Building Social Skills, Alone at a Computer

https://medium.com/bright/building-social-skills-alone-at-a-computer-2c100a502ecc

Ellen Lee

Bright Magazine

18 May 2015

Text / 800-1500 Words

Critics in today's world often say that computers and technology are impeding the social skills of the very young. But Zoo U, a computer game for children, helps kids develop the skills they need such as empathy, impulse control, and communication.

Could adorable tiny tech backpacks save the honeybees?

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/0825/Could-adorable-tiny-tech-backpacks-save-the-honeybees

Jessica Mendoza

Christian Science Monitor

25 August 2015

Text / 800-1500 Words

Concerned with colony collapse syndrome in honey bees worldwide, scientists, farmers and tech companies teamed up in Australia to create a micro-sensor that collects data on the bee's environment.

Transforming banking for the poor

http://www.wsj.com/articles/transforming-banking-for-the-poor-q-a-with-jonathan-morduch-1427810522

Tom Wright

Wall Street Journal

31 March 2015

Text / 800-1500 Words

Microfinance started to help reduce world poverty but, in the long run, without bank accounts it is hard for beginning entrepreneurs to really get going and to help the economy. Now that paying is possible through cellular phones, more people will have the opportunity to have a bank account and hopefully cause a decrease in poverty.

Turning Education Upside Down

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/09/turning-education-upside-down

Tina Rosenberg

The New York Times

9 October 2013

Text / 1500-3000 Words

What is the best use of a teacher’s precious face-to-face classroom time? It’s working one-on-one with students, not lecturing. To free up more time for the important stuff, some teachers are now recording videos of their lectures for students to watch at home.

What To Do About the Antidepressasnts, Antibiotics, and Other Drugs in Our Water

http://ensia.com/features/what-to-do-about-the-antidepressants-antibiotics-and-other-drugs-in-our-water

Elizabeth Grossman

Ensia

11 August 2015

Text / 1500-3000 Words

Prescription drugs are greatly polluting the national water supply, causing researchers to begin looking for a method to better filter water and dispose of unused medicine.

On Columbia, ‘just add water' seems to be working

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/on-columbia-lsquojust-add-waterrsquo-seems-to-be-working

Lynda V. Mapes

The Seattle Times

2 August 2014

Text / 800-1500 Words

New water management technology implemented along the Columbia has significantly helped the fish population - specifically salmon - return to healthy numbers and has restored much of the community and industry that revolves around the river, including for native peoples.

Prizes With an Eye Toward the Future

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/prizes-with-an-eye-toward-the-future

Tina Rosenberg

The New York Times

29 February 2012

Text / 1500-3000 Words

Agencies across the corporate, government, and nonprofit sectors are recruiting ideas from the public by offering prizes for solving challenges. Prize incentives have spurred innovation for centuries, but fell out of favor as the preferred method in the 1800s. Now, prize-based incentives are back, in part because of a flood of new philanthropic money, and because prizes cast a wider net to a largely more educated and tech-savvy global population.

Innovation Within Reach

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/21/innovation-within-reach

Sarika Bansal

The New York Times

21 August 2014

Text / 1500-3000 Words

What about the world’s poorest, for whom new, expensive gadgets are out of reach - what types of innovation would be most beneficial for them? Through “frugal innovation”, people are designing products specifically to meet the needs of the world’s poorest citizens.

How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

http://www.wired.com/2013/10/free-thinkers

Joshua Davis

Wired

15 October 2013

Text / Over 3000 Words

Around the world, a new way of teaching and learning is gaining traction – and seeing results. Rooted in educational theory from the likes of Socrates, Piaget, and Montessori, this method is led by students’ curiosity and ability to learn and grow independently; essentially, the students control their own learning. Such methods make success more attainable in places like Matamoros, Mexico, who has seen exceptional improvement from students who experience learning this way.

Bill Gates Can't Build a Toilet

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/opinion/bill-gates-cant-build-a-toilet.html

Jason Kass

The New York Times

18 November 2013

Text / 800-1500 Words

Ecological toilets that use natural composting to break down waste are simple to construct, waterless and are easy to fix. But as philanthropists are finding, getting these to those that need it most is harder than anticipated.