Television housings, cathode ray tubes, computers, monitors, and other imported electronic waste items not salable at the Alaba Market in Lagos, Nigeria, are dumped in this nearby swamp. Credit: Basel Action Network

A policy analysis published Thursday in the journal Science calls our attention to something it's much easier to turn away from: what happens to outdated computer monitors, cell phones that aren't smart enough, cables that once powered discarded laptops, even old calculators. Much of this waste, which is largely a product of the developed world, ends up in the developing world, and the hazardous materials it contains accumulate in the food chain and in poor children's blood. In Africa, China, and India, markets for secondhand electronics are having a terrible impact. Children in Guiyu, China have high levels of lead in their blood and swamps in Nigeria overflow with discarded electronics.

So what can we do about it? The United States, one of the largest producers of electronic waste, is one of 23 member countries that has not ratified the United Nations' Basel Convention, which would regulate the movement of hazardous electronic materials across international borders. A bill in the Senate (S. 1397) would authorize the Environmental Protection Agency to award grant money for recycling research and ask the National Institute of Standards and Technology to create a database of green electronic materials. According to the authors of the Science article, the European Union and the state of California both have complex and inconsistent waste policies, but we can still learn from them:

For example, Californians are willing to pay extra for "green" electronics products (e.g., containing fewer toxic substances, capable of being economically recycled) and to drive up to 8 miles to drop-off products for environmentally sensitive recycling. In addition, political mandates and economic incentives are key tools for engaging manufacturers,who will need to assume greater responsibility for designing electronic products that contain safer materials and are easily managed after consumers no longer want them.

However, the long-term solution, the authors suggest, is to change the way electronics are made in the first place:

Bart Gordon, Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology, said that "we need our future engineers to understand that whatever they put together will eventually have to be taken apart."

A new report says that girls now use more technology at the home than boys do. Coauthors Karen Pine, a professor at the University of Hertfordshire, in the U.K., and Robert Hart, of U.K.-based educational consultants Intuitive Media, also claim that mothers are more likely to lend a helping hand than fathers when these technologies fail.

Uh ... really? I find this pretty surprising. The number of electronic gadgets and gizmos piled up in my brothers' room always far outweighed the number in mine. Besides the Sega Game Gear that I wore thin playing Sonic, most of the new technologies in our household belonged to them. I could kick some serious butt at Mario Cart, but only on my brother's Nintendo 64. And when the electronics malfunctioned, it was Dad, not Mom, we called upon.

In this press release, Pine says that "overall, mothers are more likely to engage with their children using new technologies, especially when it comes to formal learning or research. The mothers were also the most experienced and capable computer and Internet users." This may be true for some households, but it definitely wasn't in mine.

Given that technology fields like engineering and IT are dominated by males, not females, it would seem natural that this starts at home--contrary to the study results. Then again, over the past few years, there has been a "call to action" to increase the number of women in IT, especially given the news that the number is actually decreasing.

Tellingly, the report, called "Learning in the Family," only takes into account PCs and laptops--not gaming systems and other gadgets. The percentages also seem quite close: 94 percent of girls compared with 88 percent of boys said that they used a computer or laptop at home.

The report was launched today by Intuitive Media Research Services, which commissioned the report. It was funded by the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta).

I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on the state of women in technology, and whether you think the trend will be an increase or a decrease in women in the field.

To what extent can information-technology investments spur economic growth? In a joint letter to Congressional leaders, 116 infotech CEOs and business leaders today said that if Congress spent $40 billion on smart electric-grid upgrades, broadband infrastructure, and health-care IT systems, the result would be 949,000 new U.S. jobs. "Information and communications-enabled technologies improve energy efficiency, help doctors save lives and money in health care, catalyze new business models and entrepreneurs, enable educational improvements and empower individuals to take more control over their lives," the group wrote. "Those nations with the most advanced digital infrastructure will reap the largest benefits and lead in next generation jobs, services and companies."

The House has put forward an $825 billion stimulus package; it explicitly includes $11 billion for smart-grid upgrades and research, $20 billion for health-care information technology, and $6 billion for wireless and broadband infrastructure grants. With the package working its way through Congress, the letter went to House speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, and House Republican leader John Boehner. Such investments will "provide our nation with a near-term stimulus and long-term comparative advantage," the group wrote.