Drinking Soda and Obesity

Scientists in food fight over soda (bozos at CNN deleted the webpage):

Biologically, the calories from sugar-sweetened beverages are fundamentally different in the body than those from food.

The main sweetener in soda — high-fructose corn syrup — can increase fats in the blood called triglycerides, which raises the risk of heart problems, diabetes and other health woes.

This sweetener also doesn’t spur production of insulin to make the body “process” calories, nor does it spur leptin, a substance that tamps down appetite, as other carbohydrates do, explained Dr. George Bray of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

“There’s a lack of fullness or satiety. The brain just seems to add it on,” said Dr. Louis Aronne, a Weill-Cornell Medical College doctor who is president of the Obesity Society.

As with so much life science the “answers” are not clear (Medical Study Results Questioned – Why Most Published Research Findings Are False). The article presents arguments from those who disagree about the link between drinking soda and the dramatic rise in obesity in the USA.

Another article on the topic: Cutting Sugary Drinks at Home Helped Teens Shed Pounds by Judith Groch.

K-12 Engineering Education Grant for Purdue

Bechtel $1 million grant for k-12 engineering education programs at Purdue

The $1 million grant from Stephen D. Bechtel Jr is renewable for up to four additional years and will expand Purdue university’s educational research efforts to foster an interest in science and engineering in K-12 classrooms.

The grant will support research and program development in Purdue’s Department of Engineering Education.
Earlier the department received $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to launch the Multidisciplinary Engineering program.

Engineers Discuss: Is America Falling Behind?

Is America Falling Behind? Engineers Discuss Ways to Stem the Brain Drain by Chriss Swaney, Carnegie Mellon Today

“We still lead the world in research and development,” Carnegie Mellon University Engineering Dean Pradeep Khosla, said. “We can make the changes necessary to be competitive.”

“We must train engineers who will be managing, creating and deploying innovation.” – Khosla

Pittsburgh Post Gazzette article

Math, Science and Engineering Scholarships Proposal

Angelides pledges math, science, engineering scholarships

Democratic gubernatorial primary candidate Phil Angelides told Silicon Valley business executives Thursday he could reduce Silicon Valley’s dependency on skilled foreign workers by offering thousands of college scholarships to California students who study science, math and engineering.

If he were governor, Angelides told business executives, the California Tomorrow Fellowship program would award 10,000 students with up to $10,000 each for college expenses.

The state, he said, would put up $50 million and the remaining $50 million, he hopes, would be matched by businesses, universities and foundations.

“Last year California graduated 6,700 young people with degrees in engineering. South Korea, a country barely a third larger” than California, “graduated 56,000,” Angelides told a gathering of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

Previous posts on fellowship and scholarships for science and engineering students

$20 Million for Georgia Tech School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Georgia Tech School of Industrial and Systems Engineering Receives $20 Million Commitment

Georgia Tech’s School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), ranked No. 1 in the country for the past 15 years by U.S. News & World Report, has received a commitment of $20 million from Georgia Tech alumnus H. Milton “Milt” Stewart and his wife, Carolyn Stewart.

The commitment establishes a permanent endowment, the income from which will be available for unrestricted use within ISyE.

Proposed Legislation on Science and Education

“Protecting America’s Competitive Edge” Legislation Proposal

Proposals include:

Each year, up to 10,000 bright students would receive a 4-year scholarship to earn a bachelor’s degree in science, engineering or math, while concurrently earning teacher certification. In exchange for these scholarships, they would be expected to serve for at least four years as a math or science teacher.
Each year, up to 25,000 bright young Americans would receive a 4-year competitive scholarship to earn a bachelor’s degree in science, engineering or math, so that our brightest students pursue studies in these fields which are so critical to our economic growth. Up to 5,000 students who have already earned their bachelor’s degree, would compete to receive graduate research fellowships to cover education costs and provide a stipend.

Better Way To Desalinate Water

NJIT Professor Discovers Better Way To Desalinate Water – NJIT broke the link to their press release so I removed it 🙁 A university breaking news release web link, sigh. At least far fewer web sites are run by pointy haired bosses that don’t understand extremely basic rules like web pages must live forever.

Chemical engineer Kamalesh Sirkar, PhD, a distinguished professor at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and an expert in membrane separation technology, is leading a team of researchers to develop a breakthrough method to desalinate water. Sirkar, who holds more than 20 patents in the field of membrane separation, said that using his technology, engineers will be able to recover water from brines with the highest salt concentrations.

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci drawings including a larger version of the image above.

Math and the Mona Lisa : The Art and Science of Leonardo da Vinci is an excellent book exploring the visionary science of Leonardo da Vinci. More excellent science books that we recommend.

An excellent site for learning more about Leonardo – Museum of Science Leonardo web site (includes classroom activities):

Leonardo da Vinci may seem an unusual topic to study in science. But the more you learn about this remarkable Renaissance man, the more you will realize that he was a terrific role model for applying the scientific method creatively in every aspect of life including art and music. Although he is best known for his dramatic and expressive artwork, Leonardo also conducted dozens of carefully thought out experiments and created futuristic inventions in a time before modern science and invention had really begun.

Leonardo: Master Draftsman exhibit at the Met

$1 Billion for Indian Research University

Anil Agarwal donates $1 billion to set up university

Anil Agarwal, chairman, Vedanta Resources Plc, is keen to establish a world class, multi-disciplinary university in India, with a vision to developing India’s education and research infrastructure.

To be established with an endowment of up to $1 billion, Vedanta University will be of the calibre of institutes like Harvard, Stanford and Oxford, a Vedanta media statement said on Thursday.

Based on a ‘not-for-profit’ philosophy, the university will strive to impart world-class education and drive a cutting-edge research agenda, with an envisaged student population of more than 100,000 in the long term.
…
Stanford University’s Research Park has spawned more than 1,200 companies in the Silicon valley, with a combined market capitalisation of more than $300 billion: the vision of Vedanta University is to aspire to be a similar enabler for India, said the Vedanta statement.

It will be interesting to see how much money is actually donated and how effective this effort is.

How Things Work

How Things Work from the University of Virgina explains the scientific reason behind what we experience everyday:

What happens when sheets of paper, long rolled up into a tube, are unrolled but simply won’t ever lie flat again?

Paper consists mostly of cellulose, a natural polymer (i.e. plastic) built by stringing together thousands of individual sugar molecules into vast chains. Like the sugars from which it’s constructed, cellulose’s molecular pieces cling tightly to one another at room temperature and make it rather stiff and brittle. Moreover, cellulose’s chains are so entangled with one another that it couldn’t pull apart even if its molecular pieces didn’t cling so tightly. These effects are why it’s so hard to reshape cellulose and why wood or paper don’t melt; they burn or decompose instead. In contrast, chicle — the polymer in chewing gum — can be reshaped easily at room temperature.