Entries in Innovation Hub by Mary Dooe

 
Here are three things to know about this week's show:

1. Football fans don't like to admit how much they like cheerleaders. But data tells the experts otherwise. 

2. Martin Luther King, Jr. learned to fail the smart way. Anjali Sastry, co-author of “Fail Better,” says that if a failure reveals something new and useful about the world, then it’s more likely to lead to success.

3. That shiny new medical device might not be the most efficient way to treat a patient. Especially when there are small changes that can lower health care costs, says MIT's Jon Gruber. 

 
Here are three things you should know about this week's show:

1. If a Brooklyn publishing house didn't try to keep its ink from running off the page, Ronald Reagan might never have been elected. And that’s just one example of an innovation with unexpected consequences.

2. Facebook succeeded where MySpace and Google+ failed, in large part because of timing, according to Gina Bianchini, the founder and CEO of Mightybell.

3. Getting rejected from your dream job could be the best thing to happen to you. Disney turned Nolan Bushnell down, but he went on to create a new industry.

Kara talks with Weird Al about hitting #1 on Billboard and how he’s stayed fresh throughout his career. Plus, they geek out together on grammar. Read More...

With the 2014 and 2016 elections looming, techies are hard at work on how to change our votes. Teddy Goff, Digital Director for President Obama’s 2012 campaign, talks about the experiments we’ll all be part of. Read More...

Clay Shirky, the famed media theorist, is moving to Shanghai.

Why would the man long known for critiquing — and seeing the possibilities of the Internet — want to head to China? Read More...

Clay Christensen, Harvard Business School professor and expert on disruptive innovation, talks to Kara about why he sees the American economy headed in the same direction as Japan. Read More...

Alaska's Pavlof Volcano, as viewed from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA / Flickr Creative Commons

Three things you need to know about this week’s show:

1. You could learn a thing or two from Papua New Guineans. They pay attention when people are talking because they’re not distracted by tech devices and gadgets, says Jared Diamond, author of Germs, Guns and Steel.

2. 3-D printers could become as common as syringes in hospitals. Materials scientist Mark Miodownik sees a day when we’ll be able to print new body parts.

3. Attending your kids’ sports games isn’t helping them. According to investigative journalist Amanda Ripley, American parents are more involved in their kid's schools than ever, but countries with fewer bake sale and room mother requirements actually have higher achieving students.

Are we sowing the seeds of our own destruction? Jared Diamond, Pulitzer-prize winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, talks about the trends that can doom civilizations - and the steps we can take to protect ourselves. Read more...

Everyone has ideas about how to create more successful graduates: less homework. shorter summer vacations, and more computer science. Amanda Ripley, an investigative journalist for Time, traveled around the world to find out what really helps kids get ahead. Read more...

From the Stone Age to the silicon age - we’ve always been defined by our stuff. And that’s not a bad thing - except when we start drowning in it, says materials scientist Mark Miodownik, author of Stuff Matters. Read more...