"What would the world be if there were no hunger?" It's a question that Professor Crystal would ask her students. They found it hard to answer, she wrote later, because imagining something that isn't part of real life—and learning how to make it real—is a rare skill. It is taught to artists and engineers, but much less often to scientists. Crystal set out to change that, and helped to create a global movement. The result一an approach known as systems thinking—is now seen as essential in meeting global challenges.

Systems thinking is crucial to achieving targets such as zero hunger and better nutrition because it requires considering the way in which food is produced, processed, delivered and consumed, and looking at how those things intersect (交叉) with human health, the environment, economics and society. According to systems thinking, changing the food system—or any other network- requires three things to happen. First, researchers need to identify all the players in that system, second, they must work out how they relate to each other, and third, they need to understand and quantify the impact of those relationships on each other and on those outside the system.

Take nutrition. In the latest UN report on global food security, the number of undernourished (营养不良) people in the world has been rising, despite great advances in nutrition science. Tracking of 150 biochemicals in food has been important in revealing the relationships between calories, sugar, fat and the occurrence of common diseases. But using machine learning and artificial intelligence, some scientists propose that human diets consist of at least 26,000 biochemicals—and that the vast majority are not known. This shows that we have some way to travel before achieving the first objective of systems t hinking - which,in this example, is to identify more constituent parts of the nutrition system.

A systems approach to creating change is also built on the assumption that everyone in the system has equal power. But as some researchers find, the food system is not an equal one. A good way to redress (修正) such power imbalance is for more universities to do what Crystal did and teach students how to think using a systems approach.

More researchers, policymakers and representatives from the food industry must learn to look beyond their direct lines of responsibility and adopt a systems approach. Crystal knew that visions alone don't produce results, but concluded that "we'll never produce results that we can't envision".

Goffin's cockatoos, a kind of small parrot native to Australasia, have been shown to have similar shape-recognition abilities to a human two-year-old. Though not known to use tools in the wild, the birds have proved skilful at tool use while kept in the cage. In a recent experiment, cockatoos were presented with a box with a nut inside it. The clear front of the box had a "keyhole" in a geometric shape, and the birds were given five differently shaped "keys" to choose from. Inserting the correct "key" would let out the nut.

In humans, babies can put a round shape in a round hole from around one year of age, but it will be another year before they are able to do the same with less symmetrical（对称的） shapes. his ability to recognize that a shape will need to be turned in a specific direction before it will fit is called an "allocentric frame of reference". In the experiment, Goffin's cockatoos were able to select the right tool for the job, in most cases, by visual recognition alone. Where trial-and-error was used, the cockatoos did better than monkeys in similar tests. This indicates that Goffin's cockatoos do indeed possess an allocentric frame of reference when moving objects in space, similar to two-year-old babies.

The next step, according to the researchers, is to try and work out whether the cockatoos rely entirely on visual clues（线索）, or also use a sense of touch in making their shape selections.

Explorers Camp

•Full day camp for kids aged 5-13.

•Monday-Friday, July 8-26, 9am-4pm.

Week 1 | July 8-12

Week 2 | July 15-19

Week 3 | July 22-26

•Register for a single week or multiple weeks.

•Fees: $365 per week.

•The last day to cancel registration and receive a full refund (退款) is June 15.

Camp Structure

The day is divided into two thematic sessions per age group. Campers have a three-hour morning class engaging with a morning theme (9am to 12 noon) and a one-hour lunch break, followed by another three-hour class engaging with an afternoon theme (1pm to 4pm). Snack periods are held throughout the day. All campers should bring their own bagged lunch and snacks.

Camp Content

Explorers Camp organizes engaging arts, history and science-related activities in every! class, and focuses on a range of topics that emphasize active learning, exploration and, most of all, fun! All camp sessions are created with age-appropriate activities that are tailored to the multiple ways that kids learn.

Camp Staff

Campers enjoy a staff-to-child ratio ranging from 1:4 to 1:7 depending on the age group. Instructors are passionate educators who are experts in their fields and have undergone training and a background check.