FEAST OR FAMINE

An independent research organization and international evaluation company, SCImago, analyzed and ranked the output of scientific institutions in countries worldwide. It monitored over 30,000 journals (internationally indexed research publications) which researchers consider to be one of the most credible databases of research in the world.   Pakistan moved up 16 rankings, from 43 in the world in 2013 to 27 in 2014, in country-specific scientific research outuput. This is the second highest increase of any country worldwide (Pakistan Today, August 31, 2014). The significant increase is primarily due to the government’s innovative higher education (university) reforms through the Higher Education Commission (HEC). HEC increased public sector university budgets for research over the past 5 years. The funding was increased under the National Research Program for Universities (NRPU). In addition HEC, in collaboration with British Council, launched the three-year Higher Ed...

The Trivia Lover’s Guide to the World: Geography for the Lost and Found (2012) is written by an American geography expert and Teacher of the Year recipient (awarded by the National Association for Geographic Education). The book is separated into 46 sections with 150 “reasonably difficult” trivia questions and their detailed answers. It also includes 52 maps to illustrate the responses. Examples of questions include: (1) Which continent contains 70 percent of the world’s freshwater? (2) Where is the longest canal? (3) Where was the first traffic light used? (4) What country has fewer people today than it did 160 years ago? And (5) What country was the Titanic closest to when she sank? The questions and their interesting facts cover a range of areas, such as oceans, canals, rivers, lakes, mountains, parks, buildings, people, populations, agriculture, secession and unity, borders, medical geography, sports, cities, outliers, and more. It’s designed for the ...

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author of:-  Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author of:-  Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Saint Mary of the Cross: Mary MacKillop – a woman before her time (1982, new edition 2011) is a comprehensive history of Australia’s first saint. Mary MacKillop’s Scottish parents met in Melbourne, Australia, and Mary was their first child in 1842, followed by another seven. Her first job was as governess in Penola, a small country town in South Australia. It was her meeting with Catholic priest Father Julian Tenison Woods that led to her vocation as a nun in 1866 at the age of 24, and her lifelong dedication to the poor, and her establishment of schools across the country. At the same time, she co-founded the Order called the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart – the Josephites. This act began the first of the controversies that followed her career, for there were many who believed that there was no need to establish a new Order when she could have joined the Dominicans. In 1866 there were only 2 Josephite Sisters – Mary and Rose – but a year later there were 11...

Swallow: Foreign Bodies, their ingestion, inspiration, and the curious doctor who extracted them (2011) has a long title, and is indeed a lengthy book. It is about Dr Chevalier Quixote Jackson (1835-1958), a laryngologist who collected foreign items lodged in his patients’ air and body passages – mostly accidental, but sometimes accidentally on purpose, and at other times fully on purpose. The doctor catalogued all the items extracted, which are now an exhibition at Philadelphia’s Mutter Museum, a repository of medical curiosities: bottle caps, pins, nails, wrist watches, padlocks, dolls’ eyes, metal whistles, live fish, cigarette butts, etc. This also includes items lodged in people’s noses. All of the items are kept in drawers and drawers within drawers. Cappello includes information about the doctor’s collection and catalogue notes (although noted that while scrupulously catalogued, “so much is left out”). Jackson noted that when a foreign body (fbdy) had been swallo...

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author of:-  Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Australia’s 16 th annual National Science Week, from 16-24 August 2014, is showcasing innovative design at the Canberra Craft ACT: Craft + Design Centre. The exhibition, Embracing Innovation Volume 4 continues until August 30. The cross-disciplinary exhibition highlights the integration of arts and science. The selection of artists include: Niklavs Rubenis; Stephen Barrass, Linda Davy and Joan Barrass; Blaide Lallemand and Michael Norris; Carlos Montana Hoyos; Cecilia Heffer; Erica Seccombe; Robert Foster; and Stephen Trathen, Eddi Piana, Carlos Montana Hoyos, Bill Shelly and Dale Chapman. Stephen Trathen, Eddi Piana, Carlos Montana Hoyos, Bill Shelly and Dale Chapman present “Sochi Skeleton Sleds” (2012) which is the design prototype of the skeleton sled used in the Sochi 2012 Winter Olympics. Made of stainless steel, carbon fibre composites, and other materials, the actual prototype is accompanied by a video of the sled in use at the Olympics. The sled was deve...