From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions (ending 16/04):

Education
• Robin Good provides an introduction to a resource article by Peter Morville, on visual thinking and communication solutions.
• Youtube has partnered with some major US universities (Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Yale, etc) to provide Youtube EDU. The more interesting content on the channel is straight from classrooms or lectures, and many schools have posted videos of guest lecturers, introductory classes and even a full semester's course.
• The final instalment of a UK government-commissioned report on school discipline has suggested that children shouldn’t have televisions in their bedrooms, and that a celebrity-saturated culture had led to bad role models.

Environment & sustainability:
• New Zealanders strongly support signing up to a new international agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
• A new study on Monsant’s Roundup herbicide, shows that heavy reliance on Roundup may be weakening the herbicide’s ability to kill weeds.
• Climate change may cause weeds to become a more serious problem in Australia, as scientists there warned last month that tropical weeds may start to “move” southwards.
• According to a new US study, the higher a mother's level of exposure to air pollution in early and late pregnancy, the more likely it is that the baby would not grow properly. At the same time, researchers at Harvard say they are finally able to determine to what extent city air pollution impacts on average life expectancy.
• Researchers at the University of Ediburgh have discovered that failure to control type 2 diabetes may lead to poorer memory and diminished brain power.
• More and more news is appearing around the world to show how serious our water shortages are becoming.

Health & wellbeing:
• The Ministry of Health has launched a depression website to provide practical information, with video clips from NZers who talk about what worked for them. John Kirwan continues to play an integral part in the Ministyr of Health campaign.
• Doubt has been cast on Australian national guidelines that suggest there is a "low risk" level of drinking for under-18s. A Melbourne study shows no "safe" or "sensible" level of drinking for adolescents.

Law & Government:
• The UK government is promoting the idea of temporarily converting empty shops into social enterprises, local art displays or learning centres to help innovative communities prevent high streets declining The hope is to reduce the negative impact empty shops have on the high street - vital for town centre and business confidence.
• The UK Local Government Association is refuting claims by the press industry that council-run newspapers and magazines damage local newspapers.
• A UK commentator warns that the relationship between the press and politicians, will not work for the relationship between politicians and bloggers, who are less concerned about playing by “old rules”.
• The controversial French internet piracy bill that was going to introduce a “three strikes” system, has been defeated in the National Assembly, and an amended version will be reintroduced later in the year.

People, culture & diversity:
• Research from Unisys NZ shows that NZers believe that the global economic crisis will increase their risk of identity theft.
• Social networking users have still not learnt about being caught out by the material they post on their profiles. Tenants in the UK have been evicted after posting photos of a party on Facebook.
• A UK environmental charity has been getting teenagers involved in regenerating neighbourhoods with unused and neglected parks.

Science, technology & transport:
• New research by NASA scientists suggests the ozone layer of the future is unlikely to look much like the past because greenhouse gases are changing the dynamics of the atmosphere.
• A UK parish council is talking about taking a slightly alternative approach to traffic calming.
• Buying a PC with Windows 7 pre-installed, will still mean being able to downgrade to either Vista or XP, although there will only be security updates to the earlier versions.
• A new European study is suggesting that new CO2 standards for vehicles to be introduced in Europe from 2012 will lead not only to savings on oil (mainly via lower oil import volumes) but also to slightly lower global oil prices.
• Investing heavily in electric vehicles raises the need to consider recharging methods. Which is best - charging stations, battery swaps or home charging?
• The US report that showed just how high the risks are from shipping pollution has triggered criticism that European governments are underestimating the health risks from shipping pollution.
• One of London’s least appealing shopping destinations, Oxford Circus, is to have a “Barne’s Dance” crossing intersection. That’s the same kind of pedestrian crossing used at Queen Street intersections, where all traffic stops so that pediestrians can cross in any direction at the same time.