Archinect - News

New podcast, new banknotes, new neurons: Weekly News Round-Up for October 6, 2014

2014-10-13T20:27:00-04:00

Sunday, October 12:

A classic American look, feng shui notwithstanding: Investigating the impact of wealthy Chinese immigrants on suburban Seattle's real estate boom.

Saturday, October 11:

Indiana Ponders Abolishing Licensing for Architects: Part of a state-wide reconsideration of more than "200 types of professional licenses, permits and certifications", aimed at cutting regulatory costs.
Announcing "Archinect Sessions", our brand new podcast! Listen to Episode #1 now: We're launching a weekly podcast to discuss prominent news items, feat. members of the Archinect community and other special guests. Ep. #1: "Where are the women?"

Thursday, October 9:

Architects Create a 3-D Printed Column That Survives Earthquakes: Made of cement and based on ancient Incan techniques.
Renzo Piano admits he's "struggling to do something good" for the LA Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences project: A fable to remind us that architecture is never solely the product of architects.

Wednesday, October 8:...

Nobel Prize in Medicine Is Awarded to Three Who Discovered Brain’s ‘Inner GPS’

2014-10-07T13:15:00-04:00

The three scientists’ discoveries “have solved a problem that has occupied philosophers and scientists for centuries — how does the brain create a map of the space surrounding us and how can we navigate our way through a complex environment?” said the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, which chooses the laureates. The positioning system they discovered helps us know where we are, find our way from place to place and store the information for the next time

Back in 1971, John O'Keefe identified "place cells" in the brain – neurons that were selectively activated in relation to the subject's place in an environment. He concluded these nerves were composing a mental map of the space, and the collection of multiple place cells constituted a spatial memory of the environment.

Then in 2005, May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser identified another group of nerve cells, the so-called "grid cells", that create a coordinate system in the brain. Together, place cells and grid cells create a precise understanding of space in the brain, allowing for navigation and spatial memory.

Labeling the city: Ghana's initiative to name its streets

2014-02-11T15:14:00-05:00

In a city with no addresses, it’s difficult for local authorities to tax property. And without tax revenues, it’s difficult to upgrade infrastructure and services in the slums [...] To fix these problems, Ghana is on a national quest to name its city streets. [...] Giving names to streets is only a means to an end. The real problem cities are trying to solve is service delivery. When properties have actual addresses and those addresses reside in databases, all kinds of things become possible.