Late nights 'sap children's brain power'

A team of researchers from University College London, studied over 11,000 seven year olds on their sleep patterns and brain power and found:

"The consistent nature of bedtimes during early childhood is related to cognitive performance. Given the importance of early child development, there may be knock on effects for health throughout life. "

Full article at the BBC. Study found here.

(I know, the cute bunnies were a cheap shot....)

Finland's education ambassador spreads the word

I've long heard about Finland's excellent educational system and how it leads the way..... So, if you are also interested in education and the future of it, there is an article over at The Guardian about and with Finland's former chief inspector of schools, Pasi Sahlberg, who is also the author of "Finnish Lessons", a book that "...... documents how Finland achieved success without going through the arduous and controversial process of implementing competition, school choice, and test-based accountability."

Interesting indeed.

Karl Blossfeldt

Friday inspiration from the master of photography, Karl Blossfeldt.

The Whitechapel Gallery currently have an exhibition of his work with over 80 of his silver gelatin prints. (There's an interesting video about him and his work on their website that's worth checking out.)

If in London.......

Towards a Nature-Rich Urban Future vs 10 Billion

I'm torn, on the one hand I completely agree with Richard Louv in his column over at The Nature Movement, where he reimagines the future of cities "by looking through the prism of nature?"

But then I read this extract from computational scientist Stephen Emmott's book Ten Billion that, to my mind, suggests that despite what we do or plan to do we are all going to hell in a hand basket anyway....

However..... I think one of the many things that make us human (BBC Radio 2 series worth checking out) is our ability to hope. So while I applaud Stephen Emmott for his shock treatment, I think I will go the way of the optimist and hope that we can change enough to create a future worth having for us all.

The Growth That Is Our Own Cradle

Such a beautiful project by Bianca Tuckwell, for her BA (Hons) Photography final major. 

"Nine nests from different species of birds are carefully studied and documented in order to heighten our appreciation of each construction." The one above is my personal favourite but check out the others in the links, well worth it.

Via Co. Design.

Farming Kindergarten in Vietnam

This project in Vietnam is a kindergarten by Vo Trong Nghia Architects, for 500 pre-school children.

A wonderful way to promote sustainable education by actually involving children in the process.

Check out on Dezeen more images of this project, or better yet, head over to the architects website and see some other wonderful projects as well.

George Monbiot at 5 X 15

George Monbiot @ 5x15 from 5x15 on Vimeo.