Category Archives: Science

Intel International Science and Engineering Fair Awards

Nearly 1,500 students from 47 countries competed for nearly $4 million in scholarships and prizes at the 57th Intel International Science and Engineering Fair this week.

The grand prize winners of $50,000 scholarships were:

Information on all of the 2006 award winners as well as past winners.

Five Indian students win Intel awards:

Five Indian students are among the winners at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, the world’s largest pre-college science competition in which an Indian-American girl also received a $50,000 scholarship by taking top honours.

The students excelled among a record-setting, worldwide pool of 1,482 competitors from 47 countries, regions and territories, setting the bar for future scientific research in three disciplines.

Teen’s project places second at science fair

His engineering design for emergency shelters, now in the hands of the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, yesterday earned Toll, 17, a junior at Cedar Crest High School, a second-place award at an international science fair in Indianapolis.

Art of Science at Princeton

spreading of a surfactant over a thin liquid film on a silicon wafer Image: illustrates evolving dynamical patterns formed during the spreading of a surface-active substance (surfactant) over a thin liquid film on a silicon wafer. Larger photo and more information.

Princeton University: Art of Science Exhibition (the web site doesn’t seem to work in Internet Explorer but does in Firefox) includes images from the 2005 exhibition.

‘Art of Science’ exhibition bridges disciplines by Teresa Riordan on 2006 competition selections announced today:

  • Jennifer Rea, a senior in the history of science, who took first place for her painting titled “Mitosis,” which depicts cell division superimposed on a floral fabric
  • Melissa Green, a graduate student in mechanical and aerospace engineering, who was awarded second place for “Isolated Hairpin,” a computer simulation of turbulent air flow
  • Qiangfei Xia, a graduate student in electrical engineering, who won third place for “Easter Bonnet,” a photograph taken with an electron scanning microscope of a tiny piece of metal melted by a laser onto a silicon chip.

What Makes People Successful?

A Star Is Made – The Birth-Month Soccer Anomaly by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt (authors of Freakonomics (an interesting book):

If you then examined the European national youth teams that feed the World Cup and professional ranks, you would find this quirk to be even more pronounced. On recent English teams, for instance, half of the elite teenage soccer players were born in January, February or March, with the other half spread out over the remaining 9 months. In Germany, 52 elite youth players were born in the first three months of the year, with just 4 players born in the last three.

Why? Read the article by the Freakonomics authors for an explanation. In reading the article you get an example of why scientific thought is so important. The data can lead to all sort of conclusions, the article offers several:

a) certain astrological signs confer superior soccer skills; b) winter-born babies tend to have higher oxygen capacity, which increases soccer stamina; c) soccer-mad parents are more likely to conceive children in springtime, at the annual peak of soccer mania

The ability to examine such questions effectively is one of the benefits of learning to think scientifically. Then we can find sensible explanations instead of accepting crazy explanations. In this case the scientist, Anders Ericsson, is looking to learn how people become successful in a field. He concludes we far overestimate talent and far underestimate training and desire.

More information on the topic of the article from the Freakonomics web site.

Electron Clouds

From my favorite science teacher blog, Ms. Frizzle, the Electron Cloud Analogy:

Okay, so suppose we wanted to draw a map of where Tiana is at 10 am on a Wednesday. We could draw the school, because we know exactly where that is, and we could draw this classroom inside the school. But how do we show where Tiana is? Is she always in exactly the same place at that time? No…. but we know where she is most likely to be: in this classroom, in science class, in her seat. But she sometimes changes seats, or gets up and moves to a different part of the classroom. And once in a while, she leaves the room
…
This is kind of like the electron cloud diagram – the darker areas tell you that the electrons are more likely to be there, although we don’t know that for absolutely certain, and the lighter areas are places where electrons could be, but more rarely.

Learning science from Ms. Frizzle sure seems like it would be fun.

Score One for Sports Science

Score one for science (link broken so removed)

Bray has analyzed memorable games over the past 50 years and applied research in physics, biology, computing and psychology to the beautiful game.

Using biomechanics to calculate the absolute reach of a goalkeeper diving to try to save a penalty, Bray has identified an area near the posts and in the top corners where the goalkeeper cannot reach as the “unsaveable zone.”

“If a player were to place the ball in those regions, which are 28-30 percent of the goal area, there is not a sniff that the goalkeeper can do to get across to them,” explained Bray, from the University of Bath in England.

Related posts:

Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching

President George W. Bush has announced that 100 educators will receive the annual Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching for 2005. The award was established in 1983. This year, the White House recognizes the best of the Nation’s 7th – 12th grade mathematics and science teachers.

A national panel of distinguished scientists, mathematicians, and educators recommends teachers to receive the Presidential Awards which are administered by the National Science Foundation.

Awardees receive a $10,000 educational grant for their schools and a trip to Washington, D.C., to accept a certificate. The teachers will be in the Nation’s capital from May 1-6, 2006, to receive the award and participate in a variety of educational and celebratory events.

During the week the teachers will tour the White House and be honored in an awards ceremony hosted by Dr. John H. Marburger III, Science Advisor to the President and Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. They will also meet with members of Congress and the Administration to discuss the latest issues in mathematics and science teaching.

For a complete listing of the 2005 awardees visit the Presidential Awardees for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching web site.

Study on Minority Degrees in STEM fields

The American Council on Education has published a study: Increasing the Success of Minority Students in Science and Technology.

Key Findings:

  • In the 1995-96 academic year, 18.6 percent of African-American students and 22.7 percent of Hispanic students began college interested in majoring in STEM fields compared with 18 percent of white students and 26.4 percent of Asian-American students.
  • By the spring of 2001, 62.5 percent of African Americans and Hispanics majoring in STEM fields attained a bachelor’s degree compared with 94.8 percent of Asian Americans and 86.7 percent of whites.

Students who graduated in STEM fields (by spring 2001) were:

  • better prepared for postsecondary education because a larger percentage took a highly rigorous high school curriculum.
  • nearly all were younger than 19 when they entered college in 1995-96
  • more likely to have at least one parent with a bachelor’s degree or higher.
  • came from families with higher incomes.
  • more likely to work 15 hours or more a week.

Full press release on the study.

Feynman on Discovery

The pleasure of finding things out a video interview with Richard P Feynman (Google Video broke the link so I removed it).

A great mind expands upon our recent post: Science for Kids. He provides some good insight into learning.

Related book: Classic Feynman: All the Adventures of a Curious Character packaged with an hour-long audio CD of the 1978 “Los Alamos from Below” lecture.