Category Archives: Science

String Theory is Not Dead

The Universe on a String by Brian Greene (author of The The Elegant Universe).

String theory offers a new perspective on matter’s fundamental constituents. Once viewed as point-like dots of virtually no size, particles in string theory are minuscule, vibrating, string-like filaments. And much as different vibrations of a violin string produce different musical notes, different vibrations of the theory’s strings produce different kinds of particles. An electron is a tiny string vibrating in one pattern, a quark is a string vibrating in a different pattern. Particles like the photon that convey nature’s forces in the quantum realm are strings vibrating in yet other patterns.
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Without the exact equations, our ability to describe these attributes with precision is limited, but the theory gives enough direction for the Large Hadron Collider, a gigantic particle accelerator now being built in Geneva and scheduled to begin full operation in 2008, to search for supporting evidence by the end of the decade.

Science and Engineering Internships for Summer 2007

Office of Naval Research Science & Engineering Apprentice Program (SEAP)

SEAP provides competitive research internships to approximately 250 high school students each year. Participating students spend eight weeks during the summer doing research at Department of Navy laboratories.

Requirements:

* High school students who have completed at least Grade 9. A graduating senior is eligible to apply.
* Must be 16 years of age for most laboratories
* Applicants must be US citizens and participation by Permanent Resident Aliens is limited.
* The application deadline is February 17, 2006.
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Inside Live Red Blood Cells

Technique reveals inner lives of red blood cells:

For the first time, researchers at MIT can see every vibration of a cell membrane, using a technique that could one day allow scientists to create three-dimensional images of the inner workings of living cells.
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Soon, the researchers hope to extend their view beyond the cell membrane into the cell, to create images of what is happening inside living cells — including how cells communicate with each other and what causes them to become cancerous.

“One of our goals is create 3D tomographic images of the internal structure of a cell,” said Michael Feld, MIT professor of physics and director of the Spectroscopy Lab. “The beauty is that with this technique, you can study dynamical processes in living cells in real time.”

Example of what that will look like: The Inner Life of a Cell – Animation – ok actually that level of detail may still be fairly far away 🙂

MIT Faculty Study Recommends Significant Undergraduate Education Changes

A 2 year study by faculty provides recommendations for undergraduate education at MIT.

HigherEd article – When Knowledge Overtakes a Core:

Updating the traditional core of science subjects, giving students more choices and more hands-on science. The shift would end MIT’s long-standing practice of having all students take six common science courses — a change that institute officials say is necessary because the explosion of scientific knowledge has made it impossible to cover all basics in any introductory sequence.
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MIT’s reforms, if adopted, would represent the most significant overhaul of its curriculum in decades. The changes could be influential far beyond Cambridge, given the institute’s prominence in science and engineering education.

I think making science and engineering more hands on is a good thing.

Science Fair Project on Bacterial Growth on Packaged Salads

Recently we have all seen quite a few stories on – Tainted spinach: All bacteria may not come out in the wash. Last year a high school student did her science projected on the problem. Hillel Academy student first tested spinach for science fair by Stacey Dresner

“Last year I heard some rumors going around about how some people were getting sick and scientists thought that the illness was coming from these convenient packaged salads,” explained Kaili, now a ninth grader at the Hebrew High School of New England in West Hartford. “This caught my attention and I decided that I wanted to look more into the issue for my science fair project.”
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In her project, “Quantitative Analysis of Bacterial Growth on Packaged Salads and Effect on Antibiotic Resistance and Nutrient Content,” Kaili investigated several varieties of bagged salad greens.

She tested the bagged greens for bacteria content, and found “extensive growth of bacteria within 24 hours in the fresh “unwashed” samples.”

“I found the highest percents of bacteria in dark, leafy varieties such as spinach and Mediterranean” showing “a correlation between high levels of iron and high levels of bacteria.”

She washed the samples using different cleaning techniques n cleaning with sterile water, cooking with boiling water for five minutes, and using commercial cleaning rinse n water with a pinch of bleach. The only method that killed most of the bacteria was the commercial rinse. The others did not really inhibit bacterial growth.

NSF $76 million for Science and Technology Centers

NSF Awards $76 million for 2006 Science and Technology Centers to spur interdisciplinary research.

Centers offer the research and engineering community an effective mechanism to undertake long-term scientific and technological research and education activities, to explore better and more effective ways to educate students and to develop mechanisms to ensure the timely transition of research and education advances into service in society.
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Each center receives roughly $19 million dollars over 5 years, and if approved, receives an additional 5 years of support following a thorough evaluation.

Centers include: Layered Polymeric Systems at Case Western Reserve University and Multi-Scale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes at Colorado State University.

Why the Frogs Are Dying

photo of blue poison frog

Why the Frogs Are Dying by Mac Margolis (photo is of a Blue Poison Frog):

A study by 75 scientists published earlier this year in the journal Nature estimated that two thirds of the 110 known species of harlequins throughout Central and South America have vanished. And that may be just the beginning.
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Scientists monitoring wildlife around the world are echoing Pounds’s research. Their conclusion: many more species will perish.

This article does a good job of discussing the interactions caused by global warming and the consequences to some animal species.

Innovative Science and Engineering Higher Education

CMU student with small robot

Popular Mechanics provides glimpses of 10 cutting-edge science and engineering programs in: 10 Radically Innovative College Programs. Of course Olin College is highlighted again, as they should be: Olin Engineering Education Experiment. They also spotlight: University of California, Irvine; Florida State University, Panama City; Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design; Tufts University; MIT, The Ohio State University; Louisiana State University; Art Center College of Design; and Carnegie Mellon University:

CMU’s Robotics Institute in Pittsburgh is the world’s biggest academic robotics research center. Undergrads minoring in the subject take courses such as Introduction to Robotics, in which the weekly homework assignment is to build LEGO robots demonstrating that week’s concepts. “If the robot works, they get their A,” says Howie Choset, who teaches the course. But the real fun happens in the research labs, where students work on projects such as a slithering snake robot for search-and-rescue missions.

Students also participate in a dazzling array of competitions, such as the RoboCup, which pits teams of Sony AIBO robot dogs against each other in soccer. The highlight of the year is probably the Mobot Races at the CMU Spring Carnival. “Mobot is more important than the football team,” Choset says.

Tour the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Lab. One theme I see is the focus on projects – versus learning things for a test. A good thing. I would imagine some might worry it is too fun and not enough reading books 🙂 I think students will learn far more from a well crafted experiential education system. But it is a challenge to put that together well. We will all benefit from those that attempt to do so now.
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Science and Engineering Degrees – Career Success

Fortune magazine has selected the 50 most powerful women in business and selected 4 rising stars. It is another example (granted just an anecdote) illustrating that science and engineering degrees can pave the way to career success (also see: Top degree for S&P 500 CEOs? Engineering).

Shona Brown, Senior Vice President, Business Operations, Google, has a bachelor of computer systems engineering degree from Carleton University in Canada and a master’s degree in economics and philosophy from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. She received her Ph.D. and Post-Doctorate from Stanford University’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management. Our management blog mentioned her last month: Chaos Management (by design) at Google – and her book, Competing on the Edge: Strategy as Structured Chaos.

Adriane Brown, President and CEO, Transportation Systems, Honeywell. Degree: environmental health from Old Dominion University.

Padmasree Warrior, EVP, Chief Technology Officer, Motorola – “received a M.S. degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University, and a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi, India.”
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2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2006 goes to: Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello for their discovery of
RNA interference – gene silencing by double-stranded RNA.

This mechanism, RNA interference, is activated when RNA molecules occur as double-stranded pairs in the cell. Double-stranded RNA activates biochemical machinery which degrades those mRNA molecules that carry a genetic code identical to that of the double-stranded RNA. When such mRNA molecules disappear, the corresponding gene is silenced and no protein of the encoded type is made.

RNA interference occurs in plants, animals, and humans. It is of great importance for the regulation of gene expression, participates in defense against viral infections, and keeps jumping genes under control. RNA interference is already being widely used in basic science as a method to study the function of genes and it may lead to novel therapies in the future.

The Nobel Prize site also includes does a great job by including advanced information on this work.