Foot Pedal Irrigation A Until now, governments and development agencies have tried to tackle the problem through large-scale projects: gigantic dams, sprawling, irrigation canals and vast new fields of high-yield crops introduced during the Green Revolution, the famous campaign to increase grain harvests in developing nations. Traditional irrigation, however, has degraded the soil in …
A Theory of Shopping For a one-year period I attempted to conduct an ethnography of shopping on and around a street in North London. This was carried out in association with Alison Clarke. I say ‘attempted’ because, given the absence of community and the intensely private nature of London households, this could not be an …
Honey bees in trouble Can native pollinators fill the gap? A Recently, ominous headlines have described a mysterious ailment, colony collapse disorder(CCD)，that is wiping out the honeybees that pollinate many crops. Without honeybees, the story goes, fields will be sterile, economies will collapse, and food will be scarce. B But what few accounts acknowledge is that what’s …
Attitudes to language It is not easy to be systematic and objective about language study. Popular linguistic debate regularly deteriorates into invective and polemic. Language belongs to everyone, so most people feel they have a right to hold an opinion about it. And when opinions differ, emotions can run high. Arguments can start as easily over minor …
Life-Casting and Art Julian Bames explores the questions posed by Life-Casts, an exhibition of plaster moulds of living people and objects which were originally used for scientific purposes A Art changes over time and our idea of what art is changes too. For example, objects originally intended for devotional, ritualistic or re-creational purposes may be recategorised …
Educating Psyche Educating Psyche by Bernie Neville is a book which looks at radical new approaches to learning, describing the effects of emotion, imagination and the unconscious on learning. One theory discussed in the book is that proposed by George Lozanov, which focuses on the power of suggestion. Lozanov’s instructional technique is based on the evidence that …
Is Technology Harming our Children’s Health? Technology is moving at such a breakneck speed that it is enough to make your head spin. It can be difficult to keep up. However, with each new technological marvel come consequences. Much of the research conducted has shown the extent of the damage being done to our health …
Astronaut ice cream, anyone Breeze-drying is a technique that can help to provide food for astronauts. But it also has other applications nearer home. Freeze-drying is like suspended animation for food: you can store a freeze-dried meal for years, and then, when you’re finally ready to eat it. you can completely revitalise it with a …
Remains of the pterosaur, a cousin of the dinosaur, are found on every continent. Richard Monastersky reports PTEROSAURS Remains of the pterosaur, a cousin of the dinosaur, are found on every continent.Richard Monastersky reports APterosaurs stand out as one of nature’s great success stories. They first appeared during the Triassic period, 215 million years ago, …
Flawed Beauty: the problem with toughened glass On 2nd August 1999, a particularly hot day in the town of Cirencester in the UK, a large pane of toughened glass in the roof of a shopping centre at Bishops Walk shattered without warning and fell from its frame. When fragments were analysed by experts at the …