It was so sad to learn after the long weekend that one of my IISD colleagues, Konrad von Moltke, passed away last week from lung cancer. He was by far one of the most briliant people I've ever met. Yet somehow, despite the fat that he was so LARGE both physically (almost 7 feet tall) and intellectually (PhD in medieval history, undergrad in mathematics)... he never made others feel small. He always listened to everyone and explained concepts in ways that helped people to understand.

We will miss him. If you get a chance, read some of his working papers on international investment and SD.... Keep the ideas alive.

Call it a geeky fascination, but I'm intrigued in a lot of areas of network research. The latest story to catch my eye: "Paris world's most important air hub".

Once upon a time, my dad had a "Bert & I" record including the skit "Which Way to Millinocket?" After starting to explain a half dozen different routes, the main character ends up concluding, "You can't get there from here."

Well, according to a new study, if you're trying to get somewhere from anywhere - Paris, Anchorage, London, Singapore and New York may play an important role.

The connections among 3,883 communities with airports around the world were analyzed by a team of researchers led by Luis Amaral of Northwestern University. They concluded that on average you can get between any two of these communities with 4.4 flights - although the maximum is 15.

The study noted that "centrality" may play a bigger role than "busyness" or number of connections. The cities that ranked at the top are those that small local/regional airports connect to in order to then connect into the global flight patterns. I thought that was kind of cool.

Also interesting is to note WHO funded the research... the US National Institutes of Health. Think they're a little worried about international disease patterns? And how to stop/slow them by making interventions at key points?

From the folks who brought you The Meatrix, it's now time for "Store Wars."

More of Free Range Studio's Flash movies for social/political/environmental change are available online.

I was laughing last night watching the news when they reported the results of a new Canadian study linking memory skills during pregnancy to the sex of the baby. Researchers found evidence that women who gave birth to boys outperformed moms of girls in tests taxing memory in areas of listening, computational and visualization skills.

Given how absolutely scattered I've become, this kid has GOT TO be a girl! The only way I actually remembered to pick up the dry cleaning yesterday (after forgetting for 3 days in a row, despite teh fact that I walk right by it every day) was because my boss taped a sign on my coat as I left the office AND I wrote a note on my hand. This follows many other incidents in which I have forgotten what I was doing within 5 seconds of starting a task (and often stating it out loud to others in order to help me remember).

It's really weird... I never believed in pregnancy brain. Thought it was a myth. Then - WHAM! It's just a strange experience given that I've been a massive multi-tasker my entire life and now can't even seem to do one thing at a time. Go figure.. the human body is a funky thing.

Based on this study, I should have several brilliant breakthroughs in the next few months.... :)

Who says that lying down on the job is bad??