FEAST OR FAMINE

  Today’s event was the 10-kilometre fun run,  Odyssea , the 23 rd  annual event to raise money for breast cancer research, starting at the Vincennes Castle in Paris and meandering through the Vincennes Woods.

  Rainstick TM  is an Australian indigenous electrobiology company harnessing the power of lightning to transform the food, agriculture, materials, medical, and research industries. Rainstick TM  biotech startup combines traditional indigenous knowledge systems and modern electrokinetics for the future of food and an alternative to pesticides, fungicides, and genetic modification.    Like thunderstorms, electrical influences on growing systems are an untapped and overlooked resource, says the founder of Rainstick TM , Darryl Lyons, a Maiawali man.    By controlling which electrical signals are given to plants and fungi, Rainstick TM  can encourage certain behaviours around growth, nutrient use, nutrient density, and speed of growth. Darryl Lyons hypothesizes that someday even inter-generational epigenetic expressions can accelerate the process of selective breeding.   Rainstick TM  sees opportunity for this innovative technology for food...

  The City of Paris and the Natural History Museum is celebrating the 10 th   anniversary of their observatory, participatory science project called ‘ Sauvages de ma rue’   – Wildlife of my street – dedicated to urban flora. The project runs throughout the year. It provides an opportunity to better understand the biodiversity of cities and to become a scientific observer of local flora – plants and vegetation. People just have to choose a street and note the plant species on the sidewalk using identification cards. People are asked to observe the plants on a daily basis, look at the base of trees, and explore the sidewalks and lawns. No botanical expertise is required to make a list of species in the neighbourhood. To guide people,  the Natural History Museum  provides very simple tools. There is also an online game called The Plant Game and two training sessions in the form of photo quizzes to become knowledgeable about the 240 most common plant species in Fren...

  I contributed towards a survey on city-led initiatives and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2015-2030. The results of the Devex survey have been published in May 2021 in a special report called Cities Can: Accelerating progress toward the SDGs through city-led initiatives.    The report details the importance of city-led initiatives using data-driven approaches to understanding the local on-the-ground needs, and leveraging local expertise. It also examines working across sectors in a whole-of-system approach to city-led initiatives.    The Cities Can report provides 5 case studies: (1) Harnessing data in multidisciplinary health care, (2) Co-creating safe, inclusive public spaces with Minecraft, (3) Coordinating multiple stakeholders through local champions, (4) Peer-to-peer learning and resilient food systems, and (5) Building long-term results and global impact for climate action and sustainable development.   The Devex report...

      There has been many research articles about the health benefits of listening to music. Recent research has again mentioned the benefits – for brain health, better physical coordination, improved sleep, pain relief, and dementia benefits.   Neurologic music therapist Brian Harris from the Harvard Medical School says that listening to calming music stimulates the part of the brain stem that controls heartbeat and respiration. So, music may lower the heart rate and blood pressure.   Neuroscientist Julia Jones (Dr Rock and founder of The Music Diet) says the foot-tapping, dancing, and playing an instrument – even air guitar – activates the motor cortex and sensory cortex of the brain. This can lead to better brain-to-body coordination and synchronisation.   Listening to relaxing music can trigger the body to mimic sleeping patterns by regulating the heart rate and breathing to reduce anxiety and improve sleep. This seems to be especially if music is heard...

  Data from Tractive, a firm that provides GPS tracking for pets, revealed that people in Britain walk their dogs more than their European counterparts.    British dogs get 177 minutes of activity each day, compared with French dogs that get 170 minutes and German dogs that get 160 minutes of activity per day. British dogs also weigh less than other European dogs. The average British Labrador weighs 28 kilograms compared with 29 kgs and 31 kgs for German and French dogs respectively.    Carri Westgarth, a researcher at Liverpool University in the UK, says that British dogs are also walked more by their owners than American and Australian dogs.    It’s not just dog walking that the Brits are good at – British humans themselves are great walkers. A 2017 study showed that Brits were fifth in the world for the duration of their walking and hiking – and the highest in Europe.     MARTINA NICOLLS Website Martinasblogs Publications Facebook Par...

A global study has analyzed the design of city streets to determine the best connected cities. Connectivity influences people’s decisions to drive or travel by foot, say authors of the first global analysis of street connectivity. The findings, writes New Scientist (12 December 2019), could be used by urban planners to design cities with lower climate impacts. Christopher Barrington-Leigh at McGill University in Canada and Adam Millard-Ball at the University of California, Santa Cruz, assessed the connectivity of street networks in different cities by counting the numbers of intersections, streets radiating off each intersection, dead ends, and loops. They also measured the straightness of the routes between each intersection. They performed this analysis on all 46 million kilometres of the world’s mapped roads. The results show that cities with grid-like street patterns have the best connectivity. Old European cities like Paris and Vienna also score well – despite their...