Fascinations

Education and the Mind

I love reading about how we learn. I love learning. I'm constantly look at new ways to train my brain, and exploring how it works. There a number of 'tools' out there to help you analyze yourself, and I must confess I'm fascinated by them.

For those of you who are interested, I'm a Myers-Briggs INTJ, and my Gallup Strengthfinder strengths are Focus, Strategic, Ideation, Achiever, and Deliberative (you can read the full report here).

The mind is a wonderful and ever fascinating thing. If I ever went back to study I think I'd like to study neuroscience of some description. But I'll probably end up just reading about it in my own time. I'd also like to help all the people in the world who want to learn but do not have access to education gain the knowledge they need to succeed in this world. Not quite sure what my master plan looks like yet, but I'm definitely going to be funding some educational program at some point in my life.

Micro Algae (and other forms of alternative energy)

I don't think that ethanol derived from corn and soy (or any crop that is part of our food chain) is a sustainable energy alternative, but I'm fascinated by micro algae's that are being developed (you can read more about some of the companies playing in this space at Inside Greentech).

While we're still a fair way off being able to produce it in commercially viable quantities, I'll be watching this space closely. While solar, wind and other alternate energy sources are great, most of the oil consumed in the US is used to fuel the cars, trucks, planes and ships that are part of our everyday lives. We need to find something else to fuel our vehicles.

Biomonitoring

Between my friend Liza writing a book on all the potential carcinogens in cosmetics, my husband, Rich, running the New York Marathon for Sloan Kettering, and my aunt, Susan, being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, I became very curious about how I could minimize my chances (beyond the obvious things like not smoking, not drinking too much, and eating well) of being afflicted by this horrible disease.

I'm intrigued by biomonitoring, or the monitoring of chemicals in the body. To get yourself tested for all the toxic chemicals we are exposed to on a daily basis is prohibitively expensive, and they are still refining the tests for many of them. However the Center for Disease Control (CDC) does have a National Biomonitoring Program, and each year they expand the number of chemicals they test for, but they are only testing a very small percentage of the population. I'd love to be able to get myself tested as part of my annual physical, or better yet, have a device at home that could measure the levels of chemicals in a pin prick blood sample, so that I could track my chemical levels (and progress in reducing them where appropriate) more frequently. Anyone want to join me in developing that device?

Micro Houses

Being a sailor, I'm well aware of how well one can live in a small space when it is optimally designed. I'm fascinated by micro houses (and their reduced energy consumption), and would like to try living in one at some point.

Space Travel

I'm so excited by the concept of space tourism ventures like Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. I want to go!