Published in Guang Ming Daily, Beijing, March 16 2009.
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CHARLES DARWIN AND NATURAL SELECTION
Gioietta Kuo   Feb 11 2009

On the very fundamental question of ‘who made man’  there is a strong dichotomy in the world.  On the one hand are the Christians who believe in one God who created man though there are variations on how this came about and how long it took.  But all depends on Faith and the absolute acceptance of the Bible.     On the other hand, there are a mass of atheists, (more…)

As translated into Chinese and published in PEOPLE”S DAILY, Beijing, on Aug 26 2008

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The Growing Global Oil Crisis

Gioietta Kuo July 8 2008

As the price of oil keeps on shooting up to an unprecedented level of over $100 a barrel, many experts like Goldman and Sachs of New York predict that the price will reach $200 towards next year. How will the world economy react to such a fast rise and how will it affect the avearge citizen in different countries?

One need go no further than the motor car to realize that the world’s economy is oil based. There are two fundamental reasons why the world is in a severe oil crisis, the extent of which we have never seen before. In the 1970s the oil crisis was caused by the producers cutting back for political reasons. But this time the reasons are much more difficult to surmount. First, there are many signs that oil is ‘peaking’ – that is the amount one can extract from the ground is getting less and less, so it is becoming more difficult to incrase production. Second, as the developing countries like China and India industrialize, the demand for oil increses as the growth rates of these countries rise.

So, in order to overcome the present crisis, first we (more…)

Low food production capacity in developing countries, particularly in Africa is one of the major contributing factor for hunger and food price crisis. Above all, inadequate research informed policies for agricultural growth deepen the hunger and food price crisis. There is policy gap to support biofood technology in African countries that not only reduces capacity to produce adequate food but also has contributed to the current food price crisis. While 800 million people are food insecure (Andersen and Cohen), many African governments do not have biotechnology policies or have resisted the adoption of biotechnology for food production. Overcoming hunger and food price crisis in Africa requires multiple actions including dedicated policy direction for biotechnology and assistance programs for small farmers.

There is an overriding contention that (more…)

Renewable energy sources like wind and solar energy cannot solve completely the world’s energy problems. Nuclear power is the only alternative especially since there is urgency in reducing CO emission as fast as we can. When Jim Hansen, director of Climatology at NASA Goddard Space Center USA, was asked what we can possibly do about global warming, he replied (more…)

An unlevel playing field in athletics and academics

Marion Jones, an Olympic medal winner and outstanding athlete ended up in disgrace, having to give up her medals and sentenced to six months in jail for lying to federal investigators.  All this came about through her use of steroids.

Rappers Wyclef Jean, 50 Cent, Timbaland and other rap stars with super-human physiques (more…)