Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have compiled maps of emotional feelings associated with culturally universal bodily sensations, which could be at the core of emotional experience.

The researchers found that the most common emotions trigger strong bodily sensations, and the bodily maps of these sensations were topographically different for different emotions. The sensation patterns were, however, consistent across different West European and East Asian cultures, highlighting that emotions and their corresponding bodily sensation patterns have a biological basis.

Image: Bodily topography of basic (Upper) and nonbasic (Lower) emotions associated with words. The body maps show regions whose activation increased (warm colors) or decreased (cool colors) when feeling each emotion. (Credit: Lauri Nummenmaa et al./PNAS) 

When you look at the complexities that go into making a physical dollar bill it’s plain to see why most people don’t start trying to print a new form of currency every day, but making a new digital currency is surprisingly easy for someone with even basic coding skills. But coding isn’t the only step to getting your digital currency off the ground. Here are the five steps you should follow according to the makers of three cryptocurrencies.1

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

Using some of the same technologies that allowed the Watson natural language supercomputer to conquer Jeopardy, IBM's next step: Psychic artificial intelligences that read your Twitter feed and can tell when you're about to have a baby, get married, buy a house, or move across the country, and even tell you how these major life events make you feel, then approach you about them accordingly.

Forget concocting long, complicated passwords to protect your digital devices and the precious information you access on them. They’re too easy for hackers to crack and for you to forget. Just pop Motorola’s edible “authentication vitamin” pill and you can literally become the password.

Becoming a living, breathing human password is really the big idea behind the telecom company’s controversial swallowable electronic pill. A quick soak in your gastric juices turns the pioneering pill on, triggering it to transmit an 18-bit, EKG-like signal from your insides. The ingestible micro computer’s (thankfully silent) signal would then automagically unlock your smartphone and other gadgets. Yes, you’ll actively be your very own password beacon for as long as the pill is still inside of you.

Image: http://m.entrepreneur.com 

Just raised $1 million? Congratulations! You’re a crowdfunding rock star! You created a compelling campaign with your great idea, witty way with words and great-looking videos and photos. You’ve tapped your vast social network and your friends’ vast social networks. You offered attractive rewards – What? An engraved version of your new widget? And you happily deposited some serious coin in your account.

So now what?

This is no time to rest, Mr. or Ms. Moneybags. Don’t just take the funds and run. 

Cycloramic, an app that uses haptic feedback to take 360 degree photographs, appeared on Shark Tank on Friday, Jan 31st, 2014. The app which was created by Atlanta-based Egos Ventures was offered $500k by two of the sharks, Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner, but perhaps the most valuable thing that Cycloramic got was exposure on national TV.

As our app data below shows, Cycloramic whose app costs $0.99 to $1.99 saw a great uptick due the Shark Tank Effect.  The company jumped from 429 in the ‘Photo & Video’ category rankings before airing to a rank of 2 the day after.  It continues to hold strong at 6 as of Feb. 3.

Image: http://www.cbinsights.com 

A place to convene. A place to discuss. A place for ideas.

What policies will lead to a better economic outlook? A stronger manufacturing sector? Jobs across a diverse set of industries?

Ideas Lab brings together experts and thought leaders to address some of today’s most pressing issues.  From manufacturing to technology to jobs, this site serves as a platform for fresh perspectives on critical policy challenges.

Malcolm Gladwell opened with a joke. Confessing that he is expert in neither healthcare nor interoperability, the long-time journalist revealed that he had actually pondered how his former self would cover his present self as a speaker — likely with “quotes out of context and something really snarky.”

The best-selling author and New Yorker staffer likened the change required for healthcare to make it over the interoperability hurdle to several events of this generation, “three lessons in culture, framing and consequence,” as he put it during Health Care Innovation Day.

Image: Malcolm Gladwell offers advice on interoperability. 

Forget concocting long, complicated passwords to protect your digital devices and the precious information you access on them. They’re too easy for hackers to crack and for you to forget. Just pop Motorola’s edible “authentication vitamin” pill and you can literally become the password.

Becoming a living, breathing human password is really the big idea behind the telecom company’s controversial swallowable electronic pill. A quick soak in your gastric juices turns the pioneering pill on, triggering it to transmit an 18-bit, EKG-like signal from your insides. The ingestible micro computer’s (thankfully silent) signal would then automagically unlock your smartphone and other gadgets. Yes, you’ll actively be your very own password beacon for as long as the pill is still inside of you.

Image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

Cherry Hill, NJ, February 06, 2014 -- Never before has the push for technological innovation from federal laboratories been more critical to accelerate the U.S. economy than now. But before any technology can be transferred into the marketplace, a great deal of effort and dedication are put forth by the individuals and groups who seek to successfully turn their ideas into reality. Comprised of scientists, entrepreneurs and industry professionals, the outstanding men and women who make up the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) are as diverse as the technologies they develop. To ensure that such efforts do not go unnoticed, the FLC, through its national awards program, annually recognizes federal labs and their industry partners for exceptional work in technology transfer (T2). An FLC national award symbolizes one of the highest honors bestowed in T2, and this year’s honorees have demonstrated a commitment to ensure that the American public has access to federally created technologies.

Innovation is hard to teach because it’s inherently messy, unpredictable, and team-oriented – which makes success hard to measure in a quantifiable way. This mindset is at odds with the traditional constructs of education, where students are taught to think and act in accordance with existing guides, chase down “right” answers, and are measured and ranked by quantifiable evaluation metrics.

Image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

Climate change is real, it’s here and it will be affecting the planet for a long, long time. That’s the lesson of the latest iteration of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change‘s state of climate science report, released in its entirety on January 30.

Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have now touched 400 parts-per-million—and greenhouse gas pollution generally shows little sign of slowing. In fact, pollution has outpaced even the worst-case scenario imagined by the IPCC as recently as 2007. The following charts and graphics explain what that might mean for you, your children and many generations to come.

Image: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com 

I’ve stopped caring about the Polar Vortex. Whatever cozy, indoor fantasy the term first elicited has disappeared. Mostly, short days here in New York just blur into long, cold nights, the usual energy of the city sapped by cruel slush. Now, I find myself mindlessly abusing the workplace hot chocolate machine, trying desperately to feel anything joy-like, or at least anything not cold.

Midway through the workshop I was teaching on professional reinvention, I gave participants an assignment: create a narrative citing your professional strengths. After the break, a woman named Alison raised her hand. “This one was difficult for me,” she said. “I thought about what was special about me: I’m a strategic thinker, and I can get things done. But other people can do that, too. I’m not sure how I can really stand out as I’m applying for jobs.” She isn’t alone. For many of us, it’s hard to identify exactly what about us — if anything — is valuable or unique.

Image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

A friend of mine just completed a very successful fundraise for an institutionally led seed-round of capital.  Increasingly, these seem to be the most common ways that venture-funded companies get started.

What’s interesting is that this entrepreneur has raised $30M+ in venture capital before and knows the VC process intimately, but remarked to me midway through “this process is completely different from every other fundraise I’ve been a part of.”

Image: http://robgo.org 

I was watching an entrepreneur give a talk about what it takes to build a successful company. “Being bold isn’t enough,” he proclaimed with enough enthusiasm to make the whole room lean in to listen. He narrowed his eyes and pointed at his listeners.

Image: http://www.groovehq.com 

"Our goal is absolutely to democratize knowledge," says Denny Luan. "Modern science has such a rush for fast results - publish or perish, output over process. We'd like to show the greater public that science does not have to be locked up behind monasterial walls. We'd like to change the way science is shared - in an engaging, deliberately beautiful way. Real-time, open-access and with great design."

Luan is co-founder of what, until this morning, was known as "Microryza" - the site has been renamed "Experiment" as part of a revamped branding strategy - a potentially revolutionary crowdfunding platform that is looking to do for science what Kickstarter has done for the entertainment industry.

Image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

The four high school seniors weren’t that surprised to find themselves standing not in a traditional classroom, but on the concrete floor of a manufacturing plant with high ceilings.

By design, the students in the new Northland CAPS program were having another real-world problem sprung on them.

Building materials stacked on pallets are taking up too much room, one of the plant’s team leaders told them. He wanted ideas for more mobile storage to get the materials off the floor.

Image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

Face it: We’re all just a bunch of old dogs trying to learn new tricks. Whether we’re making resolutions, trying to gain new skills or vowing to kick bad habits, the trick isn’t gathering the knowledge needed to make the change; it’s putting the information into action.

“No one ever transformed their life from simply reading a book,” says Chris Majer, founder and CEO of the Spokane, Wash.-based management consulting firm The Human Potential Project. “Change can only take place through practice, patience, and perseverance.”

Image Courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net