Water has long been the poor relation in the sustainable development family.   Although diarrhea caused by dirty water is the second biggest killer of children under five, funding for water and sanitation declined from an already low 8% of total development assistance to just 5% between 1997 and 2008, according to a 2010 UN report.  And most of that does not go to the world’s poorest countries, or people.  Providing water and basic sanitation to those most in need clearly remains a low political priority.  But without it communities will never escape poverty, and money spent on other sectors, such as education and health, may ultimately be in vain.

Turning the Tides on World Water Day.

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“I think we may just be scratching the surface of what can be achieved by combining existing knowledge and data from the climate and agriculture communities,” Lobell said. “Hopefully this will help catalyze some more effort in this area.”

http://news.discovery.com/earth/climate-change-and-corn-a-bad-combo-in-africa-110321.html

While the results of this are not promising for the staple crop in East Africa, I want to highlight the way these things came together. Often it’s cross-discipline collation or the juxtaposition of two or more pieces of information that yields useful answers. And how to do that – the skills and practices of  ”be a generalist” – aren’t much taught anymore. Bucky Fuller used to point out that the US Naval Academy once taught generalism, but it too has succumbed to the specialist notion.

The loss of generalists is increasingly expensive in lost opportunities. But because these are “forward” losses instead of direct financial losses, they don’t show up on anyone’s balance sheet.  if our society was run by generalists, or strategists, we might have noticed that a while ago. Since it’s run by economists, we’re completely unaware of the issue.

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via From bacteria to electricity: The future of green energy.

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Imagine – kids actually learning that science is fun! What a concept.

Since 1996, we have served over 60,400 students and over 4,000 teachers.  Each of these students on average participates in 20 workshops a year resulting in over 1,019,735 student contacts since our founding.  In the 2007-08 academic year we served 20,273 preK-12th grade students. In the 2008-09 academic year we will serve over 25,000 preK-12th grade students at 120 schools in 28 school districts.

We are a partnership of students, parents, teachers, scientists and science professionals who have come together to help foster this interest in science. SSW networks with professors, scientists, and educators throughout the USA. A Schmahl Science Workshop goes on-site, off-site, any site —anywhere. We will take our program to anyone who wants to learn.

http://schmahlscience.org/

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My first question on this is “how is a gang defined?” If this is an actual link to a predisposition to group violence, I would expect to see it also correlated with military volunteers, and particularly those most inclined to violence within the military. Casting this as a “gang-related” gene is a political statement of framing.

Boys who carry a particular variation of the gene Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA), sometimes called the “warrior gene,” are more likely not only to join gangs but also to be among the most violent members and to use weapons, according to a new study from The Florida State University that is the first to confirm an MAOA link specifically to gangs and guns.

via FSU study links ‘warrior gene’ to gang membership, weapon use.

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