Uncategorized
lbock | October 17, 2012Read more....
These days the eyes of the academic chemistry community are riveted on a courtroom in Los Angeles where UCLA chemistry professor Patrick Harran stands accused of “willfully violating occupational safety and health standards and causing the death of a young technician in his laboratory.” Many professors are following the trial with trepidation, mindful of the possibility that they could be the ones facing the music in that courtroom. So far there is only one certainty about this evolving drama. It is tragic for everyone involved. A young woman with great promise for the future is…
lbock | October 17, 2012 Read More…
Credited with helping to popularize physics and other fields of science for millions of students worldwide with his futuristic way of presenting these frontiers, Michio Kaku says his explorations into such realms began in childhood when his hero Albert Einstein died. He was eight when he learned of Einstein's death, and he remembers that the public's reaction to the great physicist's passing "was as big as Whitney Houston dying." Michio, who grew up in Palo Alto, CA, soon learned that Einstein had failed to finish his greatest work: a single, inch-long equation that would…
gregladen | October 17, 2012How do science and religion view the origins of life, of humans, of the Universe? NCSE executive director Genie Scott examines the two approaches, the similarities, the conflicts. When 9/19/2012. Where: Westminster College
lbock | October 17, 2012(Science Question of the Day: Are you often teased and put down by peers and others because of your love of science or engineering? So was Ellen. Read her amazing story of success!)
Blasting off into space was once an all-male’s game. But on the heels of such trailblazers as Sally Ride, engineer and inventor Ellen Ochoa became part of growing breed of NASA female astronauts who have since helped change all that. In 1993, she made history by becoming the first Hispanic woman from any country to travel in space. She would follow up this journey with three more space flights in 1994,…
lbock | October 16, 2012Read More…
Although dance was among her first loves while growing up in Decatur, Alabama, Mae Jemison also had a high degree of interest in science, particularly space exploration. "I always knew I'd go to space," she says with a smile. A desire to help others through medicine was also high on her list. With determination, she set out to make her dreams come true. She entered college at age 16 as a chemical engineering student and after earning her degree, she completed medical school and practiced in Los Angeles before joining the Peace Corps' as a Medical Officer in Sierra Leone and Liberia…
mspringer | October 16, 2012By now everyone's heard of Felix Baumgartner and his record-breaking leap out of a balloon some 24 miles over the New Mexico desert. While the "official" definition of outer space is generally considered to start at either 60 miles or 100 kilometers, Felix's leap of some 39,045 meters is in many respect a drop from outer space. He was above essentially all of the atmosphere, the daylight sky above him was a black starry void, and he had to wear a spacesuit to breathe.
So why didn't he burn up on re-entry? The physics-savvy among you may scoff at such a question, but it's one that a lot of…
lbock | October 15, 2012Read More…
The next time in class that you are contemplating the value of such algebraic equations as
x^2 - 20 x + 100 = 81 x , think of Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī and the power he unleashed to scientists, engineers, mathematicians -- and everyday people -- to solve a wide range of problems through algebra! Although details of Muhammad's early life are sketchy, he is believed to have been born in the year 780 in the Khorasan province of Persia (now the country of Uzbekistan). He later moved with his family to a place near Baghdad, Iraq, where he accomplished most of his work between the…
lbock | October 14, 2012PLEASE SHARE IF YOU ARE INSPIRED BY THIS STORY!
(Let Us Know Your Comment: In addition to being a brilliant scientist, did you know that Benjamin was also an outspoken critic against the evils of slavery in his day?)
Born in 1731, Benjamin Banneker was born in Baltimore County, Maryland -- the son of free African slaves. Benjamin grew up on his father's farm with three sisters. After learning to read from his mother and grandmother, he read the Bible to his family in the evening. Briefly attending a nearby Quaker country school was the extent of his formal education. As he grew into…
gregladen | October 13, 2012... the podcast, is now available for download:
This week, we’re looking at the science – and pseudoscience – that affects the healthcare decisions parents make for their children, and women make for themselves. We’re joined by Allison Hagood and Stacy Herlihy, to talk about their book Your Baby’s Best Shot: Why Vaccines are Safe and Save Lives. And on the podcast, we’re joined by Skepchick.org founder Rebecca Watson, to talk about pseudoscience that’s targeted and marketed specifically at women.
Also note that the upcoming Skeptically Speaking will be on Genetically Modified Food
This week,…
lbock | October 12, 2012Science Question of the Day: On your road to success in science and engineering, how willing are you to break down, and break through, stereotypes and other obstacles? Sally was. Read her story!
While completing her Ph.D. in physics at Stanford University in 1977, Sally Ride became intrigued by a NASA newspaper ad seeking astronaut candidates. Her decision to answer that advertisement would change her life forever.
When she and with four fellow astronauts blasted off aboard the space shuttle Challenger in June 1983, she became the first American woman—and, at 32, the youngest American—in…
lbock | October 11, 2012PLEASE SHARE IF YOU ARE INSPIRED BY THIS STORY!
(Let Us Know Your Comments! Tell us what you think about this story, particularly how David is working to study and save vital fish populations for Native Americans!)
Since his teenage years, Native American scientist David Close, (a member of the Cayuse Nation tribe of the Pacific Northwest), has been intrigued by fish and their importance as a foodstock for Native tribes. Originally, he had no idea of becoming a scientist since he felt contented as a youth just to work in community fisheries along the rivers of his Native community. But the…
sastyk | October 11, 2012Whenever I mention to people that my stove set my house on fire last week, they assume it must be my wood cookstove. But no, it was the electric stove that nearly burned down the house last week. I was canning raspberry jam on a warm indian summer's day, and thinking about our anticipated sukkah guests that night, when I walked back into the kitchen to find the stove and the back wall of my kitchen in flames, and one of my electric burners shooting sparks. Fortunately the fire extinguishers we have always kept at hand near every st0ve worked just fine - but we were lucky. Another two…
sastyk | October 11, 2012We missed frost earlier this week by a degree or two, just enough to clip the basil (basil is wussy that way ;-)), but tomorrow night should be definitive. We've moved from steaming amber spice orchards (as the poet puts it) to "post-frost" quiet. We brought the pumpkins in earlier this week, picked the last of the okra and tonight I'll bring in the green tomatoes for pickling and/or ripening (depending on how far along they are). The first fire in the cookstove will probably be tomorrow or the next day. We picked the last raspberries on Sunday afternoon, and they became the last batch…
gregladen | October 11, 2012The juxtaposition of Nobel Prize season and the revelation of High Octane Crazy in the Republican Party in regards to science is examined by Rachel Maddow:
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
lbock | October 10, 2012PLEASE SHARE IF YOU ARE INSPIRED BY THIS STORY!
(Send us your opinion today: How can science and engineering make life better for persons with autism and other learning and physical challenges? Let us know what you think of Temple's achievements in the face of autism!)
Because of autism, Temple Grandin was not able to talk until she was 3 ½, and for a time experts recommended that she be institutionalized. Speaking of her childhood experience, she recalls: "Junior high was a real mess for me and then came puberty. My anxiety attacks came during puberty, and then all of my nerves started […
gregladen | October 10, 2012I knew a guy who had a simple answer to the whole Death Penalty thing. He's hold is fingers, thumb and index finger, a short ways apart from each other like he had something in his grasp, and he's say, "One bullet ... costs about nine cents." I have no idea how much a bullet really costs, but I do know that we don't execute people by just deciding to execute them and then shooting them in the head. In fact, it is telling that our society spends way more money, time, and effort on the legal activities surrounding execution than in anything comparable in the criminal justice system.…