Joanne Manaster

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The Future of Energy Innovation: The Zayed Future Energy Prize 2014

This was originally posted at my Scientific American blog.

Some of you may have noticed that my recent social media posts have originated from Abu Dhabi in the UAE. I am here for the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, the largest gathering on sustainability in the Middle East.

This week is jam packed with numerous interesting tours, panels, press conferences and activities of which I will share more about in future posts. Tonight, however, I was in attendance at a very special presentation celebrating innovations in technology from all over the world, held at the glamorous Emirates Palace Hotel

The Zayed Future Energy Prize embodies the vision of the late founding father of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan who laid the foundation for renewable energy and sustainability as part of his legacy in pioneering sustainable development in the UAE. An annual award, the Prize is managed by Masdar, on behalf of the Abu Dhabi government and seeks to award achievements and innovation in the fields of renewable energy and sustainability, as well as to educate and inspire future generations.

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Read Science! Episode 18 : Dogs

I refuse to be drawn into cliché : I will not say that this episode was for the dogs, but working dogs, what they do, how they do it, and what they think about it, was the topic for today’s episode. We had two splendid guests, knowledgeable on the topic: Virginia Morell, author of “Animal Wise : The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures”, and Cat Warren, author of “What the Dog Knows : The Science and Wonder of Working Dogs”. We talked about dogs, their human companions, and many of their animal compatriots, with lots of stories, humor, and science. It was a nice treat talking about our species’ best friend.
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Read Science! Episode 17 : Astronaut Chris Hadfield

Our conversation today was out of this world (go on, try to avoid that pun) when our very special guest was Canadian Astronaut, recent Commander of an ISS Expedition, Twitter phenomenon, and Space Rock-Star Chris Hadfield. We talked about his new book, “An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth : What Going to Space Taught Me about Ingenuity, Determination and Being Prepared for Anything”. As is our habit, we talked about science, and science outreach, and being prepared for life and everything that might come along, space toilets, and the fact that “it’s all going to be on the quiz” sooner or later.
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Read Science! Episode 16 : Disastrous Planet Edition

Our topic today was all the natural disasters that Earth is prone to : earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, landslides, volcanoes — all the stuff that disaster movies thrive on, only we were more interested in the reality and the geology that’s behind all those disastrous events, not to mention how to communicate that reality to the public.
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Read Science! Episode 15 : Wonderful World Edition

In this episode we talked about everything that makes our world so wonderful with the guy who wrote the book about (nearly) everything: Marcus Chown, author of “What a Wonderful World : One Man’s Attempt to Explain the Big Stuff”. And, indeed, there’s some big stuff in this book — and our conversation. Cosmology, cell biology, mathematics, evolution, physics, just to name a few. As always, we had a lively, fun, and informative conversation.
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Read Science! Episode 14 : Exoplanets Edition

Our conversation was almost as large as the universe when we talked with Lee Billings, discussing his book “Five Million Years of Solitude : The Search for Life among the Stars”. In addition to the scientists and the technology–and the results!–of searching for the existence of planets beyond our own solar system, we pretty much touched on questions relating to life, the universe, and everything, including communicating science, of course. As usual, we had a lively conversation about lots of interesting ideas.
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Read Science! Episode 13: Sports Science Edition

Our especially brave guest for our lucky-thirteenth show was David Epstein, author of “The Sports Gene : Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance.” As always we had a wide-ranging conversation that included not only engaging topics, amusing anecdotes, and fascinating facts from his book, but a discussion about how to communicate necessary and interesting stories — about science or most anything else worthy of the time — that take some time to tell. We had something for sports enthusiasts and science enthusiasts, and for those who happen to be both, all in one great conversation.
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Read Science! Episode 12: The Autistic Brain

We talked with Temple Grandin and Richard Panek, authors of “The Autistic Brain : Thinking Across the Spectrum” about autism and sensory disorders and neurological brain-imaging tools and thinking in pictures and thinking in patterns, and lots of other stuff too. As Richard put it, we covered a lot of ground, and our guests were generous with amusing anecdotes and amazing insights.
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Read Science! Episode 11 : E.O.Wilson (Myrmecology Rocks!)

Myrmecologist, entomologist, naturalist, writer, and thinker about the human condition, Edward O. Wilson was our guest to talk about his recent book, “Letters to a Young Scientist”, what it takes–and doesn’t take–to have a successful life in science, and how we can encourage (and must encourage) more people to be involved with science, and more young people to take a path that leads to a career in science.
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Read Science! Episode 10 : Genomics Edition

Human genomics since the time of the Human Genome Project and the first sequencing of the human genome was our twenty-first century topic, and we covered a lot of ground with three well-informed and interesting interlocutors: Misha Angrist, author of “Here is a Human Being”, Kevin Davies, author of “The $1,000 Dollar Genome”, and Matthew Herper, science & medicine writer at Forbes Magazine.

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