Primatologist Biruté Galdikas‘ efforts show how one person can make a difference. A world expert on orangutans, Dr. Galdikas and colleagues established Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) in 1986. According toOFI’s website, “As a result of poaching and habitat destruction, viable orangutan populations are on the edge of extinction and could be gone within the next 10 years. […]
Shy Prince with a Huge Heart These may be the worst of times for Japan.They are the best of times for Ryo Ishikawa. Ishikawa is the 19-year-old golf sensation who has captured the minds and imaginations of his Japanese homeland. He is a big-time newsmaker at a very tender age. At a time when most […]
Marie Trempe: Devoted Mother, Autism Education Trailblazer Tony Attwood, author of The Complete Guide to Asperger’s Syndrome, believed that individuals with Asperger’s represent “bright threads on the rich tapestry of life.” Applying these bright threads to tapestries can result in works of art that stand out from the rest; however, properly applying these threads is […]
Photographer Paul Nicklen wants to connect people to the environment. His photos tell people what’s happening in the Arctic and Antarctic. For instance, sea ice is disappearing, affecting polar bears, microorganisms and a host of other creatures and their food chain. With it, an entire ecosystem is disappearing. Yet one picture of a bear dying […]
As the Mississippi River’s waters rise to levels unseen since the 1930s, and floodgates are opened to relieve pressure from the swollen river, scientists hope to turn these dire circumstances into an opportunity to study how the river behaves. Researchers at Louisiana State University are looking at where the river will deposit sediment, the silt and sand […]
No one will argue hard against preserving the Amazon. The region is acknowledged as comprising the largest collection of living plants and animal species in the world. Yet deforestation and environmental damage are extensive, due to farming practices, livestock pasture clearing and settlements. Many efforts have been put into place to save the Amazon rainforest, but much remains […]
With a view to providing positive role models for children in the Islamic world, Naif Al Mutawa created the Teshkeel Media Group and THE 99, comic book heroes working together to improve the world. The idea behind these children’s adventures is to “tell universally relevant stories” that promote “diversity, multiculturalism, personal responsibility and personal accountability”, […]
Learn about a paint that is self-cleaning — it simply doesn’t get dirty. It’s a biomimicry product, meaning its design is inspired by nature. In this case it is based on the phenomenon of water beading on a lotus leaf. The water turns into beads that slide down the leaf walls, which reduces the spread of algae, […]
Quite a bit has been written about this young lady in the past few weeks, but she’s definitely worth mentioning again, for her positive attitude. Samantha Kittle has a brain tumor and she has decided to tell the world about the experience in her blog, www.alieofthemind.com/As described in the Guardian on 26 April, “Moving, graphic, […]
