After the first week spent on campus at NASA in Mountain View, Silicon Valley, I can just affirm what I hoped would become reality. During the opening ceremony, we had a pleasant surprise: Larry Page, Google’s co-founder was on stage to tell us that, if he were a student, he wanted to be with us to the Singularity University ("SU").

• Carpooling to Singularity University
• A dream come true: Usque ad sidera LLC
• The Socratic method

How can developing countries cope with devastating earthquakes such as the recent ones that struck Haiti and Chile?
ICTP is organizing a conference on "Seismic Risk Mitigation and Sustainable Development". The conference, promoted by ICTP's Structure and Non-linear Dynamics of the Earth (SAND) group, aims to help developing countries prepare for earthquakes through careful planning.

EuroAfrica-ICT is an EU/FP7 project spanning over 24 months (2010-2011) with the aim of strengthening cooperation on ICT research between Europe & (sub-Sarahan) Africa. eI-Africa is an EU/FP7 project spanning over 18 months (Oct. 2009 - March 2011) with the aim of strengthening cooperation on e-Infrastructures between Europe & Africa.
The Conference (to be held in Helsinki, Finland, the week of Dec. 6-10, 2010) will be organised by the two projects under the aegis of the European Commission.

The International School for Advanced Studies of Trieste (SISSA) is offering 3 research positions: the first in SISSA e-Lab: “Software integration for multiscale materials modelling”, the second in Neurobiology sector and the third in Condensed matter theory sector.

Techniques taught by TETRIS, taken from the TRIZ methodology, will develop a course that will boost creativity and capacity of problem setting and solving. Participants will become more creative, will rapidly perceive situations and problems and will find innovative solutions more easily.

Neurodegenerative diseases: how reliable are these tests and what type of information are they offering?
Do they help people to take decisions about their life? And who should be notified of the results?
These are the themes of the 2-days-workshop.

The Abdus Salam, International Centre for Theoretical Physics is offering 1 vacancy for Senior Research Scientist in a High Energy Section. Required competences are: a Ph.D degree, 7-10 years of progressively responsible relevant experience, an established record of accomplishment, excellent knowledge of english and an appropriate attitude.

Summer Program in Taiwan 2010, sponsored by the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC), has been launched. 5 scholarships for Italian graduate students to undergo 2-month summer trainings in Taiwanese research institutes. All academic fields are concerned by this program. Deadline for application is February 15, 2010.

The African Union Commission has submitted to the European Union a proposal for a EUR 16 million project to develop geothermal energy resources in the East African Rift Valley. The project will be implemented by UNIDO and include technical assistance, training, capacity building, public awareness and other activities in the countries concerned. The African Union Commission and the ICS-UNIDO plan to extend their cooperation in the field of next generation bio fuels, and develop a project which will involve a larger number of African countries.