Category Archives: Education

Backyard Wildlife: Raptor

This bird of prey was eating some unfortunate animal in my yard today. You can see some remains if you look very closely at the birds feet in the photo. The bird in the picture is surprisingly small; other raptors I have seen have all been much larger. Anyone know what type of bird it is? Please add a comment.

Other wildlife I have spotted in my backyard include: humming bird, raccoon, chipmunks, fox, possum, rabbits, turtle, many birds including hawks and/or falcons, cardinals, doves, butterflies, bats, lightning bugs, all sorts of bees, squirrels, praying mantis and ants. I also see several cats prowl the yard frequently.

Girls Sweep Top Honors at Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology

Girls Make History by Sweeping Top Honors at a Science Contest

Janelle Schlossberger and Amanda Marinoff, both 17 and seniors at Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School on Long Island, split the first prize – a $100,000 scholarship – in the team category for creating a molecule that helps block the reproduction of drug-resistant tuberculosis bacteria.

Isha Himani Jain, 16, a senior at Freedom High School in Bethlehem, Pa., placed first in the individual category for her studies of bone growth in zebra fish, whose tail fins grow in spurts, similar to the way children’s bones do. She will get a $100,000 scholarship.
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Three-quarters of the finalists have a parent who is a scientist. The parents of Alicia Darnell, who won second place, are medical researchers at Rockefeller University, and her maternal grandparents were scientists, too. Isha Himani Jain, who took home the top individual prize, published her first research paper with her father, a professor at Lehigh University, when she was 10 or 11; her mother is a doctor.

Read about projects by the finalists.

Dinosaur Remains Found with Intact Skin and Tissue

Hadrosaur Dinasaur

“Dinosaur Mummy” Found; Has Intact Skin, Tissue by John Roach, National Geographic News:

Scientists today announced the discovery of an extraordinarily preserved “dinosaur mummy” with much of its tissues and bones still encased in an uncollapsed envelope of skin. Preliminary studies of the 67-million-year-old hadrosaur, named Dakota, are already altering theories of what the ancient creatures’ skin looked like and how quickly they moved, project researchers say
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The hadrosaur, or duck-billed dinosaur, was discovered in 1999 by then-teenage paleontologist Tyler Lyson on his family’s North Dakota property.
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Plant-eating hadrosaurs are often called the “cows of the Cretaceous”—the geologic period that spanned 145 million to 65 million years ago—Manning said. They had horny, toothless beaks but hundreds of teeth in their cheeks and a long, stiff tail that was likely used for balance. Preliminary studies are revealing a surprising side to these reptiles, suggesting that Dakota—even though roughly 35 feet (12 meters) long and weighing some 35 tons—was no slowpoke.
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The preliminary calculations suggest Dakota could run 28 miles (45 kilometers) an hour. Tyrannosaurus rex tops out at about 20 miles (32 kilometers) an hour, according to the model

The dig and subsequent scanning are the subjects of Dino Autopsy, a National Geographic Channel special airing on December 9th.

Amazing find of dinosaur ‘mummy’, BBC:

this hadrosaur came complete with fossilised skin, ligaments, tendons and possibly some internal organs, according to researchers. “It’s unbelievable when you look at it for the first time,” said palaeontologist Phillip Manning from the University of Manchester, UK. “There is depth and structure to the skin. The level of detail expressed in the skin is just breathtaking.”

Science and Engineering in Politics

Politics of engineering by Patrick Mannion, EE Times:

Engineering interests historically haven’t been at the forefront of the political debate, at least not compared with those of, say, farming, law or health care. But given the importance of the technological advances that engineers help effect and the need to maintain our competitive edge in a rapidly changing global environment, that situation needs to change, and fast.
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Then came word of the $25 billion being handed to farmers in yet another subsidy, loudly denounced by some as welfare for the wealthy. I’m not going to get into the right or wrong of the subsidies–but I am amazed at the ability of agribusiness to get them at all. It shows the power of the farm lobby. Ditto for pharmaceuticals, HMOs, lawyers, “big oil” and so on. It underscores the relative political weakness of the engineering community.

If the science and engineering community are not well represented to our representatives the interests of the science and engineering community will get short changed. Especially since so few politicians in the USA have even a basic understanding of science and the scientific method. And a very small percentage have any advanced degrees in science and engineering fields or work experience in them. That being said the political arena is much like a tar pit: that is it is difficult to interact with without becoming entangled in a big mess. And it is not as though the scientific and engineering community are even close to unified but still the impact of political decisions is very significant and science and engineering leaders need to be heard.

China’s Economic Science Experiment – China’s 9 most senior government official are all engineers (in 2006 – I am not sure now):

When China’s leaders meet with Hu each week in Beijing’s government district, Zhongnanhai, they could spend hours discussing cables, switches, tool-making machines and control devices. That’s because every one of them has a degree in engineering. The president himself, the son of a tea merchant from Jiangsu Province, trained to build hydroelectric power stations, while the others hold degrees in electrical engineering, metallurgy and geology.

People Have More Bacterial Cells than Human Cells

Humans Carry More Bacterial Cells than Human Ones

All the bacteria living inside you would fill a half-gallon jug; there are 10 times more bacterial cells in your body than human cells
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The infestation begins at birth: Babies ingest mouthfuls of bacteria during birthing and pick up plenty more from their mother’s skin and milk—during breast-feeding, the mammary glands become colonized with bacteria. “Our interaction with our mother is the biggest burst of microbes that we get,”
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there are estimated to be more than 500 species living at any one time in an adult intestine, the majority belong to two phyla, the Firmicutes (which include Streptococcus, Clostridium and Staphylococcus), and the Bacteroidetes (which include Flavobacterium).
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probiotics – dietary supplements containing potentially beneficial microbes – have been shown to boost immunity. Not only do gut bacteria “help protect against other disease-causing bacteria that might come from your food and water,” Huffnagle says, “they truly represent another arm of the immune system.”
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But the bacterial body has made another contribution to our humanity – genes. Soon after the Human Genome Project published its preliminary results in 2001, a group of scientists announced that a handful of human genes – the consensus today is around 40 – appear to be bacterial in origin.

How cool is science? Very, I think 🙂

Fighting Tuberculosis

Signaling an End to TB by Kathleen M. Wong

Once routinely treated with cheap antibiotics, TB is poised to make a terrifying comeback. More and more, doctors in developing nations are finding patients infected with strains of TB invulnerable to all but a handful of extremely expensive, exotic drugs. Worldwide, TB already infects one in every three people and sickens one in ten. Without new methods to stop the spread of drug-resistant strains, the cost of treating this ancient human pathogen could bankrupt even the most prosperous economies.
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TB could, in theory, develop resistance to this new class of drugs, too. But Alber thinks he can skew the odds to favor humans. Identifying a drug capable of knocking out several TB enzymes at once could make it next to impossible for the bacterium to evolve resistance on multiple fronts.

Though TB is a daunting foe, Alber remains confident about the prospects of beating the disease. “As a bacterium, it should be easier to treat than HIV or malaria. Those kinds of diseases-caused by viruses and protozoans-we generally don’t know how to cure,” Alber says. “From a scientific perspective, TB is a simpler problem.”

Good luck, it may be easier but it still isn’t easy. Related: Tuberculosis Risk – ‘Virtually untreatable’ TB – Extensively Drug-resistant Tuberculosis (XDR TB) – TB Pandemic Threat

Hands-on High School Engineering Education in Minnesota

Hands-on engineering education in Chaska

Chaska High is one of about a half-dozen schools in the west-metro area that let students get a taste of engineering work with project-based classes, which can qualify for college credit.
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Chaska plans to add robotics and manufacturing courses to its technology department next year. More than 100 middle and high schools participate in the program statewide. In the west-metro area, Eden Prairie, Maple Grove, Park Center, Robbinsdale Armstrong, Robbinsdale Cooper and Wayzata high schools offer Project Lead the Way courses.

Project Lead the Way is based on research suggesting that real-world long-term projects that integrate math, science and technology boost achievement and expose students to potential careers. Colleges and universities, including partners such as the University of Minnesota and St. Cloud State University, view the program as a way to help strengthen the skills of incoming students.

Project Lead the Way continues to encourage engineering education for primary and secondary schools. Project Lead the Way builds strategic partnerships among middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities, and industry to provide students with the knowledge and experience necessary to pursue engineering or engineering technology programs in college.

Open Source: The Scientific Model Applied to Programming

xo-laptop: On the Open-Sourcing of Business – interesting post worth reading, though I disagree with some points:

There is no obligation to “give back” anything, though it often makes sense to participate in the community based on a particular open-source project. However, that is a strategic decision for you to make. Your sole obligation is to respect the license terms.

There is a difference between your sole legal obligation and your sole obligation. I agree legally all you are obliged to do is comply with the legal requirements. That does not mean that is your sole obligation. I don’t see any problem making money in efforts involving open source efforts but I do believe that as that happens an obligation (perhaps not legal but real none-the-less) grows to give back to the community (Google’s summer of code is a great example of giving back). Most open source efforts require that any additions you make to the software be given back to the community (those involved in open souce know this, I add this just for the information of those not familiar with open source practices). Legal obligations are the minimum you can be forced to do, not the only obligations one has. Great quote (emphasis mine):

I think the best is one I have often seen expressed by Linus Torvalds, and it was one of the explanations I gave in a talk to the New York City Linux User Group in a talk in December, 1999.

Simply put, free and open-source software is just the scientific model applied to programming: free sharing of work open collaboration; open publication; peer review; recognition of the best work, with priority given to the first to do a meaningful new piece of work; and so forth. As a programmer, it is the best arena in which to work. There are no secrets; the work must stand on its own.

Another great post on this topic: What Business Can Learn from Open Source.

Science Books 2007

Some science books published this year.

The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doidge – traveled the country to meet both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they’ve transformed
Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson – Isaacson’s biography shows how his scientific imagination sprang from the rebellious nature of his personality. His fascinating story is a testament to the connection between creativity and freedom.
Good Germs, Bad Germs: Health and Survival in a Bacterial World by Jessica Snyder Sachs
I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter (Pulitzer Prize-winner) – argues that the key to understanding selves and consciousness is the “strange loop”–a special kind of abstract feedback loop inhabiting our brains.
Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science by David Lindley – chronicles the birth and evolution of one of the most significant findings in the history of science, and portrays the clash of ideas and personalities it provoked.
The Goldilocks Engima: Why Is the Universe Just Right for Life? by Paul Davies – Many aspects of the cosmos, from the properties of the humble carbon atom to the speed of light, seem tailor-made for biology. Why? One radical explanation is the “multiverse theory,” which sounds like it came straight from a science fiction plot.
Luminous Fish: Tales of Science and Love by Lynn Margulis (National Medal of Science winner) – This collection of linked stories by internationally renowned evolutionist Lynn Margulis reveals science from the inside—its thrills, disappointments, and triumphs. A largely fictional account, it draws on her decades of experience to portray the poor judgment, exhaustion, and life-threatening dedication of real scientists.
The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science by Natalie Angier (Pulitzer Prizewinning reporter for the New York Times) – The Canon is a joyride through the major scientific disciplines: physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy.
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks – examines the powers of music through the individual experiences of patients, musicians, and everyday people – from an entire group of children with Williams syndrome, who are hypermusical from birth to a man whose memory spans only seven seconds – for everything but music.

Related: Coming to Life: How Genes Drive Development by Christiane Nusslein-Volhard (2006) – Science books – Gadgets and Gifts

Ethanol: Science Based Solution or Special Interest Welfare

I believe the way to deal with the need for energy resources should be primarily science and economics based. I do not think it should be based on who can best reward politicians for giving them a bunch of federal dollars. Ethanol Craze Cools As Doubts Multiply by Lauren Etter, Wall Street Journal

A recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development concluded that biofuels “offer a cure [for oil dependence] that is worse than the disease.” A National Academy of Sciences study said corn-based ethanol could strain water supplies. The American Lung Association expressed concern about a form of air pollution from burning ethanol in gasoline. Political cartoonists have taken to skewering the fuel for raising the price of food to the world’s poor.
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A study coauthored by Nobel-prize-winning chemist Paul Crutzen said corn ethanol might exacerbate climate change as the added fertilizer used to grow corn raised emissions of a very potent greenhouse gas called nitrous oxide. The ethanol industry replies to that one with an Energy Department study concluding that use of ethanol reduces greenhouse-gas emissions by 18% to 28% on a per-gallon basis, provided that coal isn’t used to run ethanol plants.
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Mr. Dinneen, who has been lobbying on ethanol so long he’s known as the “reverend of renewable fuels,” says he’s “reasonably confident” Congress will raise the ethanol mandate. He says he’s talking with the military, labor groups, Southern black churches and others about how ethanol can help them. “We’ve got to build the biggest, baddest coalition we can.”

I am skeptical of claims that mainly focus on getting the government to subsidize your production and erect trade barriers to foreign supplies to the USA. I don’t mind a few $Billion even (quite a lot of money) to be invested in research on biofules but just creating a massive payment, taxation and regulation scheme to funnel money to special interests is not a good idea.