The Boston Globe reports – ht: UN Wire – about the work of MIT doctoral candidate Amos Winter on a “leveraged freedom chair“, designed to be produced with low cost material for the otherwise hardly accessible to inaccessible surfaces in developing countries. Reminds me a little of “design for the other 90%“.

(c) Massachusetts Institute of Technology/M-Lab

(c) Massachusetts Institute of Technology/M-Lab

ECRI – the Council of Europe’s Commission Against Racism and Intolerance – has released its latest Report on Austria. The Commission states among others:

Racism in public discourse remains a worrying issue, in the absence of an adequate response by the authorities. Far-right political parties have openly exploited prejudice against minorities, immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, Jews and Muslims and their statements have not been always condemned by mainstream political parties in a sufficiently strong manner. In addition, some media have contributed to creating an atmosphere of hostility against members of minority groups and asylum seekers.

In its previous Report on Austria, the Commission had voiced concern “that the press has contributed to a certain “ethnicisation” of crimes, particularly as regards Black Africans and drug dealing or Eastern Europeans and certain types of organised crime.”

As the red carpet rolls out ahead of women’s day and briefly also for the Academy Awards, Kim Elsesser – a research scholar at the Center for Study of Women at the University of California – highlights the separation of the best actor and best actress in an Op-Ed in the NYTimes.

Picture credit Kelly Blair/NYTimes

The Economist is focusing on the disappearance of women, in particular girls, in its latest issue, asking: “what happened to the 100 million baby girls?” The article explains how declining fertility and prejudices are major factors in a radical shift of gender balance in many societies.