invention | writing notes

The hole in the ozone is blamed upon lots of factors, my favourite is blaming it on cow farts! Lots of long explanations about how methane gas from cows causes greenhouse gases seems to make us forget that we are the ones responsible for the massive cow population so therefore damage caused by cow farts is our fault.

What I did not know, and the Guardian made me aware of, was the fact that concrete is very hazardous to the ozone: “Making the 2bn tonnes of cement used globally every year pumps out 5% of the world’s CO2 emissions – more than the entire aviation industry.”

Engineers have now devised a concrete which reverses the process. The Guardian:

Novacem’s cement, based on magnesium silicates, not only requires much less heating, it also absorbs large amounts of CO2 as it hardens, making it carbon negative.

Very cool stuff. But what are the negative effects of this evolutionary step in concrete?

It feels good to be able to start the new year on a high note instead of my normal cynical rant so I was very happy to read in the Gaurdian about the retired professor and inventor Josh Silver who has invented adjustable do-it-yourself glasses aimed to be distributed to poorer nations.

The glasses are simple and cheap. They allow the user, almost without training, to adjust the strength of their own glasses and be able to continue their lives.

For me it is relatively easy to understand the impact of this invention since I am dependent on my glasses or contact lenses to be able to see anything at all. This is not a big deal in my life since the solutions available to me are both cheap and readily available. The article writes “in Britain there is one optometrist for every 4,500 people, in sub-Saharan Africa the ratio is 1:1,000,000.”

This is an amazing adaptation of technology from the complex to the manageable well worth praising for its inventiveness and social awareness.