Innovation : Buzz

If you think a lot of cities are starting to look the same, you may be onto something.

The National Science Foundation is undertaking a massive, four-year study to examine the urban ecology of six cities: Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Baltimore. And researchers have found so far that the ecosystems in each are starting to resemble one another, the New York Times writes. 

"Scientists studying the function of urban ecosystems are developing theories of what they refer to as ecological homogenization," the Times writes. "Places like Baltimore, Minneapolis and Phoenix appear to be becoming more like one another ecologically than they are like the wild environments around them."

You can read the entire story here. 

Baltimore filmmaker Matthew Porterfield is debuting his latest film, "I Used to Be Darker," at Sundance next month. The movie tells the story of a runaway who goes to live with her aunt and uncle in Baltimore and confronts a family struggle afterwards. "Darker" is one of ten films in the film festival's NEXT program, which highlights innovative storytelling in film. 

You can read more about the NEXT films here on film site Indiewire or in this writeup in the New York Times. 

Porterfield garnered rave reviews for "Putty Hill" in 2010. The Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University selected the Hamilton native for its 2012-2013 Artist Residency Awards. Porterfield has also won the Sondheim Prize and was included in the Whitney Biennial. 

Economists are warning that the US will plunge into a recession again if Congress doesn't reach a deal to avoid massive tax hikes and spending cuts — the so-called "fiscal cliff."

But Bill Stromberg, director of global equity and global equity research at Baltimore's T. Rowe Price Group Inc., tells USA Today that investors shouldn't worry too much about this affecting their portfolio in the long run. They should build a diversified portfolio and worry instead about the artificially low interest rates that will go up at some point. 

"I personally don't think average investors should be structuring their portfolio around the idea of a short-term deadline in the market," Stromberg tells USA Today. "Their long-term asset allocation and choice of investments should be based on much longer-term horizons."

You can read the rest of the story here. 

Spencer Manio picks out the right music that meshes with a company's brand. 

And the 39-year-old Seattle resident is picking out "aggressive electronic music" to play at Under Armour stores, Manio tells NPR. 

He can't reveal the songs just yet, but NPR writes that "there will likely be mainstream songs by Skrillex and Calvin Harris, who soundtrack many a CrossFit and 'bootcamp' experience."

You could also hear Hudson Mohawke, Rustie, Baauer, Lunice and TNGHT next time you're buying Under Armour workout shorts. 

"If he pulls it off right, he'll communicate the brand, intrigue the consumer and expose people to extraordinary music," NPR writes.  "Essentially he's trying to help Under Armour convince you, whoever you are, even if your body is not a temple, that you could be in the Olympics."

Read more about Under Armour's music guru here. 

A business school dean calls the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Music Director "a folk hero" in the most recent issue of Forbes magazine.

Doug Guthrie, dean of the George Washington University School of Business, got to know Marin Alsop because she was the first speaker in the school's Conversations on Creative Leadership series. 

"She is a woman in a field dominated by men, but she is so much more," Guthrie writes in Forbes. "A visionary who understands the connection between ambition and achievement. A crusader who knows how music can transform lives. A leader who accepts the risk that comes with great rewards. A trailblazer who is as adept at the trail as the blazing."

You can read the rest of the story here. 

National trade magazine Advertising Age spent a day with students who have enrolled in a joint degree offered by the Maryland Institute College of Art and the Carey School of Business at Johns Hopkins University.

"Over five weeks, a course at the Maryland Institute College of Art asks students to figure out ways to improve business and user experiences at two storied institutions: the post office and the gas station," Ad Age writes about the students participating in the Design Leadership MBA. 

"As a June article in The Wall Street Journal noted, schools are increasingly combining design thinking (which focuses on user experience through anthropological research) with more traditional business programs," Ad Age says. 

You can read the rest of the story here. 

Serving up lentil burgers and veggie deli "meats" has earned Towson University and the University of Maryland a spot on the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (PETA) list of most vegan-friendly colleges.

PETA 2 —  the arm of the animal-rights group that targets the younger crowd — nominated both schools. Voting for Round 1 continues until 5 p.m. Oct. 16 and winners will be announced Nov. 15.

PETA 2 determines who makes it to the next round based on four factors: quality vegan food options, the total number of votes, the enthusiasm demonstrated by nominated schools and feedback from campus students on their vegan dining options.

The University of New Hampshire, Cornell University and Alabama's Troy University are among the other nominated vegan-friendly schools. 

Johns Hopkins University says it received $6 million from the National Science Foundation to improve wind farm design, writes the Associated Press in a story carried in BloombergBusinessweek. 

"The researchers will study how to match the varying output of wind farms with power grids that provide a constant flow of electricity to customers," BloombergBusinessweek writes. "Johns Hopkins says researchers from Texas Tech, Smith College and the University of Puerto Rico along with European researchers from Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium and Spain will also participate in the studies."

You can read the rest of the story here. 

Fortune magazine recently interviewed money manager Henry Ellenbogen, who manages the $9.6 billion T. Rowe Price New Horizons Fund, which invests in small-cap tech, finance and health care stocks. 

"He's constantly prowling for promising tech startups, spending about 100 days a year on the road, about half of them out in the [Silicon] Valley," Fortune writes. Ellenbogen has large stakes in private companies Twitter and LivingSocial, Fortune writes.

The fund has had annual returns of 21 percent, topping the small-cap index Russell 2000.

You can read the rest of the story here. 

IdeaMensch is a community that shows people how to bring their ideas to life and it is helping the fine folks in the Free State. 

"Whether your idea is an app, a nonprofit, a book, a website or an invention – what matters is how you bring it to life. Who matter are the people who bring those ideas to life," the IdeaMensch site says. The Los Angeles-based organization is going on a four-month road trip and is hitting every state. 

It makes its stop in Maryland Sept. 25 at the Loyola Columbia Graduate Campus, starting at 6 p.m. Speakers include Social Toaster CEO Brian Razzaque and PointClickSwitch CEO Phil Crowskey. Read more about the Baltimore event here. 

Reality TV star and baker Duff Goldman ecently became a gastronomic diplomat, according to a CNN post. 

The U.S. State Department and James Beard Foundation teamed up to establish the Diplomatic Culinary Program which debuted last week. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asks chefs to create American dishes fused with the cuisines of other nations to be served for foreign dignitaries and serve as a culinary ambassador at kitchens around the world.

Goldman will travel to Colombia this fall to lead a cake decorating demonstration for more than 6,000. "When you're cooking with somebody even if they don't speak your language you're still cooking with them," Goldman tells CNN. “We've shared experiences in our careers, in our lives, in our passion of the things that we really believe in." 

Goldman is the former star of the Food Network's Ace of Cakes and recently expanded his bakery to the West Coast with a location in Los Angeles. 

Baltimore Magazine also lists Top Chef runner up and co-owner of Frederick’s Volt Restaurant Bryan Voltaggio as one of the 80 ambassadors.

Bryan Voltaggio paired up with his brother Michael Voltaggio of Los Angeles’ Ink to present “Hungover with the Voltaggios” to the Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival.
 
The crowd enjoyed the two brothers for both their culinary skills and comedic relief, according to a recap in Los Angeles Magazine.
 
The Voltaggios exuded the same personality and cooking style as fans saw on Season Six of Top Chef when Michael won and Bryan, owner of Frederick's Volt restaurant, was second runner-up. “Bryan seems happy to play it straight while Michael engages in all manner of wild and eccentric experimentation. Hence, the coffee cake," LA Magazine writes. 
 
The best part about Bryan’ cinnamon swirl coffee cake and dollop of bay leaf ice cream and Michael’s egg yolk gnocchi and bacon is that they’re things you can replicate at home, Bryan tells the magazine.

That is of course, if you have superb culinary skills and liquid nitrogen.

Looks like Baltimore illusionist Spencer Horsman might make it back to “America’s Got Talent”, according to the Baltimore Sun. Co-host Howard Stern chose Spencer Horsman as one of his wild-card picks. His competitors will include Ben Blaque, who uses crossbows and Todd Oliver whose dog doubles as a ventriloquist doll.

Read more here. 

Everyone knows by now that Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian in history, with 22 medals. 

But he's struck gold in social media as well, according to a Reuters story that appeared in the Huffington Post. 

Reuters reports that Phelps added one million followers during the London Olympics, bringing his total count to nearly 1.3 million. He also has 800,000 Facebook fans. Jamaican track-and-field athlete Usain Bolt is ahead of the race, with 1.5 million Twitter followers. 

And in other Michael Phelps news, the Rodgers Forge native is set to appear in his own reality show. Don't get too excited. We probably won't see our hometown boy engage in crazy antics a la Real Housewives. He'll be playing golf on the Golf Channel's the Haney Project, the Hollywood Reporter writes. 

Last month the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra gave 104 amateur musicians a taste of what it's like to be a part of a professional orchestra. These individuals participated in BSO Academy, a weeklong camp of lessons, rehearsals, master classes and, finally,  a concert at Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.
 
The New York Times profiled many members of the BSO Academy, including a cold-war-era Navy pilot; a judge’s assistant who took up the viola just three and a half years ago; and a French horn player who was able to make it through the vigorous preparation and performance despite a tremor from her Parkinson’s disease.
 
“It was a musically enthusiastic, even obsessive, bunch. Most spend countless hours a week practicing and playing in wind bands or community orchestras or chamber groups, in many cases more than one,” writes the New York Times. “It’s an older group. Many returned to music with fervor in retirement or in homes recently emptied of growing children. For some, music-making is the backbone of their social ties or an escape from the pressures of work.”

You can read the entire story here.