I don’t exactly love videogames, but yesterday I found myself eager to play one at a conference where I was supposed to be acting like a responsible, grown-up journalist. I just couldn’t help myself: the game was so inviting and surprising. A team of artists in Singapore have developed the game to simultaneously entertain children […]
Read More… from Earth Girl 2: The 21st century’s answer to Super Mario?
Should the local communities in developing nations have a say in setting the research agenda of foreign scientists working there? There was a resounding ‘yes’ to this question at the opening ceremony and the first plenary session of the 13th International Public Communication of Science and Technology Conference (PCST2014) in Salvador, Brazil (5-8 May). Read more […]
Read More… from Are local people excluded from field research agendas?
The negative consequences of climate change on agricultural production and productivity are with us and resolutions must be implemented to save West and Central Africa, said the Director General, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Dr Nteranya Sanginga. Addressing national and international researchers attending a conference on Biotic stresses, climate change and agricultural production in Cotonou, […]
Read More… from Climate change is with us and we must take action, an expert calls
Although use of mobile phones can help save lives of those who suddenly get heart attacks, only 3 in ten people in developing countries such as Kenya apply the device to text medics of their heart conditions. According to the experts attending the World Congress of Cardiology in Melbourne, Australia, widespread use of mobile phones […]
Read More… from Heart disease: Mobile Phones could be timely, prevent deaths
Cameroon is seeking ways to mobilise its citizens to support a government-led campaign against soaring malaria deaths, as worsening floods aggravate health risks. Government officials in the central-west African country say regular flooding due to erratic rains is partly responsible for the recent spike in deaths from vector-borne diseases, because standing water encourages malaria-carrying mosquitoes […]
Read More… from Cameroon Steps Up War On Malaria Amid Worsening Floods
Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) announced today the Asian institutions that would be part of four new multi-partner research consortia for tackling the impacts of climate change in Africa and Asia. Funded under the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) program, a seven-year, […]
Read More… from Canada and UK’s consortia to tackle key adaptation issues in Africa and Asia
Researchers mustn’t assume that the ‘comms people’ will do all the communicating, says Anna Kuznicka-Marry. Researchers working for a university or research institute may assume that because their organisation employs professional communications staff, there is no need for them to communicate their research. However, research communication is far too important to be left to communicators […]
Read More… from Africa: How Scientists Can Maximise the Impact of Their Research
Rapid technological changes are opening new frontiers in land tenure reform, a recent World Bank conference has heard, but some land tenure experts and community activists are sceptical about how much these technologies will help development. Geographic information, obtained from satellites, drones, databases and other sources such as traditional surveys and presented in computerised form, […]
Read More… from Technology praised for assisting land tenure reform
Officials from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recently told SciDev.Net that they have found high-level policymakers from many nations have a poor understanding of how best to support innovation in firms. I recently attended an UNCTAD expert meeting on fostering private sector innovation for development. There the agency announced it was launching a programme to train policymakers […]
Read More… from View on Private Sector: Innovation ‘spillover’ missed
Although not controlled by one institution, the internet depends on technical standards of protocol and structure to work. The management of these standards is currently conducted by several organisations, including the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Among other things, it’s responsible for the distribution of the IP addresses that label computers or […]
Read More… from A role for developing nations in internet governance?