2005 video of Dr. Michio Kaku speaking on BBC on physics from Universe to Multiverse.
Unfortunately BBC leaders decided to hide this from the world and removed the video. Maybe scientists should stop talking to organizations won’t share the output with the world.
Related: Extra-Universal Matter – Before the Big Bang – Great Physics Webcast Lectures – Neutrino Detector Searching for String Theory Evidence
One of the things I keep meaning to do more of with this blog is provide some post on basic science concepts that may help raise scientific literacy. Some of these will be pretty obvious but even reminders on some facts you know can sometimes help.
What is a molecule?
A molecule is the smallest particle of a compound that has all the chemical properties of that compound. Molecules are made up of two or more atoms, either of the same element or of two or more different elements. The example of molecules are water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) and molecular nitrogen (N2).
Organic molecules contain Carbon, for example, Methane CH4). The original definition of “organic” chemistry came from the misconception that organic compounds were always related to life processes.
A few types of compounds such as carbonates, simple oxides of carbon and cyanides, as well as the allotropes of carbon, are considered inorganic. The division between “organic” and “inorganic” carbon compounds while “useful in organizing the vast subject of chemistry…is somewhat arbitrary”
Ionic compounds, such as common salt, are made up not of molecules, but of ions arranged in a crystalline structure. Unlike ions, molecules carry no net electrical charge.
Related: Why is it Colder at Higher Elevations? – Why is the Sky Blue? – 10 Science Facts You Should Know – Bacteria Communicate Using a Chemical Language
And here is a cat taking a human elevator.
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2008 Data from Spencer Stuart on S&P 500 CEO (link broken so it was removed, it is so sad that companies still pay people to manage web sites that don’t even understand basic web usability principles such as web pages must live forever) shows once again more have undergraduate degrees in engineering than any other field, increasing to 22% of CEO’s this year.
| Field |
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|
% of CEOs | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 |
|
2007 |
|
2006 |
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2005 | |||
| Engineering | 22 | 21 | 23 | 20 | |||||
| Economics | 16 | 15 | 13 | 11 | |||||
| Business Administration | 13 | 13 | 12 | 15 | |||||
| Accounting | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | |||||
| Liberal Arts | 6 | 6 | 8 | 9 | |||||
| No degree or no data | 3 | 3 | |||||||
In 1990 Engineering majors accounted for 6% of the bachelor’s degrees in the USA (1970 5%, 1980 7%). Business accounted for 23% of the majors in 1990 (1970 14%, 1980 21%). Liberal arts 3% in 1980 (1970 1%, 1980 2%).
The report does not show the fields for the rest of the CEO’s. 39% of S&P CEOs have MBAs. 28% have other advanced degrees. The University of Wisconsin-Madison and Harvard tied for the most CEO’s with undergraduate degrees from their universities at 13. Princeton and the University of Texas had 9 and Stanford had 8.
While the CEO’s have engineering education backgrounds the work they have done is often in other functions. The top function that CEO’s that have worked in during their careers: Operations (42%), Finance (31%), Marketing (24%), Sales (17%), Engineering (11%).
Data for previous years is also from Spencer Stuart: S&P 500 CEOs are Engineering Graduates (2007 data) 2006 S&P 500 CEO Education Study – Top degree for S&P 500 CEOs? Engineering (2005 study)
Related: Another Survey Shows Engineering Degree Results in the Highest Pay – Science and Engineering Degrees lead to Career Success – The Future is Engineering
Jeff Fry linked to a great webcast in Controlled Experiments To Test For Bugs In Our Mental Models.
I firmly believe that applied statistics-based experiments are under-appreciated by businesses (and, for that matter, business schools). Few people who understand them are as articulate and concise as Kohavi. Admittedly, I could be accused of being biased as: (a) I am the son of a prominent applied statistician and (b) I am the founder of a software testing tools company that uses applied statistics-based methods and algorithms to make our tool work.
Summary of the webcast, on Practical Guide to Controlled Experiments on the Web: Listen to Your Customers not to the HiPPO – a presentation by Ron Kohavi with Microsoft Research.
1:00 Amazon: in 2000, Greg Linden wanted to add recommendations in shopping cards during the check out process. The “HiPPO” (meaning the Highest Paid Person’s Opinion) was against it on the grounds that it would be a bad idea; recommendations would confuse and/or distract people. Amazon, a company with a good culture of experimentation, decided to run a small experiment anyway, “just to get the data” – It was wildly successful and is in widespread use today at Amazon and other firms.
3:00 Dr. Footcare example: Including a coupon code above the total price to be paid had a dramatic impact on abandonment rates.
4:00 “Was this answer useful?” Dramatic differences occur when Y/N is replaced with 5 Stars and whether an empty text box is initially shown with either (or whether it is triggered only after a user clicks to give their initial response)
6:00 Sewing machines: experimenting with a sales promotion strategy led to extremely counter-intuitive pricing choice
7:00 “We are really, really bad at understanding what is going to work with customers…”
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Very nice webcast (of an old 1930’s filmstrip by GM) explaining how a differential gear works.
Related: how things work – A Journey Into the Human Eye – Science Explained: What The Heck is a Virus? – Magenta is a Color
New battery could change world
This may not startle you, but it should. It’s amazing. The most energy-dense batteries available today are huge bottles of super-hot molten sodium, swirling around at 600 degrees or so. At that temperature the material is highly conductive of electricity but it’s both toxic and corrosive. You wouldn’t want your kids around one of these.
The essence of Ceramatec‘s breakthrough is that high energy density (a lot of juice) can be achieved safely at normal temperatures and with solid components, not hot liquid.
Ceramatec says its new generation of battery would deliver a continuous flow of 5 kilowatts of electricity over four hours, with 3,650 daily discharge/recharge cycles over 10 years. With the batteries expected to sell in the neighborhood of $2,000, that translates to less than 3 cents per kilowatt hour over the battery’s life. Conventional power from the grid typically costs in the neighborhood of 8 cents per kilowatt hour.
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A small three-bedroom home in Provo might average, say, 18 kWh of electric consumption per day in the summer — that’s 1,000 watts for 18 hours. A much larger home, say five bedrooms in the Grandview area, might average 80 kWh, according to Provo Power.;Either way, a supplement of 20 to 40 kWh per day is substantial. If you could produce that much power in a day — for example through solar cells on the roof — your power bills would plummet.
Ceramatec’s battery breakthrough now makes that possible.
Clyde Shepherd of Alpine is floored by the prospect. He recently installed the second of two windmills on his property that are each rated at 2.4 kilowatts continuous output. He’s searching for a battery system that can capture and store some of that for later use when it’s calm outside, but he hasn’t found a good solution.
“This changes the whole scope of things and would have a major impact on what we’re trying to do,” Shepherd said. “Something that would provide 20 kilowatts would put us near 100 percent of what we would need to be completely independent. It would save literally thousands of dollars a year.”
Very interesting stuff. If they can take it from the lab to production this could be a great thing, I would like one.
Related: Recharge Batteries in Seconds – Using Virus to Build Batteries – Black and Decker Codeless Lawn Mower Review
Undergraduate Scholars Live the Scientific Life at Janelia Farm
For Gloria Wu, who is majoring in biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, the interdisciplinary nature of research at Janelia Farm and the diversity of backgrounds among her fellow scholars were important assets. “A lot of students are coming from math or computer science backgrounds, and that really stimulates a lot of discussion between us, so we can see other approaches to solving biological questions. That is something really wonderful about this program,” she said.
Related: Summer Jobs for Smart Young Minds – Internships Pair Students with Executives – science internship directory
Honeybees warn of risky flowers
On the other flower, they placed the bodies of two dead bees, so they were visible to arriving insects, but would not interfere with their foraging. They then recorded whether and how the bees performed a waggle dance on their return to other members of the hive colony.
On average, bees returning from safe flowers performed 20 to 30 times more waggle runs that bees returning from dangerous flowers.
That shows that the bees recognise that certain flowers carry a higher risk of being killed or eaten by predators, such as crab spiders or other spider species that ambush visiting bees.
Related: Scientists Search for Clues To Bee Mystery – The Study of Bee Colony Collapses Continues
The PayScale salary survey looked at both starting and mid career salary. Engineering topped both measures. Of the top 10 mid career salaries, 7 were engineering degrees – including the top 4. The survey is based upon data for full-time employees in the United States who possess a Bachelor’s degree and no higher degrees and have majored in the subjects listed above.
The top 11 paying degrees are:
| Highest Paid Undergrad College Degrees | |||
| Degree | Starting Median Salary | Mid-Career Median Salary | |
| Aerospace Engineering | $59,600 | $109,000 | |
| Chemical Engineering | $65,700 | $107,000 | |
| Computer Engineering | $61,700 | $105,000 | |
| Electrical Engineering | $60,200 | $102,000 | |
| Economics | $50,200 | $101,000 | |
| Physics | $51,100 | $98,800 | |
| Mechanical Engineering | $58,900 | $98,300 | |
| Computer Science | $56,400 | $97,400 | |
| Industrial Engineering | $57,100 | $95,000 | |
| Environmental Engineering | $53,400 | $94,500 | |
| Statistics | $48,600 | $94,500 | |
Related: Engineering Graduates Paid Well Again in 2008 – High Pay for Engineering Graduates in 2007 – Engineering Graduates Get Top Salary Offers in 2006 – posts on science and engineering careers – posts on engineering education