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"This week six scientists and one ex-government official were sentenced to six years in prison for multiple manslaughter. Part of the case against them was the falsely reassuring comments they made before the earthquake struck. On More or Less this week we look at how the probability of an earthquake is estimated. "

Australian outfit Bridge 8, who have the admirable mission of devising "creative strategies for science and society," and animator James Hutson have created six fantastic two-minute animations on various aspects of critical thinking, aimed at kids ages 8 to 10 but also designed to resonate with grown-ups. Inspired by the animation style of the 1950s, most recognizably Saul Bass, the films are designed to promote a set of educational resources on critical thinking by TechNYou, an emerging technologies public information project funded by the Australian government.

The software, created in Australia by the Northern Territory government, local software developers and Microsoft, is an avatar-based animation tool allowing users to design animations in minutes. Adopting a multi-sensory approach through the integration of real voice, computer generated voice, written text, images, video and Microsoft PowerPoint® presentations, users can quickly and easily create or customise presentations that accurately reflect the cultural, lingual and social attributes of target audiences.