Marc Husselmann’s official title is Market Segment Leader at 3M South Africa… but that doesn’t really tell you much about all the cool stuff he does. Basically, this guy is in charge of providing safety, security and protection services to South Africa’s entire transportation sector – and that’s everything from cars, buses and trains to ships and even airplanes. We chatted to him about his career …

So, what exactly do you do at 3M?
I make sure that transport companies have the state-of-the-art equipment they need… like rust protection for cars and trains, protective equipment for factory employees (so they don’t get injured while welding, for example), and even retina recognition scanners and fingerprint scanners for airports.

It’s important to note that I’m not a salesman. I have a portfolio of clients in the transport sector, and my role is to educate them about the technology that’s available, and to do the research for them. So, if they have a problem or a concern, they can come to me for a solution.

Yesterday, for example, I had a meeting with the National Ports Authority at the Cape Town harbour. They’re concerned with noise induced hearing loss – where employees gradually lose their hearing because of noise in their working environment. I introduced them to our active hearing system, which involves earmuffs with built-in microphones and amplifiers. These smart devices protect your ears from harmful sounds without blocking out the safe sounds. So if you and I were wearing them, we could stand right near a very loud tug boat engine and have a normal conversation… even if we were standing 10m apart!

You used to work at Cadbury’s… that must have been a cool job!
It was! I did my internship there when I finished studying Industrial Engineering. I was responsible for quality control and waste reduction initiatives. When a chocolate is being manufactured, it gets thrown away if it’s not 100% perfect – after all, you can’t separate out all the ingredients and start again. Even if the chocolate is perfect but the wrapper isn’t put on correctly, it’s cheaper to throw it away than to unwrap it and put it back into the system. I had to analyse the entire process and find ways to avoid wasted chocolates… I also got to eat a whole lot of chocolate (I ate about 500g of Whispers every day)!

Tell us about Industrial Engineering…
As an Industrial Engineer, you have to understand the whole process of an industry, right from the factory to the final product on the shelf. You have work in the process and interact with all the different employees so you can understand the big picture better than anyone else. Why? Because you belong to the product and it’s your job to give it the best life possible. It’s your job to improve the quality of the product and the efficiency with which it’s manufactured, to reduce the time it takes for the product to be made and delivered, and to understand the costs so you can calculate savings. At the end of the day, the product is there because there’s a demand for it, and you need to come up with ways to make more, better, faster and cheaper so that people make more money sooner.

Any advice for high school learners?
Whatever you end up doing, make sure that you get the big picture. Understand the entire process you’re in, not just the part you’re responsible for. That way, you’ll be far more likely to identify new opportunities and come up with smart solutions.

Who’s afraid of the big, bad T-Rex? Pretty much everyone… But do you think you’d find this dinosaur quite so scary if he was soft and fluffy instead of green and scaly? Well, according to scientists, he might have been…

Meet T-Rex’s cousin
A few months ago, a 125-million-year-old fossilized relative of the T-Rex was discovered in north-eastern China. It’s called Yutyrannus huali, which means “beautiful feathered tyrant”, and it seems to have roamed the Earth about 60 million years before our friend the T-Rex. And according to scientists, it had a coat of fluffy down that would have felt like “thick, long fur”… if you were brave enough to touch it, that is. The meat-eating monster was 10 metres long and weighed about a ton, and we’re guessing it wasn’t very friendly…

What does this say about T-Rex?
Other than being a really cool discovery, this new dinosaur got experts thinking: if a relative of the T-Rex was covered in feathers, then who’s to say T-Rex wasn’t too? Until now, only smaller dinosaurs were thought to have sported primitive feathers, but Yutyrannus has shown once and for all that even the big, bad guys can have a softer (out)side.

But here’s a word of advice: if you happen to travel 65 million years back in time and you bump into a fluffy-looking T-Rex, don’t be fooled… feathers or no feathers, this powerful giant will be just as likely to eat you for lunch.

What is your job and what does it involve?
I am the Professional Services Manager for 3M’s Dental division. 3M is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of dental products – they are sold all over the world – and I’m responsible for the scientific marketing of our products here in South Africa.

Where did you grow up and what school did you go to?
I grew up on a farm in the Western Cape near Oudtshoorn and went to a very small school (Calitzdorp High School – we were only eight students in Grade 12).

What subjects did you take at school?
English, Afrikaans, Maths, Biology, Bookkeeping, Needlework & dressmaking.

What did you study after school?
My school results weren’t good enough to be admitted into a medical/dental degree, so I started off with a BCur (Nursing degree). After that, I did a BChD (dental degree), followed by a BSc Honours in Medical Sciences, an MSc (Masters) in Dental Sciences and a BSc Honours in Psychology.

Looking back, do you think you chose the right school subjects?
Maths was an excellent choice, and Needlework & dressmaking was useful, because I paid a large part of my dental studies by designing and making dresses for friends. I should’ve taken Physics/Chemistry instead of Biology, because Biology is a subject you can learn at a later stage, while Physics and Chemistry are about understanding so it’s better to take them at school level. Although bookkeeping was helpful, it’s also something I could have picked up later in life.

What advice can you give high school learners?
When I finished school, I didn’t believe I had it in me to go to university and study a degree, but I went for it and the harder I worked, the more confident I became – and the better I did! So, my advice to learners is: work hard and take the time to understand what you’re learning. Through my years as a dentistry lecturer, I found that the students who had this attitude turned out to be confident and good at handling patients. Those who had a happy-go lucky attitude – a “it doesn’t matter what my marks are as long as I pass” attitude – struggled to come up with even the most simple diagnosis and their lack of confidence scared patients away.

And when it comes to funding your studies, here’s another piece of advice: money can actually go a long way if you’re prepared to be careful with how you spend it. I’ve often seen how students spend their money on frivolous things (fast food, canned drinks, chocolate bars, unnecessary clothes and so on) and then they run out of study money before the year ends. My advice? Set up a budget and stick to it. Find an evening or weekend job to supplement your study money – it’ll give you less time to spend your money and you’ll gain a healthy respect for money. In my experience, students with a job (however small) tend to be more organised in their studies than those without one because they know and respect the value of time.

The UrtheCast crew is preparing to mount High-Definition (HD) camera’s on the International Space Station, and these seriously powerful webcams will then stream live footage of the world down to all the people on it, 24/7! So, whenever you want to see the Earth from above, all you’ll have to do is log onto the Internet and watch the world turn from the comfort of your own home.

And the coolest part? You might even get to spot your own home! This is because the cameras will be High Definition, making the footage detailed enough to see individual cities and buildings as they glide past the International Space Station. You’ll also be able to rewind and pause the video, and tag specific footage.

When’s it going to happen?

Right now, the camera’s are being built and when they’re ready, they’ll be shipped off to Russia so the Russian Federal Space Agency can blast them up, up and away to the International Space Station. And once they’re up and running, the team hopes they’ll film non-stop for at least five years. We’ll let you know when the filming begins, so watch this space or visit www.urthecast.com for more info. Meanwhile, check out this amazing video…

Or you could become a real astronaut…

Of course, there’s still no substitute for the real thing. If you really want to see planet Earth with your own eyes, you’ll need to get a job that involves leaving our beautiful planet (don’t worry – it’s only temporary). Click here to read an interview with a former NASA astronaut who’s seen the real deal.

Photo credit: Earth image from NASA

About 30 years ago, a company called 3M created an extremely strong, absorbent material to clean up oil spills.

Then one cold day, while they were on a clean-up mission, the 3M engineers noticed that volunteers were wrapping the material around their shoulders to keep their bodies warm. And hey presto, the idea for a smart product was born!

When the engineers took the material back to the lab, they discovered that it trapped body heat extremely well, even though it was much less bulky than the usual insulation fabrics. And so they created Thinsulate™, a wonderful warm-up material that’s now found in everything from hats, gloves, shoes and bedding to cars and even airplane cockpits!

But how does it work?

Just like feathers trap a bird’s body heat to keep the tweeter toasty, the super-thin fibres inside Thinsulate™ trap air molecules between your skin and the outer environment… and because the fibers are so incredibly fine, they can trap quite a lot of air in a small space, keeping you nice and warm without making the material too thick to let moisture escape. Here’s a quick diagram of how the smart stuff works…