Complex Insight - Understanding our world

The role of the oceans is often misrepresented in climate discussions. The discovery of large scale migrating eddies and their potential impact on transportation of nutriends, dissolved carbon dioxide and heat may change our understanding of ocean health and weather. Awesome science article on Wired Science explaining how the phenomenon was discovered and some of the questions it raises - worth reading.

This is a research topic very close to home for the team at complex insight since we work on related developments. Microsoft Research are aiming to accurately simulate an entire ecosystem.  Drew Purves at Microsoft Research in Cambridge thinks the time has come for what the company describes as a General Ecosystem Model (also known as GEM) — capable of simulating just about any ecosystem in the world. Purves wrote an article for the journal Nature announcing the team's intentions, and calling for others to help out — because it's not a small project. Microsoft have developed a prototype called the Madingley Model -see http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/gef/madingley.aspx ; and work is now underway with the Untied Nations Environment Programe to refine the developments.

Its not often that we get to model, assess and evaluate the outcome of major insurance system changes. With the advent of affordable care act - the United States is providing such an opportunity. Rand Corporaton released figures based on their cost modeling of the Affordable Care Act that indicate out-of-pocket health care costs will drop from $1,463 to just $34 per year in 2016 for the approximately11.5 million amercans who get insurance via the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid. President Obama's health care reform law will also reduce the likelihood that this group will face catastrophic medical costs -- defined as 10 percent of income -- by 40 percent, according to the study. As the law comes into effect it will be interesting to assess the efficacy of these studies and contrast them with data provided by those who oppose the affordable care act and hopefully in doing so - step closer to better healthcare and economic policy informed by data.

Another awesome article by Maryn Mckenna, highlighting the interconnectedness of our health ecossystem as polio virus from Afric is found in a Brazilian sewer. The possible vector - visitors for the world cup. Article very worth reading.

Increasing acidification has been predicted by climate modellers and oceanographers for many many years. Hopefully we have not also passed the tipping point that they also described...