Education
Regenerated kidneys filter urine!
Posted by Dr. Dolittle on April 15, 2013 Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston) have successfully regenerated kidneys that were unsuitable for transplantation. They stripped the tissue of all native cells, then added donor stem cells to the scaffolding that was left behind. The re-animated kidneys successfully created urine after being transplanted into rats! The hope is to apply this technique to humans…
Cracking down on deadbeat bosses: Wage theft victory a milestone in Chicago’s worker center movement
Posted by The Pump Handle on April 15, 2013 For Angel Nava, Chicago’s newly adopted wage theft ordinance is particularly personal. Until recently, Nava had worked at the same car wash business in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood for 14 years. The 55-year-old employee did it all — washing, detailing, buffing — for about 50 hours each week. Then, his boss decided to stop paying overtime.
Real Scientists Have Families, Too
Posted by Chad Orzel on April 15, 2013 I was re-reading bits of James Gleick’s Feynman biography, and ran across a bit near the end (page 397 of my hardcover from 1992) talking about his relationship with his children, talking about how ordinary he seemed at home.I particularly liked the sentence “Belatedly it dawned on them that not all their friends could look…
Their Way
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson on April 14, 2013 “I came with all my books, lived in dorms, followed directions. I worked, I studied hard, met lots of folks who had connections. I crammed, they gave me grades, and may I say not in a fair way. But more, much more than this, I did it their way.” Many years ago, I heard this,…
E. O. Wilson and Learning the Wrong Lesson
Posted by Chad Orzel on April 12, 2013 One of the reasons I held off on commenting on the whole E. O. Wilson math op-ed thing, other than not having time to blog, was that his comments were based on his own experiences. And, you know, who am I to gainsay the personal experiences of a justly famous scientist? At the same time,…
Math and Science Are Not Cleanly Separable
Posted by Chad Orzel on April 12, 2013 One of the hot topics of the moment is the E. O. Wilson op-ed lamenting the way math scares students off from science, and downplaying the need for mathematical skill (this is not news, really– he said more or less the same thing a few years ago, but the Wall Street Journal published it to…
Role Models in Science and Engineering: Swati Vilas Pol
Posted by carlyo of USA Science & Engineering Festival on April 12, 2013 
Celebrating another Role Model in Science & Engineering Achievement! Noted Materials Science Researcher Swati Vilas Pol is creating a new green technology that converts plastic bags and plastic bottles into carbon waste material for a wide range of uses — from water purification to powering electronic devices. Awesome! To read her full biography click here
Jell-O Brains
Posted by Dr. Dolittle on April 10, 2013 I have to admit I love the science section of The New York Times. The topic today: Dr. Karl Deisseroth and colleagues at Stanford University have developed a technique called CLARITY that uses hydrogel to make the brain look like it is made of Jell-O. They have successfully applied this technique to a whole mouse brain as well as part of…
How to Turn $10 into $5,000 in Less Than One Month!
Posted by Jeff on April 6, 2013 It is a feeling of unbelievable joy. We have all felt it, at one time or another. For me, it is at its most palpable in a concert or a sports event with tens of thousands of fans. Initially, everyone is milling about, chatting, texting, a thousand unconnected specks. Then there’s a moment capturing everyone’s…
New report: Kids will eat their veggies…if you give them the chance
Posted by The Pump Handle on April 5, 2013 If you serve it, they will eat it. That’s one of the many lessons gleaned from a new report on the national Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program.
