According to their 2005 Energy Policy Act, the US was supposed to have reached a 7.5% target for renewable fuel by 2012. While this may be good for the environment, there is growing concern that national biofuel policies are contributing towards a food crisis. ActionAid are predicting that if all national biofuel targets are met, […] … learn more→

If credits are available for free, what will colleges sell? This is becoming a lot less hypothetical than it was even a few months ago. The MIT/Harvard MOOC provider edX has signed an agreement with Pearson to allow students who are taking the free online courses to have exams proctored. The next step, obviously, is […] … learn more→

In a recent blog on University World News, Rahul Choudaha argues that MOOC’s (massive open online courses) could lead to the decline of international branch campuses. There is some logic to this argument. Access to online learning is available just about anywhere, and economies of scale as represented by the MOOC’s can make education incredibly […] … learn more→

The culmination of an international project which aims to trace the legacy of German Idealism – an explosion of philosophical ideas which emerged from Germany during the 19th century – begins in Cambridge today (Thursday, 6 September). Over the past three years, more than 40 researchers from Britain, Germany and the United States have been […] … learn more→

As we prepare for a new school year, many of us will write lectures either by choice or because we feel or are told we must. I confess that I don’t like to lecture; I much prefer to facilitate student discussion, which places the responsibility for learning back on the students themselves. We have all […] … learn more→

If your goal is to let astronauts write in deep space, you could spend millions of dollars researching, designing, and prototyping pens that will work without gravity—or you could simply hand out a box of pencils. Maybe they could even be special pencils that make a deeper, darker writing imprint and don\’t fade quickly (such […] … learn more→

Last week I wrote about a table of figures I find highly interesting, and earlier this week I found a way to publish the table itself. At first glance, the numbers bring into question the almost universally supposed efficiency of modern agricultural practices and — especially for those of us with active imaginations — perhaps […] … learn more→

Exactly 100 years ago, German geophysicist Alfred Wegener presented his theory of continental drift – the idea that the continents of Earth are gradually drifting apart. And now we have some compelling new information. Wegener’s theory was party based on the observation that the large landmasses of Earth fit nicely together like a puzzle but […] … learn more→

New research published in the planetary science journal Icarus, shows the moon may have been formed by a glancing collision with an “impactor” in the violent days of the early solar system. Contrary to previous research, which showed the impactor more or less stopped dead when it hit Earth, the new model describes a ricochet, […] … learn more→

Sometimes you can’t fake it. This summer I was in Bali, conducting another of my social entrepreneurship trainings for a group of Balinese students and students from my university. In the past this program has been a real struggle for me and for my assistants, caused by personality conflicts, cultural misunderstandings, and less than helpful […] … learn more→