vhughes | May 30, 2007We tend to think of alien life as that which may habitate other planets. But the vast, uncharted expanse of our own oceans is, in many ways, just as alien. To get a better idea of the ecology and dynamics of ocean life, marine biologists, oceanographers, and engineers for the past few years have been outfitting sealife of the Pacific Ocean with GPS-like tags. Since February, these Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) researchers have chronicled their sea voyages on a blog, On Topp of the World.
Since 2002, TOPP researchers from Stanford's Hopkins Marine Lab, the University of California,…
lbillings | May 29, 2007One of the great things about the international nature of the Fair is the insight some projects provide on the problems facing their home countries and regions. Take for instance the team project in Plant Science by Eduardo Manuel Soares Guerreiro, Estela Da Silva Guerreiro, and Rita Catarina Ramos Pimenta dos Santos Silva from Odemira, Portugal.
Their research addresses the causes of a devastating condition known as "decline" that has wreaked havoc on cork oak forests in Portugal and threatens the country's cork industry. For perspective, Portugal has about a third of the world's cork oaks…
vhughes | May 25, 2007Meet Sandra Kiume, the passionate, Canadian hat-crocheter, science writer, and co-blogger of Omni Brain.
What's your name?
Sandra Kiume
What do you do when you're not blogging?
Other forms of writing, reading, crochet (hats and jewelry), cooking, volunteer work, yoga, hiking, kayaking.
What is your blog called?
Omni Brain.
What's up with that name?
Steve Higgins, the founder and my co-blogger, named it. He tells the story in his 3.14 interview. I think it's a fun name, catchy.
How long have you been blogging?
Ten years—a decade of transcribing and transforming life.
Where are you from and…
lbillings | May 24, 2007Kelvin Chiong of Sarawak, Malaysia posted this cool photo of the Malaysian and Brazilian delegations, and some other friends:
Share your photos, too. Post them to Flickr with the tag "intelisef."
lbillings | May 23, 2007
Alex Griffin, an Alaskan student observer at this year's Intel ISEF, snapped these choice photos during an afternoon hot air balloon ride over Albuquerque, which was just one of the many tours offered through the Fair organizers.
You can view the full set of twenty pictures in higher resolution here. Thanks for sharing, Alex!
vhughes | May 23, 2007
"Mythical Flying Trilobite Fossil." Oil painted onto a slab of shale that the artist's wife found discarded from a roof in Toronto. Copyright Glendon Mellow.
The Flying Trilobite blog was started two months ago by 32-year-old Glendon Mellow, a Toronto-based painter who's inspired by evolutionary theory and "particularly fond of Naples yellow." Mellow is also fond of ScienceBlogs, especially the "sassy and informative" commentary of Jason and PZ. Here, Glendon gives us his take on science and art in the digital world.
You say your favorite color's Naples yellow. How come?
Most of my…
lbillings | May 21, 2007Earlier last week, we had the privilege to speak with Chang Liu, a first-time Intel ISEF finalist from Beijing, about her project and her impressions of the US and the Fair.
The short Q&A is below the fold.
Q: First, could you tell me your name, where you're from, and how old you are?
A: My name is Chang Liu, I'm from Beijing, China, and I'm already 18 years old.
Q: How did you come to be here at ISEF today? What was your path?
A: When I was small I liked to watch TV like Nova and the Discovery Channel and so on, and later in my high school years, my school had sent me to a research…
lbillings | May 21, 2007Here are some interesting stats, courtesy of Intel:
Out of over 1,500 finalists, there were 547 individual award winners. Of these, 235 were female and 312 were male. 129 were international, and 418 were US winners (including 8 from Puerto Rico and 1 from the Virgin Islands).
Of course, this doesn't mean the US is vastly superior to the rest of the world in pre-college science; rather, since far more US students attend the Fair than international students, the ratio of US/international winners is a bit skewed. The top award-winning countries after the US were China (21 individual award…
ksharpe | May 21, 2007Meet Ian Hart, the athletic and self-confessedly "BoBo" author of Integrity of Science, a blog about public policy and the abuse of science—a fan of Caravaggio and detractor of strip malls.
What's your name?
Ian Hart
What do you do when you're not blogging?
I'm the Communications Director for the Pacific Institute, a nonpartisan, independent think-tank in Oakland, California, that uses interdisciplinary analysis to develop solutions to threats to sustainability at the intersection of environment, development, and society.
In my free time I paint (oils in a realist style), run marathons, and…
lbillings | May 18, 2007Another lightning storm during ISEF 2007
Lightning has blazed in the skies over Albuquerque almost every night here at Intel ISEF 2007, providing a dazzing and dramatic backdrop to the Fair's events as they unfold. But the real electricity today wasn't in the wild blue yonder; it was inside Tingley Coliseum, where the finalists gathered to learn who earned this year's top honors.
Here, fresh from the ceremony, are some highlights from the Grand Awards. The full listing is available here. Look out for more extensive coverage of the winners and their projects in the coming weeks!
Intel…
lbillings | May 18, 2007There are three major awards ceremonies at each Intel ISEF: Special Awards, Government Awards, and Grand Awards. The Special Awards were announced yesterday night, and the Government Awards results were released this morning. In these ceremonies, more than seventy corporations, government agencies, colleges, and scientific societies contribute awards based on their own selection criteria.
All that remains is the climax of each Fair, the Grand Awards, where the best of the best are recognized and presented with Intel ISEF's most prestigious prizes.
This awards ceremony is broken into two main…
vhughes | May 18, 2007This week, in the Mexican oil city of Tampico, an orb-like, robotic submarine begins its 1,000-foot plunge to the bottom of an underwater cavern, the largest sinkhole in the world. As part of the NASA-sponsored DEPTHX project, the autonomous robot, endearingly called "Clementine," will probe exotic rocks and microbes that may be the key to finding life on Europa, Jupiter's largest moon.
Last Saturday, ranch hands of Rancho la Azufrosa helped get Clementine out of storage.
According to NASA's current plans, it'll be at least 30 years before robots get to airless, ice-crusted Europa. Despite…
lbillings | May 18, 2007Last night, many of us returned to our hotel rooms to find papers with a disturbing message slipped beneath our doors. It said, in short, that we had likely been exposed to measles, a rather unpleasant disease best known for the distinctive red or brown dotted rash it causes. An electronic version of the notice is available here.
The initial case, a young girl attending Intel ISEF, is receiving treatment at a local hospital. State health officials believe she was infectious during her time at the science fair, including her visits to local hotels and businesses. What makes measles so…
lbillings | May 17, 2007Ahhh, yes. After sleepless nights and days on end of stressing over project setups and judging preparations, what better way to kick back and relax than to stand at one's booth for four hours taking questions from the general public and the media? It's perhaps fortunate for everyone but the finalists that there's not more room within the exhibition hall; otherwise I'd expect to see an improvised shantytown of jerryrigged tents, hammocks, and lean-tos sprout up this morning as sleep-deprived students take shelter from the public/media onslaught.
But as I said, it's certainly fortunate for us.…
lbillings | May 16, 2007Since no members of the media are allowed inside during judging, we waited until the finalists emerged for their lunch break at 11:45 and asked ten of them to tell us about their projects and their interactions with the judges.
First up, we spoke with Joseph Stunzi, a 17-year-old from Athens, Georgia with a project on enzymatic hydrogen production.
"I've seen eight judges in this first session. It's been pretty positive -- one judge got cut off short, though. Two of the eight were scheduled judges who came to see me, and the other six were special judges. I did have some trouble answering a…
lbillings | May 16, 2007It all comes down to this.
Though they hail from countries scattered far and wide across the globe, though they come from myriad different cultures and backgrounds, ultimately every ISEF finalist's journey here has been the same. For each one, the path to this day, this moment, has been paved with sacrifice. For each one, time to be spent in sleepovers, sports, and other social activities has been instead surrendered to the pursuit of a single idea: scientific perfection. For each one, months, sometimes years, of hard work are on the line.
Even at 7:30 a.m., the numbers of people gathered in…
ksharpe | May 15, 2007Ah, science fairs.
To the left, observe my colleague, fellow Seed-ster Lee Billings, feeling the science fair glow at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Intel ISEF is the world's largest and most acclaimed gathering of pre-college-age scientists. Held each May, the fair brings together 1,500 students from over 40 nations to present their research, meet one another, and compete for prizes including a $50,000 college scholarship. As PZ Myers notes at Pharyngula, "when I was growing up, this was better known as the Westinghouse science fair, and…
lbillings | May 15, 2007Tuesday morning started extra early for the finalists who were listed on the final violations list. Several showed up at 7 a.m. to save their projects from disqualification, and fortunately no one appeared to be in danger of missing the 10 a.m. correction deadline.
With a "media" session scheduled between 10 and 11:30 a.m., this is the first day of real full-scale activity. Hordes of international media correspondents have converged on the convention center looking for stories and interviews, and the lobby here is filled with journalists, cameras, and milling students waiting to enter the…
lbillings | May 15, 2007As background for the final project violations posted last night at 9:30 and the violation clearance taking place this morning from 7 to 10 a.m., we've interviewed Paula Johnson from the Scientific Review Committee (SRC) and John Cole from Display & Safety about why all those pesky rules and regulations are so important, and what typically happens in the last-minute rush to ensure projects with violations will qualify. Read on to get the scoop on the most common violations, how to avoid any trouble with your project, and some hair-raising anecdotes from Fairs past.
Paula Johnson,…
lbillings | May 14, 2007In the aftermath of last night's Student Pin Exchange, out of the dizzying array of commemorative pins, buttons, and cultural trinkets that were swapped, which emerged as the most eye-catching, coveted, and sought after?
We asked three-time Intel ISEF finalist and New Mexico native Susannah Clary to canvas the exhibition floor to find out. Her report is below the fold.
My personal favorite is my pin from Egypt. I love it because it represents the ancient Egyptian culture that still exists today.
Lee Billings, from Brooklyn, New York: "Since this is my first time in New Mexico, I like the…