Public Access to Research Funded by National Institutes of Health
President Bush has signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2007 (H.R. 2764), which includes a provision directing the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to provide the public with open online access to findings from its funded research. This is the first time the U.S. government has mandated public access to research funded by a major agency.
The provision directs the NIH to change its existing Public Access Policy, implemented as a voluntary measure in 2005, so that participation is required for agency-funded investigators. Researchers will now be required to deposit electronic copies of their peer-reviewed manuscripts into the National Library of Medicine’s online archive, PubMed Central. Full texts of the articles will be publicly available and searchable online in PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication in a journal.
The provision directs the NIH to change its existing Public Access Policy, implemented as a voluntary measure in 2005, so that participation is required for agency-funded investigators. Researchers will now be required to deposit electronic copies of their peer-reviewed manuscripts into the National Library of Medicine’s online archive, PubMed Central. Full texts of the articles will be publicly available and searchable online in PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication in a journal.
Annals of Improbable Research Goes Open-Access
The Annals of Improbable Research, best known for their annual Ig Nobel Prizes, has made each of its bi-monthly issues available for free.
Creating a World Without Poverty
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus outlines his vision for a new business model that combines the power of free markets with the quest for a more humane world—and. In Creating a World Without Poverty, Yunus goes beyond microcredit to pioneer the idea of social business—a completely new way to use the creative vibrancy of business to tackle social problems from poverty and pollution to inadequate health care and lack of education.
The Patent Portfolio: A Strategic Management Tool
This paper by Erik Garcia from Richard Ivey School of Business (UWO) provides an approach to patent portfolio management, which allows managers to understand the current patent position of the company in the market, to perform technological competitor monitoring and technological forecasting, to leverage the company’s decision making process, and to create effective defensive tactics.
The 2008 John W. Gardner Leadership Award
Independent Sector (IS) invites nominations for the 2008 John W. Gardner Leadership Award. The award recognizes a living American whose leadership in or with the nonprofit community has been transformative and who has mobilized and unified people, institutions, or causes that improve lives.
COMMUNIA - The European Thematic Network on Digital Public Domain
The COMMUNIA Thematic Network aims at becoming a European point of reference for theoretical analysis and strategic policy discussion of existing and emerging issues concerning the public domain in the digital environment - as well as related topics, including, but not limited to, alternative forms of licensing for creative material; open access to scientific publications and research results; management of works whose authors are unknown (i.e. orphan works).
Funded by the European Commission within the eContentplus framework, the 3-years long project expects to provide policy guidelines that will help each stakeholder involved - public and private, from the local to the European and global level.
Funded by the European Commission within the eContentplus framework, the 3-years long project expects to provide policy guidelines that will help each stakeholder involved - public and private, from the local to the European and global level.
2008 The International Year of Sanitation
The UN General Assembly declared the year 2008 The International Year of Sanitation. The goal is to raise awareness and to accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target to reduce by half the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation by 2015.
Sky Sails
SkySails is developing, producing and selling an internationally patented wind propulsion system based on large towing kites. Depending on the prevailing wind conditions, a ship’s average annual fuel costs can be reduced by 10 to 35% by using the SkySails-System.
The first SkySails-Systems are being installed on cargo ships of pilot customers. The first ship to be outfitted with a SkySails propulsion is the 133m Multi Purpose Heavy Lift Carrier "Beluga SkySails" of the Bremen-based Beluga Group.
The first SkySails-Systems are being installed on cargo ships of pilot customers. The first ship to be outfitted with a SkySails propulsion is the 133m Multi Purpose Heavy Lift Carrier "Beluga SkySails" of the Bremen-based Beluga Group.
Free Knowledge Institute Launch
The Free Knowledge Institute (FKI) is a non-profit organisation that fosters the free exchange of knowledge in all areas of society. Inspired by the Free Software movement, the FKI promotes freedom of use, modification, copying and distribution of knowledge.
The FKI develops projects in four different but highly related fields: education, technology, culture and science. Its multidisciplinary nature enables the seamless flow of information and expertise between different fields through global and transversal actions.
On Wednesday January 16, 2008, the Free Knowledge Institute will be presented during a New Years Reception organised by SELF, FKI, ISOC.nl and other organisations.
The FKI develops projects in four different but highly related fields: education, technology, culture and science. Its multidisciplinary nature enables the seamless flow of information and expertise between different fields through global and transversal actions.
On Wednesday January 16, 2008, the Free Knowledge Institute will be presented during a New Years Reception organised by SELF, FKI, ISOC.nl and other organisations.
Water Advocates
Water Advocates is the first US-based nonprofit organization dedicated solely to increasing American support for worldwide access to safe, affordable and sustainable supplies of drinking water and adequate sanitation.
Water Advocates works with all sectors of American society to increase public and private-citizen funding for effective water, sanitation and hygiene projects and initiatives internationally, particularly those characterized by strong community involvement.
Water Advocates works with all sectors of American society to increase public and private-citizen funding for effective water, sanitation and hygiene projects and initiatives internationally, particularly those characterized by strong community involvement.
Anime and Microbiology
Moyashimon - Tales of Agriculture is a manga series by Masayuki Ishikawa with a TV anime adaptation directed by Yuichiro Yano. The series follows Tadayasu Sawaki, a first-year college student at an agricultural university, who has a unique ability to see and communicate with micro-organisms and bacteria.
Learning microbiology can be interesting and even fun. The microbes are really cute and they even get their own show "Microbe Theater" at the end of every episode. Some microbes in the show are: Acetobacter aceti, Aspergillus niger, Lactobacillus yogurti, Penicillium chrysogenum, Tricophyton rubrum and others.
Online Videos by Veoh.com
Learning microbiology can be interesting and even fun. The microbes are really cute and they even get their own show "Microbe Theater" at the end of every episode. Some microbes in the show are: Acetobacter aceti, Aspergillus niger, Lactobacillus yogurti, Penicillium chrysogenum, Tricophyton rubrum and others.
Online Videos by Veoh.com
At 71, Physics Professor Is a Web Star
At 71, Physics Professor Is a Web Star (NYTimes.com). The above article features MIT physics professor, Walter H. G. Lewin, on how his free physics lecture videos online have won him devotees all over the world.
PopSci.com/BUG Labs Build a Bug Contest
PopSci.com and BUG labs are announcing a new challenge and the grand prize will be a BUGbase and four BUGmodules. Entries will be accepted until FEBRUARY 15, 2008.
On Being a Scientist
On Being a Scientist presents discussions of the social and historical context of science, the allocation of credit for discovery, the scientist's role in society, the issues revolving around publication, and many other aspects of scientific work. The booklet explores the inevitable conflicts that arise when the black and white areas of science meet the gray areas of human values and biases.
Science and Security in a Post 9-11 World
The tragedy of September 11, 2001, the subsequent anthrax attacks, and ongoing terror threats internationally have markedly changed national and international security and information sharing. While, the success of U.S. science and engineering has been built on a system of information sharing and open communication, not only among U.S. institutions, but also with the international science and technology communities. This podcast (MP3) produced by The National Academies explores how these two important endeavors must be balanced for the future of our country.
DOE and GM Launch EcoCAR Competition
EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge is a three-year competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, General Motors, Natural Resources Canada and other sponsors. EcoCAR provides engineering students the chance to design and build advanced vehicles that demonstrate leading-edge automotive technologies with the goal of minimizing the environmental impact of personal transportation and illustrating pathways to a sustainable transportation future.
The EcoCAR Request for Proposal(RFP) selection process is open to accredited engineering schools in Canada, the United States of America, and Mexico. The organizers expect to have an open teleconference to discuss the details of the proposal and selection process early in January 2008 and Final proposals for EcoCAR are due March 3, 2008. Additional resources will be available at www.challengex.org until the new EcoCAR website has been established.
The EcoCAR Request for Proposal(RFP) selection process is open to accredited engineering schools in Canada, the United States of America, and Mexico. The organizers expect to have an open teleconference to discuss the details of the proposal and selection process early in January 2008 and Final proposals for EcoCAR are due March 3, 2008. Additional resources will be available at www.challengex.org until the new EcoCAR website has been established.
Protocol for Implementing Open Access Data
Science Commons announces the Protocol for Implementing Open Access Data. The Protocol is a method for ensuring that scientific databases can be legally integrated with one another. The Protocol is built on the public domain status of data in many countries and provides legal certainty to both data deposit and data use. The protocol is not a license or legal tool in itself, but instead a methodology for a) creating such legal tools and b) marking data already in the public domain for machine-assisted discovery.
Free endangered species ringtones and phone wallpapers
The Center for Biological Diversity offers you free endangered species ringtones and phone wallpapers a collection of high-quality, authentic sounds and images of some of the world’s most threatened birds, owls, frogs, toads and marine mammals.
Cell Portraits
Cell Portraits specialize in providing clients with a picture of their chromosomes (microscopic structures of DNA inside the cells of the body) at 1000X magnification from a small sample of your blood so it's can be displayed as art.
Business and HIV/AIDS: What have we learnt?
A report by Business Action for Africa titled Business and HIV/AIDS: What have we learnt? (PDF) highlights the role that the private sector plays in tackling the impacts of HIV and AIDS in developing countries. It makes the case for closer cooperation between business and governments, civil society and donors in fighting AIDS. It also argues that lessons learnt in sub-Saharan Africa, the region most affected by the pandemic, should be applied in other countries where prevalence rates are on the increase.
Startups: Bug Labs, Ponoko, Potenco
- Bug Labs is a new kind of technology company, enabling a new generation of engineers to tap their creativity and build any type of device they want, without having to solder, or learn solid state electronics. Bug Labs is developingBUG: An open source, web-enabled, modular software and hardware platform. It's a fully programmable and "hackable" Linux computer, equipped with a fast CPU, 128MB RAM, built-in WiFi, rechargeable battery, USB, Ethernet, and a small LCD with button controls.
- Ponoko is the world's first personal manufacturing platform. It's the online space for a community of creators and consumers to use a global network of digital manufacturing hardware to co-create, make and trade individualized product ideas on demand. The ponoko.com marketplace connects creators, consumers, digital manufacturing hardware and service providers to promote, make and trade products on Ponoko and social networking websites.
- Potenco envisions a world powered by Everyone. They mission is to make clean power universally accessible and immediately useful. Potenco developed the PCG, a new approach to human power generation expected to initially spread across the developing world with the XO Laptop.
- Ponoko is the world's first personal manufacturing platform. It's the online space for a community of creators and consumers to use a global network of digital manufacturing hardware to co-create, make and trade individualized product ideas on demand. The ponoko.com marketplace connects creators, consumers, digital manufacturing hardware and service providers to promote, make and trade products on Ponoko and social networking websites.
- Potenco envisions a world powered by Everyone. They mission is to make clean power universally accessible and immediately useful. Potenco developed the PCG, a new approach to human power generation expected to initially spread across the developing world with the XO Laptop.
Breakthrough of the Year: Human Genetic Variation
Science Magazine has published a special magazine section highlight the year's top scientific advances. This year Breakthrough of the Year is Human Genetic Variation, researchers are finding out how truly different we are from one another and the implications of this variation for deciphering the genetics of complex diseases and personal traits.
ACCION Releases ‘Model for Social Change’
ACCION International announced the release of a new white paper, ACCION’s Model for Social Change, articulating the aspirations, rationale and key new strategic initiatives driving ACCION’s mission to help alleviate poverty.
ACCION’s Model for Social Change outlines why financial services are particularly suited to mitigating risk and fostering self-help, and explains how ACCION intends to catalyze large-scale social change. The ACCION approach includes demonstration of effective models for replication, innovation to solve key microfinance industry challenges, and promotion of best practices and collaboration within the field.
Importantly, ACCION is broadening its target audience, from informal-sector microentrepreneurs in urban Latin America, to all types of low-income families, urban and rural, worldwide.
ACCION’s Model for Social Change outlines why financial services are particularly suited to mitigating risk and fostering self-help, and explains how ACCION intends to catalyze large-scale social change. The ACCION approach includes demonstration of effective models for replication, innovation to solve key microfinance industry challenges, and promotion of best practices and collaboration within the field.
Importantly, ACCION is broadening its target audience, from informal-sector microentrepreneurs in urban Latin America, to all types of low-income families, urban and rural, worldwide.
Carbon Crunch CEO Briefing
The briefing Carbon Crunch: Meeting the Cost (UNEP FI’s Climate Change Working Group) analyses the most recent studies on the economics and cost of climate change, and the investment required for mitigation and adaptation.
It highlights the crucial role played by the finance sector due to its influence in directing investment and financial flows, and reviews what leading financial institutions are already doing to address the climate problem, and what should be done to extend and deepen those actions across the entire sector. The briefing also emphasises the crucial role of the policy making community in setting up the regulatory frameworks that will provide the necessary long-term investment horizons, and pave the way for further large-scale investment towards a low carbon economy.
It highlights the crucial role played by the finance sector due to its influence in directing investment and financial flows, and reviews what leading financial institutions are already doing to address the climate problem, and what should be done to extend and deepen those actions across the entire sector. The briefing also emphasises the crucial role of the policy making community in setting up the regulatory frameworks that will provide the necessary long-term investment horizons, and pave the way for further large-scale investment towards a low carbon economy.
Open Documents and Democracy: A Political Basis for Open Standards
Open Documents and Democracy: A Political Basis for Open Standards by Laura DeNardis and Eric Tam, Yale Law School's Information Society Project.
The paper notes approvingly that governments are increasingly establishing policies to use ICT products based on standards that adhere to principles of openness and interoperability, yet many standards-development processes are closed, require fee-based membership, exclude non-members, disallow individuals, and provide little room for public participation or oversight.
The paper notes approvingly that governments are increasingly establishing policies to use ICT products based on standards that adhere to principles of openness and interoperability, yet many standards-development processes are closed, require fee-based membership, exclude non-members, disallow individuals, and provide little room for public participation or oversight.
GUIDE TO eGOV INTEROPERABILITY FOR ASIA-PACIFIC
The United Nations Development Programme has just released three guides for governments interested in promoting efficient, government-wide sharing of information and data. The first publication, the Overview, provides in a question-and-answer format the rationale and value of Government Interoperability Frameworks (GIFs). The second, the Guide, is a practical tool on the approaches and principles of a GIF and the standards categories and selection processes. Finally, the Review provides a comparative analysis of eight existing GIFs of Australia, Brazil, Denmark, the European Union, Germany, Malaysia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
2009 the International Year of Astronomy
The 62nd General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 2009 the International Year of Astronomy with the aim of increasing awareness among the public of the importance of astronomical sciences and of promoting widespread access to new knowledge and experiences of astronomical observation.
The year 2009 is chosen to commemorate the 400 years since Galileo Galilei pointed a telescope towards the sky. Now telescopes on the ground and in space explore the Universe, 24 hours a day, across all wavelengths of light.
For more information about the International Year of Astronomy 2009, please visit its website at http://www.astronomy2009.org/.
The year 2009 is chosen to commemorate the 400 years since Galileo Galilei pointed a telescope towards the sky. Now telescopes on the ground and in space explore the Universe, 24 hours a day, across all wavelengths of light.
For more information about the International Year of Astronomy 2009, please visit its website at http://www.astronomy2009.org/.
Optical Society of America and Materials Research Society Invite Applications for Their 2008 - 2009 Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship
2008-2009 MRS/OSA Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship, Application Deadline: January 9, 2008.
The Fellow spends one year working as a special legislative assistant on the staff of a member of the U.S. Congress or congressional committee. Activities may involve conducting legislative or oversight work, assisting in congressional hearings and debates, and preparing briefs and writing speeches. The Fellow also attends an orientation program on Congressional and executive branch operations, which includes guidance in the congressional placement process, and a year-long seminar series on science and public policy issues.
The Fellow spends one year working as a special legislative assistant on the staff of a member of the U.S. Congress or congressional committee. Activities may involve conducting legislative or oversight work, assisting in congressional hearings and debates, and preparing briefs and writing speeches. The Fellow also attends an orientation program on Congressional and executive branch operations, which includes guidance in the congressional placement process, and a year-long seminar series on science and public policy issues.
The Responsibility Paradox
The Responsibility Paradox by Gerald F. Davis, Marina V.N. Whitman, and Mayer N. Zald, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2008.
"With operations scattered around the globe, the modern corporation is a different animal from its predecessors. Yet the notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has not changed much over the years. As a result, just as stakeholders are holding corporations more responsible for their actions, corporations understand their responsibilities to stakeholders even less. To resolve this paradox, firms must update their CSR practices. The authors predict that the European Union will set the tone for product and environmental regulations, the United States will lead on governance guidelines, and international NGOs will drive human rights and labor laws."
"With operations scattered around the globe, the modern corporation is a different animal from its predecessors. Yet the notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has not changed much over the years. As a result, just as stakeholders are holding corporations more responsible for their actions, corporations understand their responsibilities to stakeholders even less. To resolve this paradox, firms must update their CSR practices. The authors predict that the European Union will set the tone for product and environmental regulations, the United States will lead on governance guidelines, and international NGOs will drive human rights and labor laws."
Call for a Presidential Debate on Science & Technology
The organization Science Debate 2008 issued a call for the U.S. presidential candidates to publicly debate science and technology.
"Given the many urgent scientific and technological challenges facing America and the rest of the world, the increasing need for accurate scientific information in political decision making, and the vital role scientific innovation plays in spurring economic growth and competitiveness, we call for a public debate in which the U.S. presidential candidates share their views on the issues of The Environment, Health and Medicine, and Science and Technology Policy."
Science Debate 2008 is a grassroots initiative spearheaded by a growing number of scientists and other concerned citizens. The signatories to their "Call for a Presidential Debate on Science & Technology" include Nobel laureates and other leading scientists, presidents of universities, congresspersons of both major political parties, business leaders, religious leaders, former presidential science advisors, the editors of America's major science journals, writers, and the current and several past presidents of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, among many others.
"Given the many urgent scientific and technological challenges facing America and the rest of the world, the increasing need for accurate scientific information in political decision making, and the vital role scientific innovation plays in spurring economic growth and competitiveness, we call for a public debate in which the U.S. presidential candidates share their views on the issues of The Environment, Health and Medicine, and Science and Technology Policy."
Science Debate 2008 is a grassroots initiative spearheaded by a growing number of scientists and other concerned citizens. The signatories to their "Call for a Presidential Debate on Science & Technology" include Nobel laureates and other leading scientists, presidents of universities, congresspersons of both major political parties, business leaders, religious leaders, former presidential science advisors, the editors of America's major science journals, writers, and the current and several past presidents of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, among many others.
ideablob.com - one idea every month will win $10,000
ideablob.com is where entrepreneurs and small business owners can share and grow their business ideas – and have a chance to win $10,000 towards fulfilling them.
Great ideas are generated every day by people all across the country, and now these ideas have a place to live and grow. Eligible individuals can submit their business idea to ideablob.com, and based on votes from the ideablob.com online community – which includes other innovators as well as friends, family, colleagues, associates, teachers and mentors – one idea every month will win $10,000.
Great ideas are generated every day by people all across the country, and now these ideas have a place to live and grow. Eligible individuals can submit their business idea to ideablob.com, and based on votes from the ideablob.com online community – which includes other innovators as well as friends, family, colleagues, associates, teachers and mentors – one idea every month will win $10,000.
Addressing Our Planet's Water Challenges: Steps Every Company Can Take
Addressing Our Planet's Water Challenges: Steps Every Company Can Take by Neville Isdell, Chairman and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company - Compact Quarterly Newsletter, December 2007.
"Businesses of every size and from every industry rely on water. For some, like my company, water is a main ingredient. For others, water is a key part of the production process or the supply chain. But water is not just important to our businesses, it is critical to the communities we serve. We cannot have a sustainable business unless the communities we serve are sustainable themselves. The private sector has an important role to play in water stewardship and the CEO Water Mandate offers a roadmap for sustainability."
"Businesses of every size and from every industry rely on water. For some, like my company, water is a main ingredient. For others, water is a key part of the production process or the supply chain. But water is not just important to our businesses, it is critical to the communities we serve. We cannot have a sustainable business unless the communities we serve are sustainable themselves. The private sector has an important role to play in water stewardship and the CEO Water Mandate offers a roadmap for sustainability."
Business in Partnership to Achieve the Millennium Development
Business in Partnership to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals by Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director, The Earth Institute at Columbia University. Compact Quarterly Newsletter, December 2007.
"Achieving the Millennium Development Goals is to a large extent about bringing effective technologies to bear to meet the challenges of hunger, disease and income poverty. As the leading repository of modern technology, business is indispensable in providing the technologies needed for economic development and success."
"Achieving the Millennium Development Goals is to a large extent about bringing effective technologies to bear to meet the challenges of hunger, disease and income poverty. As the leading repository of modern technology, business is indispensable in providing the technologies needed for economic development and success."
The 10 Best Corporate Citizens by Industry 2007
Corporate Responsibility Officer CRO magazine named the companies to its list (PDF) of leading CSR companies across industries. Using the research tools and methodology of IW Financial, CRO magazine rates the citizenship disclosures, policies and performance of large-cap, public companies in the Auto & Vehicles; Paper; Technology Hardware; Technology Software; Transport; and Travel & Lodging industries.
Earth System Revolutions: Key Turning Points in the History of Our Planet
Earth System Revolutions: Key Turning Points in the History of Our Planet
VIDEOS IN THIS SERIES:
Electrons, Life and the Evolution of the Oxygen Cycle on Earth
Paul G. Falkowski, Board of Governors Professor of Geological and Marine Science in the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University
MIT Host: Center for Global Change Science
From Rocks to Genes and Back: Stories about the Evolution of Photosynthesis
Dianne K. Newman, Professor of Geobiology, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences and Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
MIT Host: Center for Global Change Science
Fisheries and Global Warming: Impacts on Marine Ecosystems and Food Security
Daniel Pauly, Professor and Director, Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia
MIT Host: Center for Global Change Science
Climate Variability and Change and their Impact on the Global Harvest
Cynthia Rosenzweig, Senior Researcher, NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies
MIT Host: Center for Global Change Science
Anthropogenic Climate Change: Science, Economics and Policy
Ronald G. Prinn, TEPCO Professor of Atmospheric Science, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences
MIT Host: Center for Global Change Science
VIDEOS IN THIS SERIES:
Electrons, Life and the Evolution of the Oxygen Cycle on Earth
Paul G. Falkowski, Board of Governors Professor of Geological and Marine Science in the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University
MIT Host: Center for Global Change Science
From Rocks to Genes and Back: Stories about the Evolution of Photosynthesis
Dianne K. Newman, Professor of Geobiology, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences and Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
MIT Host: Center for Global Change Science
Fisheries and Global Warming: Impacts on Marine Ecosystems and Food Security
Daniel Pauly, Professor and Director, Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia
MIT Host: Center for Global Change Science
Climate Variability and Change and their Impact on the Global Harvest
Cynthia Rosenzweig, Senior Researcher, NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies
MIT Host: Center for Global Change Science
Anthropogenic Climate Change: Science, Economics and Policy
Ronald G. Prinn, TEPCO Professor of Atmospheric Science, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences
MIT Host: Center for Global Change Science
Riding The Rising Tide - A 21st Century Strategy for U.S. Competitiveness and Prosperity
ASTRA is completing the distribution of its newly released Riding the Rising Tide policy study to all Presidential Campaigns. The Report (PDF 6.2 MB) sets forth an action agenda that details how America can maintain its innovation future in the 21st Century in the face of global competition and “flattening.” Rising Tide explains the consequences of inadequate investment in scientific research to our economy, the U.S. standard of living and national security.
ASTRA is a nationwide collaboration of more than 100 organizations, including industry, universities and scientific and professional organizations. ASTRA’s membership in turn, represents more than 2.7 million individual scientists, engineers, technologists, research institutions and small business owners. For more information visit www.aboutastra.org
ASTRA is a nationwide collaboration of more than 100 organizations, including industry, universities and scientific and professional organizations. ASTRA’s membership in turn, represents more than 2.7 million individual scientists, engineers, technologists, research institutions and small business owners. For more information visit www.aboutastra.org
Science Books 2007
Peter Atkins, Four Laws That Drive the Universe, (Hardcover), Oxford University Press.
Fritjof Capra, Science of Leonardo: Inside the Mind of the Great Genius of the Renaissance, (Hardcover), Doubleday.
Ian Stewart, Why Beauty Is Truth: A History of Symmetry, (Hardcover), Perseus Books Group.
Paul J. Steinhardt, Neil Turok, Endless Universe: Beyond the Big Bang, (Hardcover), Doubleday.
Philp Zimbardo, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, (Hardcover) Random House.
Peter D. Ward, Under a Green Sky: Global Warming, the Mass Extinctions of the Past, and What They Can Tell Us About Our Future, (Hardcover), Collins.
J. Craig Venter, A Life Decoded: My Genome: My Life, (Hardcover), Viking.
Michael Shermer, The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics, (Hardcover), Times Books.
Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, (Hardcover), Knopf.
Gino Segre, Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics, (Hardcover), Viking.
Steven Pinker, The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature, (Hardcover), Viking.
John Allen Paulos, Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up, (Hardcover), Hill and Wang.
Lynn Margulis & Eduardo Punset, Mind, Life, and Universe: Conversations with Great Scientists of Our Time, (Hardcover), Chelsea Green Publishing.
David Lindley, Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science, (Hardcover), Doubleday.
Douglas Hofstatder, I Am a Strange Loop, (Hardcover), Basic Books.
Howard Gardner, Five Minds for the Future, (Hardcover), Harvard Business School Press.
Jeremy Bernstein, Plutonium: A History of the World's Most Dangerous Element, (Hardcover), Joseph Henry Press.
Fritjof Capra, Science of Leonardo: Inside the Mind of the Great Genius of the Renaissance, (Hardcover), Doubleday.
Ian Stewart, Why Beauty Is Truth: A History of Symmetry, (Hardcover), Perseus Books Group.
Paul J. Steinhardt, Neil Turok, Endless Universe: Beyond the Big Bang, (Hardcover), Doubleday.
Philp Zimbardo, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, (Hardcover) Random House.
Peter D. Ward, Under a Green Sky: Global Warming, the Mass Extinctions of the Past, and What They Can Tell Us About Our Future, (Hardcover), Collins.
J. Craig Venter, A Life Decoded: My Genome: My Life, (Hardcover), Viking.
Michael Shermer, The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics, (Hardcover), Times Books.
Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, (Hardcover), Knopf.
Gino Segre, Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics, (Hardcover), Viking.
Steven Pinker, The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature, (Hardcover), Viking.
John Allen Paulos, Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up, (Hardcover), Hill and Wang.
Lynn Margulis & Eduardo Punset, Mind, Life, and Universe: Conversations with Great Scientists of Our Time, (Hardcover), Chelsea Green Publishing.
David Lindley, Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science, (Hardcover), Doubleday.
Douglas Hofstatder, I Am a Strange Loop, (Hardcover), Basic Books.
Howard Gardner, Five Minds for the Future, (Hardcover), Harvard Business School Press.
Jeremy Bernstein, Plutonium: A History of the World's Most Dangerous Element, (Hardcover), Joseph Henry Press.
How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas
How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas
Updated Edition by David Bornstein
"David Bornstein's How to Change the World is the first book to study a remarkable and growing group of individuals around the world--what Bornstein calls social entrepreneurs. These men and women are bringing innovative, and successful, grass-roots approaches to a wide variety of social and economic problems, from rural poverty in India to discrimination against gypsies in Central Europe; from industrial pollution in the United States to child prostitution in Thailand. Like business entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs are creative, driven, and adventurous. The embrace change, exploit new opportunities, and think big. In How to Change the World, Bornstein provides vivid profiles of many such individuals, looking at the personalities, strategies, and techniques they have in common."
Updated Edition by David Bornstein
"David Bornstein's How to Change the World is the first book to study a remarkable and growing group of individuals around the world--what Bornstein calls social entrepreneurs. These men and women are bringing innovative, and successful, grass-roots approaches to a wide variety of social and economic problems, from rural poverty in India to discrimination against gypsies in Central Europe; from industrial pollution in the United States to child prostitution in Thailand. Like business entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs are creative, driven, and adventurous. The embrace change, exploit new opportunities, and think big. In How to Change the World, Bornstein provides vivid profiles of many such individuals, looking at the personalities, strategies, and techniques they have in common."
Giving Challenge - facebook
The objective of the Giving Challenge is to introduce new ways of giving and connecting with others through your cause. A total of $250,000 will be given to the nonprofit beneficiaries of those causes who receive the most unique donations between 12:00 p.m. PST on December 13, 2007, and 12:00 p.m. PST on February 1, 2008. The breakdown of the awards is as follows:
* $50,000 to the cause with the most unique donors
* $25,000 to the next two causes with the most unique donors
* $10,000 to the next ten causes with the most unique donors
* $1,000 each day to the cause with the most unique donors that day
The Giving Challenge is not focused on how much money you can raise, but on how successful you are at building collective action to make a lasting impact. To succeed, the goal is to get as many unique donations to your charity as possible.
Only U.S.-based 501(c)3 charities listed in the JustGive database (supplied by GuideStar.org) are eligible as potential Challenge awardees.
* $50,000 to the cause with the most unique donors
* $25,000 to the next two causes with the most unique donors
* $10,000 to the next ten causes with the most unique donors
* $1,000 each day to the cause with the most unique donors that day
The Giving Challenge is not focused on how much money you can raise, but on how successful you are at building collective action to make a lasting impact. To succeed, the goal is to get as many unique donations to your charity as possible.
Only U.S.-based 501(c)3 charities listed in the JustGive database (supplied by GuideStar.org) are eligible as potential Challenge awardees.
blueEnergy
blueEnergy is a nonprofit organization that provides a low-cost, sustainable solution to the energy needs of marginalized communities through the construction, installation, and maintenance of hybrid wind and solar electric systems. blueEnergy manufactures wind turbines that are specially designed for simple manufacturing, robustness and efficiency in low wind speeds. blueEnergy manufactures the systems locally, near their point of usage, to keep energy costs low, improve equipment serviceability, and create employment where it is desperately needed.
Sustainable Sciences Institute
Sustainable Sciences Institute SSI is an international 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to developing research capacity in areas with pressing health problems. We partner with promising groups of researchers in developing countries, offering long term assistance and mentoring to help them excel in their fields of research and make a difference in the health of their communities.
New Microinsurance Innovation Facility to Provide Grants, Technical Assistance to Organizations Serving the Poor
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has announced a new partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that aims to develop new kinds of insurance and improve existing products to promote decent work for millions of low-income people in the developing world.
The facility will issue bi-annual requests for proposals and provide funding to pilot new insurance products, improve efficiency in the field, and use technology to create new products that better meet people’s needs. The facility will also train technical specialists to help replicate successful models and conduct research in order to guide future investments in the microinsurance industry.
The facility will issue bi-annual requests for proposals and provide funding to pilot new insurance products, improve efficiency in the field, and use technology to create new products that better meet people’s needs. The facility will also train technical specialists to help replicate successful models and conduct research in order to guide future investments in the microinsurance industry.
Global Call For Nominations of Innovators Using Technology to Benefit Humanity
The Tech Museum Awards is a unique and prestigious program that honors and awards innovators from around the world who use technology to benefit humanity in the categories of:
* Education
* Equality
* Economic Development
* Environment
* Health
Reward those making a difference and nominate today. A simple nomination form can be found at www.techawards.org. Self-nominations are accepted and encouraged. Individuals, nonprofit organizations, and companies are all eligible. One Laureate in each category will be granted a $50,000 cash prize.
* Education
* Equality
* Economic Development
* Environment
* Health
Reward those making a difference and nominate today. A simple nomination form can be found at www.techawards.org. Self-nominations are accepted and encouraged. Individuals, nonprofit organizations, and companies are all eligible. One Laureate in each category will be granted a $50,000 cash prize.
Startups: ASI, New Leaf Paper
Anthurium Solutions Inc. (ASI) is an emerging software company that is building an innovative online workflow and marketplace software platform for matching continuous digital work with virtual workers globally. The platform will manage the flow of work from start to completion for multiple industries.
New Leaf Paper leads the paper industry in the development and distribution of environmentally superior printing and office papers. They offer more than 30 product lines of coated, uncoated, and board grade papers and all are environmental leaders.
New Leaf Paper leads the paper industry in the development and distribution of environmentally superior printing and office papers. They offer more than 30 product lines of coated, uncoated, and board grade papers and all are environmental leaders.
The Purpose Prize
Civic Ventures has opened nominations for the 2008 Purpose Prize, a major initiative that invests in people over 60 who are leading a new age of social innovation. The Prize provides five awards of $100,000. Nominations close on March 1, 2008.
The Cape Town Open Education Declaration
The Cape Town Open Education Declaration arises in a meeting convened in Cape Town on 14-15 September 2007. The purpose of the meeting was to accelerate the international effort to promote open resources, technology and teaching practices in education.
They invite learners, educators, trainers, authors, schools, colleges, universities, publishers, unions, professional societies, policymakers, governments, foundations and others who share their vision to commit to the pursuit and promotion of open education and, in particular, to these three strategies to increase the reach and impact of open educational resources:
1. Educators and learners: Creating, using, adapting and improving open educational resources; embracing educational practices built around collaboration, discovery and the creation of knowledge; and inviting peers and colleagues to get involved.
2. Open educational resources: Resources should be published in formats that facilitate both use and editing, and that accommodate a diversity of technical platforms. Whenever possible, they should also be available in formats that are accessible to people with disabilities and people who do not yet have access to the Internet.
3. Open education policy: Third, governments, school boards, colleges and universities should make open education a high priority. Ideally, taxpayer-funded educational resources should be open educational resources.
They invite learners, educators, trainers, authors, schools, colleges, universities, publishers, unions, professional societies, policymakers, governments, foundations and others who share their vision to commit to the pursuit and promotion of open education and, in particular, to these three strategies to increase the reach and impact of open educational resources:
1. Educators and learners: Creating, using, adapting and improving open educational resources; embracing educational practices built around collaboration, discovery and the creation of knowledge; and inviting peers and colleagues to get involved.
2. Open educational resources: Resources should be published in formats that facilitate both use and editing, and that accommodate a diversity of technical platforms. Whenever possible, they should also be available in formats that are accessible to people with disabilities and people who do not yet have access to the Internet.
3. Open education policy: Third, governments, school boards, colleges and universities should make open education a high priority. Ideally, taxpayer-funded educational resources should be open educational resources.
MoleClues
MoleClues is a new Web site designed for young people to explore science through virtual environments that illustrate the importance of molecules in daily life. The site offers an on-line community where visitors can connect with young peers from all over the world and encourages youth to ask questions to expert scientists.
A network of young scientists will answer and moderate open discussions that follow each question. Teenagers who ask questions of particular significance may win laptop computers, mobile phones or other media devices.
A network of young scientists will answer and moderate open discussions that follow each question. Teenagers who ask questions of particular significance may win laptop computers, mobile phones or other media devices.
World Bank launches forest defence scheme
The World Bank has launched a financing scheme to help developing countries reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation.
The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility -FCPF (PDF) would assist developing countries in their efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and land degradation (REDD). It would have the dual objectives of building capacity for REDD in developing countries, and testing a program of performance-based incentive payments in some pilot countries, on a relatively small scale, in order to set the stage for a much larger system of positive incentives and financing flows in the future.
The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility -FCPF (PDF) would assist developing countries in their efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and land degradation (REDD). It would have the dual objectives of building capacity for REDD in developing countries, and testing a program of performance-based incentive payments in some pilot countries, on a relatively small scale, in order to set the stage for a much larger system of positive incentives and financing flows in the future.
How access to mobile telephony contributes to improving the livelihoods of the poor in Latin America
The Regional Dialogue on the Information Society (DIRSI) has released a new report " Mobile Opportunities " (PDF), which aims to understand the strategies employed by low-income communities across Latin America and the Caribbean to access and use mobile telephony services, as well as to identify the major market and regulatory barriers for increased penetration and usage.
The results show that mobile telephony is highly valued by the poor as a tool for strengthening social ties and for increased personal security, and that it is beginning to prove useful for enhancing business and employment opportunities. Overall, the results suggest that the economic impact of mobile adoption by the poor is mediated by social capital variables such as the strengthening of trust networks and improved coordination of informal job markets. These findings reveal the continued need to innovate in business models that extend the market frontier for mobile telephony.
The results show that mobile telephony is highly valued by the poor as a tool for strengthening social ties and for increased personal security, and that it is beginning to prove useful for enhancing business and employment opportunities. Overall, the results suggest that the economic impact of mobile adoption by the poor is mediated by social capital variables such as the strengthening of trust networks and improved coordination of informal job markets. These findings reveal the continued need to innovate in business models that extend the market frontier for mobile telephony.
Kellogg Foundation Sets Grantmaking Record and Announces A New Statement of Mission
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation reported that it awarded nearly $335 million in grants during fiscal year 2006-07 – the largest annual total in the organization’s history and a nearly 17 percent increase over last year.
The organization has also adopted a new mission statement and will soon launch an online public dialogue to engage others in a conversation about this work.
The new mission statement reads:
The organization has also adopted a new mission statement and will soon launch an online public dialogue to engage others in a conversation about this work.
The new mission statement reads:
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation supports children, families, and communities as they strengthen and create conditions that propel vulnerable children to achieve success as individuals and as contributors to the larger community and society.
This mission, along with other considerations that are expected to influence the Foundation’s future work, are discussed in 2007 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Annual Report, which will be available online in mid-January 2008 at www.wkkf.org.
The Bali Action Plan
The Bali action plan provides a roadmap for negotiating an expanded and strengthened international emissions reduction pact by the end of 2009. The plan lays out a process to negotiate the emissions targets to succeed the limits set by Kyoto Protocol, which expire in 2012. It also provides a platform to begin talks to address growing concerns about adaption, deforestation and facilitating transfer of clean technologies to developing countries. However it does not include any explicit emissions reductions goals or targets.
Anime and NeuroScience
Ghost Hound is an anime TV series, created by Production I.G. and Shirow Masamune, noted for being the creator of the Ghost in the Shell series. The story follows the experiences of three boys who have had traumatic experiences in childhood from which they have learned to transfer their souls to a parallel world known as the "Unseen World".
In every episode we learn more and more about how the human brain and mind works. When you finish an episode you will be able to diagnose quite a few Neurological Disorders :).
Online Videos by Veoh.com
In every episode we learn more and more about how the human brain and mind works. When you finish an episode you will be able to diagnose quite a few Neurological Disorders :).
Online Videos by Veoh.com
The Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group - AIDG
The Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG) helps individuals and communities get affordable and environmentally sound access to electricity, sanitation and clean water. Through a combination of business incubation, education, and outreach, they help people get technology that will better their health and improve their lives.
This video gives a brief overview of AIDG energy projects in Guatemala.
This video gives a brief overview of AIDG energy projects in Guatemala.
8 important consumer trends to watch for 2008
Trendwatching.com made their list of 8 important consumer trends to watch (PDF) for next year.
Dark Energy 10th Anniversary
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the discovery of dark energy, Science@Berkeley Lab presents a capsule history, in two parts, of the Supernova Cosmology Project's pioneering efforts to measure the expansion rate of the universe using Type Ia supernovae as standard candles. A subsequent issue will look at new proposals for studying the nature of dark energy.
Part I, Announcing the accelerating universe
Part I, Announcing the accelerating universe
The 2007 SNCR Excellence in New Communications Award Winners
The Society for New Communications Research, a nonprofit global think tank dedicated to the advanced study of new media and emerging trends in communications has announced the 2007 SNCR Excellence in New Communications Award Winners. The Society’s awards honor the work of individuals, corporations, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions and media outlets that are pioneering the use of social media, ICT, mobile media, online communities, virtual worlds and collaborative technologies in the areas of media, marketing, public relations, advertising, entertainment, education, politics and social initiatives.
All of the winning case studies are posted on the SNCR's blog
Ten corporations were honored with Awards of Excellence in a variety of categories. General Motors was honored for its social media initiative. Dell was honored for the Dell Outlet Twitter Program. The Scuderi Group with Topaz Partners was recognized for its integrated social media program. The Dow Chemical Company and Sun Microsystems, Inc. were both recognized for their corporate blogs. The Flying Dog Brewery / coBRANDiT was honored in the Video category, as was The Coca-Cola Company, which also won a second Award of Excellence for a virtual world program. Bain & Company, Microsoft with Waggener Edstrom and Cisco Systems also won Awards of Excellence in the Online Communities/Virtual Worlds category.
In the Nonprofit division Awards of Excellence were given to the Centre for Policy Alternatives for its Groundviews blog, Public Citizen for its video, the Citizendium Foundation wiki and H.E.L.P. for its mobile media solution. Kubatana.net and Converseon’s Second Life Second Chance Trees campaign won Awards of Excellence in the Online Communities/Virtual Worlds category and the American Heart Association with Edelman was honored with an Award of Excellence for the Go Red campaign, and the the AID Foundation for Chicago won for its direct2housing.org initiative.
All of the winning case studies are posted on the SNCR's blog
Ten corporations were honored with Awards of Excellence in a variety of categories. General Motors was honored for its social media initiative. Dell was honored for the Dell Outlet Twitter Program. The Scuderi Group with Topaz Partners was recognized for its integrated social media program. The Dow Chemical Company and Sun Microsystems, Inc. were both recognized for their corporate blogs. The Flying Dog Brewery / coBRANDiT was honored in the Video category, as was The Coca-Cola Company, which also won a second Award of Excellence for a virtual world program. Bain & Company, Microsoft with Waggener Edstrom and Cisco Systems also won Awards of Excellence in the Online Communities/Virtual Worlds category.
In the Nonprofit division Awards of Excellence were given to the Centre for Policy Alternatives for its Groundviews blog, Public Citizen for its video, the Citizendium Foundation wiki and H.E.L.P. for its mobile media solution. Kubatana.net and Converseon’s Second Life Second Chance Trees campaign won Awards of Excellence in the Online Communities/Virtual Worlds category and the American Heart Association with Edelman was honored with an Award of Excellence for the Go Red campaign, and the the AID Foundation for Chicago won for its direct2housing.org initiative.
THE 59 SMARTEST ORGS ONLINE
GetActive, NetSquared and Squidoo partner up to bring you this list of the 59 smartest nonprofit organizations online today. These charities were chosen for their excellence in online storytelling and collaboration with their donors.
MIT Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship Announces $60,000 in Prize Money for Development Focused Projects
The MIT Entrepreneurship Competition and the MIT Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship today announced that they will align resources for the 2008 competition to further benefit and encourage entrepreneurs in the social development sector. The MIT Legatum Center will offer a $30,000 Legatum Prize for “the business plan that will have the most significant impact in a developing economy.” There will also be two $10,000 Legatum Prizes for two runners-up in this category. Business plans across all tracks of the MIT Entrepreneurship Competition are eligible for the Legatum Prize.
America’s Giving Challenge
The Case Foundation and Parade Magazine are presenting America’s Giving Challenge and awarding $500,000 to charities whose supporters have attracted the most unique donors to their cause using new and innovative online tools.
Science books for children
In this Nature Podcast science book special (mp3), they discuss the latest trends in childrens science publishing and the importance of storytelling.
Free digital editions of Essays - Nature
Download free digital editions of these essay collections:
Connections: scientists explain how a systems approach promises to yield fresh insight and challenge to the most widely held concepts of their field.
Science and politics: experienced advisers on science policy reflect on the highs and lows of being at the intersection of science and society .
Social Entrepreneurship Blogs
Spare Change
www.social-marketing.com/blog
SocialROI
www.socialroi.com
Audeamus
www.audeamus.com
Social Edge
www.socialedge.org/blogs
www.social-marketing.com/blog
SocialROI
www.socialroi.com
Audeamus
www.audeamus.com
Social Edge
www.socialedge.org/blogs
Nominate your favorite example of geotourism and win a trip for two
Nominate your favorite example of geotourism -- defined by National Geographic as tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place: its environment, heritage, culture, aesthetics, and the well-being of its residents.
All nominees will receive a personal email inviting them to enter the National Geographic-Ashoka's-Changemakers Geotourism Challenge launching on jan 30, 2008. All nominators who tell their first-person story become eligible to win one of two whl.travel prizes.
All nominees will receive a personal email inviting them to enter the National Geographic-Ashoka's-Changemakers Geotourism Challenge launching on jan 30, 2008. All nominators who tell their first-person story become eligible to win one of two whl.travel prizes.
Video Presentations from "50 Years in Space" Conference
Before October 1957, space flight was a thing of fantasy. Today we are experienced space explorers with unlimited voyages to undertake. Where is space flight's next horizon? What constitutes sensible space investment? How did the space pioneers accomplish their goals? These topics and more were discussed at "50 Years in Space: An International Aerospace Conference Celebrating 50 Years of Space Technology," hosted by Caltech in September. Full video presentation of the Fifty Years in Space Conference is available: click here for webcast.
Open training Platform (OTP) powered by UNESCO
The OTP ( www.opentrainingplatform.org ) is a UNESCO powered hub to free training resources on a variety of development topics. It fosters cooperation around this goal of providing free and open content for development, regrouping multiple partners from all UN agencies (FAO, ILO/ITC, ITU, UNESCO, UNITAR, UNV, WHO and UNEP being UN partners), development practitioners and agencies worldwide, regional and local NGOs.
Grassroots Innovation & Traditional Knowledge: Stories from the Field
The Grassroots Innovations Augmentation Network (GIAN) is an incubator of grassroots innovation and traditional knowledge. Based across West, North-East and North India, along with two cells in Southern India.
These following stories - a showcase of the positive impact of GIAN activities, and the importance of supporting grassroots innovation for human empowerment.
Improved Hand Pump
Groundnut Digger cum Separator
Dry Land Agro Forestry
These following stories - a showcase of the positive impact of GIAN activities, and the importance of supporting grassroots innovation for human empowerment.
Improved Hand Pump
Groundnut Digger cum Separator
Dry Land Agro Forestry
ETHICSCHOOL Summerschool on Ethics
ETHICSCHOOL Summerschool on Ethics of Nanotechnology, 24-29 August 2008, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands, Chaired by prof Arie Rip (UT) and prof Jean-Pierre Wils (Radboud University, Nijmegen)
ETHICSCHOOL Summerschool on Ethics of Converging Technologies, 21-26 September 2008, TU Darmstadt, Germany, chaired by prof. Alfred Nordmann.
The programmes of both summerschools will present a mix of lectures by leading researchers with remarkable visions on ethics of nanotechnology or converging technologies; workshops where all participants are expected to contribute their ideas on responsible technology development and other strategic and ethical aspects; and masterclasses where young researchers are welcome to present their longer term research strategy relevant to ethics of these emerging technologies and receive feedback from the senior scholars and other participants. See the website www.ethicschool.eu for more information.
ETHICSCHOOL Summerschool on Ethics of Converging Technologies, 21-26 September 2008, TU Darmstadt, Germany, chaired by prof. Alfred Nordmann.
The programmes of both summerschools will present a mix of lectures by leading researchers with remarkable visions on ethics of nanotechnology or converging technologies; workshops where all participants are expected to contribute their ideas on responsible technology development and other strategic and ethical aspects; and masterclasses where young researchers are welcome to present their longer term research strategy relevant to ethics of these emerging technologies and receive feedback from the senior scholars and other participants. See the website www.ethicschool.eu for more information.
UNICEF, One Laptop per Child, Google Launch Initiative to Preserve and Share Stories around the World
UNICEF, One Laptop per Child (OLPC) and Google announced the launch of "Our Stories" (www.ourstories.org), a joint initiative to preserve and share the histories and identities of cultures around the world by making personal stories available online in many languages.
Using laptops, mobile phones and other recording devices, children will record, in their native languages, the stories of elders, family members and friends. These stories will be shared globally through the Our Stories website, where they can be found on a Google Map.
By making these stories accessible around the world, the Our Stories project hopes to contribute to a better understanding of our shared humanity across countries and cultures, across religious traditions, across languages, and across generations.
Low-cost XO laptops by One Laptop per Child will serve as a foundation to help build this digital archive of personal stories by providing children in developing countries with easy-to-use technology to record their stories and interviews.
Using laptops, mobile phones and other recording devices, children will record, in their native languages, the stories of elders, family members and friends. These stories will be shared globally through the Our Stories website, where they can be found on a Google Map.
By making these stories accessible around the world, the Our Stories project hopes to contribute to a better understanding of our shared humanity across countries and cultures, across religious traditions, across languages, and across generations.
Low-cost XO laptops by One Laptop per Child will serve as a foundation to help build this digital archive of personal stories by providing children in developing countries with easy-to-use technology to record their stories and interviews.
Top Scientists Promote Innovative, Multi-Disciplinary Global Problem-Solving Strategies
How can we use science to help solve the daunting catalogue of trans-border health, energy and quality-of-life challenges confronting our globalized, "flattened" world? By developing scientific and technological techniques that transcend disciplinary boundaries, reflect diverse perspectives, and incorporate the contributions of traditionally underrepresented groups. More...(NSF)
Investing for life: Meeting poor people’s needs for access to medicines through responsible business practices
Investing for life: Meeting poor people’s needs for access to medicines through responsible business practices (pdf 942.7 kb) , Oxfam 2007.
Summary:
Access to medicines is fundamental for people to achieve their right to health. While governments have the primary responsibility for ensuring access to health care for all their citizens, the role of the pharmaceutical industry in providing a vital element – medicines – carries its own responsibilities.
Current industry approaches do not address the problem sufficiently. Major shortcomings include:
* a failure to implement systematic and transparent tiered-pricing mechanisms for medicines of therapeutic value to poor people in developing countries, where prices are set according to a standard formula which reflects ability to pay and the price of generic versions where they exist;
* the lack of research and development (R&D) to address the dearth of dedicated products for diseases that predominantly affect poor people in developing countries. This includes drug formulations that are applicable and usable in the developing world. Between 1999 and 2004, there were only three new drugs for neglected diseases out of 163 new chemical entities (NCEs);
* persistent inflexibility on intellectual property protection, and in some cases, active lobbying for stricter patent rules and legal challenges to governments’ use of TRIPS public-health safeguards, thereby preventing poor people from accessing inexpensive generic versions of essential medicines; and
* too heavy a focus on donations, which by their nature are unpredictable and have been found to cause chaos in the market for low-cost medicines as well as undermining generic competition.
Oxfam believes that the potential for pharmaceutical companies to contribute more substantially and effectively towards increasing access to medicines for poor people in developing countries is not being met, and that there are three factors that have prevented companies from moving forward.
Summary:
Access to medicines is fundamental for people to achieve their right to health. While governments have the primary responsibility for ensuring access to health care for all their citizens, the role of the pharmaceutical industry in providing a vital element – medicines – carries its own responsibilities.
Current industry approaches do not address the problem sufficiently. Major shortcomings include:
* a failure to implement systematic and transparent tiered-pricing mechanisms for medicines of therapeutic value to poor people in developing countries, where prices are set according to a standard formula which reflects ability to pay and the price of generic versions where they exist;
* the lack of research and development (R&D) to address the dearth of dedicated products for diseases that predominantly affect poor people in developing countries. This includes drug formulations that are applicable and usable in the developing world. Between 1999 and 2004, there were only three new drugs for neglected diseases out of 163 new chemical entities (NCEs);
* persistent inflexibility on intellectual property protection, and in some cases, active lobbying for stricter patent rules and legal challenges to governments’ use of TRIPS public-health safeguards, thereby preventing poor people from accessing inexpensive generic versions of essential medicines; and
* too heavy a focus on donations, which by their nature are unpredictable and have been found to cause chaos in the market for low-cost medicines as well as undermining generic competition.
Oxfam believes that the potential for pharmaceutical companies to contribute more substantially and effectively towards increasing access to medicines for poor people in developing countries is not being met, and that there are three factors that have prevented companies from moving forward.
Open Yale Courses
Open Yale Courses provides free and open access to seven introductory courses taught by distinguished teachers and scholars at Yale University. The aim of the project is to expand access to educational materials for all who wish to learn.
JoVE
JoVE is a video journal for biological research. With participation of scientists from leading research institutions, JoVE was established as a new, open access tool in life science publication and communication. They utilize a video-based approach to scientific publishing to fully capture all dimensions of life science research.
SciVee.TV
Created for scientists, by scientists, SciVee.TV moves science beyond the printed word and lecture theater taking advantage of the internet as a communication medium where scientists young and old have a place and a voice. SciVee is operated in partnership with the Public Library of Science (PLoS), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC).
SciVee allows scientists to communicate their work as a multimedia presentation incorporated with the content of their published article. SciVee also facilitates the creation of communities around specific articles and keywords.
SciVee allows scientists to communicate their work as a multimedia presentation incorporated with the content of their published article. SciVee also facilitates the creation of communities around specific articles and keywords.
2008 MRS Entrepreneurship Challenge
December 15, 2007, is the deadline for team registration for the 2008 MRS Entrepreneurship Challenge. A panel of judges from the venture capital community awaits your entry pitch. This competition just might get your technology the visibility it needs for venture capital funding. Forms are available on the competition website.
ResearchChannel Grant Winners Videos Now Posted
Last year ResearchChannel recognized five winners in their annual Matching Funds Production Awards Program: Montana State University, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, University of Wisconsin – Madison, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the American Meteorological Society.
The program aims to raise public awareness of the value of research, and contribute to and support public knowledge of, familiarity with, and thinking about major issues and discoveries that affect our lives and futures.
The deadline for ResearchChannel’s 2007 Matching Funds Program has been extended. Submissions must be received by Monday, Dec. 31, 2007.
The program aims to raise public awareness of the value of research, and contribute to and support public knowledge of, familiarity with, and thinking about major issues and discoveries that affect our lives and futures.
The deadline for ResearchChannel’s 2007 Matching Funds Program has been extended. Submissions must be received by Monday, Dec. 31, 2007.
The 2006 winning programs are now posted:
“Corals at the Crossroads”
The Tech Museum Awards 2007
The Tech Museum Awards honored Laureates from around the globe for their technological innovations benefiting humanity.
The five award recipients were:
Fundacion Terram of the Intel Environment Award category for its technology that deploys seaweed to absorb the wastes of salmon farming while providing feed for aquaculture.
blueEnergy of the Accenture Economic Development Award category for its technology that brings renewable electrification and jobs to remote places.
TakingITGlobal of the Microsoft Education Award category for its technology that provides young people worldwide with an online platform for social change.
The Diagnostics Development Unit, University of Cambridge and Diagnostics for the Real World of The Swanson Foundation Health Award category for inventing technology to test for infectious diseases quickly and accurately.
Devendra Raj Mehta of the SanDisk Equality Award category for engineering ingenious, low-cost technology to provide prosthetic limbs for amputees.
The five award recipients were:
Fundacion Terram of the Intel Environment Award category for its technology that deploys seaweed to absorb the wastes of salmon farming while providing feed for aquaculture.
blueEnergy of the Accenture Economic Development Award category for its technology that brings renewable electrification and jobs to remote places.
TakingITGlobal of the Microsoft Education Award category for its technology that provides young people worldwide with an online platform for social change.
The Diagnostics Development Unit, University of Cambridge and Diagnostics for the Real World of The Swanson Foundation Health Award category for inventing technology to test for infectious diseases quickly and accurately.
Devendra Raj Mehta of the SanDisk Equality Award category for engineering ingenious, low-cost technology to provide prosthetic limbs for amputees.
Physics, Movies and TV Shows
When bad physics pops up in a movie or TV show, scientists try to set things right.
Read more (PDF). - Symmetry Magazine.
Read more (PDF). - Symmetry Magazine.
Global Social Benefit Incubator 2008
The Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI), a program developed by Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society, assists social benefit entrepreneurs in developing “business plans” that enable their organizations to reach increasing numbers of beneficiaries.
All who participate in the Business Planning Exercises will benefit from the mentoring and feedback on their application, and 15 to 20 candidates will be selected for a full scholarship, valued at US $20,000, to attend the intensive two week in-residence program. Selected candidates are responsible for their travel expenses (airfare, ground transportation, passport, visa).
Applicants should begin preparing their exercises now and post them on Social Edge beginning January 2, 2008. Each submittal is reviewed by a GSBI staff member (the GSBI Application Task Force). Social Edge members also are invited to review and comment on the exercises of any organization. Participants in the 2008 GSBI in-residence program will be selected from those organizations that complete all three exercises.
All who participate in the Business Planning Exercises will benefit from the mentoring and feedback on their application, and 15 to 20 candidates will be selected for a full scholarship, valued at US $20,000, to attend the intensive two week in-residence program. Selected candidates are responsible for their travel expenses (airfare, ground transportation, passport, visa).
Applicants should begin preparing their exercises now and post them on Social Edge beginning January 2, 2008. Each submittal is reviewed by a GSBI staff member (the GSBI Application Task Force). Social Edge members also are invited to review and comment on the exercises of any organization. Participants in the 2008 GSBI in-residence program will be selected from those organizations that complete all three exercises.
Interactions in Understanding The Universe
Interactions in Understanding The Universe - I2U2, an "educational virtual organization," strengthens the education and outreach activities of scientific experiments at U.S. universities and laboratories. I2U2 creates and maintains an infrastructure and common fabric to develop hands-on laboratory course content and provide an interactive learning experience that brings tangible aspects of each experiment into an accessible "virtual laboratory" setting for education at different levels and in various venues. The I2U2 collaboration of scientists, computer scientists and educators directly addresses the urgent national priority to grow and sustain the scientific workforce, and to promote the public's appreciation of and support for the complex collaborations of our national scientific programs.
Rosetta@home
Rosetta@home is a BOINC-powered volunteer computing project that uses spare computing cycles to determine the three-dimensional shapes of proteins in research that may ultimately lead to finding cures for some major human diseases. Volunteers can run the Rosetta program on their idle computers to help speed and extend this research, which aims to design new proteins to fight diseases such as HIV, malaria, cancer and Alzheimer’s.
U.S. Middle School Math Teachers Are ill-prepared Among International Counterparts
A new study "Mathematics Teaching in the 21st Century (MT21)" funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) found that middle school mathematics teachers in the United States are not as well prepared to teach this challenging subject as are many of their counterparts in five other countries. This inadequate teacher preparation joins deficiencies in mathematics curriculum as reasons contributing to lower scores for American middle-schoolers.
MT21 studied how well a sample of universities and teacher-training institutions prepare middle school mathematics teachers in the United States, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany, Bulgaria and Mexico. In comparison to other countries in the study, U.S. future teachers ranked from the middle to the bottom on MT21 measures of mathematics knowledge.
MT21 studied how well a sample of universities and teacher-training institutions prepare middle school mathematics teachers in the United States, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany, Bulgaria and Mexico. In comparison to other countries in the study, U.S. future teachers ranked from the middle to the bottom on MT21 measures of mathematics knowledge.
Shell and HR Biopetroleum build facility to grow algae for biofuel
Shell and HR Biopetroleum have formed a joint venture company, called Cellana, to develop this project, with Shell taking the majority share. Construction of the demonstration facility on the Kona coast of Hawaii Island will begin immediately.
The facility will grow only non-modified, marine microalgae species in open-air ponds using proprietary technology. Algae strains used will be indigenous to Hawaii or approved by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. Protection of the local environment and marine ecosystem has been central to facility design. Once the algae are harvested, the vegetable oil will be extracted. The facility’s small production volumes will be used for testing.
An advantage of algae is their rapid growth. They can double their mass several times a day and produce at least 15 times more oil per hectare than alternatives such as rape, palm soya or jatropha. Over the long term, algae cultivation facilities also have the potential to absorb or ‘capture’ waste CO2 directly from industrial facilities such as power plants.
View a video presentation
The facility will grow only non-modified, marine microalgae species in open-air ponds using proprietary technology. Algae strains used will be indigenous to Hawaii or approved by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. Protection of the local environment and marine ecosystem has been central to facility design. Once the algae are harvested, the vegetable oil will be extracted. The facility’s small production volumes will be used for testing.
An advantage of algae is their rapid growth. They can double their mass several times a day and produce at least 15 times more oil per hectare than alternatives such as rape, palm soya or jatropha. Over the long term, algae cultivation facilities also have the potential to absorb or ‘capture’ waste CO2 directly from industrial facilities such as power plants.
View a video presentation
Global Renewable Energy is growing
Renewable energy use is growing much faster than 10% per year throughout the world, according to a new report from the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21). Excluding large hydropower, the global electric generating capacity of renewable energy facilities reached 237 gigawatts (GW) this year, up 15% from last year. That's about 5.5% of the electric generating capacity throughout the world.
The full REN21 report will be published in January, but a pre-publication summary has been released in time for the climate conference in Bali.
The full REN21 report will be published in January, but a pre-publication summary has been released in time for the climate conference in Bali.
Acting Globally but Thinking Locally? The Influence of Local Communities on Organizations
Title: Acting Globally but Thinking Locally? The Influence of Local Communities on Organizations
Authors: Christopher Marquis and Julie Battilana
Publication: HBS Working Paper
Abstract:
"We develop an institutional theory of how local communities continue to matter for organizations, and why community factors are particularly important in a global age. Since globalization has taken center stage in both practitioner and academic circles, research has shifted away from understanding effects of local factors. In this paper, our aim is to redirect theoretical and empirical attention back to understanding the determinants and importance of local influences. We review classical and contemporary research from organizational theory, sociology and economics that have focused on geographic influences on organizations."
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Authors: Christopher Marquis and Julie Battilana
Publication: HBS Working Paper
Abstract:
"We develop an institutional theory of how local communities continue to matter for organizations, and why community factors are particularly important in a global age. Since globalization has taken center stage in both practitioner and academic circles, research has shifted away from understanding effects of local factors. In this paper, our aim is to redirect theoretical and empirical attention back to understanding the determinants and importance of local influences. We review classical and contemporary research from organizational theory, sociology and economics that have focused on geographic influences on organizations."
Download
H.E.L.P
Humanitarian Emergency Logistics Preparedness, Inc. (HELP) is a non-profit humanitarian relief organization devoted to meeting the needs of the many victims of natural and man-made disasters on a global basis. They target medical/health concerns in disasters and other areas of chronic medical need.
Startups: New Tecnhology
d.light design is a social enterprise dedicated to bringing modern lighting and power to underserved populations including 1.6B people currently without electricity globally.
Bagazo is a for-profit organization that creates clean-burning cooking fuels from agricultural waste products for people in developing countries. Bagazo targets the 2.4 billion people worldwide who currently use dung, biomass, or wood-based products as their primary source for cooking fuels.
Concrete Canvas Ltd develop and commercialise Concrete Canvas Shelters and Concrete Cloth technologies. The Concrete Canvas Shelter is a rapidly deployable hardened shelter that requires only water and air for erection. It can be deployed by two people without any training in approximately thirty minutes and is ready to use in twelve hours. The shelter consists of a cement-impregnated fabric (Concrete Cloth) bonded to the outer surface of an inflatable plastic inner structure.
Humdinger Wind Energy LLC has successfully demostrated the first efficient turbine-less wind generator on small scale. The new technology is known as Windbelt, this new wind technology works by capitalizing on an effect known as aerolastic flutter, most famously exhibited in the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse.
FlexNlock Ltd has helped develop a novel material for the production of spinal bracing for scoliosis and other orthopaedic supports. Able to be formed directly around the patient’s body, this novel material eliminates the labour intensive mould and model making part of the process.
Bagazo is a for-profit organization that creates clean-burning cooking fuels from agricultural waste products for people in developing countries. Bagazo targets the 2.4 billion people worldwide who currently use dung, biomass, or wood-based products as their primary source for cooking fuels.
Concrete Canvas Ltd develop and commercialise Concrete Canvas Shelters and Concrete Cloth technologies. The Concrete Canvas Shelter is a rapidly deployable hardened shelter that requires only water and air for erection. It can be deployed by two people without any training in approximately thirty minutes and is ready to use in twelve hours. The shelter consists of a cement-impregnated fabric (Concrete Cloth) bonded to the outer surface of an inflatable plastic inner structure.
Humdinger Wind Energy LLC has successfully demostrated the first efficient turbine-less wind generator on small scale. The new technology is known as Windbelt, this new wind technology works by capitalizing on an effect known as aerolastic flutter, most famously exhibited in the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse.
FlexNlock Ltd has helped develop a novel material for the production of spinal bracing for scoliosis and other orthopaedic supports. Able to be formed directly around the patient’s body, this novel material eliminates the labour intensive mould and model making part of the process.
InnoCentive Marketing Video Challenge
Create a Marketing Video to help recruit new InnoCentive Solvers and you could win $5,000!. This challenge is looking for creation of marketing videos aimed at energizing the recruitment of new InnoCentive Solvers.
There are will be two winning videos: one chosen by the InnoCentive staff and the other by the whole InnoCentive Solver community. Click here to read more.
There are will be two winning videos: one chosen by the InnoCentive staff and the other by the whole InnoCentive Solver community. Click here to read more.
Rising Voices
Rising Voices aims to extend the benefits and reach of citizen media by connecting online media activists around the world and supporting their best ideas. Rising Voices is an outreach initiative of Global Voices.
Ignite Clean Energy Business Presentation Competition
The Ignite Clean Energy program aims to give clean energy entrepreneurs a competitive edge in the funding race by training contestants in the best practices for creating money-winning presentations.
Rules, regulations and related information for competitors in the 2008 Ignite Clean Energy Business Presentation Competition.
Rules, regulations and related information for competitors in the 2008 Ignite Clean Energy Business Presentation Competition.
HBS Cases: One Laptop per Child
A new Harvard Business School case study called "Marketing the '$100 PC" spells out these opportunities, problems, and challenges from a marketing point of view. As the case asks, can the laptop move out of the realm of "great idea, great gadget" and improve the educational possibilities for children in impoverished environments? Such wide-ranging issues are the focus of the case study, coauthored by HBS professor John Quelch and Carin-Isabel Knoop, executive director of the HBS Global Research Group.
MapEcos
MapEcos.org provides information on the environmental performance of more than 20,000 industrial sites in the United States along with pictures of facilities. Users of the website can pan and zoom a map of the U.S. and click on individual sites to pull up information about specific facilities. The map includes government data on toxic pollution, data from facilities about their efforts to protect the environment, and information on emissions and trends.
Mobility for development: facts and trends
Sustainable mobility as the ability to meet the needs of a society to move freely, gain access, communicate, trade and establish relationships without sacrificing other essential human or ecological value today or in the future. This ‘Mobility for development: Facts and Trends’ by WBCSD briefing provides an overview of key issues and data related to the challenge of developing sustainable mobility solutions to enable economic and human development. The paper highlights trends while providing specific statistics on mobility in developing countries.
Lightspeed Venture Partners: SUMMER STARTUP GRANTS
OVERVIEW
Lightspeed Venture Partners VII, L.P. is offering grants for undergraduate and graduate students studying engineering and
computer science who are interested in exploring an entrepreneurial opportunity over the summer of 2008 in the technology or alternative
energy fields.
* Application information can be found at www.lightspeedvp.com
SUMMER STARTUP GRANTS
* $10,000 per team member and $5,000 discretionary use
* office space to grow your idea
* $500,000 seed investment
* First round submissions are due January 15, 2008
Lightspeed Venture Partners VII, L.P. is offering grants for undergraduate and graduate students studying engineering and
computer science who are interested in exploring an entrepreneurial opportunity over the summer of 2008 in the technology or alternative
energy fields.
* Application information can be found at www.lightspeedvp.com
SUMMER STARTUP GRANTS
* $10,000 per team member and $5,000 discretionary use
* office space to grow your idea
* $500,000 seed investment
* First round submissions are due January 15, 2008
Yunus Challenge - Improving indoor air quality to break the cycle of poverty
The Yunus Challenge IDEAS Award for 2007-2008 will be given to the team that creates a system that solves as many of the problems as possible that sustain the high levels indoor air pollution experienced by those living in poverty, for the smallest cost possible.
The Create the Future Design Contest
The Create the Future design contest rewards the best ideas for new products, and celebrates breakthrough thinking about problems of all kinds, large and small.
Contest is now closed for entries and winners will be announced January 2008.
Competition for Top Ten Most Visited Entries continues until 31 December 2007.
Contest is now closed for entries and winners will be announced January 2008.
Competition for Top Ten Most Visited Entries continues until 31 December 2007.
Crunchies Awards 2007: Celebrating the best of internet and technology innovation.
The Crunchies Awards is opening up the nominations for 20 categories in recognizing and celebrating web start-ups and innovations for this year. The Crunchies is a collaboration project among GigaOm, Read/WriteWeb, VentureBeat, and TechCrunch. Best of all, the internet community is invited to choose who wins.
Amazon Web Services Start-Up Challenge Winner
Ooyala Wins Amazon Web Services Start-Up Challenge! Read the press release here. Ooyala will receive $50,000 in cash, $50,000 in AWS credits, and an investment offer from Amazon. Out of over 900 entries, seven finalists were chosen as hot start-ups leveraging AWS to build their infrastructure and business. Read about all seven finalists below and view their videos.
Podcasts
There is a list of Podcasts:
The National Academy of Engineering: Engineering Innovation Podcast and Radio Series
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The National Academy of Science: The Sounds of Science
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The New York Academy of Science: Science & the City
Subscribe: XML
Nature Magazine: Podcast
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Science Magazine: Podcast
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Seed Magaizne: Podcast
Subscribe: iTunes
The Naked Scientist: Podcast
Subscribe: iTunes, XML
The National Academy of Engineering: Engineering Innovation Podcast and Radio Series
Subscribe: iTunes , XML
The National Academy of Science: The Sounds of Science
Subscribe: iTunes, XML
The New York Academy of Science: Science & the City
Subscribe: XML
Nature Magazine: Podcast
Subscribe: XML
Science Magazine: Podcast
Subscribe: iTunes , XML
Seed Magaizne: Podcast
Subscribe: iTunes
The Naked Scientist: Podcast
Subscribe: iTunes, XML
Efforts to Eradicate Polio Receive Much Needed Funds
The global campaign to eradicate polio received a $200 million grant this week to help fund the final push to wipe out the disease that mostly strikes children under five. The grant from the Gates Foundation and Rotary International will go largely toward immunization campaigns, surveillance, and public education. More
Health Games Research
Health Games Research is an $8.25 million national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) that supports outstanding research to enhance the quality and impact of interactive games used to improve health. The goal of the program is to advance the innovation, design, and effectiveness of health games and game technologies so that they help people improve their health-related behaviors and, as a result, achieve significantly better health outcomes.
The Health Games Research program will offer two rounds of funding, with awards made in 2008 and 2009, to support research on games that (1) increase physical activity and/or (2) games that improve self-care.
Deadline for receipt of proposals - January 29, 2008 (3:00 p.m. EST)
The Health Games Research program will offer two rounds of funding, with awards made in 2008 and 2009, to support research on games that (1) increase physical activity and/or (2) games that improve self-care.
Deadline for receipt of proposals - January 29, 2008 (3:00 p.m. EST)
Toy Product Design - MIT OCW
Toy Product Design is a MIT Public Service Center learning design course offered in the Spring semester. This course is an introduction to the product design process with a focus on designing for play and entertainment. At the end of the course, students present their toy products at the Playsentations to toy designers, engineers, elementary school children and the MIT community. In this course, students work in small teams of 5-6 members to design and prototype new toys. Students work closely with a local sponsor and experienced mentors on a themed toy design project. Students will be introduced to the product development process, including: determining customer needs; brainstorming; estimation; sketching; sketch modeling; concept development; design aesthetics; detailed design; prototyping; and written, visual, and oral communication.
NanoArt 2007 INTERNATIONAL ONLINE COMPETITION
NanoArt is a new art form where micro or nanosculptures created by artists or scientists through chemical or/and physical processes are visualized with powerful research tools like Scanning Electron Microscopes. The monochromatic electron microscope scans are processed further using different artistic techniques to create pieces of art that can be showcased for the general public.
Nanoart21.org founded by artists/scientist Cris Orfescu will provide 3 high resolution monochromatic electron scans as seed images for artists to choose from. The participating artists will have to alter these images in any artistic way to finish the artistic-scientific process and create a NanoArt work.
Submission deadline December 31, 2007. To read more about NanoArt visit http://www.nanoart21.org
Nanoart21.org founded by artists/scientist Cris Orfescu will provide 3 high resolution monochromatic electron scans as seed images for artists to choose from. The participating artists will have to alter these images in any artistic way to finish the artistic-scientific process and create a NanoArt work.
Submission deadline December 31, 2007. To read more about NanoArt visit http://www.nanoart21.org
Google Earth Outreach for Nonprofits
Google Earth Outreach is a program that enables nonprofit organizations around the world to leverage the power of Google Earth to illustrate and advocate for the important work that they do.
Ross Chapman, has posted a video of the presentation by Steve Miller, Product Manager, Google Earth Outreach, from the October 9th Net Tuesday in San Francisco.
As a part of Google Earth Outreach, Google grant Pro licenses to qualifying organizations. Google Earth Pro has powerful authoring features which allow for GIS data importation such as .shp and tab files, a movie making module, and a high resolution printing feature.
Ross Chapman, has posted a video of the presentation by Steve Miller, Product Manager, Google Earth Outreach, from the October 9th Net Tuesday in San Francisco.
As a part of Google Earth Outreach, Google grant Pro licenses to qualifying organizations. Google Earth Pro has powerful authoring features which allow for GIS data importation such as .shp and tab files, a movie making module, and a high resolution printing feature.
Hunger Bytes! WFP and YouTube viral video competition
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is looking for the, "funniest, strangest or edgiest 30 or 60 second video about hunger." The winner of the contest, the video that gets the most views by World Hunger Day (October 16, 2008), will win a trip for two to a World Food Programme hunger relief program in Africa, Asia or Latin America. More information about the contest on the Hunger Bytes YouTube channel.
Biofuels for Transport: Policies and Possibilities
Biofuels are of growing public and private interest at a time of rapidly rising world energy demand and high oil prices. But are biofuels for transport a viable alternative to power our cars, trucks and buses? Do they deliver the expected environmental benefits? And what role should public policy play in their development?
These are some of the questions addressed by a the report titled Biofuels for Transport: Policies and Possibilities produced by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the International Energy Agency (IEA).
GRI Readers' Choice Awards
Nearly 800 sustainability reports are currently in the running for the inaugural GRI Readers Choice Awards. On December 31st the field of eligible reports will be reduced to a short-list based on reports with:
Eight all expenses paid trips to the Amsterdam Global Conference on Sustainability and Transparency held 7 to 9 May 2008 are up for readers. To have the opportunity to win one of these trips, score at least two sustainability reports for the GRI Readers' Choice Awards.
- the highest volume of scores received (not highest scores!)
- the widest diversity of scorers (employees, media, civil society, investors, management and governance, etc)
Eight all expenses paid trips to the Amsterdam Global Conference on Sustainability and Transparency held 7 to 9 May 2008 are up for readers. To have the opportunity to win one of these trips, score at least two sustainability reports for the GRI Readers' Choice Awards.
Peruvian Potato wins BBC World Challenge 2007
T'ikapapa was set up to bridge the gap between the Andean farmers and the potato market, allowing them to see the benefit of their premium goods. The project's ‘participatory market chain approach' is now being applied to potato chips and other value-added products."
See BBC World Challenge 2007website
See BBC World Challenge 2007website
Talent and Innovation Competition of the Americas 2008
TIC Americas presents awards as an international business plan competition and accelerator for young entrepreneurs. TIC Americas differentiates itself from other existing Business Plan Competitions by incorporating a prototype phase, training, investment, internships, among other opportunities at a global scale.
Teams comprised of young people from OAS Member States and internationally are invited to submit business plans according to the following Rules and Terms of Reference in the following five sectors.
* Environment - To strengthen the Americas’ efforts towards conservation, sustainable development, and global stewardship.
* Trade – To encourage the exchange of goods and services in the Americas
* Tourism – To promote the development of the tourisms industry, including culture
* Agribusiness – To utilize the region’s agricultural capacity to create economic growth
* Technology – To increase the Americas technological capabilities and infrastructure.
In each category there will be awarded:
* Certificate as TIC Americas Winner
* International Opportunities
* Promotion. Cash award of $3000
Registration Process and Concept Paper November 15th, 2007 – February 1st, 2008
Teams comprised of young people from OAS Member States and internationally are invited to submit business plans according to the following Rules and Terms of Reference in the following five sectors.
* Environment - To strengthen the Americas’ efforts towards conservation, sustainable development, and global stewardship.
* Trade – To encourage the exchange of goods and services in the Americas
* Tourism – To promote the development of the tourisms industry, including culture
* Agribusiness – To utilize the region’s agricultural capacity to create economic growth
* Technology – To increase the Americas technological capabilities and infrastructure.
In each category there will be awarded:
* Certificate as TIC Americas Winner
* International Opportunities
* Promotion. Cash award of $3000
Registration Process and Concept Paper November 15th, 2007 – February 1st, 2008
Click Here for Change: Your Guide to the E-Advocacy Revolution
Click Here for Change: Your Guide to the E-Advocacy Revolution, this report published by PolicyLink offers a guide to using technology techniques to engage in advocacy and promote the quality of life and access to opportunity for everyone. It provides case studies, resources, tips, and best practices to help readers plan and implement campaigns that use various combinations of online and offline tools to effectively engage their constituencies. The guide is organised as follows:
* from concept to practice: defining e-advocacy
* e-advocacy campaigns: audiences and tactics
* technology tools: what they are, what they do, where to get them
* integrating technology tools into the organisation
* from concept to practice: defining e-advocacy
* e-advocacy campaigns: audiences and tactics
* technology tools: what they are, what they do, where to get them
* integrating technology tools into the organisation
Open Communities
This list provides a listing of real-world examples of different projects, services and products that are being developed around the idea of communities.
Dell Idea Storm
An online community that brings all of us closer to the creative side of technology by allowing you to share ideas and interact with other customers and Dell experts. You can suggest new products or services you’d like to see Dell develop or tell the world how you feel about major trends in technology and society. Dell hope this site fosters a candid and robust conversation about your ideas.
IBM Innovation Jam
Thousands of IBMers — including their family members — collaborated with employees from select IBM clients and business partners to identify the next breakthrough products, services, processes and new business models that will transform industry and society and in the process shape the future of our organizations. Together, participants explored exciting intersections between emerging technologies and business insight to create meaningful new capabilities.
InnoCentive
InnoCentive® is an exciting web-based community matching top scientists to relevant R&D challenges facing leading companies from around the globe. They provide a powerful online forum enabling major companies to reward scientific innovation through financial incentives.
Make Magazine: Technology on your time
MAKE brings the do-it-yourself mindset to all the technology in your life. MAKE is loaded with exciting projects that help you make the most of your technology at home and away from home. This is a magazine that celebrates your right to tweak, hack, and bend any technology to your own will.
Kiva
Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence.
Cambrian House
At Cambrian House, people submit ideas for software products and then vote on which ideas are the best, commenting on changes or improvements they would like to see made. Development of the most popular ideas is then sourced to members of the community, who earn "royalty points" that determines how much each contributor makes.
BID Network
BiD network for poverty reduction and entrepreneurship in developing countries.
BioForge: an online community for biotechnology innovation
BioForge is intended to serve as a portal to a dynamic protected commons of enabling technologies in the life sciences, available to anyone for improvement and to use in new innovations, both commercial and non-commercial.
World Community Grid
World Community Grid's mission is to create the largest public computing grid benefiting humanity. Their work is built on the belief that technological innovation combined with visionary scientific research and large-scale volunteerism can change our world for the better.
RepRap Project
RepRap is short for Replicating Rapid-prototyper. It is a practical self-copying 3D printer.The RepRap build cost will be less than $400 US for the bought-in materials, all of which have been selected to be as widely available everywhere in the world as possible. Complete instructions and plans are published free on this website so, if you want to make one yourself, you can. Also, the RepRap software contains nothing that can't work on all computer platforms for free.
Open Cores
Their main objective is to design and publish core designs under a license for hardware modelled on the Lesser General Public License (LGPL) for software. We are committed to the ideal of freely available,freely usable and re-usable open source hardware.
Open Prosthetics
A project to create useful and innovative prosthetic devices and release the designs into the public domain.
Fab@Home
Fab@Home is a website dedicated to making and using fabbers - machines that can make almost anything, right on your desktop.
OScar project
The idea behind the OScar project is simple: A community of people plans and develops a new car in the web. The idea is about the goal to develop a simple and innovative car, but also about the way how this goal is achieved.
Instructables
Instructables is a web-based documentation platform where passionate people share what they do and how they do it, and learn from and collaborate with others.
Dell Idea Storm
An online community that brings all of us closer to the creative side of technology by allowing you to share ideas and interact with other customers and Dell experts. You can suggest new products or services you’d like to see Dell develop or tell the world how you feel about major trends in technology and society. Dell hope this site fosters a candid and robust conversation about your ideas.
IBM Innovation Jam
Thousands of IBMers — including their family members — collaborated with employees from select IBM clients and business partners to identify the next breakthrough products, services, processes and new business models that will transform industry and society and in the process shape the future of our organizations. Together, participants explored exciting intersections between emerging technologies and business insight to create meaningful new capabilities.
InnoCentive
InnoCentive® is an exciting web-based community matching top scientists to relevant R&D challenges facing leading companies from around the globe. They provide a powerful online forum enabling major companies to reward scientific innovation through financial incentives.
Make Magazine: Technology on your time
MAKE brings the do-it-yourself mindset to all the technology in your life. MAKE is loaded with exciting projects that help you make the most of your technology at home and away from home. This is a magazine that celebrates your right to tweak, hack, and bend any technology to your own will.
Kiva
Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence.
Cambrian House
At Cambrian House, people submit ideas for software products and then vote on which ideas are the best, commenting on changes or improvements they would like to see made. Development of the most popular ideas is then sourced to members of the community, who earn "royalty points" that determines how much each contributor makes.
BID Network
BiD network for poverty reduction and entrepreneurship in developing countries.
BioForge: an online community for biotechnology innovation
BioForge is intended to serve as a portal to a dynamic protected commons of enabling technologies in the life sciences, available to anyone for improvement and to use in new innovations, both commercial and non-commercial.
World Community Grid
World Community Grid's mission is to create the largest public computing grid benefiting humanity. Their work is built on the belief that technological innovation combined with visionary scientific research and large-scale volunteerism can change our world for the better.
RepRap Project
RepRap is short for Replicating Rapid-prototyper. It is a practical self-copying 3D printer.The RepRap build cost will be less than $400 US for the bought-in materials, all of which have been selected to be as widely available everywhere in the world as possible. Complete instructions and plans are published free on this website so, if you want to make one yourself, you can. Also, the RepRap software contains nothing that can't work on all computer platforms for free.
Open Cores
Their main objective is to design and publish core designs under a license for hardware modelled on the Lesser General Public License (LGPL) for software. We are committed to the ideal of freely available,freely usable and re-usable open source hardware.
Open Prosthetics
A project to create useful and innovative prosthetic devices and release the designs into the public domain.
Fab@Home
Fab@Home is a website dedicated to making and using fabbers - machines that can make almost anything, right on your desktop.
OScar project
The idea behind the OScar project is simple: A community of people plans and develops a new car in the web. The idea is about the goal to develop a simple and innovative car, but also about the way how this goal is achieved.
Instructables
Instructables is a web-based documentation platform where passionate people share what they do and how they do it, and learn from and collaborate with others.
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