Category Archives: Science

What’s Up With the Weather?

image of Time cover

No one can say exactly what it looks like when a planet takes ill, but it probably looks a lot like Earth. Never mind what you’ve heard about global warming as a slow-motion emergency that would take decades to play out. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the crisis is upon us.

Time’s cover story – Be worried, be very worried – starts out with this provocative paragraph. Other recent stories on the effects of climate change, rising ocean levels etc.:

What’s Up With the Weather? by Nova and Frontline (PBS)

(including a teacher’s guide)

Possible Consequences 0f climate change – United States National Academy of Science report
Warming to Cause Catastrophic Rise in Sea Level?, National Geographic News
Climate Model Predicts Greater Melting, Submerged Cities
Buffett links hurricane insurance to climate
Sea level rise ‘is accelerating’
Ocean changes ‘will cool Europe’
Global warming – Union of Concerned Scientists
The problem with “global warming” – “We are facing what might be the greatest threat ever to the future of mankind. And yet no one is marching in the streets, the outrage is largely intellectual and action is slow…. If the problem were called ‘Atmosphere cancer’ or ‘Pollution death’ the entire conversation would be framed in a different way.”
Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Arctic System on Trajectory to New, Seasonally Ice-Free State

Expanding Your Horizons in Science and Mathematics

Expanding Your Horizons in Science and Mathematics (EYH)

EYH facilitates conferences for middle school and high school girls on science and math and information on careers involving math and science.

Over 625,000 young women have participated in the these conferences so far. Many of these conferences conduct concurrent programs for parents and educators so they may more effectively support young women and their technical aspirations.

A typical conference takes place on a Saturday at a local college or university and is attended by 200-500 young women from nearby middle schools and high schools. The schedule includes a keynote address encouraging girls to persist in mathematics and science courses, and two varieties of workshops.
…
In most of the workshops, young women participate in hands-on learning experiences led by women scientists, mathematicians, and engineers. In other workshops, role models share career awareness information and discuss job satisfaction, necessary education, and descriptions of a typical day on the job.

List of conferences with contact information

What Happens at an EYH Conference?

A LOT OF FUN!

At an EYH conference, you will attend talks, participate in hands-on workshops, and meet with women scientists and engineers. You will also spend time with other girls who are thinking about their futures. Through these activities you will:

Experience the fun of math, science and engineering;
Learn about math and science-based careers;
Find out about the education required for these professions;
Discover what scientists do in a typical day;
Obtain first-hand information about the lives of women in science and the various paths leading to careers in the sciences.

Podcasts of previous events

Via: Expanding girls’ horizons

Directory of Science and Engineering Education Sites

Inspire Students to Study Math and Science

Light a fire under students for math, science programs by Lisa Burdette – a student at Horseheads High School:

Upon reviewing the major points of the bill, however, I failed to find a specific focus on improving science and mathematics education in grades K-6. The bill seems to be geared toward secondary school students – those in junior high and high school – and even college students.

However, interest in science truly begins at the elementary level. A key component of improving the number of American scientists and engineers is igniting interest at a young age and nurturing that interest throughout a child’s education.

Educational television can help to interest a child in a subject. When I was young, I watched “Bill Nye the Science Guy” and “Magic School Bus,” and I learned much from those shows that I remember and utilize today. High school science teachers often use “Bill Nye the Science Guy” in their classrooms because it is such an excellent resource.

She does an excellent job presenting her position. And you have to love statement like “when I was young” from a high school student.

UW-Madison Scientist Solves Bird Flu Puzzler

UW-Madison scientist solves bird flu puzzler by David Wahlberg:

Before the H5N1 virus can cause a human pandemic, the new findings suggest, it must mutate and become able to recognize human flu virus receptors, Kawaoka said.

The virus, which has led to the death or slaughter of millions of birds in Asia, Africa and Europe, has killed 103 of the 184 people known to be infected since 2003, nearly all of them thought to be sickened by birds.

If the virus starts spreading from person to person, health officials say, it could cause a pandemic like the one in 1918 that killed up to 50 million people worldwide.

Modern Marvels Invent Now Challenge

Shift Bicycle photo

The History Channel and Invent Now, announced the 25 semi-finalists of the Modern Marvels Invent
Now Challenge, a national competition that provides an opportunity for independent inventors to be recognized and to influence the ever-changing face of invention.

The semi-finalists, who hail from 17 states across the U.S. and range in age from 19 to 80, were chosen from nearly 4,300 submissions entered, a number that confirms that the inventive spirit in America is alive
and well. This spring, the Challenge will ultimately name the invention of one of these 25 semi-finalists as the 2006 Modern Marvel of the Year during Modern Marvels: Great Inventions Week on The History Channel May 24-27th.

Innvetions include:

Matthew C. Grossman, Student, Austin, TX – Shift Bicycle (shown in photo): This bicycle is intended to help small children learn to balance on their own without the crutch of training wheels and the worry of skinned knees. The bicycle features two rear wheels that are spread apart at slow speeds to provide critical stability, and as the rider gains speed, the two rear wheels merge together to act as one wheel until the rider reduces speed and consequently returns the bicycle to the two wheel configuration. More information on the bike: new bike design for toddlers wins international competition

Russell D. Keller, Truck Driver, Oklahoma, OK – Drag Vent: An air diversion device captures a flow of air from above a roadway vehicle and forcibly diverts the captured air to the center of the low pressure area at the rear of the vehicle, thus reducing the amount of drag force applied to the vehicle and increasing the vehicles efficiency of operation.

Randal J. Kwapis, Computer Engineer, New Boston, MI – Typhoon: The Typhoon is an everyday manual wheelchair that utilizes shock-absorbing technology to make the chair easier to propel over rough terrain like grass and gravel.

Find more information on the semi-finalists and the Modern Marvels Invent Now Challenge

via Make

GE’s Edison Desk Blog

photo of windmills

GE global research’s Edison Desk blog provides interesting posts on the scientific and engineering research at GE. They provide interesting reading and, as I am sure is part of GE’s plan, let GE present their company in a positive light (so far the text is a bit too heavy on public relations spin, in my opinion, but it is still interesting). For example, Reaching for A High Penetration of Renewable Energy in The Grid:

Many additional challenges exist. Technologies that ease the integration of renewable energy resources into the grid will have a large impact in driving continued growth for these industries. Technology needs range from advanced component design to renewable resource forecasting and all the way through to large-scale system designs which take into consideration the aggregation of diverse power generation technologies to form dispatchable entities (such as wind-hydro hybrids, for example)

and Your Movie Collection on a Single Disk:

However, the capacity of the discs is being increased just enough to put a single HDTV movie on one disc. The Holographic Storage technology that our team is working on leapfrogs these next generation formats enabling users to put over 40 HDTV movies or over 200 standard definition movies on a single disc.

Students put Scientific Principles to Use

Lessons in Innovation by Shannon Mullen (site removed content – poor usability)
Instructor encourages students to put scientific principles to use … one LEGO brick at a time.

The mini course, called Engineering Experiences, uses an educational approach known as “discovery-based learning.” As the name implies, the idea is for students to learn by doing, through trial and error. Hotaling and her colleagues try to remain on the sidelines, guiding the students with questions, rather than spooning out solutions.

The mission of the Stevens Institute Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science is to catalyze and support excellence in teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and other core subjects through innovative, research-based instructional strategies and use of novel technologies.

UK Science and Innovation Grants

UK Science and Innovation Grants

The recipients of the second round of Science and Innovation Awards have been announced by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Funding has been awarded to build the UK’s research base in the areas of nanometrology, statistics, plasma physics and the Mathematics-Computer Science interface.

Professor John O’Reilly, Chief Executive of EPSRC, said: “A strong research base in engineering and the physical sciences is vital to the UK’s success as a knowledge economy. These latest awards underscore EPSRC’s commitment, working in partnership with the Funding Councils and the Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland, to address shortages of academics to lead research teams in some crucially important areas.”
Continue reading →

Science and Engineering Jobs

Alarm as white-collar jobs vanish overseas (link broken so I removed it), Australian Financial Review:

The council’s draft report, a copy of which was obtained by the Australian Financial Review, says Australia needs to respond by investing in education and research and development, and by linking up with developing knowledge sectors in China and India.

There has been a steady progression up the value scale in work sent to low-cost countries – from manufacturing to data processing, call centres and computer software.

Now there is evidence that China and India are competing for high-level jobs in financial services, industrial design, architecture, research and development, engineering, medicine and even management areas such as human resources and business consulting.

Every country realizes the value to their economy of jobs in science, engineering and technology. Countries are taking steps to create a environment that will attract those jobs. Countries that do this less effectively will suffer.

Previous posts on the topic of economics, science and engineering

Smokeless Stove Uses 80% Less Fuel

Philips Smokeless Stove Uses 80% Less Fuel, Saves Lives

300 million families in the world’s poorest regions burn wood for cooking, and smoke and toxic emissions kill 1.6 million people per year.

That claim in the article is disputed by a comment on the web site. The difficulty of drawing direct causation for many medical problems makes such claims difficult to prove. A scientific paper explores the issue:

Chronic pulmonary disease in rural women exposed to biomass fumes

There is little question finding engineering solutions that serve to reduce health risks are often much better than trying to deal with the health consequences after people are sick. So providing safe drinking water, for example, will do more for health than increase spending on medical care to treat those who get sick.

Additionally the opportunities to save lives and improve health in the world often do not require cutting edge science. It is often a matter of engineering effective solutions for hundreds of millions and billions of people living without what those in the wealthy take for granted (Water and Electricity for All – Solar Powered Hearing Aid – Appropriate Technology).