Policy

Humans spend 90% or more of their time indoors. 90%, that’s more than some species of whale spend underwater. Spending most time indoors means breathing mainly indoor air, and it thus goes that its quality has important impact on our health. Most of us care about what we eat and drink, yet we rarely question the quality of air we breathe. While standards exist for quality of indoor air, they are mostly limited to concentrations of pollutants and temperature. There are limited and rare regulations for concentration of CO2 (levels of which are even more rarely measured) and virtually no regulations on concentrations of airborne pathogens. That’s not enough. ...

Some shots from NIST biofoundry [source] Introduction In this post I give rundown of some key points I distilled from OECD study “Collaborative platforms for emerging technology: Creating convergence spaces” that appeared last year in the series OECD Science, Technology and Industry Policy Papers. The study aims to support policy makers and innovators to realize the potential of emerging technologies through collaborative platforms. What is a collaborative platform I hear you ask? Don’t worry we will get there. ...

Cover page of the report Introduction The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is a multilateral treaty with the objective to develop national strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. As such, it is often seen as a key document regarding sustainable development. The CBD has two supplementary agreements, the Cartagena Protocol and Nagoya Protocol. The former deals with international shipments of genetically modified organisms. The latter provides a legal framework for the equitable sharing of benefits of utilization of genetic resources. ...