Creative Thinking

If you have not already discovered it, check out www.TED.com for wonderful, short, lectures on all matters of Technology, Entertainment and Design. Each day a new talk is published. I've learned a lot about new inventions in medicine, computers, engineering, and more. As well as theories about education, problem solving, and creative thinking.

Here's a good starting point, http://www.ted.com/talks/bart_knols_cheese_dogs_and_pills_to_end_malaria.html

Bart Knols describes his creative ideas in battling the Malaria mosquito. For example
1. His team investigated what part of the body the malaria mosquito was attracted to, the answer was feet.  What do feet smell like?  Stinky cheese. They tested that and discovered that Limburger cheese was an excellent bait for mosquito traps.

2. The best time to stop mosquitoes is as larva before they hatch. But how do you find mosquito breeding pools?  With trained dogs to sniff them out.

3. Turning the tables: Bart demonstrates a pill that makes human blood poisonous to mosquitoes. If they bite, they die and will never lay eggs.