The Chinese were (and perhaps still are) great students of nature.
There is a deep understanding in Chinese tradition of nature’s predictable cycle. The understanding of nature’s cycle could be applied many things: not just the seasons or the growth of plants, but also, for example, relationships, one’s work, the development of a […]
Archive for June, 2007
Celebrate the summer solstice as the Chinese philosophers did
Published June 20th, 2007 in Earth. 5 CommentsScientific American has published an interview with Alan Weisman, who has written a book called The World Without Us. According to the editors at Sciam, the book is an extended thought-experiment, in which “Weisman does not specify exactly what finishes off Homo sapiens; instead he simply assumes the abrupt disappearance of our species and […]
LifeStraws, cells phones and small technologies in the 21st century
Published June 17th, 2007 in Innovation and Human World. 6 CommentsPeople raised in the 1950s and ’60s tend to think of technology in monumental terms: buildings soaring ever-higher, superhighways, giant Saturn V rockets lifting off toward the moon, horrific yet fascinating nuclear explosions.
But today’s technological innovators are thinking small.
One example is in June 18 Newsweek: a story called Water for the World. It’s about […]
The wombat speaks, and he’s smarter than you
Published June 11th, 2007 in Videos, Earth and Human World. 5 CommentsThe wombat speaks, and he’s smarter than you, so listen up! In less than a minute, this rapid-fire animation tells you everything you need to know about how to get along on earth for the next million years.
Or so says Jason Ables, the creator of a website called bumpercars.com.
He’s a San Francisco Bay Area based […]
How will climate change affect your state?
Published June 7th, 2007 in Earth and Climate & Weather. 7 CommentsAs the G8 summit proceeds in Heiligendamm - with the U.S., by many reports, continuing to stall on the issue of climate change - you might be wondering how scientists’ predictions about climate change relate to where you live. If so, check out NextGenerationEarth from the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
That page […]
A call for more “joined-up” thinking on science at G8
Published June 5th, 2007 in Human World and Science. 11 CommentsDavid Dickson - who is the director of SciDev.Net - has written a post about the need for more “joined-up” thinking on science at next week’s G8 summit in Germany.
The 33rd G8 summit will take place June 6-8 at the Kempinski Grand Hotel in Heiligendamm, Germany. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United […]
Altruism may be hard-wired into our brains
Published June 2nd, 2007 in Body & Mind and Human World. 16 CommentsA recent study shed light on why it feels good to give.
The study - led by Jorge Moll and Jordan Grafman of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) - was designed to discover how and where altruism originates in the brain. It used functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, to visualize […]