Hottest Temperature on Earth

Record set for hottest temperature on Earth – Scientists produce gas more than 100 times hotter than the sun

Scientists have produced superheated gas exceeding temperatures of 2 billion degrees Kelvin, or 3.6 billion degrees Fahrenheit.

This is hotter than the interior of our sun, which is about 15 million degrees Kelvin, and also hotter than any previous temperature ever achieved on Earth, they say.

They don’t know how they did it.
…
Thermonuclear explosions are estimated to reach only tens to hundreds of millions of degrees Kelvin; other nuclear fusion experiments have achieved temperatures of about 500 million degrees Kelvin, said a spokesperson at the lab.

Wow! That’s Engineering?

Develop, Design, Discover: Women Innovating with Technology Week

Beginning on March 8th at our “Wow! That’s Engineering?” event in Chicago, and continuing through April 19th, the Society of Women Engineers is holding an essay contest asking girls ages 10 to 17 to write, in 100 words or less, about an invention/innovation they would create, using technology, to make the world a better place.

Girls will enter to win the ultimate grand prize: a trip to IBM Headquarters in Armonk, NY, where they will spend the day working with a leading engineer at IBM. Additional prizes will include a week at Camp Invention, laptops, MP3 players and more.

Enter the contest

In addition to Chicago events are planned for: Austin, Orlando, Philadelphia, Raleigh and San Francisco. See the web site for more details.

Solar Storms

Photo: Solar Storm Causes X-Ray Aurora, On April 7, the SOHO spacecraft spotted a Solar Storm ejecting a cloud of energetic particles toward planet Earth. The plasma cloud’s center missed Earth, but high energy particles swept up by Earth’s magnetosphere still created a geomagnetic storm! Read more, from NASA.

Stronger Solar Storms Predicted; Blackouts May Result, John Roach for National Geographic News

“This prediction of an active solar cycle suggests we are potentially looking at more communication and navigation disruptions, more satellite failures, possible disruption of electric grids and blackouts, more dangerous conditions for astronauts—all these things,” Behnke said during the briefing.

New Model Predicts Severe Solar Activity

Engineering Education Worldwide

Quality vs. Quantity in Engineering

This article discusses the Duke study (USA Under-counting Engineering Graduates) proposing an adjustment to the numbers used for comparing engineering education results of the United States, China and India.

Like Wadhwa, Johnson suggested that the recent emphasis on increasing the number of engineers in America should take a back seat to promoting quality. “The fact there may be X, Y or Z number of [science and engineering graduates] floating around, doesn’t necessarily speak to the question of does that represent the actual high level high skill innovative talent American industries are looking for,” he said.

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.