competition
dr. dolittle | May 23, 2017 Image of lavender fromGFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=322384
While lavender aromatherapy has been documented to reduce stress in humans, little is known about its potential for reducing stress in veterinary medicine. Horses can develop elevated heart rates and stress hormone levels when they are confined to horse trailers and transported to new competition venues. Therapies to reduce stress in competition horses are regulated and often prohibit the use of sedatives or oral supplements. Kylie Heitman, an undergraduate student at Albion College, was interested in…
dr. dolittle | January 13, 2017 Image of an orca and her calf from Wikimedia Commons
Orcas are one of only three species of mammals that go through menopause, including humans of course. A new study published in Current Biology may have discovered why this happens in killer whales.
Examination of 43 years worth of data collected by the Center for Whale Research and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, revealed a remarkable finding about the costs of reproduction in orcas. Older mothers tend to spend more time taking care of the family, so to speak, by making sure her offspring know where or when to find food. While this…
dr. dolittle | December 21, 2015I read an interesting article in the Alaska Dispatch News which examined interactions between arctic grizzly bears and polar bears. They found that although polar bears are larger, they tend to leave food sources when grizzly bears are around. This may be because polar bears typically spend a lot of time on sea ice without the need to be aggressive towards competitors. Of concern is that the relatively passive nature of polar bears may be detrimental considering these animals are increasingly spending more time foraging on land during the summer and fall months.
North Slope bone pile in…
esiegel | August 24, 2013"I'm happy to report that everybody whose face I've wanted to punch on Earth has already been punched." -Greg Kinnear
Well, it's finally happened. After the javascript music player I'd been using to share music with you was discontinued, I finally found a new one here. There's no better way to test it out than with Soïg Sibéril's masterful guitar work, as showcased here in his song,
The Jug of Punch/Master Crowley.So enjoy that beautifulness, while I walk you way down memory lane. I grew up during the golden age of nintendo, when Mario, Zelda and Metroid were some of the best ways to spend…
grrlscientist | December 7, 2009tags: 2010 METROPOLIS Next Generation Design Competition, sustainability, environmentalist engineering
Image: METROPOLIS Magazine
Do you have an innovative idea for making existing items in your life work better? Now is your chance to share this innovative idea with the world by entering it into the 2010 METROPOLIS Next Generation Design Competition. They are looking for entries to be sent in to their competition by 29 January 2010.
You must let me know if any of you (dear readers) enter this competition, and you must let me know if you win!
Read more about this competition here.
edyong | June 28, 2009 Imagine that you're taking a test in a large public hall. Obviously, your knowledge and confidence will determine your score, but could the number of people around you have an influence too? According to psychologists Stephen Garcia from the University of Michigan and Avishalom Tor from the University of Haifa, the answer is yes. They have found that our motivation to compete falls as the number of competitors rises, even if the chances of success are the same.
The simple act of comparing yourself against someone else can stoke the fires of competition. When there are just a few…
bioephemera | May 7, 2009An interesting perspective from education professor John Kitchens:
President Obama, you must understand that mandating standards without equitable funding creates punitive systems of education, and current forms of high-stakes testing too often pit student against student, and eventually citizen against citizen. The struggling economy will likely renew the sense of competition and education for the sake of occupational gain, while a sober look at the number of jobs available in the near future will reveal the futility of these motivations. However entrenched these ideas about education are in…
jklein | May 21, 2007Intel Foundation Young Scientist Winner Philip Streich of Platteville, Wisconsin gets grilled by a judge.
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…
lbillings | May 18, 2007
Another 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…
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 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,…