Plus: Don’t Talk Politics on the Job, Walk for Your Health, Happiness as Business Strategy, James Dyson on Good Engineering and MORE.

 
Sometimes the Internet seems like it’s gotten too big. To help navigate this sea of information, IMT continues its weekly Wednesday feature that spotlights some of the more interesting, informative and amusing resources that might have slipped under your radar — all in bite-sized chunks.
 
 

• James Dyson on Good Engineering | James Dyson, the smooth-voiced inventor of the Dyson bag-less vacuum cleaners, doesn’t believe we need a design revolution to cut energy use and conserve scarce materials. Rather, he believes we need to “go back to making durable products, and get people interested in engineering again” and “the rest should take care of itself,” FastCo.Exist says. “I think you are brought up to believe that lean engineering is what you should be doing as an engineer,” Dyson tells Fast Company’s sister site. “I don’t think there’s anything new about that, and I’m 65. I don’t think it changes because it’s good to be green. Engineers just think like that, or they ought to.”
• Don’t Talk Politics on the Job | With the 2012 presidential election fast approaching, political passions are flaring. What may pass as an offhand political remark in a social setting, however, can create a nightmare scenario in the workplace, as MarketWatch explains.
• Why Some Small Cars Don’t Get Better Gas Mileage | “There’s a new wave of econoboxes, but some — such as the Chevy Spark, Scion iQ and Fiat 500 — don’t reach even 40 mpg in their EPA fuel economy estimates,” a short but informative Popular Mechanics piece explains. Find out why smaller isn’t always better.
• How Robo-Bees Could Change Manufacturing | A swarm of robotic bees in development at Harvard University’s Microrobotics Lab may have significant implications for the future of manufacturing, according to NPR’s All Tech Considered blog. The production method used is known as “pop-up fabrication,” which consists of laser cutting flat sheets of material that are then sandwiched together and folded to form a three-dimensional package, creating an essentially completed robotic product. The unique process used to construct these robo-bees could pioneer the industrial-scale production of microbots.
• Why We Should Get up from Our Chairs | Medical professionals have long known that living a sedentary lifestyle causes health problems, but now there is evidence showing why. The New York Times’ Well blog explains that scientists experimented by having normally healthy, active people reduce the number of steps they took each day to below 5,000. (The American Heart Association recommends at least 10,000 steps per day for an adult.) The lack of motion caused subjects’ blood sugar levels to spike after meals, which sometimes leads to physiological conditions that produce chronic disease, like Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
• Should You Send that E-Mail? | Understanding e-mail etiquette and the correct way to compose an effective message is a valuable skill in today’s workplace. For a thorough and thoughtful take on when to send e-mail, check out Seth Godin’s checklist. Plus: EmailCharter.org.
• Happiness Makes You Smarter in Business | Instead of success leading to happiness, consider the idea that happiness leads to success. Research shows that feeling positive and having an optimistic outlook tends to make someone smarter and more creative professionally, according to an article at Inc.com that highlights this fascinating idea as outlined by Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage, in a TED talk and further explained through research featured in the latest issue of the Harvard Business Review. Personal happiness has also been linked to greater entrepreneurial success.

Image credit: Bugloaf