Technology

The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 36 Table of Contents Chapter 38 Chapter 37 UNGETF Reacts, March 24, 2056 The public reaction after the Group 2 disaster was muted in North America. Not so in the USSA. A huge crowd rioted in Brasilia and burnt down the DCS building. The police just stood around and watched; firemen did not attend. The technical staff and a couple of executives were killed. UNGETF was forced to suspend Group 2 operations in the USSA. At the next regular meeting, we were informed that Group 6, the cloud makers, had been given the go ahead. It was going to take some…
I suppose that while I'm on another roll writing about the antivaccine movement I should just embrace it. I was going to start this post out again with one of my periodic laments about how blogging about the antivaccine movement has taken over and crowded out other topics that I like to write about. I realize it's become one of my go-to cliche beginnings, to the point where I sometimes feel lazy when I use it. It is, however, an honest sentiment, and I hide nothing with respect to my opinion of the antivaccine movement and how it endangers public health through the promotion of pseudoscience…
By Elizabeth Grossman An anecdote related in Dan Fagin’s compelling new book, Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation, that tells the heartbreaking and infuriating history of how chemical industry pollution devastated that New Jersey community, points to one of the biggest flaws in our regulatory system’s approach to protecting people from toxics. In 1986, during a public meeting of the Ocean County Board of Health – Ocean County is home to Toms River, where the Ciba chemical company began manufacturing dye chemicals in the 1950s – an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official…
By Elizabeth Grossman While commercially manufactured polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were banned by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1979 due to concern about their extreme environmental persistence and toxicity – including potential to cause cancer – current EPA regulations allow the presence of limited amounts of PCBs that occur as manufacturing by-products. These by-product PCBs are not created or added to products intentionally but occur as a result of certain manufacturing processes, among them the synthesis of certain pigments that go into dyes, inks and paints. As I…
There are many fallacies that undergird alternative medicine, which evolved into "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM), and for which the preferred term among its advocates is now "integrative medicine," meant to imply the "best of both worlds." If I had to pick one fallacy that rules above all among proponents of CAM/IM, it would have to be either the naturalistic fallacy (i.e., that if it's natural—whatever that means—it must be better) or the fallacy of antiquity (i.e., that if it's really old, it must be better). Of course, the two fallacies are not unrelated. In the minds of CAM…
Here is the second in what will be a series of posts on how little things like changes in technology we take for granted, or simple behaviors, can have a big impact on water use. The first looked at turning off the water when you brush your teeth: a seemingly trivial thing. It turned out not to be so trivial. (I will, on occasion, also blog about the “not so little” things like fundamental changes in our agricultural systems, dietary choices, and industrial processes.) The Pacific Institute has done extensive and groundbreaking research over the past 25 years on a wide range of water, climate…
March is Women's History Month and the theme this year is "Women Inspiring Innovation Through Imagination: Celebrating Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics". We celebrate Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics year round at the USA Science & Engineering Festival so of course we are thrilled with the choice of theme this year.  All month long we will continue to honor Role Models in Science & Engineering Achievement; however we will turn our focus to women in STEM.  The scientists and engineers selected for this series have been chosen because they are…
By Festival Founder Larry Bock It's strange but true: some of the most prodigious innovations in technology are often not born in the corridors of rational thought and reality, but on the wings of fantasy. I was reminded of this recently while reading the various tributes to legendary science fiction writer Ray Bradbury who died last year at age 91. Bradbury, whose best-known works include The Martian Chronicles, and Fahrenheit 451, was a master at using his imagination to bring us face-to-face with our growing love affair, fascination -- and, at times, wariness -- of technology and the price…
Invest in the future. And especially, invest in sustainable, effective job creation in the water sector. The result will be millions of new jobs – a significant result. That is the key message from a new analysis just released today by the Pacific Institute on sustainable water jobs in the United States. That study, Sustainable Water Jobs: A National Assessment of Water-Related Green Job Opportunities, finds that proactive investments increasing efficient water use, improving water quality, expanding smart water treatment and re-use, and more will address growing problems associated with…
Whoda thought that injecting viruses into peoples hearts would be not only fun, but good for their health!  I just wrote about this little guy that can turn regular heart muscle cells into pacemaker cells (in guinea pigs), and here is another cool study hot off the presses: Long-Term Follow-up Assessment of a Phase 1 Trial of Angiogenic Gene Therapy Using Direct Intramyocardial Administration of an Adenoviral Vector Expressing the VEGF121 cDNA for the Treatment of Diffuse Coronary Artery Disease There is a cell protein-- VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor-- that convinces your body to…
Yesterday's mail brought the new issue of “Prayer News,” the newsletter of Creation Ministries International. (What can I say? I'm on several creationist mailing lists. At least it arrived along with the new issue of Free Inquiry to dilute the effect.) The lead article is called “Why Don't They Get It?” by Scott Gillis, and opens as follows: Most readers, at some time, have probably asked this question. “When the evidence supporting the biblical Creation and Flood account is presented in a clear and convincing manner, why is it summarily denied and dismissed by evolutionists?” In short,…
Ebb and Flow, the Twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) Space Ships, which have been employed to provide detailed gravitational mapping of the Moon's geology, have apparently served their purpose and will be reprogrammed in a few hours from now to crash into the moon on Monday. PASADENA, Calif. -- Twin lunar-orbiting NASA spacecraft that have allowed scientists to learn more about the internal structure and composition of the moon are being prepared for their controlled descent and impact on a mountain near the moon's north pole at about 2:28 p.m. PST (5:28 p.m. EST) Monday,…
Lego Technic is a Lego based technology that includes a combination of totally new kinds of Lego pieces and fancy technology that lets you build some amazing things. You can get kits that range in cost and sophistication from the LEGO 8514 Technic Power Roboriders a sort of motorcycle for robots that costs tens of dollars to a Motorized Bulldozer that will set you back nearly $700. Actually, I think there may be Techno kits that cost way over $1000. The modified Lego pieces include the techno "brick" which comes in many forms that have holes in them through which specially shaped parts can…
Sometimes when a study comes out that I'm very interested in blogging about, I don't get around to it right away. In the blogging biz, this sort of delay is often considered a bad thing, because blogging tends to be very immediate, about being the firstest with the mostest, and the moment to strike and be heard about major studies is brief. Of course, there's also real life as well. That this particular study came out in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) didn't help. So, here it is, a week and a half later, and I'm finally getting around to it. There is, however, an advantage to this…
In the comments to yesterday's post about college admissions, Joseph Yoon quoted my statement that "I'm somewhat sympathetic to claims that Asians have a difficult position in higher education," and shot back with: I wonder if you will feel more strongly about this in 10 years when your kids are near college. Will you advise them to not check the Asian box if it decreases their chances? As a general matter, I try to avoid responding to comments when my initial reaction is "Oh, go fuck yourself." But I'll make an exception here, because I think it goes to a more general issue about college…
In which I unpack a cryptic paper title and explain how quantum superposition lets you use light to keep things from interacting with light. ------------- I joined AAAS a couple of years ago to get a break on the registration fee for their meeting, and I've kept up the membership mostly because I like having individual access to Science articles, so I can read them in the coffee shops where I get actual work done. This also gives me access to articles in the "advance online publication" stage, which is hilarious because Union's institutional subscription doesn't include those articles-- if I'…
Before being elected to the U.S. Congress in 1998, physicist Rush Holt taught and researched such areas as solar spectroscopy and plasma physics. This background inspired some of  his supporters in the 12th District of New Jersey to make bumper stickers that proudly read: “My congressman IS a rocket scientist!” -- reflecting their growing desire "for more science, or at least more scientific thinking, in Congress," Rush recalls.  Combining a keen interest in science with politics came relatively smoothly for Rush. He inherited his interest in politics from his parents. His father was the…
At today's presidential press conference, New York Times reporter Mark Landler broke a trend that ran through the presidential campaign, a trend of silence about climate change.  From the transcript: Q: Thank you, Mr. President. In his endorsement of you a few weeks ago, Mayor Bloomberg said he was motivated by the belief that you would do more to confront the threat of climate change than your opponent. Tomorrow you're going up to New York City, where you're going to, I assume, see people who are still suffering the effects of Hurricane Sandy, which many people say is further evidence of how…
Molly Stevens -- Materials scientist Internationally known for her work in nanotechnology to regenerate bone and tissue growth, and to design bioactive materials for early detection of disease  Nanotechnology (the science of manipulating matter at the atomic or molecular level, especially to build microscopic materials) has the potential to transform key areas of science and engineering. Molly Stevens, a materials scientist at the Imperial College of London (England), is using nanotechnology to push the boundaries of  biotechnology through advances in bone and tissue regeneration, and…
PLEASE SHARE IF YOU ARE INSPIRED BY THIS STORY! (C'mon, Hit Us With Your Comments! -- Yvonne, a pioneer of today's GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) technology, came up with the propulsion system that helps keep communication satellites in a fixed geosynchronous orbit. Tell us what you think!) When Yvonne Brill accepted the prestigious National Medal of Technology and Innovation award in 2011 from President Obama, it helped to further cement her place in science history as a pioneer in greatly improving space propulsion technology.  Her recent presidential award -- among the highest honors…