Author: Editorial Board

By far the most enjoyable part of our recent family trip to London was the afternoon my young son and I spent in Shoreditch, groping our way to No Brow, a comics shop I had noticed on an early morning stroll with our hostess.

Our route was evidence that I had forgotten the coordinates, the street name, the name of the shop… Eventually, I realized we were lost, and that is where the real fun began, as we retraced our steps using street art as bread crumbs.

Ah right, there’s that rooftop mushroom installation!

And there’s that Stik figure…

After a while, a FedEx man took pity on us, ruining our fun by steering us toward the proper address..

I’m not sure I could ever duplicate our trail, but I enjoy trying with Google Street Art. Armchair travelers can use it to project themselves to the heart of ephemeral, possibly illegal exhibitions all over the globe,.

Bogotá… Paris… New York’s legendary 5 Pointz, before the landlord clutched and whitewashed the entire thing in the dead of night. Each up close photo bears a highly informational caption, much more than you’d find in the street itself. Think of it as an after-the-fact digital museum. It’s appropriate, given the ephemeral nature of the work. An online presence is its best shot at preservation.

Those of us with something to contribute can add to the record with a user gallery or by tagging our photos with #StreetArtist.

Source and image.

Australian space scientists will no longer need to go offshore to build satellites, following the completion of the Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre (AITC) at The Australian National University.

The Minister for Industry, Ian Macfarlane officially opened the Centre.

“Australia is doubly blessed because Mt Stromlo also has a long heritage of combining scientific and engineering excellence to design, manufacture and test the high precision instruments which support cutting edge research that I think we often take for granted in Australia but which we should always be proud of,

A new theory of how cancer works could lead to the next generation of treatments of the disease. The theory suggests that cancer forms when recently evolved genes are damaged, and cells have to revert to using older, inappropriate genetic pathways.

Astrobiologists Dr Charley Lineweaver from The Australian National University and Professor Paul Davies from Arizona State University teamed up with oncologist Dr Mark Vincent from the University of Western Ontario to develop the new model.

“The rapid proliferation of cancer cells is an ancient, default capability that became regulated during the evolution of multicellularity about a billion years ago,

A couple weeks back, we mentioned that Brian Knappenberger had released his new documentary about Aaron Swartz, The Internet’s Own Boy, under a Creative Commons license, making it free to watch online.

He now returns with a short op-doc for The New York Times. It’s called A Threat to Internet Freedom, and it explains why preserving Net neutrality remains “critically important for the future of Internet freedom and access.

The search for star power – fusion – has received a major boost with the launch of the Australian Plasma Fusion Research Facility (APFRF) at The Australian National University.

The facility includes Australia’s largest fusion experiment, the newly upgraded H1, which will now be able to heat fusion experiments to temperatures hotter than the core of the sun.

The facility also includes a new machine, MagPIE, which will accelerate research into extreme materials to be used in future experiments involving even higher temperatures and radiation levels.

Senator Zed Seselja pressed the button to initiate a 30,000 degrees Celsius fusion experiment in H1 to conclude the launch.

“This facility and its fine team have a reputation for world-class innovation and research excellence,

Quick note: Earlier this year, J. K. Rowling began writing new stories about the 2014 Quidditch World Cup Finals for Pottermore, the website for all things Harry Potter.

Today, she followed up with a story that takes the form of an article published in The Daily Prophet: “Dumbledore’s Army Reunites at Quidditch World Cup Final

In 2000, I saw someone using screen capture software for the first time. Screen capture allows you to record the screen of your computer as if you had a camera pointing at the screen. It also records your voice.

So you can open up your student’s work onto the screen, mark and highlight their work, turn on the screen capture software and then record yourself correcting their paper. The resulting video, can then be sent to students who can listen and watch the video. You will find some examples here and here. In 2006 I used the idea with a group of 11 students studying English. The feedback was very positive and I realised that the idea had enormous potential. My work was covered by the Times Higher and then led onto various awards, an appearance on TV and was even included in a report handed to the UK government. I have presented the idea in 26 countries around the world.

My original work was done using Techsmith Camtasia but though it is a technology I use extensively, it is not ideal for the feedback idea. I prefer JING, which is a free tool and basically does the whole process of recording, compressing and making ready for distribution in one click. Research is growing and in Canada, Jérémie Sérror worked extensively with JING and found it be to very popular with his students. In Norway Peter Mathisen looked at using the idea across different subjects and in the UK the Open University used the idea on distance learning courses. They all highlight the following:

[1] Much more feedback can be provided. Teachers are able to elaborate and develop points.
[2] More personal. Students like hearing the voice.
[3] Multimodal delivery. Perhaps useful for dyslexic students.
[4] Very versatile. Can be used in a whole range of subjects and contexts.
[5] Good for developing stronger bonds with students. Especially relevant to distance learning courses.

JING is incredibly easy to use and you can download the software and start working with it in minutes. My help videos have been watched something like a 100,000 times. You do need a good internet connection and so do your students. Anyone can view the videos you create, so sharing is easy. I really suggest you give it a try; it can really impact on your teaching and learning.

Source and image.

WHO nowadays, together with the European Respiratory Society (ERS), presented a new framework to eliminate tuberculosis (TB) in countries with low levels of the disease. Today there are 33* countries and territories where there are fewer than 100 TB cases per million population.

The framework outlines an initial “pre-elimination

With regard to writing, Ernest Hemingway was a man of simple tastes.

Were I to employ a metaphor, I’d describe Hem as the kind of guy who’d prefer an unadorned plum from William Carlos Williams’ icebox to Makini Howell’s Pesto Plum Pizza with Balsamic Arugula.

Don’t mistake that metaphor for real life, however. Judging by his 1920 Toronto Star how-to on maximizing comfort on camping vacations, he would not have stood for charred weenies and marshmallows on a stick. Rather, a little cookery know-how was something for a man to be proud of:

“…a frying pan is a most necessary thing to any trip, but you also need the old stew kettle and the folding reflector baker.