The way forward for Muslim countries

IN reasserting the importance of science and education in Muslim-majority countries, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as chairman of the recently concluded KL Summit placed them as the first

Lights and shadows

FIFTEEN years ago, former Japanese finance minister Koji Omi founded a non-profit organisation called the Science and Technology for Society (STS) forum in Kyoto. It was a visionary move, born

Man of the people

A global outpouring of well-deserved tributes marked the passing of Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary-general and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who died on Aug 18 following a short

Future perfect universities

TO remain relevant and sustainable, universities must be agile and embrace change in the ever-evolving educational landscape. Offering guidance at Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) is a special Academic Advisory Council

Danger in our midst

THE process of globalisation began a long time ago with ancient traders and European colonisers transporting goods — including plants — between the continents. For example, banana and sugarcane both

Biodiversity in decline

THE growing consensus within the global community is that we are fast heading towards an environmental catastrophe caused by two human-induced activities: climate change and the loss of biodiversity. While

Reducing dependence on imported vegetable seeds

SEEDS are fundamental to any agricultural activity. The last 40 years has seen a dramatic transformation of the commercial seed industry from a competitive agri-business — mainly family-owned — to

Is Malaysia ready for gene therapy?

ACCORDING to the seminal report, “Human Genome Editing ”, jointly released by the US National Academy of Science (NAS) and the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) in early 2017, genome

Sustainable development goals: Are we on track?

HOW well is the world doing with Agenda 2030 and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals? Not nearly well enough, it appears. Three years after United Nations member states agreed on

Is there still a sustainable future?

IN former British colonies such as India, Kenya, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, it is quite common to find so-called “hill stations” in the mountains established by the colonialists looking for