Okay, I think we solved our email deliverability issue last week 😌
This week’s mystery gift is open to the first 25 people instead of 15 since you were all so helpful last week : )
And before we get into the fun though… an unbelievably cool friend of mine, Victor, (a BLIND COMEDIAN w/ADHD!!) has a special offer for you guys 🙂 check it out below!
Writing Through Cognitive Discourse
A Discovery in Process
By Victor Varnado
Victor Varnado is a New Yorker cartoonist, National Science Foundation grantee for assistive-technology research, and a comedian who has appeared on Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel Live. He has produced television for VH1 and Comedy Central and now leads Supreme Robot LLC, a tech and media company focussing on positive social impact.
Engineering often begins with a question: What happens if I design a system around how people actually think?
That question led me to a discovery that changed how I—and many other neurodivergent people—write.
As someone with ADHD, I was never short on ideas; I was short on order.
To finish a book, I designed an experiment: instead of staring at a blank page, what if the computer asked me structured questions—each small enough to answer easily, but together forming a coherent manuscript?
That experiment became Magic Bookifier, a “writing coach” feature built on a concept I now call cognitive discourse—an engineered process of guided questioning that mirrors how we reason through complex problems.
After interviewing our customers I found that entrepreneurs and writers with ADHD started using Magic Bookifier not just to draft books, but to clarify proposals, research notes, and technical documentation.
They described it as an interface for thinking—a tool that off-loads the organization part so their creativity can flow freely.
My previous National Science Foundation-funded work in assistive tech motivated the next step.
I reached out to Rising Tide Educators, a nonprofit that supports students with neurological differences. They examined the tool, and immediately saw its educational potential.
Together, we are developing BrightWrite, a classroom-ready version designed to help neurodivergent learners structure essays and reports.
Our work with Grantify, a company that assists with National Science Foundation proposals, will help formalize this as an educational technology study.
Why It Matters
If AI can help people with ADHD—and anyone who struggles to organize their thoughts—complete writing they never could before, then it isn’t just convenience software.
It’s a new layer of cognitive infrastructure: a repeatable process that can scale to every school and workplace.
Because once you can encode a supportive process in software, you can deploy it everywhere.
Try the process yourself at MagicBookifier.ai use code TWIEBOOK for 100 free credits — the tool that sparked this discovery.
Watch the video of how it works below:
Now back to our regularly scheduled show 🙂
Want to be featured in the next edition? And win the mystery gift?
Reply with the answer to this:
Engineering "This or That":
Question 1: To make a paper airplane fly farther, engineers would:
Add weight to the nose OR Remove weight from the nose?
Question 2: In a car's differential (the thing that lets wheels spin at different speeds in turns), the magic happens with:
Gears inside gears OR Clutches that slip?
Question 3: To make glass stronger (like on your phone screen), manufacturers:
Heat it up then cool it fast OR Cool it down then heat it slow?
Know the answers?
Just reply with your picks (like Add weight, Clutches, cool-heat) and you might win that mystery prize.
Want to reach an audience of over 80k engineers? Click here to book a call with me to see how we can partner to help!
What Happened This Week?
1. Battery-Free Spinal Implant Tracks Your Spine in Real-Time
Spinal implants usually need batteries or wires.
This one needs neither and it's honestly genius.
Researchers built a wireless sensor that sits on your spine and monitors its health continuously, powered by radiofrequency energy: basically the same tech that powers contactless credit cards, but for medical devices INSIDE YOUR BODY.
Here's how it works: an external transmitter sends RF signals through your skin.
The implant harvests that energy to power itself and send back data about spinal pressure, temperature, and movement.
No surgery to replace batteries or wires poking through your skin.
The device is thin, flexible, and wraps around spinal hardware you might already have from fusion surgery.
It measures how much stress your spine is under in real-time, which helps doctors spot problems like implant failure or infection before you end up back in the OR.
Current spinal implants are basically "install and pray." This gives doctors actual data.
The catch?
It only works when you're near the external transmitter, so continuous 24/7 monitoring isn't happening yet. But for checkups, it beats another surgery.
Your spine might start sending status updates 😂
2. They Made Jet Fuel From Wet Food Waste
Jet fuel comes from crude oil. This version comes from your garbage and I'm not even joking.
Researchers developed a process that converts food waste into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
And yes, I'm talking about wet food waste straight from your trash: peels, leftovers, coffee grounds, everything.
Here's the process: they use hydrothermal liquefaction: basically a pressure cooker on steroids.
You dump wet food waste into a reactor, heat it to 300-350°C under high pressure, and the organic matter breaks down into bio-crude oil.
Then you refine that bio-crude the same way you'd refine petroleum.
The breakthrough? Handling wet waste.
Previous methods required drying the feedstock first, which wastes enormous amounts of energy. This process USES the water content as part of the reaction.
Aviation produces about 2-3% of global CO2 emissions, and there's no easy way to electrify planes.
Batteries are too heavy.
Hydrogen is too complicated.
Sustainable fuel that works in existing engines is basically the only realistic option.
They're not at commercial scale yet, but the chemistry works.
Your banana peels might power a 747 someday 👀
3. Lasers Now Give Tanks a Health Check Without Cracking Them Open
Tank armor gets stress fractures.
Finding them usually means tearing the whole thing apart.
This laser system finds them in seconds and it's SO COOL.
Researchers developed a laser-based inspection system that detects internal damage in military vehicles without even touching them.
It uses laser ultrasound - you shoot a laser at the metal surface, which creates tiny vibrations. Another laser reads those vibrations to map internal structure and find cracks, corrosion, or weak spots.
Traditional inspection requires either disassembling the tank to get sensors inside, or using bulky ultrasound equipment with gel and physical contact.
Tanks sit in maintenance hangars for weeks.
This system? Point the laser, scan the surface, get a structural health report.
No disassembly or downtime. You can even scan while the vehicle is in the field.
The technology maps subsurface defects up to several centimeters deep.
It spots fatigue cracks in welds, detects corrosion under paint, and finds material degradation from repeated stress.
Military applications are obvious, but this works for aircraft, ships, bridges, pressure vessels - anything that shouldn't fail catastrophically.
Your tank gets a CT scan from 10 feet away (if only we could actually buy tanks like we buy teslas..)
Your next adventure?
⦁ Electrical Engineer: Citizens Electric Corporation
Keeping the grid from having meltdowns so your lights stay on.
⦁ Mechanical Engineer: COE Press Equipment
Metal coil wrangler designing machines that unroll tons of steel without tantrums.
⦁ Civil Engineer: GRAEF, Miami, FL
Miami's flood-fighting superhero armed with permits and storm drains.
Want to post a job to an audience of over 80k engineers? Click here to book a call with me to see how we can partner to help!