Good Fact

Biologically Dated Books

- Adam Clare

For historians it is obviously important to know when events happened and when those events were recorded and this is where biology is important. A biologist at Penn State as figured out that the way biologists track mutations can be applied to the dating of books. Good news not only for historians, but also for book collectors and librarians.

“The so-called “print clock” technique incorporates some complicated statistical formulas. But professor Blair Hedges says much of his analysis on 16th- and 17th-century books and prints was conducted by simply counting the number of discrepancies such as “line breaks” on the same pages in the different editions of a book. An example of a line break would be a faded line in a drawing that may have been bolder in an earlier edition of a book.”

China Aims to Build Green

- Adam Clare

The growth of China’s economy has been staggering, and now they aim to have the similar great growth, but green. It’s wonderful to see such an economic powerhouse direct it’s energy towards environmentally friendly developments, even if the environment was ignored earlier.

“China is about to change “from emphasizing economic growth but ignoring environmental protection to emphasizing both environmental protection and economic growth,” the government said today in a policy paper covering the next five years.

Released by the Information Office of the State Council, China’s central government, the paper says that government is “fully aware” that the situation of environmental protection in the country is “grave.””

UN World Food Programme is Blogging

- Adam Clare

After creating the fantastic and educational video game for kids, Food Force, the UN is providing a way for kids to talk to humanitarian workers on the front lines. From the UN press release:

“Fresh from the global success of the world’s first humanitarian video game designed to arouse children’s interests in the challenges of fighting hunger, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today announced the launch of a blog, an interactive internet chat site, that allows youngsters to talk directly to aid workers on the battle’s frontlines.

“In response to queries from Food Force players all over the world on how they could help, the new blog is a way to channel interest and a place to exchange ideas,” WFP said, referring to the educational video game which has now been played by at least 4 million people since its launch in April 2005 and is currently available in five languages.”

Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work

- Adam Clare

Workers are now leaning towards wanting more leisure time and freedom from work than more money. I really like this new attitude, because I don’t understand the appeal of being more and more stressed out from work.

“Given their choice of unconventional benefits, 33 percent of employees would select a more flexible work schedule.

Twenty-two percent would choose additional family benefits, including parental leaves and personal days, over job training (13 percent) or supplemental insurance (16 percent).

“People are more interested in having a well-balanced life,” Buchenroth said”

Randomly Generated Education

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

A handheld deceived used by a teacher can encourage better learning by randomly generating names to call on in class. The device was created to try to get teachers to call on girls as much as boys so all can learn equally, but an additional benefit is that it helps to keep kids focused.

Maybe it’s the fear of randomly being called upon to answer questions that keep kids focused, or perhaps the success lies in making everyone feel included.

“When teachers use a handheld computer that randomly selects which student to call on, even shy or reluctant pupils will be included in class discussions–and students pay more attention as a result, the researcher found.”

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