I have always loved the powerful presentations on TED.
TED is a small nonprofit organisation devoted to 'Ideas Worth Spreading'. It launched in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design.
The annual conferences in Long Beach and Oxford bring together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes!). I download them to my ipod and watch them when I'm on the train or waiting in a queue.
Here's a superb presentation from Clay Shirky 'How Social Media can Make History'.
Monday 27 July 2009
Wednesday 22 July 2009
Tour of Clyde Williams Building at Loughborough
Had a great day back at Loughborough University culminating in a lunch meeting with the eminent Professor Clyde Williams.
It was amazing to tour the incredible new state of the art Clyde Williams building which is part of the University's School of Sport, Exercise and Human Sciences and was opened by the Princess Royal last month.
The superb £12m construction houses 27 laboratories, four teaching rooms and a large lecture theatre, along with facilities for physiological, molecular and environmental technologies including two climatic chambers, a sprint lane and bespoke training and testing equipment.
How very different from the labs there when I was at Loughborough.
When the building was opened the ever humble Professor Williams, who joined the University in 1978 said: "I still feel very much a part of the sport and exercise science community and am still active in research and other academic activity so its a strange feeling to have a building named after me. Its something I never expected.
"When I came to Loughborough my first job was to clear the locker rooms that had been assigned as our lab. For 30 years weve been doing great research in sub-standard conditions and I've fought long and hard to get a better facility, but this is better than I ever could have expected.
"It's been a long time coming and I'm delighted with what we have now and what we can hand over to the researchers of the future."
It was amazing to tour the incredible new state of the art Clyde Williams building which is part of the University's School of Sport, Exercise and Human Sciences and was opened by the Princess Royal last month.
The superb £12m construction houses 27 laboratories, four teaching rooms and a large lecture theatre, along with facilities for physiological, molecular and environmental technologies including two climatic chambers, a sprint lane and bespoke training and testing equipment.
How very different from the labs there when I was at Loughborough.
When the building was opened the ever humble Professor Williams, who joined the University in 1978 said: "I still feel very much a part of the sport and exercise science community and am still active in research and other academic activity so its a strange feeling to have a building named after me. Its something I never expected.
"When I came to Loughborough my first job was to clear the locker rooms that had been assigned as our lab. For 30 years weve been doing great research in sub-standard conditions and I've fought long and hard to get a better facility, but this is better than I ever could have expected.
"It's been a long time coming and I'm delighted with what we have now and what we can hand over to the researchers of the future."
Tuesday 14 July 2009
Like Mother like daughter when it comes to obesity…
It feels like we’re constantly bombarded with the latest research about childhood obesity, but yesterday’s stats reported in the 'International Journal of Obesity' were really thought provoking.
The new study by the Plymouth's Peninsula Medical School has revealed a clear link in obesity between mothers and daughters and fathers and sons, but surprisingly there was no correlation across the gender divide.
It turns out that obese mothers are ten times more likely to have fat daughters than those of healthy weight and obese fathers are six times more likely to have obese sons – but in both cases children of the opposite sex were not affected.
According to the researchers, it's "highly unlikely" that genetics is playing a role in the findings as it would be unusual for them to influence children along gender lines. They are attributing the results to some form of "behavioural sympathy" where daughters copy the lifestyles of their mothers and sons their fathers.
Obviously this research leads to suggestions for interventions aimed more at parents than children. Professor Terry Wilkin, who published the findings in the International Journal of Obesity, said: 'It is the reverse of what we have thought and this has fundamental implications for policy. We should be targeting the parents and that is not something we have really done to date.'
It would be fascinating to establish if the same ‘mother / daughter’ principle also follows for more positive lifestyle factors such as exercise and physical activity. As the mother of three daughters it will encourage me to get my trainers on get running more often.
The new study by the Plymouth's Peninsula Medical School has revealed a clear link in obesity between mothers and daughters and fathers and sons, but surprisingly there was no correlation across the gender divide.
It turns out that obese mothers are ten times more likely to have fat daughters than those of healthy weight and obese fathers are six times more likely to have obese sons – but in both cases children of the opposite sex were not affected.
According to the researchers, it's "highly unlikely" that genetics is playing a role in the findings as it would be unusual for them to influence children along gender lines. They are attributing the results to some form of "behavioural sympathy" where daughters copy the lifestyles of their mothers and sons their fathers.
Obviously this research leads to suggestions for interventions aimed more at parents than children. Professor Terry Wilkin, who published the findings in the International Journal of Obesity, said: 'It is the reverse of what we have thought and this has fundamental implications for policy. We should be targeting the parents and that is not something we have really done to date.'
It would be fascinating to establish if the same ‘mother / daughter’ principle also follows for more positive lifestyle factors such as exercise and physical activity. As the mother of three daughters it will encourage me to get my trainers on get running more often.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
