Light plays a central role in human activities. On the most fundamental level through photosynthesis, light is necessary to the existence of life itself, and the many applications of light have revolutionized society through medicine, communications, entertainment and culture. Industries based on light are major economic drivers, and light-based technologies directly respond to the needs of humankind by providing access to information, promoting sustainable development, and increasing societal health and well-being.
Innovation without Bounds
Exactly one hundred years after Albert Einstein first predicted the existence of gravitational waves, the multinational research and collaboration of more than 1,000 scientists culminated this year in the stunning observation of the phenomenon. Such an inspiring breakthrough did not happen overnight; rather, it was reached through a century of observations, questions, ideas and trials, generated by the thousands of people who dedicated their professional lives to advancing the science along the way.
Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step it up for gender equality … also in science!
Women will get to equality in the end. The only question is, why should we wait?
Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, 2015
After the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995),189 countries unanimously adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action that established a series of strategic goals to achieve gender equality, which were summarized in twelve critical areas – including Education and training of women.
Despite changes and improvements in women’s rights, twenty years later, no country has succesfully completed the programme. The following Infographic: Gender equality – Where are we today? shows the situation of inequality that women suffer in the XXI century. On this sense, the Beijing +20 campaign wants to boost the creation of new networks, streghtening political will and mobilize the population to achieve the Planet 50-50 goal by 2030.
Every Picture tells a Story II
Every Picture tells a Story I
These days we are working on collecting information about IYL 2015 activities around the world. The IYL National Nodes have been very helpful sending us images of selected activities. We’ll be sharing all these pictures on the IYL website very soon but, during the following days, we would like to share on the blog a first glimpse of these pictures from IYL 2015 activities around the world.
Meditating on Invisibility: When Light Meets Glass
It is easy for us to imagine an instance in which the invisible meets the visible. Imagine a beam of light, which is normally invisible, striking a reflective surface and bouncing into our eyes. The light that was invisible is now visible. From our perspective as observers, it has been transformed.
Now please imagine an instance in which the invisible meets the invisible. Imagine light striking glass. If the glass is perfectly transparent, it is virtually invisible. When a beam of light strikes it, we will have no way of knowing.