Seed Magazine

A Battle at Midway

We talk with photographer Chris Jordan, who recently traveled to a remote part of the Pacific Ocean to document effects of the world’s largest known mass of garbage.
What happened to that disposable Solo cup—the one you used once at a work party—after you tossed it into the garbage? For that matter, what [...]

Tags: albatross, battle at midway, environmental toxicity, gyre, marine pollution, marine wildlife, midway islands
Posted in Consider This, Dire Warnings, Innovation Needed, Need to Know, Seed Magazine, Shape of Things to Come?, environment | No Comments »

The Age of Impossible Numbers

Image via Wikipedia

The human brain is poorly equipped for comprehending massive quantities.

This makes sense from an evolutionary perspective; large numbers are relatively new features of our mental landscapes. Thousands, millions, billions, and recently trillions—once reserved for describing cosmic distances of faraway galaxies—have been brought down to Earth in terms of the [...]

Tags: chris jordan, cosmic distances, evolutionary perspective, faraway galaxies, human brain, large numbers, mental landscapes, vastness, visual language, visualizations
Posted in Communications, Seed Magazine, learning | No Comments »

Spotlight on Science Diplomacy

Image via Wikipedia

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband recently made the case for research as a political bridge. How the UK is building a foundation for a new kind of international policy
Last week, top scientists from more than 100 countries gathered in London for one of the biggest scientific meetings of the year: the InterAcademy Panel. [...]

Tags: advances in science, biodiversity loss, david miliband, global problems, science diplomacy
Posted in Consider This, Innovation Needed, Process of Invention, Seed Magazine | No Comments »

When Science Asks, “What if?”

Image via Wikipedia

The visions of tomorrow inspire the actions we take today. Science fiction is as much a reflection of society’s deep fascination with science as it is an agent of change for its future course.
In 1984, William Gibson coined a word—“cyberspace”— and used it in a science fiction novel. At the time, few people [...]

Tags: advanced communications, book neuromancer, communications technologies, cyberpunk book, jules verne, sci fi, science fiction, science fiction novel, scientific advances, technolust, william gibson
Posted in Consider This, Process of Invention, Seed Magazine, Shape of Things to Come? | No Comments »

Trust in the Twitterverse

Image via Wikipedia

With the world scrambling to cover the recent devastating Haitian earthquake, journalists, neuroscientists, and everyone in between are testing the frontiers of social media.
Today, down in the descriptively named Research Triangle in North Carolina, more than 250 scientists, journalists, bloggers, programmers, and multi-hyphenated combinations thereof are planning the future of science communication on [...]

Tags: brainard, communication medium, communication professionals, communication tools, haitian capital, hatians, international communication, iPhone, magnitude earthquake, neuroscientists, physical infrastructure, port au prince, scientific information, trust in the twitterverse, twitterversse
Posted in Communications, Innovation, Seed Magazine, Shape of Things to Come?, social networking | No Comments »