Unexpected research partner

Science rarely looks to non-scientists for ideas and solutions. But on this occasion, the nuns have helped scientists to understand more about the achoques and how to breed them. The nuns gained lots of their understanding from the indigenous people who know where to find the salamanders.

Eco-conversationalists or Eco-mechanisms?

What have we taken for granted the last 50 years in the way we thought about how to counter global warming and increase sustainability? What can we learn from that to NOT do? What can we learn from that to do otherwise? What has been a seemingly ineffective mechanism for change?

Coronavirus (7) – Groupthink by Governments and Health Authorities

When we proposed in the first blog post about coronavirus that the slow reaction and lax attitude of institutions can partly be explained by the phenomenon of groupthink, we could not imagine that later on groupthink would assume an even more dominant role in tackling the crisis. In the beginning, warnings about an emergent pandemic …

Medical Data: Stagnant Law and Blocking Technology

In an earlier post in the series "21st Century Challenges" about Who Owns Your Medical Data? we discussed the following: In the future, Big Data algorithms and biometric sensors may detect and diagnose a disease before we have started to notice any discomfort or signs. But would you like your insurance company to tell you to stop …

Worse is Better

The population is becoming dumber and more stupid? The number of people with intellectual disabilities is rapidly increasing in highly developed societies. Is it? Or is it that the more complex the society becomes, the more people with a disability in social adaptability need care support? Complexity Complexity expresses itself as difficulties to understand or find an answer, to …

Left Out

Something missing? Well, you can safely assume that any information you are presented with has some relevant information “Left Out”. The originator's perspective, the logic bubble in which he perceives the world and how the information is applied are some possible reasons for the missing information. Also, we may unconsciously miss the presented information because …