In The News

Africa’s Storied Colleges, Jammed and Crumbling

Lydia Polgreen June 4, 2007
Africa’s institutions used to attract the continent’s future engineers and doctors, with many students going on to become leaders of their country. However, since the 1970s, corruption, mismanagement and government policies that favored primary and secondary education over higher education put the universities on a path to decline. African college students contend with crowded dormitories and the...

Talk to Foreigners and We Will View You as a Spy, Iran Warns Academics

Robert Tait June 4, 2007
Iran recently claimed to have cracked a spy ring backed by the US Central Intelligence Agency – and amid growing tensions with the West, the government has warned academics not to travel to conferences abroad. Contacts with foreigners may seem innocuous at first, Iranian officials warn, but the relationship could quickly transform into an intelligence-gathering mission. Academics who resist the...

Worker Visas Intensify Debate on Immigration

Pamela Constable May 29, 2007
The US Congress hears two different tales when it comes to the need for high-tech workers: Older workers, once highly paid, complain that they cannot obtain work and must seek jobs in other industries; the high-tech industry complains of a dire shortage of workers with computer and math skills. A proposed US immigration reform bill gives priority to skilled labor and would almost double the...

Drop in Students Abroad Threatens Japan's "Edge"

Crystal Wong May 21, 2007
A growing number of Chinese and Korean students attend college in the US, but the number of Japanese students crossing the Pacific has been on the decline for the last decade. While this trend can be attributed to a variety of factors, the most significant is Japan’s traditional labor system: Firms hire graduates straight out of college, offering them in-house training and lifetime employment....

Solar Flashlight Lets Africa’s Sun Deliver the Luxury of Light to the Poorest Villages

Will Connors May 21, 2007
Items taken for granted in one country can be a life-changing force in poor nations. After learning that almost one third of the world’s population lacks access to lighting, Mark Bent, a former foreign-service officer, arranged design of a solar flashlight, manufacturing in China and distribution of more than 30,000 units to Africans in refugee camps and rural villages. The flashlights allow...

End of the Melting Pot?

Ashley Pettus May 14, 2007
Seeking jobs and opportunity in a new country, immigrants often head for communities where family members, friends or acquaintances have already settled. The practice creates pockets of ethnic groups, changing demographics and culture in many US towns, often raising questions about the ability for immigrants to assimilate. This article in “Harvard Magazine” compares immigration throughout the...

If They're Alive, You'll Read About Them Here

Jeremy Manier May 11, 2007
“Constantly reconfiguring, morphing, decaying, the natural world is at once confounding, sublime, brutal and unspeakably elegant.” These words welcome viewers to a new online “Encyclopedia of Life” that will list and describe all species of life – 1.8 million known and some of the millions more yet unknown. Museums, universities, philanthropists and researchers from around the world are teaming...