Business giants install 'power nap pods' to boost productivity of workforce

The benefits of a taking a power-nap have been preached by advocates such as Winston Churchill, Leonardo Da Vinci and Albert Einstein - but they never tried anything like this.

Looking like a cross between a science fiction prop and a dentists chair, the EnergyPod has been designed to offer office workers a relaxing spot to take a mid-day nap.

The odd looking device has been installed in UK offices and is even being used by the Lawn Tennis Association to help tennis players like Andy Murray achieve peak performance levels.

It is designed to isolate the user from their environment with lights and music and angles your body to take pressure off the heart.

Once asleep, the device continues to soothe you before waking you up with vibrations, lights and music at the optimal time, normally after about 15 to 20 minutes.

Makers MetroNaps say the length of your nap and the way in which you are woken are key to leaving you feeling rejuvenated and full of energy.

Spokesman Marcus de Guingand, said: "The benefits of napping are many and varied, NASA and Harvard studies say a nap can increase productivity by up to 34 percent.

"The EnergyPod has been designed specially as the ideal environment to take a mid-day rest.

"It was the idea of a banker who saw his colleagues taking naps in bathrooms or store cupboards and thought 'there must be a better solution.'

"After a two-year research programme they came up with the pod and it has now been installed in offices around the world.

"The fact is taking a mid-day nap will benefit everyone so there is no barrier to where they should be installed."

Companies which have installed the £300-per-month pods include, Proctor & Gamble, Google and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

De Guingand added that napping can help both your health and productivity levels.

"It has been scientifically documented that a short nap during the day boosts alertness, memory, creativity and mood," he said.

"Also sleep is the third pillar of health along with Cardiovascular Fitness and Nutrition sleep-deprived individuals succumb more frequently to illness and are more likely to experience poorer long-term health."

Using Mega-Cash Prizes to Incentivize Revolutionary Science

A new paper in Medical Hypotheses suggests that very big cash prizes could specifically be targeted to stimulate ‘revolutionary’ science. Usually, prizes tend to stimulate ‘applied’ science — as in the most famous example of Harrison’s improved clock solving the ‘longitude’ problem. But for prizes successfully to stimulate revolutionary science the prizes need to be three key elements. Details after the jump.

1.) Very large (and we are talking seven figure ‘pop star’ earnings, here) to compensate for the high risk of failure when tackling major scientific problems

2.) Awarded to scientists at a young enough age that it influences their behavior in (about) their mid-late twenties — when they are deciding on their career path

3.) Include objective and transparent scientometric criteria, to prevent the prize award process being corrupted by ‘political’ incentives.

Such mega-cash prizes, in sufficient numbers, might incentivize some of the very best young scientists to make more ambitious, long-term — but high-risk — career choices. The real winner of this would be society as a whole; since ordinary science can successfully be done by second-raters — but only first-rate scientists can tackle the toughest scientific problems.