Democracy Now from the World People's Summit on Climate Change

Some cool stuff happening in Bolivia right now, where they are hosting the World People's Summit on Climate Change. Thousands of participants came from around the world to voice the concerns of the global south and the less wealthy. Concerns over such major issues as the effects of global capitalism, genetically modified crops, and the environmental policies of the developed nations of the world are just a few of the topics being discussed. Amy Goodman and Democracy Now have been broadcasting live from Bolivia all week, and have had some really interesting interviews and stories. Check out their site for the stories from earlier this week, and here's today's interview with Bolivian President Evo Morales:

Seeking Cures in Antarctica

I have a good friend working on his PhD in Chemistry who is currently in Antarctica doing research that was just covered by the Discovery Channel. He spends much of his time analyzing samples in Palmer Station, one of the few research stations on the frigid continent. He also takes part in collecting dives, where he and his colleagues find and collect rare and unusual specimens from the sea. The lead researcher, Bill Baker, was interviewed for a brief piece on Discovery News that describes some of the work they're doing:

In the tissue of the kelp Gigartina skottsbergii Baker has found chemicals that have broad antiviral properties. Marine plants from the genus Gigartina are already used in natural medicine supplements as a flu fighter. But over-the-counter products haven't undergone rigorous clinical testing.

Baker's tests show that the protein from G. skottsbergii is particularly effective against the H1N1 "swine flu" strain, among others. It doesn't kill the virus directly, but disrupts its ability to infect healthy cells, which could prove immensely valuable as a treatment to prevent people from getting sick in the first place.

While it remains uncommon for the team to find new active compounds, their work has found some promising leads. This is interesting to us here at Recycled Minds for a number of reasons, but foremost is because this type of research is novel, and does not rely on the knowledge of others (especially less-advantaged groups) to succeed. Much natural product and botanical research is conduced in highly diverse regions like tropical forests, which are also home to many of the world's indigenous populations. Indigenous peoples are often utilized in the aid of such research, but rarely see any of the benefits of their knowledge. Research like that being conducted in Antarctica is forging new paths of knowledge seeking, leaving the controversies to others.

Read the entire Discovery News Piece here>>>

Of Bards and Bacteria

We came across this strange little article in Wired Magazine, and thought we would pass it along purely for responses' sake.

If the longevity of the written word has been bothering you lately, follow Canadian poet Christian Bök's lead. Evidently, Bök is determined to encode a "poem" into the DNA of a hardy bacteria that will exist for billions of years. We're no microbiologists, but apparently the way he will do this is by creating a cipher that "links letters of the alphabet with genetic nucleotides (adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine, aka ACGT). Each triplet of nucleotides will correspond to a letter so that, say, ACT represents the letter a, AGT represents the letter b, and so on...After using hand-coded software to determine which ciphers will give him the maximum two-way potential, Bök will finally start composing. He says his poem will probably need to have a 'repetitive, incantatory quality.'"

Hmm... this raises so many questions I don't know where to start...

Image: Nishant Choksi

The Senselessness of War: Caught on Film

Today we share a video clip that was released yesterday (Tuesday 4-5-2010) on "WikiLeaks" that shows the 2007 massacre of 12 Iraqi civilians along with 2 Reuters News employees. The video has received some attention from a number of alternative news sites, but virtually nothing from any of the major news agencies. We feel this is the type of footage that people need to see if we are ever going to be able to move towards being a nation that does not engage in war - especially wars with imperialistic ends.

Amy Goodman played clips today on Democracy Now, and then interviewed Julian Assange, the co-founder of WikiLeaks. After explaining the confusion of the US soldiers who thought the civilians might be armed, Assange explains further why it is vital that footage like this is made public:

"What’s important to remember is that every step that the Apache takes in opening fire is authorized. It does pause before shooting. It explains the situation, sometimes exaggerating a little to its commanders, and gets authorized permission.

These are not bad apples. This is standard practice. You can hear it from the tones of the voices of the pilots that this is in fact another day at the office. These pilots have evidently, and gunners have evidently become so corrupted, morally corrupted, by the war that they are looking for excuses to kill. That is why you hear this segment, “Come on, buddy! Just pick up a weapon.” They just want an excuse to kill."

This and other videos like it make it clear that we as human beings need to rethink why it is that we continue to subject others to senseless and barbaric violence. I, for one, know that this is not the type of world I want to be a part of. If you haven't seen the footage, watch it below - but be warned that it is quite violent.

You can also find a longer complete version at CollateralMurder.com.

the WalMart Rap

Oh my... how about a little fun to kick off the month of April?! Came across this over at my friends' blog, and it made me giggle for the full two minutes - enjoy!

Digital Imperialism and Corporate Colonizing

Two videos found on AdBusters show what some might see as an extreme view of our hyper-digital and -marketed world: "All that is Solid Melts into Google," by Peter Woodbridge, and a trailer for the Oscar-winning "Logorama." Placed beside one another, the videos give us something else to think about: that while we are worrying about "digital imperialism" and being "e-slaves," our other reality has been colonized for a long time now.

Check out the videos and tell us what you think:

all that is solid melts into google from Peter Woodbridge on Vimeo.

Henry Giroux on Public Intellectuals and the Crisis of Language

Henry Giroux's recent article on truthout.org brings to light the importance of a public role for academics and intellectuals, and the tension that arises in accusations of elitism and convoluted discourse. Following are just a few excerpts we pulled out, but be sure to check out the whole thing here.

From the beginning:

"The presupposition that academics no longer function as critical public intellectuals willing to connect their knowledge and expertise to larger public issues is now pervasive. Many factors have contributed to this alleged withdrawal from speaking to public issues, ranging from the demands of academic professionalism and the suppression of dissent to a simple lack of time to address such work."

A breakdown of his argument:

"First, I argue that academics should assume the role of critical public intellectuals. Second, we must repudiate the popular assumption that clarity is the ultimate litmus test to gauge whether a writer has successfully engaged a general educated audience. In this regard, I insist that the appeal to clarity has become an ideological smokescreen for a notion of common sense and 'simplicity' that have become excuses for abusing language as a marker of the educated mind. Third, I argue that public intellectuals need to take matters of accessibility seriously in order to combine theoretical rigor with their efforts to communicate forcefully and intelligibly to a larger public about the most pressing matters of the day. In short, I want to scramble the opposition between the work of public intellectuals and the alleged simplicity of clarity."

Lastly, a very interesting take on the work language does:

"One of the things that I therefore see as an extraordinarily useful job is to make people sensitive to the uses of language, not as a kind of arcane classification of languages in let's say the jargon of mechanical engineering versus the jargon of political science, but rather the way in which language carries forward values, does work. It does actually work, it performs services of one sort or another and above all, how language can change perceptions and indeed in the end change the world in which we live. And unless we have a sense of the way in which language can in fact change reality, instead of the other way around, which we always assume, then I think we're committed to a use of language that is dead and passive."