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Jeff Nunokawa teaches at Princeton University where he specialises in English Literature from about 1830 till about 1900. Jeff’s most recent book is Note Book, which is a published selection of mini essays that he’s been posting every day in the notes section of Facebook since 2007.

His first book, The Afterlife of Property, studies how the novels of Dickens and Eliot labor to preserve the idea of secure possession by overseeing its transfer from the sphere of a cold and uncertain economy to a happier realm of romance. Tame Passions of Wilde: Styles of Manageable of Desire excavates the aspiration to imagine a form of desire as intense as those that compel us, but as light as the daydream or thought experiment safely under our control.

Slinkachu’s 'Little People Project' involves the remodelling and painting of miniature model train set characters, which he then places, photographs and leaves on the street. It is both a street art installation project and a photography project. The street-based side of his work plays with the notion of surprise and aims to encourage city-dwellers to be more aware of their surroundings. The scenes he sets up aim to reflect the loneliness and melancholy of living in a big city, almost being lost and overwhelmed. But underneath this, there is always some humour.

Consultant Clinical Geneticist Dr Usha Kini is the Clinical Head of the Oxford Brain abnormalities research group. She also holds the position of Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Oxford. She graduated in medicine from Bangalore University, India and then trained as a Paediatrician in the UK before completing her training in genetics at Manchester. She has a special interest in children with birth defects, particularly structural brain abnormalities.

Childhood obesity is rapidly on the increase and is leading to numerous health problems.  To prevent this, Usha Kini proposes inserting a Calorie Counting Device into every newborn which would be programmed to light up the body and send out a loud voice message ‘I’m greedy’ whenever food is taken after the calculated calorie requirement is reached.  This signal will stop only when adequate exercise is undertaken to negate the surplus calories. It is hoped that this should cause sufficient embarrassment to discourage over-eating and over-feeding.

Image: Illustration by Shan Pillay