answers. Every Tuesday.
“What’s The Difference?”
1. What’s the difference between a robot and a kilobot?
Hint:
Answer: the smarty-pants at Harvard have done it again with the development and design of over 1000 small robots that are individually programmed to follow self-organizing instructions for a global end result. For instance, when directed to form a shape, each kilobot collaborates and moves in conjunction with all the other kilobots, rearranging itself as required if there is a traffic jam or other obstacle in order to form the requested shape. Automated self-organization is important as we enter the era of self-driving and unmanned vehicles & systems that are placed in situations where countless unpredictable variables are encountered on a daily basis. To read more about this cutting-edge example of collective artificial intelligence, click here.
2. What’s the difference between organic and conventional pesticides?
Hint:
Answer: not much. In fact, organic or “natural” pesticides may be more toxic than synthetic ones. For instance, rotenone and pyrethrin, both widely-used organic pesticides, are more toxic (by weight) than synthetic Glyphosate (Monsanto’s “Roundup”). The moral of the story is, like many other things (e.g. mycotoxins, mercury, rhubarb leaves, apple seeds, etc.), just because it is “natural” does not mean it is not toxic and “organic” does not mean it is safer. Further, if you think organic farmers use less “natural” pesticides… think again. Read the details here.
3. What’s the difference between today’s & yesterday’s smartphone?
Hint:
Answer: big difference! Not only is today’s smartphone lighter, sleeker and faster than IBM’s “Simon,” the first smartphone introduced to the public in August 1994, it is also less expensive and has much greater range. See additional comparisons here.