How Will Religion Regard Nanotechnology?

Stephan: 

When it comes to the world of the very, very small - nanotechnology - we may have a big problem: Nano and its capacity to alter the fundamentals of nature could be failing the moral litmus test of religion. In a report published today in Nature Nanotechnology, survey results reveal some sharp contrasts in the perception that nanotechnology is morally acceptable. Those views, according to the report, correlate directly with aggregate levels of religious views in each country surveyed. In the United States and in European countries where religion plays a larger role in everyday life, like Italy, Austria and Ireland, nanotechnology and its potential to alter living organisms or even perhaps lead to synthetic life is perceived as less morally acceptable. In less religious European countries like France and Germany, individuals are much less likely to find nanotechnology ethically suspect. ‘The level of ‘religiosity’ in a particular country is one of the strongest predictors of whether or not people see nanotechnology as morally acceptable,’ says Dietram Scheufele, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of life sciences communication and the lead author of the new study. ‘Religion was the strongest influence over everything.’ The study compared answers […]

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China’s New Export: Farmers

Stephan:  The Neocon worldview disdains diplomacy of this sort. But it changes lives in a profound way, and changes history because of that. Thanks to Ronlyn Osmond.

China has a shortage of land, Africa a shortage of food. So one entrepreneur had the bright idea of persuading Chinese farmers to emigrate. Liu Jianjun is wearing a brightly coloured African tunic, the tall hat of a tribal leader, a string of red beads round his neck and carrying a stick with a secret knife in the handle. Beside him sits a portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong. It is a slightly incongruous scene but one that mirrors the ever-closer relationship between Asia’s economic giant China and the world’s poorest continent. ‘The African people yell, ‘Mao Zedong is all right’ and they are very warm-hearted when I’m there,’ says one of China’s most prominent private sector ambassadors. ‘The minute Chinese people get off the plane, the Africans are friendly. Chinese do not bring rifles and weapons; they bring seeds and technology.’ China’s Ministry of Commerce triumphantly announced this month that its bilateral trade with the continent is set to hit $100bn (£67.8bn) by the end of 2008, two years ahead of schedule. Africa’s plentiful oilfields and rich mineral deposits are top of China’s imports, and in return the world’s most populous nation is exporting tens of thousands […]

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Mega Solar Power Plant Begins to Operate In Portugal

Stephan: 

AMARELEJA, Portugal — The most ambitious and innovative solar power project in the world kicked off Monday in this white-walled village in the southern Portuguese municipality of Moura, one of the most impoverished areas in the European Union. The Acciona Energy S.A. company has put into service the Amareleja photovoltaic power plant, located 150 km south of Lisbon, which is capable of producing enough energy to supply 30,000 households in the south-central region of Alentejo. Almost simultaneously, the mayor of Moura, José María Prazeres Pós-de-Mina, was selected as one of the ten finalists for the prestigious 2008 People of the Year award granted by OneWorld, a non-governmental news network that is one of the most highly-respected international organisations devoted to raising environmental awareness and promoting change. The only requirement for nomination was that the candidates embody the values of OneWorld, which include human rights for all, fair distribution of the world’s natural and economic resources, simple and sustainable ways of life, the right of every individual to inform and be informed, participation and transparency in decision-making, and social, cultural, and linguistic diversity. Pós-de-Mina, who was born 50 years ago in Pías, another village in the municipality of […]

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U.S. Home Prices Fell at Their Sharpest Pace in October

Stephan: 

Home values in 20 large metropolitan areas across the country dropped at a record pace in October as the fallout from the financial collapse reverberated through the housing market, according to data released Tuesday. The price of single-family homes fell 18 percent in October from a year earlier, according to the closely watched Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller Housing Index. All 20 cities reported annual price declines in October; prices in 14 of the 20 metropolitan areas surveyed fell at a record rate as the financial crisis reached a critical point. ‘October was clearly the free-fall month,’ said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor’s. ‘Everything was going against us in October, without exception.’ After increasing steadily through the first part of the decade, home prices have fallen every month since January 2007, their slide accelerating as troubles in the housing market infected the broader economy and brought down financial firms. Prices are falling at the fastest pace on record, a sign that the housing market is a long way from recovery. ‘It is unlikely that we are anywhere near a bottom in nationwide home prices,’ Joshua Shapiro, chief United States economist […]

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Teenagers Who Take Virginity Pledges No Less Sexually Active, More Likely to Forgo Birth Control

Stephan:  Further evidence, if such were needed, that the abstinence-only programs so dearly beloved by the Religious Right, which have been costing taxpayers 200 million dollars a year, have proven to be a waste of money. Indeed, they have had a negative impact. Thanks to John Alexander, PhD.

Teenagers who take virginity pledges are no less sexually active than other teens, according to a new study. But the results, published in the journal Pediatrics, suggest that virginity pledgers are less likely to protect themselves against pregnancy or disease when they do have sex. Researchers say the findings suggest that virginity pledges may not significantly affect teenagers’ sexual behavior. Instead, they may decrease the likelihood of teenagers taking precautions, such as using a condom or using birth control, when they do have sex. Virginity Pledge May Lead to Risky Sex Researchers say the federal government spends about $200 million annually on abstinence promotion programs, which include virginity pledges. Two previous studies have suggested that virginity pledges can delay sex, but researchers say those studies did not account for pre-existing differences between pledgers and non-pledgers. In this study, researchers compared the sexual behavior of 289 teenagers who reported taking a virginity pledge in a 1996 national survey to 645 non-pledgers who were matched on more than 100 factors, such as religious beliefs and attitudes toward sex and birth control. The results showed that five years after taking the virginity pledge: […]

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