Category Archives: Public perceptions

When Worlds Collide #118: Astrology in Sri Lanka – Are we leaving it all to the stars?

Posted on 22 August 2014 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today newspaper on 22 August 2014 “Sri Lanka has many persons claiming to practise astrology with its professed powers of predicting the future. However, not one of them anticipated the … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Business & Commerce, Conspiracy Theories, Culture, Disaster, Film making, Public perceptions, Public policy, Religion, Sri Lanka | Tagged Ajith Thilakasena, Arthur C Clarke’s World of Strange Powers (1985), Asoka Abeygunawardana, astrologers, Astrology, Ayurveda, ‘rahu kaalaya’, “Traditional Knowledge - Astrology”, Dr Kavan Ratnatunga, Hethuwaadi Lipi, Lester James Peries, Nidhanaya (The Treasure), President Premadasa, Rationalist Essays, Sir Arthur C Clarke, Sri Lanka Rationalist Association, Sri Lanka's standard time, traditional knowledge | 2 Comments

When Worlds Collide #116: Did we all come from Outer Space?

Posted on 8 August 2014 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today newspaper on 8 August 2014 At 75, astronomer Dr Chandra Wickramasinghe is still very much the scientific maverick that he has been for several decades. He loves to challenge … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Current Affairs, History, Public health, Public perceptions, Religion, Sri Lanka | Tagged abiogenesis, Arthur C Clarke, asteroids, Comets, cosmic life, cosmic origins of life, Dr Chandra Wickramasinghe, Dr Kavan Ratnatunga, extraterrestrial life, Galileo Galilei, Giordano Bruno, HIV, Johannes Kepler, Journal of Cosmology, meteorites, national security, Nicolaus Copernicus, Origins of life, panspermia, Ray Wijewardene Memorial Lecture 2014, Roman Inquisition, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Sir Fred Hoyle | 2 Comments

When Worlds Collide #115: Fast-tracking Road Safety in Sri Lanka

Posted on 18 July 2014 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today newspaper on 18 July 2014 The Apollo 8 space mission, which lasted from 21 to 27 December 1968, was the first time that a manned spacecraft left Earth orbit, … Continue reading →

Posted in Air Pollution, Communicating Development, Disaster, Education, Environmental management, Poverty, Public health, Public perceptions, Public policy, Road Safety, South Asia, Sri Lanka, Transport, Urban issues | Tagged Achini C Jayatilleke, Apollo 8, Astronaut Bill Anders, ‘pirimi kama’ (masculinity), ‘Transport for Health: The Global Burden of Disease from Motorized Road Transport’, celestial mechanics, Decade of Action for Road Safety, Dr Achala Upendra Jayatilleke, Dr Jim Yong Kim, Dr Samath D Dharmarathne, Global Burden of Disease 2010 report, Global status report on road safety 2013, helmet use, Isaac Newton, National Council for Road Safety (NCRS), Peradeniya University, road safety, road traffic crashes, testosterone, The Lancet, World Health Organisation (WHO) | Leave a comment

When Worlds Collide #112: Social Media ‘Candles’ for Mainstream Media Blackouts

Posted on 20 June 2014 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today newspaper on 20 June 2014 What is the best way to manage public information in times of national crises – whether disasters, epidemics or conflict? All governments face this … Continue reading →

Posted in Broadcasting, Current Affairs, Disaster, Disaster Communication, History, Humanitarianism, ICT, Journalism, Media, Media freedom, Peace & Conflict, Public information, Public perceptions, Religion, Social Media, Sri Lanka, Telecommunications | Tagged @AmanthaP, @dinidu, @Dinoukc, @InduNan, @Nimilamalee, @tingilye, Aluthgama, Amantha Perera, ‘knowledge hub’ of Asia, ‘Stand Against Racism', Beruwala, Black July of 1983, Bradman Weerakoon, conflict, Dharga Town, disasters, epidemics, Facebook, First Post, Global Village, H R Premaratne, ICTs, information and communication technologies (ICTs), Information control, IT literacy, Jaffna, memes, Nagadeepa temple, Rajan Hoole, Sanjana Hattotuwa, Sir Oliver Goonetilleke, social media, Tsunami, Twitter, Voltaire | Leave a comment

When Worlds Collide #107: Climate Reporting from ‘Ground Zero’

Posted on 16 May 2014 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today ay newspaper on 16 May 2014 Can journalists save the planet? I posed this question in a column nearly two years ago, in June 2012. During the early years … Continue reading →

Posted in Air Pollution, Biofuels, Business & Commerce, Climate change, Communicating Development, Disaster, Disaster Communication, Energy Conservation, Environment, Environmental management, Environmental policy, Power & Energy, Public perceptions, Public policy, South Asia, Sustainable Development, Urban issues, Water, Water management | Tagged Amantha Perera, Atul Deulgaonkar, Bangladesh, Bhrikuti Rai, Bhutan, Can journalists save the planet?, Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), climate change, Dipak Gyawali, Dr M Sanjayan, environmental journalist, Gopikrishna Warrier, India, IPCC, IPCC AR5, Nepal, Pakistan, Panos South Asia, Ramesh Prasad Bhushal, Sonia Malik, South Asia Climate Change Award (SACCA) fellowships, Sri Lanka, System of Rice Intensification (SRI), UN Climate Convention (UNFCCC), UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) | 1 Comment

When Worlds Collide #106: Probing Roots of Violence for Sustainable Peace

Posted on 9 May 2014 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today broadsheet newspaper on 9 May 2014 “Then to the rolling Heav’n itself I cried, Asking, ‘What Lamp had Destiny to guide Her little Children stumbling in the Dark?’ And – … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Evolution, History, Peace & Conflict, Public perceptions, Religion, Sri Lanka, Youth | Tagged Bill Gates, civil rights movement, classism, Dr Carlo Fonseka, Edward O Wilson, ethno-centrism, George Barnard Shaw, institutionalized elitism, LGBT groups, Man and Superman, Michael Tomasello, nationalism, Omar Khayyam, racism, Roots of Violence, Rubaiyat, sexism, SLAAS, Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science, survival of the fittest, Survival of the Kindest?, Sustainable Peace, The Social Conquest of Earth, women’s rights movement | 1 Comment

When Worlds Collide #103: Combating Dengue, a ‘Silent Disaster’

Posted on 18 April 2014 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today broadsheet newspaper on 18 April 2014 The theme for World Health Day, observed on April 7, was vector-borne diseases – a major public health challenge in the tropics. It was … Continue reading →

Posted in Biodiversity, Climate change, Communicating Development, Disaster, Disaster Communication, Education, Environment, Environmental management, Poverty, Public health, Public perceptions, Sri Lanka, Sustainable Development, Urban issues | Tagged Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, ‘silent disasters’, chikungunya, climate change, Climate connection to dengue fever, dengue, dengue fever (DF), dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), Dengue in Sri Lanka, Dengue is preventable, dengue mosquitoes, dengue virus, Dengue: Turning up the volume on a silent disaster, Dr F Noordeen, Dr P D N N Sirisena, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), International Journal of Infectious Diseases, Japanese encephalitis, lymphatic filariasis, malaria, mosquitoes, Small Bite Big Threat, vector-borne diseases, Walter Cotte, WHO, World Health Day, World Health Organisation (WHO), yellow fever. | 2 Comments

When Worlds Collide #101: Safely Riding the Social Media Dragon

Posted on 30 March 2014 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today broadsheet newspaper on 29 March 2014 “We have to start asking not what is wrong with Facebook but what is wrong with our society?” Those words, by Dr Harini Amarasuriya, … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Education, ICT, Internet governance, Public perceptions, Social Media, Sri Lanka, Telecommunications, Youth | Tagged cyber safety, cyber security, demonisation, Facebook, Gayan Wijewickrama, Groundviews.org, hacking, Instant messaging, passwords, privacy, romanticisation, Sanjana Hattotuwa, SL-CERT, SMS, SnapChat, social media, social media literacy, Sri Lanka’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team, two-step verification, Twtter, Unicef Sri Lanka, Youth for Children (Y4C) forum | 1 Comment

When Worlds Collide #88: Counting Digital Natives: Easier said than done!

Posted on 20 October 2013 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday broadsheet newspaper on 20 October 2013 Chamara Pahalawattage had just turned 18 when we met him in early 2009. By then, he was already into his sixth mobile phone. An … Continue reading →

Posted in Business & Commerce, Culture, Current Affairs, Education, ICT, Public perceptions, South Asia, Sri Lanka, Telecommunications | Tagged BOP, bottom of the (income) pyramid, Chamara Pahalawattage, Digital Natives, Dr Sujata Gamage, Georgia Institute of Technology, International Telecommunication Union, ITU, LIRNEasia, Malaysia, Measuring the Information Society 2013, SAARC, South Asia, telecentres, Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRCSL) | 2 Comments

When Worlds Collide #86: Haunted by Twenty-first Century Demons?

Posted on 6 October 2013 by Nalaka Gunawardene

Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday broadsheet newspaper on 6 October 2013 Meet the 21st Century Demons! That was how I started a recent talk to the annual scientific sessions of the College of Community Physicians … Continue reading →

Posted in Communicating Development, Conspiracy Theories, Culture, Education, Public health, Public perceptions, Sri Lanka | Tagged 21st Century Demons, ‘infertility plot’, Carl Sagan, College of Community Physicians Sri Lanka, common sense, Dosthara Wisthara, Dr Ariyasena U Gamage, Dr Rohan Samarajiva, Flat Earth Society, genetically modified organisms (GMO), healthy dose of scepticism, Immunization, pseudoscience, radiofrequency fields, Sri Lanka's mobilephobia, vaccines, World Health Organisation (WHO), X Files | 2 Comments

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Category Archives: Public perceptions

When Worlds Collide #118: Astrology in Sri Lanka – Are we leaving it all to the stars?

When Worlds Collide #116: Did we all come from Outer Space?

When Worlds Collide #115: Fast-tracking Road Safety in Sri Lanka

When Worlds Collide #107: Climate Reporting from ‘Ground Zero’

When Worlds Collide #103: Combating Dengue, a ‘Silent Disaster’

When Worlds Collide #88: Counting Digital Natives: Easier said than done!

When Worlds Collide #86: Haunted by Twenty-first Century Demons?

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