Dalai Lama Wins Templeton Prize
The Dalai Lama has won the Templeton Prize for exceptional contributions to affirming life’s spiritual dimension by spreading his message of compassion worldwide.
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True Economic Measures Factor In Natural Resources
Traditional measures showing strong economic growth in Brazil and India over nearly two decades fail to take account of the depletion of their natural resources, scientists and economists at the “Planet Under Pressure” conference in London said. Scientists and environment groups have been pressuring governments to include the value of their countries’ natural resources –…
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Scientists Look to the (Diminishing) Ice to Explain ‘Weather Weirding’
Lurching from one weather extreme to another seems to have become routine across the Northern Hemisphere. Parts of the United States may be shivering in March, but Scotland is setting heat records. Across Europe, people died by the hundreds during a severe cold wave in the first half of February, but a week later revelers…
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Military Wants Keys to Biological Clock
An unprecedented project that will attempt to unravel the ways our biological clocks tick is underway by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. No one really knows the details of how our body clocks work. But when the rhythms get messed up, the results can be horrendous. Accidents, loss of productivity, disease, including…
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Most Cities Unprepared for Coming Population Boom
The world’s cities are mushrooming at the rate of around 1 million people a week as the planet’s population heads toward 9 billion people by 2050 from 7 billion now. Urban areas are set to sprawl over an extra area equivalent to most of Europe within 20 years, yet little is being done to prepare for…
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Big Philanthropy’s Role in Higher Education
This is truly the era of the megafoundation. The private-philanthropic sector in the United States has experienced an explosion in the net worth and annual-giving potential. According to the Foundation Center, as of March 8, 2012, total foundation giving in the United States (circa 2010) was about $20.5 billion.
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Farming Needs ‘Climate-Smart’ Change
Major changes are needed in agriculture and food consumption around the world if future generations are to be adequately fed, a major report warns. Farming must intensify sustainably, cut waste and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from farms, it says. The Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change spent more than a year assessing evidence from…
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Fatty Diet Leads to Fat-Loving Brain Cells
Cheeseburgers pack on the pounds, but in mice a high-fat diet also packs on new nerve cells in the brain. More brain cells may seem like a good thing, but these newly sprouted cells appear to trigger weight gain in the animals, a new study finds. The results offer insight into how the brain controls…
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An Invisibility Cloak for Heat
Infrared sensors are able to peer into the night and see people in complete darkness because people give off body heat. But what if a person could wear clothing that makes their body heat silhouette invisible to infrared lenses? Scientists in France are working on an invisibility cloak for heat and have reported their research…
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New Plastic Mimics Skin’s Ability to Bleed, Heal
The next time you get a new smartphone or laptop and accidentally drop it, instead of getting permanent cracks or damages to its plastic casing, your gadget might “bleed” and then heal itself. Researchers at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg recently announced a new type of plastic they claim can mimic the human…