Geoff Mulgan - 20.10.2011
This week I'd like to share a couple of data graphics that have caught my eye over the past few weeks.
Like many people I'm fascinated by new visualisations of the world we live in. This is a particularly beautiful diagram which portrays the world's scientific brain, in the form of cross-national collaborations in scientific research and papers.
![Map of scientific collaborations [original]](http://collabo.olihb.com/collabolinks.jpg "Map of scientific collaborations [original]")
It's an even more uneven picture than the now familiar pictures of the world's lights shining at night. Europe still glows very brightly. For all the growth of science in India and China, they still have a long way to go. But it's intriguing to wonder just how much this picture might have changed by 2050.
Not sold on science?
This chart below shows a remarkable pattern. The first shows that as countries grow richer children seem to lose interest in science and technology. It's worrying because we'll need new knowledge from the best brains if we're to get through the 21st century in one piece - and we need a public that's made up of smart enough citizens to spot bogus claims. The second shows that girls are a lot less interested in technology than boys. Not news perhaps, but also worrying after a few years when women's position in many fields of power seems to have gone into reverse.
![Rose Study relevance of science education [original]](http://admin.nesta.org.uk/library/images/Rose-study.jpg "Rose Study relevance of science education [original]")
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