This hardly seems impressive compared to the growth of Google say. However the amounts of money for global R&D are huge and so changes as less dramatic than other areas. Still this is significant and seems likely to continue to move in this direction.
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This stunning octopod, Benthoctopus sp., seemed quite interested in ALVIN’s port manipulator arm. Image courtesy of Bruce Strickrott, Expedition to the Deep Slope – larger photo.
The Brine Lake by Harry Roberts:
We watched these waves break on the “beach” like storm waves approaching and breaking on a sandy coastline.
NOAA researchers include a video from the adventure. Also read more about the Expedition to the Deep Slope, in the Gulf of Mexico.
50 Top Science Blogs (“by working scientist as far as they can tell”) based on technorati rank from Nature. Including:
Missing science blogs include:
Toyota Announces Overview of “Toyota Partner Robot”
Read posts about the Toyota Productions System (TPS) on the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog.
Others are making progress on human like robots including Sony and Honda. See Sony QRIO Robots in action in this flash video below:
And read more about Honda Robots: ASIMO and P3.
Not Your Average Summer Camp by Marisa Brook
Scientists ‘too busy’ for pupils BBC News:
Obviously research is important. But, as the article points out, it is also important for primary school teachers and students to interact with practicing scientists. The benefits of those interactions are most likely going to pay dividends over the long term.
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When Ants Go Marching, They Count Their Steps by Bjorn Carey
The ant “pedometer” technique was first proposed in 1904, but it remained untested until now.
Scientists trained desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, to walk along a straight path from their nest entrance to a feeder 30 feet away. If the nest or feeder was moved, the ants would break from their straight path after reaching the anticipated spot and search for their goal.
A simple example of the scientific process (another one posted yesterday about birds and global warming).
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Spring Is Early, and So Are the Birds, NPR webcast
This is short real life example of the scientific method. Spring is coming earlier to Europe, thanks to global warming. Scientists figured migrating birds in southern Europe would be able to adjust to the change and leave early (because the early warming would also be obvious where they wintered). But the scientists expected that birds from Africa would not be able to tell that they should leave early.
However, they studied what actual took place and found that the migrating birds from Africa were actually arriving early while those in southern Europe were not. So now they are revising their theories and will do more study to try and determine what is happening and why (for example, how are the birds in Africa deciding to leave early?).
Large-Scale, Cheap Solar Electricity by Kevin Bullis
According to Nanosolar’s CEO Martin Roscheisen, the company will be able to produce solar cells much less expensively than is done with existing photovoltaics because its new method allows for the mass-production of the devices. In fact, maintains Roscheisen, the company’s technology will eventually make solar power cost-competitive with electricity on the power grid.
Nanosolar also announced this week more than $100 million in funding from various sources, including venture firms and government grants. The company was founded in 2001 and first received seed money in 2003 from Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Information on the nanotechnology involved from the Nanosolar site.
GUS is widely credited for enabling many breakthroughs in plant biotech, including the development of one of Monsanto’s first and most profitable agricultural products, Roundup Ready soybeans. Mr. Jefferson first provided GUS and all the know-how to use it for free to hundreds of labs around the world.
When he secured his patents, he charged only what people could afford: Monsanto, he says, paid a substantial amount; academics and companies in the developing world, including those who wanted to use his work for commercial purposes, received it free of charge.