The samba beat, with missteps
From The Economist
The symbolism was clear. With the United States at the fag-end of a disastrous presidency, Brazil assembled 33 countries from across the Americas to discuss a host of issues ranging from defence to the economic slowdown. The two-day gathering, at a resort near the northeastern city of Salvador, marked the first time [...]
Science and China’s Modernization
Wen Jiabao (for Science)
The history of modernization is in essence a history of scientific and technological progress. Scientific discovery and technological inventions have brought about new civilizations, modern industries, and the rise and fall of nations. China is now engaged in a modernization drive unprecedented in the history of humankind.
Over the past half century, China [...]
Is There Really a Freshwater Crisis?
Nell Fox (Scientific American)
Today fully one-sixth of the world’s human population lacks access to clean drinking water, and more than two million people—mostly kids—die each year from water-borne diseases. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), an independent organization that provides economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the foreign policy [...]
Why societies collapse?
Why do societies fail? With lessons from the Norse of Iron Age Greenland, deforested Easter Island and present-day Montana, Jared Diamond talks about the signs that collapse is near, and how — if we see it in time — we can prevent it.
Jared Diamond is an award-winning scholar of ecology, biology and [...]
Crise: o que vem aí
Por Fernando Canzian (Folha de São Paulo)
Um dos mais experientes repórteres de uma grande agência de notícias em Washington saiu de um "pueblito" latino-americano miserável há décadas e fez a vida na América.
Encontrei-o no fim de semana com cara de enterro na sala de imprensa do FMI (Fundo Monetário Internacional). Seu fundo de aposentadoria [...]
