Breadfly's links http://www.oyax.com/user/Breadfly/links/ Wed, 07 Jan 2009 06:45:29 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.oyax.com/images/top_logo_small.gif http://www.oyax.com/ Feed provided by oyax.com. Click to visit. http://blog.ted.com/2009/01/the_science_of_1.php Today's TEDTalk, from Kary Mullis, touches on a powerful topic -- how modern science is funded, and how the availability of money can drive scientific inquiry just as powerfully as curiosity or necessity can. Several other TEDTalks discuss this often-hidden driver of scientific research. Highly recommended is the TEDTalk from medical activist Michael Milken. In his work fighting prostate cancer, Milken has developed a groundbreaking approach to funding medical research to get significant, near-term results. Breadfly Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:09:22 +0100 http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i18/18b00601.htm To concede that some people are genetically encoded to have shorter fuses than others or are more likely to gain weight if granted unlimited access to Oreos is hardly to embrace a view of humans as lumbering robots ruled by genes, contributors to the AJS issue argue. Admitting as much is just the first step in a rich inquiry into the biological and social forces shaping human lives — an inquiry that sociologists, like few others, are equipped to make. But even the most gung-ho genetically minded sociologists will say that their first baby steps toward consilience, E.O. Wilson's term for the uniting of the biological and social sciences, don't match that lofty rhetoric. In general the genetic sociological work is highly statistical, often involving relatively new multivariable techniques. It is devoid of the narrative description that sociologists who immerse themselves in their subjects' lives can offer. Breadfly Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:07:43 +0100 http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/01/04/how_the_city_hurts_your_brain/ One of the main forces at work is a stark lack of nature, which is surprisingly beneficial for the brain. Studies have demonstrated, for instance, that hospital patients recover more quickly when they can see trees from their windows, and that women living in public housing are better able to focus when their apartment overlooks a grassy courtyard. Even these fleeting glimpses of nature improve brain performance, it seems, because they provide a mental break from the urban roil. This research arrives just as humans cross an important milestone: For the first time in history, the majority of people reside in cities. For a species that evolved to live in small, primate tribes on the African savannah, such a migration marks a dramatic shift. Instead of inhabiting wide-open spaces, we're crowded into concrete jungles, surrounded by taxis, traffic, and millions of strangers. In recent years, it's become clear that such unnatural surroundings have important implications for our mental and physical health, and can powerfully alter how we think. Breadfly Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:05:25 +0100 http://www.plentymag.com/blogs/notebook/2009/01/for_sustainable_farming_persis.php Sustainable farms provide the fundamental human need of food, and they provide for it in a way that is healthy for the land and people—it’s free of harmful chemicals, builds up the soil where it is eroding, and provides habitat and beauty on the landscape. If the dominant economy does not reward farmers who work in these ways, then the economy is not aligned with right action. Breadfly Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:04:32 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081229104658.htm Interest in organic crop production is increasing around the world. Organics are healthy for consumers while adding environmental benefits and decreasing the amount of synthetic herbicides in foods, soil, and water. While organics gain popularity with consumers, organic farmers are faced with new production challenges, especially managing and reducing invasive weeds. Breadfly Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:03:51 +0100 http://www.alternet.org/environment/117200/my_war_against_food_nazi_moms/ It's madness: Feeding your child a sandwich made with white bread or a bag of Doritos could cost you custody of your children? Breadfly Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:02:44 +0100 http://planetgreen.discovery.com/go-green/green-coffee-tea/ Coffee is the world’s most commonly traded commodity after crude oil, and tea is the world’s most consumed beverage after water. So if tea and coffee are up there with oil and water on the world stage, we know there must be a lot at stake here. One thing that’s definitely at stake is our desire to get a tasty, healthy, perky, fairly-traded, and eco-friendly brew to sip. Read on for a spin through some of the finer points of green coffee and tea connoisseurship. Breadfly Mon, 05 Jan 2009 03:10:32 +0100 http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/009246.html By enabling solutions like bus rapid transit, district heating and product service systems, the dense, compact communities found in cities allow us to pool our resources and work together to collectively improve our quality of life. In the past year, we saw lots of new solutions for making cities even better with the help of inventions that help us live well while living close together. Below is a collection of our best posts on cities from 2008: Breadfly Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:42:30 +0100 http://blogs.openforum.com/2008/12/31/ten-tiny-things-every-small-business-owner-should-do-in-2009/ Breadfly Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:40:33 +0100 http://pedestrianfriendly.com/2009/01/02/better-community-design-makes-happier-citizens/ ” ‘A city can be friendly to people or it can be friendly to cars, but it can’t be both,’ the new mayor announced. He shelved the highway plans and poured the billions saved into parks, schools, libraries, bike routes and the world’s longest “pedestrian freeway.” Breadfly Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:39:32 +0100 http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22237 In June, Senator Grassley revealed that drug companies, including those that make drugs he advocates for childhood bipolar disorder, had paid Biederman .6 million in consulting and speaking fees between 2000 and 2007. Two of his colleagues received similar amounts. After the revelation, the president of the Massachusetts General Hospital and the chairman of its physician organization sent a letter to the hospital's physicians expressing not shock over the enormity of the conflicts of interest, but sympathy for the beneficiaries: "We know this is an incredibly painful time for these doctors and their families, and our hearts go out to them." Breadfly Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:38:21 +0100 http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/009249.html Breadfly Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:35:24 +0100 http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/009254.html Breadfly Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:34:45 +0100 http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/12/urban-chicken-keeping.php “In the last year to 18 months we have had people on the phone every day... I think there are a few factors that have come together. The credit crunch is a driver. The cost per egg of having your own hens is a fraction of what you would pay in the supermarket. And many people remember their grandparents having allotments, the fun of doing that and the social benefits, living off your own produce. In the current climate it is a lot more economical.” Breadfly Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:33:22 +0100 http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/009255.html Breadfly Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:32:14 +0100 http://www.landfit.org/ 'LandFit' is an initiative for bringing would-be gardeners together with gardens. You could call it garden sharing. Or open allotments. Basically we want to make the most of the green space in the city for the benefit of those who want to get their hands dirty doing some gardening. The concept can work anywhere that a gardener and someone responsible for a garden (the 'lead stakeholder') agree to letting the gardener work in the garden. An example is the front garden three doors away from me, where my potatoes are just now coming up. As an organisation, 'LandFit' is about trying to help such agreements happen, and in ways which encourage food growing. What Landfit is not, is a free gardening service. In order for the concept to work, the gardener needs to have relative freedom in cultivation, again much the same as an allotment. Breadfly Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:30:59 +0100 http://landshare.channel4.com/what-best-describes-you You are someone who has seen some land in your local area that may be suitable to be used for growing fruit and vegetables. This might be land that appears to be derelict, or land on a property that is being used by people or an organisation who might consider allowing people to access it to grow fruit and vegetables (e.g. space around a local community hall or church). Breadfly Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:30:04 +0100 http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/land-sharing-is-trend.php It is a simple and optimistic idea. People register their interest as a grower, a spotter --someone who has seen land in their area that may be suitable for growing--or an owner. The register, once it is up and running, will put these people in touch with each other. Breadfly Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:28:57 +0100 http://www.plentymag.com/blogs/ecoeats/2008/12/the_sustainable_agriculture_co.php The Sustainable Agriculture Coalition ...a lobbying alliance that represents farm, conservation and rural development groups and aims to affect federal agricultural policy, has, in response to agriculture-related promises made during the Obama-Biden campaign, written a set of articulate, well-considered recommendations[pdf] to the President- and Vice-President-Elect. What were those promises, again? Breadfly Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:27:54 +0100 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/04/green-oil-olive-british-rapeseed At the point of purchase, our brains tend to conjure up visions of bucolic groves, and we seek out the finest "virgin" or "first press" so as to ingest its health benefits (critics say these are far from conclusive). However, given the size of the market and the industrialisation of olive farming, hillside groves are rare. More than 4% of the EU's agricultural land is given over to olive farming, while 2.5 million producers make up a third of EU farmers. Until last year the famous Cap (Common Agricultural Policy) encouraged industrial farms to grow olives in larger quantities than ever by giving them subsidies. Water shortages, drought, soil erosion, and desertification and pollution from agrichemicals can be attributed to progressive industrialisation in olive farming across Mediterranean regions. Then there's the impact of the processing and disposal of liquid effluent from olive mills to contend with. Breadfly Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:27:05 +0100