Mclean's Nuggets

摘要

In our interconnected media-rich world of data [and occasional) information, there has appeared a new market for products, services and research projects that protect and shield us from this social noise. Technologies include Noise or Phase cancellation from Noise Eater, the company that sold us the idea of Buying Quiet, and bespoke 'stealth' wallpapers from defence firm QinetiQ, which uses the Frequency Selective Surface [FSS] of its electrolytically grown wallpapers to 'protect' Wi-Fi networks and delineate Quiet Zones free from the polyphonic chirrup of the mobile phone. In Denmark, 'comfort guru' Dr P Ole Fanger continues his research investigating the impact of the indoor environment on human productivity, comfort and health at the new International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy at the Danish Technical University. The research examines the relationship between air quality, lighting, physical disposition, thermal comfort, acoustics and your physical state of arousal, in this case specifically in relation to work rate