100 U.S. troops were sent to Africa to help end the reign of terror of the monstrous Joseph Kony and his Lord\’s resistance army. According to the Los Angeles Times, President Obama has sent about 100 “combat-equipped” special ops troops to Africa targeting the leadership of the Lord’s Resistance Army, which has been committing atrocities […] … learn more→

Systems to harness the sun’s energy typically generate either electricity or heat in the form of steam or hot water. But a new analysis by researchers at MIT shows that there could be significant advantages to systems that produce both electricity and heat simultaneously. The new study incorporates thermoelectrics — devices that can produce an […] … learn more→

The School of Fashion and Textiles at RMIT University has won another flagship sustainability award. Following its success with the 2011 Premier\’s Sustainability Award for Tertiary Education, it has received a Green Gown Award in the Learning and Teaching category. The prize was presented at the Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS) conference in Adelaide. The […] … learn more→

To prevent the collapse of worldwide fisheries and the death of coral reefs, fishing communities must be able to earn alternative incomes from other industries, a marine researcher warns. Setting up marine protected areas (MPAs) to curb overfishing will not be enough to remove one of the biggest threats to ocean life, Dr Simon Foale […] … learn more→

The global trend towards using fluorescent globes instead of incandescent ones as a strategy to beat climate change could be increasing eye disease, according to new research by scientists at The Australian National University. Published in the American Journal of Public Health, the new study has found that fluorescent lighting may cause a 12 per […] … learn more→

Nearly half of the State of Victoria\’s academics are unhappy with their jobs and blame mounting administration and corporatisation in the workplace, according to new research. A study by Dr James Doughney from Victoria University’s Centre for Strategic Economic Studies and Dr Nick Fredman from Melbourne University’s LH Martin Institute found dissatisfaction among academics had […] … learn more→

Gadhafi’s death brings to a close the war for liberation that has wracked Libya for much of this year, but pushes to the forefront a host of new issues that have only just remained under the surface, particularly over the few weeks. How these issues are handled will shape Libya’s foreseeable future. There are a […] … learn more→

Technology can be a tricky thing to handle. You might know how to make iPads, but that does not necessarily mean that you know how to use them. Universities are another case: they are the primary source of technological innovation but less good at making the leap to apply it to what they do best […] … learn more→

In research that has been released to the media, though not yet peer-reviewed, a group of independent researchers has concluded that global warming is real. The research analyses temperature data from 15 sources and was intended to directly address scientific concerns raised by skeptics, including the urban heat island effect (UHI), temperature station quality and […] … learn more→

Peter Norvig is Director of Research at Google Inc. Norvig1He is a Fellow of the AAAI and the ACM and co-author of Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, the leading textbook in the field. Previously he was head of Computational Sciences at NASA and a faculty member at USC and Berkeley. What is the motivation for […] … learn more→