How Ballpoint Pens Killed Cursive

While many blame the downfall of handwriting on computers, tablets and smartphones, its decline actually began long ago—after a man named Marcel Bich released the first Bic Crystal ballpoint pen in 1946. Back then, fountain pens were the norm, and their inks were thin and bled at the first sign of applied pressure. But with the new ballpoint pens (and their thicker inks), connecting letters …

Force Touch Technology for Any Device

When Apple announced its newest Macbook, arguably its most talked about feature was the Force Touch trackpad, which can alter its function depending on how hard you push. This same technology may soon be available to the world outside of Apple thanks to a young company called Sensel Morph. The start-up has developed a tablet-sized pad that pairs Force Touch with any PC or Mac …

CH25: Tal Danino

The bioengineer who programs DNA to fight cancer

Programming bacteria to sniff out and treat cancer. It may sound like something out of the future, but it’s exactly what Tal Danino is doing right now. A bioengineer, TED Fellow and postdoctoral fellow at MIT, Danino specializes in manipulating the DNA of probiotics to turn them into a diagnostic and treatment tool. “What we can do inside the lab is use machines that print …