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Society & Politics
archives: January-February 2005
- 28 February 2005
"The world's population is expected to rise from the current 6.5 billion to 9.1 billion by 2050, the UN says. Virtually all the growth will be in the developing world, according to a report by the UN Population Division. By contrast, the population of developed countries will remain almost static at 1.2 billion, the report adds. It says India will overtake China as the world's most populous country by 2030 - five years earlier than previously expected. The figures in the revised report are based on national censuses, population surveys and review of trends. In 2002, the UN Population Division had estimated a population in 2050 of 8.9 billion. The new report predicts that the population in the world's 50 poorest countries will more than double by 2050. It says that nations such as Afghanistan, Chad and East Timor will see their numbers going up three-fold...The report also says that Africa - unlike other regions - has seen average life expectancy at birth decline from 62 years in 1995 to 48 years in 2000-2005." Learn more at the BBC.com.
- 25 February 2005
"When tiny Clipper Windpower builds its first factory, perhaps this year, it will automatically become America's second-largest manufacturer of wind turbines. The Carpinteria, Calif., company even has a hot new technology that should be a sure thing.
But it's still hunting for financing because being a wind-turbine builder in the United States is tough, so tough that only one other US manufacturer exists. In 20 years, the US has gone from leading the world in wind-energy manufacturing - with at least a dozen enterprising firms - to lagging badly. Companies in Germany, Denmark, Spain, and elsewhere have grabbed the technological lead and now hold roughly 80 percent of a $8 billion market that's growing 25 to 35 percent a year. The reason? Some experts point to lax clean-air laws in the US. That's right. Weak environmental regulations may hurt, not help, industries by blunting their technological edge." Learn more in the Christian Science Monitor.
- 24 February 2005
"Despite widespread criticism from security experts that a proposed high-tech upgrade to Americans' passports actually introduces new security risks, the government is declining to encrypt data on new high-tech e-passports, according to proposed new rules published last week. In response to this outside criticism and some public questioning by one of its own contractors, the State Department delayed its rollout of the chip-equipped passports and hired additional companies to provide prototypes. Other countries are also wrangling with the issue, as the United States is requiring all 27 countries whose citizens do not need visas to visit America to begin issuing e-passports by October. So far only Belgium has started production, and it is likely the deadline, which was originally October 2004, will be pushed back another year." Learn more in Wired.
- 23 February 2005
"The European Union has been operating in 20 official languages since ten new member states joined the legislative body last year. With annual translation costs set to rise to 1.3 billion dollars (U.S.), some people question whether EU institutions are becoming overburdened by multilingualism. Brussels, Belgium, the European Union's headquarters city, is fast getting a reputation as the new Babel. Parliamentary sessions are conducted 20 languages simultaneously. With further countries soon to join the EU, some analysts fear the effectiveness of its institutions could be getting lost in translation." An article in the National Geographic examines whether the multitude of European languages could hamper the effectiveness of the European Union.
- 22 February 2005
"Iran is becoming an increasingly dangerous place to keep an online diary. Web logs have become a popular forum for dissent. And the Iranian government has responded by arresting dozens of bloggers. Some of those detained are reportedly being held in solitary confinement and tortured. Bloggers Arash Sigarchi and Mojtaba Saminejad are both currently in prison in Iran. Mr Sigarchi has been in detention since 17 January while Mr Saminejad was first detained in November. 'Freedom of expression is really at stake at the moment,' says Julien Pain, who runs the Internet Freedom Desk at the Paris based group Reporters without Borders." Learn more at the BBC.com.
- 21 February 2005
"The British charity Citizens Online has an ambitious goal - they would like all schoolchildren in the UK to have their own laptop by 2010. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) boffins Nicholas Negroponte, Seymour Papert and Joseph Jacobson also share the mantra 'one laptop per child', but they have a much more ambitious plan: to provide 100m to 200m laptops to schoolchildren in the developing world by the end of 2006. And how do they propose to do this? By making them very cheap - $100 (£53) per laptop, or $90 plus $10 for 'contingency or profit'. Negroponte, founder and director of the MIT's Media Lab, has long had an interest in providing information and communications technology (ICT) to developing countries." Learn more in the Guardian.
- 18 February 2005
"The first sign that something was up came about eight years back. Stories began to appear in the international media suggesting that India was 'stealing' jobs from wealthy nations - not industrial jobs, like those that had migrated to south-east Asia, but the white-collar jobs of well-educated people. Today we know that the trickle of jobs turned into a flood. India is now the back office of many banks, a magnet for labour-intensive, often tedious programming, and the customer services voice of everything from British Airways to Microsoft. In reality, the changes in India have been more profound than this suggests." An article in the New Scientist examines how India is poised to become the "next knowledge superpower".
- 17 February 2005
"China is quickly overtaking the United States as the world's biggest consumer of global resources, energized by a dynamic economy that is growing at a record pace, says a Washington research group. 'China is no longer just a developing country. It is an emerging economic superpower, one that is writing economic history,' said Lester Brown, founder of the Earth Policy Institute and author of Wednesday's report. 'If the last century was America's, this one looks to be the Chinese century,' he said. The report says China is outpacing the US in four of the five most important commodities: grain, meat, coal and steel. The fifth, oil, is still consumed in the US at rates triple that of China, about 20.4 million barrels per day." Learn more in the Asia Times.
- 16 February 2005
"More than a century ago, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius warned that burning oil and coal could lead to an atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide that would eventually warm the planet. It was a radical idea back in those horse-and-buggy days.
Most experts now believe that to be true, and this week a group of nations took an important if modest step in addressing the concern that motor vehicles, factories, and other development are changing Earth's climate in ways that could be dangerous. The Kyoto Protocol, which goes into effect Wednesday, commits 35 industrialized countries to reducing by 2012 their emissions of six 'greenhouse gases' that trap heat in the earth's atmosphere - principally carbon dioxide - by 5 percent less than 1990 levels." The Christian Science Monitor discusses some of the specifics and controversy of the Kyoto Protocol.
- 15 February 2005
"A drive by developing nations to regulate access to rare plant genes — used in drugs and perfumes worth billions of dollars — will not stop 'biopiracy' and may deter foreign investment, a trade expert said in a report Tuesday. The report was released in Bangkok where 188 governments and parties to the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) were holding five days of talks on a new global regime governing the use of genetic resources. 'The stakes are fairly high,' said Alan Oxley, chairman of Australia's APEC Study Center who wrote the 17-page report which argues that fiddling with patent laws will not stop gene thieves. Poor nations want a binding agreement to ensure they get a share of the profits from any plant taken out of their country that ends up in a best-selling drug, cosmetic or health food." Learn more at ABC News.
- 14 February 2005
"There's still plenty of hype, but nanotechnology is finally moving from the lab to the marketplace. Get ready for cars, chips, and golf balls made with new materials engineered down to the level of individual atoms... Familiar materials -- from gold to carbon soot -- display startling and useful new properties. Some transmit light or electricity. Others become harder than diamonds or turn into potent chemical catalysts. What's more, researchers find that a tiny dose of nanoparticles can transform the chemistry and nature of far bigger things, creating everything from fortified fenders to superefficient fuel cells. Engineers working at the nano scale have a brand-new tool kit that's full of wonder and brimming with potential riches. Now it's time to start cashing in." Learn more about the business of nanotechnology in Business Week.
- 11 February 2005
"Humans specialize in distraction, especially when the task at hand requires intellectual heavy lifting. All the usual "Is it lunchtime yet?" inner voices, and external interruptions like incoming phone calls, are alive and well. But in the era of e-mail, instant messaging, Googling, e-commerce and iTunes, potential distractions while seated at a computer are not only ever-present but very enticing. Distracting oneself used to consist of sharpening a half-dozen pencils or lighting a cigarette. Today, there is a universe of diversions to buy, hear, watch and forward, which makes focusing on a task all the more challenging...A growing number of computer scientists and psychologists are studying the problem of diminished attention. And some are beginning to work on solutions. Ben Bederson, who builds computer interfaces at the University of Maryland, said his design goal is to generate a minimum of distraction for the user." Learn more in the New York Times.
- 10 February 2005
"Over the past year, thousands of top- and middle-level executives from the United States and the United Kingdom have left their countries to explore job opportunities in India's Wipro, Infosys, Satyam and Tata Consultancy Services, to name a few. This is apart from regular middle- and top-level management positions in multinational companies such as IBM and General Electric that have set up huge operations in India. It is estimated that the number of foreigners working in India in the software and outsourcing industries is mounting rapidly. The Foreign Registrar Office in New Delhi puts it at 50,000, and counting. 'Many foreign nationals are looking at mid- and senior-level positions in India. Every week, we get at least one well-qualified foreigner looking for a job here,' said Kris Lakshmikanth, founder, chief executive officer and managing director of executive recruiting firm Head Hunters (India)." Learn more about this new trend in the Asia Times.
- 9 February 2005
"Silicon Valley, Boston and Austin may have some new competition--and not just from Bangalore, Shanghai and Singapore.
The latest kids on the tech block are places like Twin Falls, Idaho; Oklahoma City; and Jonesboro, Ark. These are among the smaller cities or rural areas of the United States where information technology companies have been locating or expanding facilities. The companies, ranging from IT services start-up Rural Sourcing to computer giant Dell, can save on wages in these communities, thanks partly to inexpensive housing there. And in some cases, the companies are pitching operations in midsize America as an alternative to shipping work abroad. A key to what's been dubbed 'homeshoring' is tapping a little-noticed talent pool. Kathy White, Rural Sourcing's founder and an Arkansas native herself, argues that technology professionals in major metropolitan centers often come from smaller communities." Learn more at News.com.
- 8 February 2005
"Think you've found the lowest price online? Better double check. That's the advice of economists who research why a plethora of online price comparison systems haven't succeeded in leveling prices on the Internet. 'A lot of early studies predicted that all firms would be forced to price their goods at cost and prices would be driven down,' said Michael Baye, a professor of economics at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business. 'That hasn't happened. There is still considerable price dispersion online.' And the prices don't just fluctuate from merchant to merchant--they can vary from day to day on the same site. It wasn't supposed to be this way. Online price comparison sites--designed to guide consumers to the lowest prices--were expected to level prices all around, all but evaporating profit margins for retailers." Learn more at New.com.
- 7 February 2005
"Spurred by the furor over recent remarks by Harvard University President Lawrence Summers, the topic of the declining participation of women in IT is now prominent among concerns about the future of high technology in the United States... Data from the National Science Foundation shows that the female share of bachelor's degrees in computer science dropped from 37 percent in 1985 to 28 percent in 2001. And while women comprised 33 percent of information technology professionals in 1990, that figure was down to 26 percent in 2002, according to NSF. The drop is puzzling in part because women are making progress in related areas such as the natural sciences." Learn why some are worried about the lack of women participating in the IT sector, in News.com.
- 4 February 2005
"Since starting college three years ago, Katherine Toy has developed a new habit: reading a daily newspaper. But the paper that has become her regular companion on the Boston subway isn't a traditional daily. For one, the Boston Metro doesn't have the wingspan of a broadsheet. Its stories, mostly wire copy, follow the Sgt. Joe Friday School of Journalism ('just the facts, ma'am') by providing succinct summaries of the news. Most significant, the tabloid is free, given away at the city's 'T' stations. 'There are Metro men everywhere passing out newspapers,' says the ski-jacketed Ms. Toy, huddled inside a subway car. 'You don't even have to look for it - they find me.'" Learn how the internet and other free news sources are forcing some traditional new mediums to rethink their strategy, in the Christian Science Monitor.
- 3 February 2005
"In the small universe of powerful bloggers, Joshua Micah Marshall and John Hinderaker are separated by 900 miles and an even wider political divide. Mr. Marshall leans to the left from Washington D.C., while Mr. Hinderaker, a Minneapolis attorney, sits firmly in the conservative camp. But the two men do share something in common: No one is really sure what to think of them.
Are they journalists with an obligation to check facts, run corrections, and disclose conflicts of interest? Or are they ordinary opinion-slingers, like barbers or bartenders, with no special responsibilities - or rights? Even in a country where most citizens probably have no idea what a blog is, it's not just an academic debate. Bloggers, some observers say, are becoming major players in everything from national politics to consumer trends." Learn more in the Christian Science Monitor.
- 2 February 2005
"Prospective online-learning students have a new tool to help them decide between a master's that might lead to a promotion and a degree that could get them fired. The U.S. Department of Education launched a searchable online database Tuesday that includes the names, addresses and enrollment of all schools accredited by organizations recognized by the federal government. Assistant Secretary of Education Sally Stroup called the database an 'important tool to combat the growing industry of diploma mills that scam unsuspecting consumers and employers by offering fraudulent degrees.' The agency created the database in response to calls for action from Congress in 2004 following revelations about high-level government officials holding questionable degrees." Learn more in Wired News.
- 1 February 2005
"The world economy expanded by 4% last year, up from 2.8% in 2003. But a falling US dollar, continuing rise in interest rates and sluggish worldwide job growth are expected to reduce growth to 3.25% this year, according to a report titled 'The World Economic Situation and Prospects' released recently by the United Nations. At the annual launch of the report, UN under secretary General Jose Antonio Ocampo predicted that 'world trade and growth will moderate, the cyclical peak seems to have been reached in 2004'. International trade grew at an estimated 10.5% in volume terms in 2004, up from 6.2% in the previous year, with China and India leading the way. Trade is expected to slow to 8% in 2005. China, together with the United States, provides the backbone of global growth." Learn more in the Asia Times.
- 31 January 2005
"In almost every panel discussion at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum here, there comes a moment when somebody mentions China. A hush typically ensues, as panelists draw their breath, gather their thoughts and struggle to put the bewildering vastness of the topic into a few words. 'China is going to be the change agent for the next 20 years,' said Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, when asked about the country's future by the television interview host Charlie Rose. China's staggering potential, coupled with the steep language barrier and cultural discomfort of many Chinese who come to this conference, has made it Davos's annual enigma. After three days of outsiders' dissecting its motives and prospects, China finally took the stage on Saturday, with a speech by its executive vice prime minister, Huang Ju." Learn more in the New York Times.
- 28 January 2005
"In March, a delegation from Richmond, Va., will visit three cities in China to hold a seminar on how to profit in America. In Lockhart, Texas, a delegation of Chinese executives last week ate barbecue as town officials showed them potential factory sites. In Massachusetts, officials are talking to the Chinese about investing in the fishing industry, which can supply Asian consumers with herring and mackerel. Across the country, mayors are brushing up their chopstick skills in an effort to win Chinese investment. Individual counties and cities are setting up trade offices in Beijing and other Chinese cities. Some places are enlisting their Chinese-American citizens to translate and show visitors that their city cares about Asian culture." Learn more about this "outsourcing reversal" in the Christian Science Monitor.
- 27 January 2005
"When Mexican businessman Antonio Jacques flies to a Las Vegas trade show next week, he will literally roll out the welcome mat. Mr. Jacques makes a doormat from a secret mix of plastics that he says collects more dust than any mat available in America. After 14 years of selling his product to Mexicans, Jacques is ready to take his company, Dust Control Mexico, to the US. Last Friday, he was busy checking the English spelling on the banner that he'll display in his booth in Nevada. It proclaims, 'Dust Control Mexico: High Technology Welcome Mats.' He hopes it will interest a US distributor, preferably one that feeds a big retailer, and allow him to break into the world's biggest market. Jacques and other Mexican small-business owners are part of a new breed of would-be free traders." Learn more in the Christian Science Monitor.
- 26 January 2005
"Scientists have begun blurring the line between human and animal by producing chimeras—a hybrid creature that's part human, part animal. Chinese scientists at the Shanghai Second Medical University in 2003 successfully fused human cells with rabbit eggs. The embryos were reportedly the first human-animal chimeras successfully created. They were allowed to develop for several days in a laboratory dish before the scientists destroyed the embryos to harvest their stem cells. In Minnesota last year researchers at the Mayo Clinic created pigs with human blood flowing through their bodies...Scientists feel that, the more humanlike the animal, the better research model it makes for testing drugs or possibly growing 'spare parts,' such as livers, to transplant into humans." Learn more in the National Geographic.
- 25 January 2005
"A seamless railway spanning Asia is moving closer, with trial runs inspiring officials and shippers, promising a boost for economic growth and jobs. Whether those benefits arrive on time depends on 27 governments - due to sign an agreement in 2006 - giving the project high priority. Faster shipping can reduce costs, making goods more competitive, translating into more sales, higher profits and more jobs. Ripples go even further in a world of just-in-time manufacturing, allowing suppliers, producers and retailers to stock less, releasing money from inventories... Shipping freight across Asia and, even on to Europe, is today far from smooth sailing. A railway from Yunnan in southern China to Myanmar or Thailand was being called for in the 1880s." Learn more in the Asia Times.
- 24 January 2005
"When Jerome Armstrong began consulting for Howard Dean's presidential campaign, he thought the ethical thing to do was to suspend the Web journal where he opined on politics. But to suggest others do the same with their journals, otherwise known as blogs? No way. 'If I'm getting paid by a client, I don't blog about it. That's my personal set of standards,' Armstrong said. 'I'm not going to hold anybody else to my personal standards. I'm not going to make that universal.' The growing influence of blogs such as his is raising questions about whether they are becoming a new form of journalism and in need of more formal ethical guidelines or codes of conduct...So far, many bloggers resist any notion of ethical standards, saying individuals ought to decide what's right for them." Learn more in USA Today.
- 21 January 2005
"The Chinese government is notorious for its aggressive censorship of dissent and obscenity on the Internet. Human Rights Watch produced a report on the country’s Internet surveillance activities in August 2001. Besides China, countries that monitor web surfers’ reading habits include Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. But China is the most persistent, says Nart Villeneuve, director of technical research at the OpenNet Initiative, a collaboration of three academic groups that analyzes Internet filtering and surveillance.For the past year, the Chinese government has been filtering blogs. Censors have filters at all levels, from Internet service providers to Internet cafes. The OpenNet Initiative recently released a study detailing how three Chinese blog providers have filtering mechanisms to control the content of the blogs they host." Learn more in the Red Herring.
- 20 January 2005
"Intellectual property legislation that failed to pass in Congress last year likely will reappear in the new session, but after 2004's bitter battle, technology and consumer groups are ready to get more aggressive. The Consumer Electronics Association, Public Knowledge, NetCoalition and others successfully fought the Hollywood-supported Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act in the Senate, which would have held technology companies liable for encouraging their users to infringe copyright. A scaled-back 'minibus bill' that addressed a smattering of copyright issues also failed to pass. But while their interests prevailed -- for the time being -- technology and consumer advocates say that the fierce fight over the Induce Act was a turning point, and should lead to more involvement from tech bigwigs." Learn more in Wired News.
- 19 January 2005
"Researching a term paper was once far simpler. A student writing about, say, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin might have checked out a book on the history of aviation from the local library or tucked into the family's encyclopedia. Today, in a matter of minutes, students can identify these and thousands of other potential resources solely on the Internet--and as any teacher will attest, they are not always adept at sorting the wheat from the chaff. Now the Educational Testing Service, the nonprofit group behind the SAT, the Graduate Record Examination and other university entrance tests in the United States, has developed a test that it says can assess students' ability to critically evaluate the vast amount of material available to them." Learn more in the International Herald Tribune.
- 18 January 2005
"We encounter them everywhere -- on the bus, on the street, in restaurants -- always talking to an invisible companion. They're people gabbing on cell phones, and they can be obnoxious. According to U.S. census data, between 1993 and 2003 the number of cell-phone subscribers in the United States grew more than 300 percent, from 34 million to 159 million, so maybe it's no surprise that associated gripes have risen as well...It's a familiar issue: You're stuck somewhere with a nearby stranger yapping on a cell phone, but you're unwilling to say anything about it. In December, designers Jim Coudal of Chicago's Coudal Partners and Aaron Draplin of Portland, Oregon-based Draplindustries Design drafted a solution that's been gaining buzz across the blogosphere." As cell phones become more pervasive, many are coming up with solutions to stop the more anti-social cell phone use. Learn more in Wired News.
- 17 January 2005
"Natural disasters can be a threat to the growing expansion of big cities underground, the United Nations says. It says developers often burrow beneath the surface without knowing enough of the risks and with inadequate plans to lessen the effects of any disaster. The warning comes from experts at the United Nations University just before a conference on how to reduce disasters. The international conference, which is being held in the Japanese city of Kobe, will run from 18 to 22 January. The UNU experts say growing urban land pressure is making it increasingly attractive to find new subterranean space for subways, shopping malls, car parks and other needs. But Dr Srikantha Herath of the UNU says studies of potential natural disaster risks are often neglected." As cities develop farther and farther underground, experts warn that they face greater risks from natural disasters. Learn more at the BBC.com.
- 14 January 2005
"Monsanto Co.'s 'seed police' snared soy farmer Homan McFarling in 1999, and the company is demanding he pay it hundreds of thousands of dollars for alleged technology piracy. McFarling's sin? He saved seed from one harvest and replanted it the following season, a revered and ancient agricultural practice. 'My daddy saved seed. I saved seed,' said McFarling, 62, who still grows soy on the 5,000 acre family farm in Shannon, Miss. and is fighting the agribusiness giant in court. Saving Monsanto's seeds, genetically engineered to kill bugs and resist weed sprays, violates provisions of the company's contracts with farmers." Monsanto is suing small farmers for saving samples of their genetically modified seeds--a practice that is as time-honored as farming itself. Learn more in Yahoo News.
- 13 January 2005
"As the nation prepares for President Bush's inauguration next week, privacy activists on both sides of the political spectrum are bracing for a White House push to augment controversial domestic surveillance powers gained under the Patriot Act and other legislation passed since 9/11. But surveillance legislation isn't the only concern on the minds of privacy advocates. They're also looking at technologies and services coming out of the commercial sector that could seriously affect civil liberties." Wired News discusses some of the political and technological issues that could affect our personal privacy in the coming years.
- 12 January 2005
"Most people's expectations of robots are driven by fantasy. These marvelous machines, optimists hope, will follow Moore's law, doubling in quality every 18 months, and lead to a Jetsonian utopia. Or, as pessimists fear, humanoid bots will reproduce, increase their intelligence, and wipe out humanity. Both visions are wrong. The artificial intelligence to animate robots remains several orders of magnitude less than what's needed. We have to master either software engineering or self-organization before our most intelligent designers can dare play in the same league as Mother Nature." Computer Scientist Jordan Pollack, discusses ethical questions about the future of robotics in Wired News.
- 11 January 2005
"It is the opening line on so many phone conversations these days: This call may be monitored for quality assurance purposes. The taped message is so common that many callers might assume that no one is ever listening, let alone taking notes. But they would be wrong. Monitoring is intended to track the performance of call center operators, but the professional snoops are inadvertently monitoring callers, too. Most callers do not realize that they may be taped even while they are on hold. It is at these times that monitors hear husbands arguing with their wives, mothers yelling at their children, and dog owners throwing fits at disobedient pets, all when they think no one is listening...Some privacy advocates worry that monitors, as well as operators, can steal customer passwords and other sensitive data." Learn more in the New York Times.
- 10 January 2005
"Computer monitors with mechanical arms, wristwatches and binoculars that play music and phones disguised as cameras are just some of the technological innovations propelling the digital electronics revolution forward. This week's Consumer Electronics Show, the biggest annual gadget showcase in the United States, featured scores of devices that ignore the classical distinctions separating consumer electronic from computer and communications products. Many of the new species are the sort of digital hybrids and half-breeds that would fascinate a techie Charles Darwin, marking the evolutionary progress of the digital entertainment industry. Some hybrids start out as accessories or peripherals — niche products meant to complement a popular computer, television or phone. Others are mainstream products that heap additional features to keep consumers interested." Learn more about this trend of electronic "cross-breeding" in USA Today.
- 7 January 2005
"Schools lag behind much of society in using technology, but students are seeing benefits and clamoring for more access to computers, the government says. Virtually all U.S. schools are connected to the Internet, with about one computer for every five students, according to an Education Department report on school technology. Overall, more schools are using technology to offer tutoring, track student performance and increase communication between parents and teachers. At least 15 states provide some form of 'virtual schooling,' in which young students gain access to individual instruction online. Yet educators still lack of training and understanding about how computers can be used to help students, said Education Secretary Rod Paige." A new report indicates that American schools are failing to effectively use technology as a teaching device. Learn more at Yahoo News.
- 6 January 2005
"The potential of science and technology for tackling poverty is much more than governments realise, UN advisers say. A report for the UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, on how to radically reduce poverty and hunger within 10 years says policymakers lack scientific inputs. It says scientific advisers should join economists at the heart of governments' policy debates on development issues. Otherwise, it says, there is no chance of reaching the Millennium Development Goals of halving world poverty by 2015. The report, Innovation: Applying Knowledge In Development, was prepared by 27 international experts, the UN Millennium Project's task force on science, technology and innovation." A recent report to the U.N. argues that too much politics and not enough science go into the global effort to fight poverty and its related effects. Learn more in the BBC.com.
- 5 January 2005
"The Indian Ocean tsunami disaster has prompted unprecedented use of the Internet. The worldwide power of the Web has allowed millions of people to instantly answer the call from charities trying to raise desperately needed cash...As well as raising cash, the Internet offered people all over the world the chance to post appeals for loved ones missing in the disaster zone. Relatives desperate for information turned to Web sites and message boards in large numbers. And there are many examples of the Web re-uniting families. But this huge reliance on the Internet has created opportunities for scam artists to take advantage of people's generosity." Learn about the variety of ways people are using the web in the wake of the Asian tsunami, at CNN.com.
- 4 January 2005
"Californians entered the new year with the assurance their cell phone numbers cannot be automatically added to the 411 database, the ability to sue spammers and the comfort of knowing rental car companies cannot track their travels, thanks to a spate of privacy-enhancing laws that went into effect Jan. 1. Those outside California's borders may benefit as well. California laws often have effects beyond the state's borders, since companies often find it easier to adapt all of their operations to comply with the Golden State's standards. State legislators prohibited cell phone providers from adding a customer's wireless numbers to a centralized directory unless the company has written permission...[and] Car rental companies in California are now banned from using GPS tracking systems to keep tabs on their customers in order to fine them for side trips to Las Vegas or for speeding." Learn more about California's new laws in Wired News.
- 3 January 2005
"Today, the constant pinging of your e-mail can be like the drip-drip-drip of water torture. We're swimming in doodads and options — text messaging and search engines, Blackberries and blogs, Wi-fi, cell phones that try to do all of the above, and the promise that we haven't seen anything yet. We're shooting through technological rapids that have opened doors and changed the dynamic of work, how we communicate and live, and sometimes even think. All these tools have made our lives easier in many ways. But they're also stirring deep unease. Some are concerned that the need for speed is shrinking our attention spans, prompting our search for answers to take the mile-wide-but-inch-deep route and settling us into a rhythm of constant interruption in which deadlines are relentless and tasks are never quite finished." Some scientists worry that the constant communication and interruptions that new technologies allow is fueling the phenomenon of "cognitive overload". Learn more in the Seattle Times.
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