You certainly can’t tell by looking, but our kids love to help clean the house. Unfortunately, this is one thing I’m sure they didn’t learn by example. If I enjoyed it even half as much as they do, we could probably do something crazy like invite people over for dinner once in awhile. Maybe someday they’ll be able to do
Here’s some encouraging news. The Measles Initiative partnership recently announced that worldwide measles deaths fell 60% from 1999 to 2005, from 873,000 down to 345,000 deaths per year. That’s 528,000 lives saved every year. “One of the clearest messages from this achievement is that with the right strategies and a strong partnership of committed governments and organizations, you can rapidly reduce
Doctors Without Borders recently released a list of the 10 most under-reported humanitarian crises of 2006, which they say “accounted for just 7.2 minutes of the 14,512 minutes on the three major U.S. television networks’ nightly newscasts for 2006.” Central African Republic Tuberculosis Chechnya Sri Lanka Malnutrition Democratic Republic of Congo Somalia Columbia Haiti Central India
Scientists at ECOCEAN are using pattern-recognition software developed for NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope program to recognize individual whale sharks, which are covered with small, white spots on a dark background similar to a starry night sky. I wrote a short news piece about it for the May/June 2007 issue of KNOW–The Science Magazine for Curious Kids.
This was a fun assignment — find out what local elementary schools and teachers are doing to teach philanthropy and community to their students. There were some great ideas, and the enthusiam behind the projects was truly inspirational! “Little kids can make a big difference,” ParentMap, December 2006
This short article, about newborn screening tests, was the second half of BabyMap’s Decision Digest column for the Fall/Winter 2006 issue. “Prenatal and newborn screening tests,” BabyMap, Fall/Winter 2006
This short article, about the pros and cons of various prenatal tests, was the first half of BabyMap’s Decision Digest column for the Fall/Winter 2006 issue. “Prenatal and newborn screening tests,” BabyMap, Fall/Winter 2006
Despite the not-so-glamorous subject matter, my short news piece for kids about San Francisco’s dog poop recycling looks great! You can check it out on page 5 of the Sept/Oct 2006 issue of KNOW–The Science Magazine for Curious Kids (published in Canada, for ages 6–9).
Here’s another somewhat controversial topic: should babies and young children take swimming lessons? The AAP says they’re not ready, but many parents (including myself) believe there are big benefits to starting early. “Should your baby swim?, ParentMap, July 2006
On May 14th, the UN sought to remind people that the Congo remains world’s deadliest catastrophe. The problem is, who in the world even knows that 1,200 people are dying there every day, or that three months ago the United Nations launched an appeal for $682 million to provide the needed water, food, medical assistance, shelter and protection? Yes, we’re