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Daily Archives: January 31, 2015

The Largest Cleanup in History – The Plastic Pollution Problem

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“The Ocean Cleanup develops technologies to extract, prevent, and intercept plastic pollution. The Ocean Cleanup’s goal is to fuel the world’s fight against oceanic plastic pollution, by initiating the largest cleanup in history…The plastic pollution problem:

  • Millions of tons of plastic have entered the oceans (UNEP 2005)
  • Plastic concentrates in five rotating currents, called gyres (Maximenko et al., 2012)
  • In these gyres there is on average six times more plastic than zooplankton by dry weight (Moore et al., 2001)”

Severe droughts are forcing researchers to rethink how technology can increase the supply of fresh water.

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MIT Technology Review – By David Talbot on December 16, 2014 “By 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will suffer from water scarcity. Even in drought-stricken California, San Diego stands out. It gets less rain than parched Los Angeles or Fresno. The region has less groundwater than many other parts of the state. And more… Continue Reading

Connecting Health and Care for the Nation A Shared Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap

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The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT – “This draft Roadmap proposes critical actions that the public and private sector need to take to advance the country towards an interoperable health IT ecosystem over the next 10 years. Achieving such an interoperable system is an essential element towards HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell’s vision… Continue Reading

Preparing for Carbon Pricing: Case Studies from Company Experience

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Partnership for Market Readiness. 2015. Preparing for Carbon Pricing: Case Studies from Company Experience – Royal Dutch Shell, Rio Tinto, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company. World Bank, Washington, DC. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/21358 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO. “This report covers case studies with three companies: Royal Dutch Shell, Rio Tinto, and Pacific Gas… Continue Reading

FACT SHEET: President Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative

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January 30, 2015: “Building on President Obama’s announcement in his State of the Union Address, today the Administration is unveiling details about the Precision Medicine Initiative, a bold new research effort to revolutionize how we improve health and treat disease.  Launched with a $215 million investment in the President’s 2016 Budget, the Precision Medicine Initiative… Continue Reading

Surveying American Attitudes toward Climate Change and Clean Energy

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“Resources for the Future has teamed up with Stanford University to conduct an in-depth survey of American perceptions of climate change and energy policies. The most recent poll was released in January 2015 in partnership with The New York Times. The survey asked respondents questions on a range of topics, including: How serious a problem… Continue Reading

Libraries After Charlie Hebdo: The Threat of Violence, The Fear of Self-Censorship

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Lisa Peet – Library Journal – “Although written texts often evoke strong, sometimes contentious reactions, political cartoons and caricatures can be equally incendiary. According to Barbara Jones, executive director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) of the American Library Association. (ALA), “Cartoons are a particular problem in our office—graphic novels and books with cartoons… Continue Reading