Vocabulary + War ...
Full Steam Ahead on CS-STEM ... By imagining, drawing, and building original videogames, Globaloria students have been boldly demonstrating how art and design and creative cognition can re-ignite STEM learning.
Rethinking Growth ... Herman Daly applies a biophysical lens to the economy and finds that bigger isn’t necessarily better.
Starting Over ... If you only had a single statement to pass on to others summarizing the most vital lesson to be drawn from your work, what would it be? Seed asked eleven scientists this question. These are their answers.
The Art of Science Learning ... It's no secret: American children are behind in math and science, and falling faster by the year. For a group of innovative thinkers gathering in Washington DC, restoring "STEM" in America must go beyond multiplication drills, beyond the latest in computer apps. It's time to re-imagine science learning altogether, they say: it's time for wood and clay, watercolor and chalk.
World Wide Mind ... For an author with cochlear implants, the merger of computer and brain, bytes and thoughts, has never felt far-fetched. In a brilliant new book, Michael Chorost makes his case: by making the internet a new nervous system for humanity, humans will also re-connect with one another in a profoundly new way.
On Discovering Life ... Two separate quests, one to discover habitable worlds, the other to synthesize artificial organisms, now unite to redefine “life” and its place in the universe.
Buddhism and the Brain ... Many of Buddhism’s core tenets significantly overlap with findings from modern neurology and neuroscience. So how did Buddhism come close to getting the brain right?
On the Freedom of Knowledge ... The European Research Council has mobilized to unify Europe's fragmented research efforts through the creation of a single market for scientific knowledge.
On Biotechnology Without Borders ... Biologists have become engineers of the living world. By making their bioengineered solutions to global problems openly available, we can transform the developing world.
On Curing Everything ... Nobel Prize-winning chemist Kary Mullis offers a radical new way to treat infectious diseases as the effectiveness of our current antibiotics wanes.
Humans, Version 3.0 ... The next giant leap in human evolution may not come from new fields like genetic engineering or artificial intelligence, but rather from appreciating our ancient brains.
On Adapting to Sandpiles ... Joshua Cooper Ramo argues that in an era defined by instability, society must remain imminently flexible and turn disruption into a force for good.
On Governing by Design ... We have only begun to tap into design’s real potential to serve as a tool for policymaking, governance, and social agendas. When used correctly, it can integrate innovation into people’s lives.
On Rethinking IP ... Licensing patents for the developing world can help bring innovations in nutrition, medicine, and countless other fields to the people who need them the most.
On Science Publishing ... The scientific paper has long been the unit of scientific knowledge. Now, with print media lapsing into obsolescence, the internet is poised to transform science publishing and science itself.
On Science Transfer ... Emerging global challenges demand rapid responses from the scientific community. This can only be achieved through a reformation of the culture and practice of science—and its relation to the wider world.
Wild Animal Sex ... New research in birds, reptiles, and insects is redefining “normal” sexual behavior, revealing that gender-bending, promiscuous, and dangerous sex isn’t limited to humans.
Mapping Science ... Mapmaking has a new challenge far more involved than depicting the traits of the physical world. As revealed in a stunning new collection, the Atlas of Science, the task at hand is at once ambitious and amorphous: to map the world of scientific knowledge, the collective wisdom that humans have accumulated over time — and continue to generate at an ever-increasing pace.
On Peace ... History—not to mention differing languages, cultures, and values—can make peace difficult to achieve. Science is a common ground upon which nations can collaborate to improve our world.