In The News

Mobile Marvels

September 25, 2009
In the last decade, mobile phones penetrated even the world's poorest communities, as established Western companies and developing world upstarts filled demand for communication that could not be met in time through landlines and traditional mail delivery. Studies suggest that this telecommunications boom leads to substantial growth in GDP per capita. As a result, the developing world's...

US and China to Unveil Joint Plan to 'Take Over' Cleantech Market

Jonathan Watts September 11, 2009
China and the US have finalized a plan to dominate the world market in low carbon technology. While the details will be revealed later, the plan includes investment in wind, solar and carbon capture technology and infrastructure mainly in China. But with any comprehensive plan, the devil is in the details. Patent rights remain an open issue especially as many believe that China simply uses...

The H1N1 Virus: Varied Local Responses to a Global Spread

Yanzhong Huang September 1, 2009
This past spring, some of the responses to the H1N1 virus, known as the Swine Flu, were surprisingly reminiscent of the SARS epidemic from 2003. That is, some authorities imposed travel restrictions and quarantines to halt the advance of the virus. But as Director of the Center for Global Health Studies at Seton Hall University Yanzhong Huang argues, such methods are a direct contradiction of a...

We Are All Africans

Nayan Chanda July 21, 2009
Racial discrimination is perhaps the most superficial of all prejudices. And this is borne out not simply by an examination of the causes, but also by the scientific data surrounding our common ancestry. Both maternal mtDNA and paternal Y-chromosome show that everyone carries genetic code of African origin. Humans’ differing physical features – blonde or black hair, round or slanted eyes – are...

Europe Looks To Africa For Solar Power

Tom Zeller Jr. July 6, 2009
With the demand for renewable energy rising, a European project is applying innovative means to harvest energy in Africa. The project known as Desertec will seek to produce power through large fields of solar collection mirrors in North African deserts and then deliver that power back to Europe as electricity. Critics have called the plan inefficient and exploitative given that solar energy can...

“Stem Rust” Fungus Threatens Global Wheat Harvest

John Vidal March 23, 2009
With global stockpiles of grain already low and food prices high, a deadly airborne fungus, known as stem rust or Ug99, could compound famines and unrest in developing countries that cannot afford fungicides for their crops. “Plant breeders are now racing against time to develop new resistant wheat strains and distribute the seeds around the world,” reports John Vidal for the Guardian. The fungus...

New Study Shows Climate Change Largely Irreversible

January 28, 2009
A new scientific study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warns that the world approaches the point of no return with regards to climate change. Soon, even halting carbon-dioxide emissions altogether would not reverse the crucial planetary shifts in rainfall, surface temperature and sea level that threaten human life, not to mention geography itself, as huge coastal regions...