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ecoamericas.com

EcoAméricas covers development and the environment in Latin America for an international audience of businesses, NGOs and public agencies.

Published by Fourth Street Press, an independent corporation in Beverly, MA, EcoAméricas provides continuing, objective coverage at a time when reporting on Latin American environmental issues has been piecemeal at best--and too often biased by competing agendas.

Every month, EcoAméricas draws on a network of experienced correspondents in the region to produce a concise, 12-page report. All articles include detailed contact and resource information.

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Image: Body count: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara briefing the press on Vietnam at the Pentagon in 1965.

technologyreview.com - May 31st, 2013 - Kenneth Cukier and Viktor Mayer-Schönberger

Big data is poised to transform society, from how we diagnose illness to how we educate children, even making it possible for a car to drive itself. Information is emerging as a new economic input, a vital resource. Companies, governments, and even individuals will be measuring and optimizing everything possible.

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Professor David L. Heymann, CBE

chathamhouse.org - by David L. Heymann - April 15, 2013

Since the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory infection (SARS) ten years ago, efforts to detect unusual severe respiratory disease have intensified. At the same time, there have been major advances in the development of diagnostic tests. This is a result of a major increase in the research and development budget for tests to diagnose unknown disease, and this investment was driven by the perception that anthrax and other organisms such as the smallpox virus will continue to be a bioterrorism threat.

When disease detection efforts are intensified, surveillance systems often become better at picking up illness that would have otherwise gone undetected until enough people developed the disease that an outbreak occurs and is noticed. Throughout history, mysterious severe respiratory infections that have resulted in death have emerged, but with new diagnostic tests it is also now possible to determine the cause of such disease, often soon after it is detected.

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