On Monday, Michael Pollan appeared on NPR’s Fresh Air to talk about avoiding the coming food crisis. (Listen to the podcast.) Earlier this month, in a open letter to the next president, he warned that “the era of cheap and abundant food appears to be drawing to a close.” Fresh Air host Terry Gross asks […]
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced the first set of 104 Grand Challenges Explorations grants, a program that offers $100,000 to seed exciting ideas in global health. (It’s part of the $200 million research initiative called Grand Challenges in Global Health.) These small grants … will foster innovation in global health research and […]
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor — the brain scientist who suffered a stroke, and remembered every detail — visits The Oprah Winfrey Show. The show airs at 4pm Eastern time on ABC channels. Find local listings here. If you can’t catch the show today, you can watch this slideshow about Dr. Taylor’s appearance on The Oprah […]
Your local science museum might offer a “Night at the Museum,” where kids in sleeping bags cuddle up alongside the stuffed mammoth diorama. But at the Guggenheim in New York, an overnight at the museum becomes an act of performance art. A centerpiece of the show “theanyspacewhatever,” opening next week, is Carsten Höller‘s Revolving Hotel […]
Bjorn Lomborg has a bone to pick with environmentalists, and he’s not afraid to let us know about it. In two recent articles in the British press, Dr. Lomborg argues that global warming is both overblown and a waste of money, when there are global concerns both more pressing and less costly to tackle. Instead, […]
Bluegrass legend Eddie Adcock had brain surgery last month to correct an essential tremor — an uncontrollable shaking that left him unable to play the banjo. During the surgery, he stayed awake to give feedback while surgeons prodded his brain, looking for the exact spot to stimulate to control the tremor. His method of feedback […]
Casson at the TED Prize Blog tips us off to two events: XDR-TB Panel in Washington DC tomorrow, Oct. 14: If you live in DC and have an hour at lunch, head over to Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) to view James Nachtwey’s slideshow and participate in a conversation on XDR-TB with […]
Can you reverse her direction of rotation? Cognitive Daily at ScienceBlogs took a reader poll and found that two-thirds saw the silhouetted woman rotating clockwise. About the same number were able to reverse her direction. Those who initially saw the woman rotating counter-clockwise found it easier to reverse her direction — much as the Necker […]
From the TED Prize blog: Today, James Nachtwey is the guest editor of the YouTube homepage. Along with the video of his photographs of XDR-TB and a special message from James to YouTube users, James has “selected compelling examples from other YouTube users that exhibit the power of film to relate a story and spread […]
Now through October 21, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum is asking you to vote for what you think is the best design of 2008. Choose from designs that have already been submitted, or nominate your own on Cooper-Hewitt’s website or via a Facebook app. The winner of the People’s Design Award will be announced live […]
Via Casson at the TED Prize blog (where there’s lots more news about the XDRTB.org movement):
Many of us don’t know how to eat. (And it’s making us fat, sick and disconnected.) This poster and three more like it are turning up in New York subways, confronting us with the vagueness that goes into our food choices. If you really knew that a fast-food burrito meal was 1170 calories — more […]
In today’s beta issue of Tina Brown’s new web newspaper, the Daily Beast, is this surprising and well-reported essay by Adam Hanft: “Did Anti-Depressants Cause the Mortgage Crisis?” He writes: What exactly would turn psychotropic drugs like Prozac and Paxil and Zoloft into a subplot in the subprime mess? It’s the biochemistry. Those drugs are […]
A powerful idea from the unveiling of James Nachtwey’s photos of the XDR-TB epidemic on Friday night in New York City: During the Q&A session with some TB experts and activists, an audience member asked: “We’re talking about XDR-TB, but what about regular TB? What are we doing to cure that?” Dr. Marcos Espinal of […]
We’ve heard from some users (and thank you, those who wrote in!) that the SIGN button on the XDRTB.org home page is not working. If you clicked on SIGN and nothing happened, you can try turning off your pop-up blocker, or use this direct link: SIGN >> to sign the petition and tell world leaders […]
All around Los Angeles this week, Phantom Galleries LA has arranged screenings of James Nachtwey’s photographs of the XDR-TB epidemic. Here’s the full schedule, starting with two showings today, October 5, in downtown LA and in Long Beach: Sunday, October 5, 2008: Elevate Film Festival Nokia Theater at LA Live Downtown Los Angeles 2pm-8pm University […]