National Science Foundation article: Newly Discovered Planet May Be First Truly Habitable Exoplanet.
The nature of science, technology, engineering and math is to train humanity in systematic thinking as well as equip investigators with the tools and the creativity to innovate in their fields and improve society (my opinion).
Reasoning skills are needed to lead the innovations of the 21st Century.
I think the professor was hungry when asked to describe the planet's atmosphere.
Hopefully, this exoplanet is the beginning of our "Sputnik moment" in STEM education.
We are desperately in need of citizen's with reasoning skills within the US...
#physics, #coolphysics: "The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching." Aristotle
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Courtesy of Björn Jónssen, Bad Astronomy and Voyager 1...
This is a little bit bigger than the Eyes of Texas: a storm over 2X the size of planet earth!
Link: Bad Astronomy blog: The Great Red Spot Almost True Size.
Link: Bad Astronomy blog: The Great Red Spot Almost True Size.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Six Ways to Keep Women in Science
Dr. King said: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
I have a friend who has her PhD in Electrical Materials Science & Engineering. She had worked in (if memory serves me) Strategic Business Marketing at her former high tech firm, and was six hours from an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at UT Austin.
She is no longer working in that arena due to downsizing at her former company. She's doing a lot of consulting and is quite capable of teaching at the community college or university level.
She is a mother with children, and a lot of what this article alludes to I've observed in her circumstances. She attacks it not in desperation, but with a quiet dignity and grace that she learned from her mother and at her grandfather's knee. She's mentioned here in Exceptional Women of Color in Technology. She's has an entry in "Black Stars: African American Women Scientists and Inventors," on page 126 of the book. She is inspirational and resilient to current economic forces. Hence, my reference to her with regards to this article.
See: Six Ways to Keep Women in Science.
I have a friend who has her PhD in Electrical Materials Science & Engineering. She had worked in (if memory serves me) Strategic Business Marketing at her former high tech firm, and was six hours from an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at UT Austin.
She is no longer working in that arena due to downsizing at her former company. She's doing a lot of consulting and is quite capable of teaching at the community college or university level.
She is a mother with children, and a lot of what this article alludes to I've observed in her circumstances. She attacks it not in desperation, but with a quiet dignity and grace that she learned from her mother and at her grandfather's knee. She's mentioned here in Exceptional Women of Color in Technology. She's has an entry in "Black Stars: African American Women Scientists and Inventors," on page 126 of the book. She is inspirational and resilient to current economic forces. Hence, my reference to her with regards to this article.
See: Six Ways to Keep Women in Science.
The Gift that keeps on giving...
"When it comes to unlocking the secrets of the universe, sometimes the devil is in the static. In the 1960s, scientists trying to find a source of radio interference discovered the microwave background radiation—extremely faint embers left over from the heat of the big bang that pervade the entire night sky. Now two physicists attempting to overcome some unexpected fuzziness in images of distant, supermassive black holes say they have found yet another potential big bang vestige: an extremely weak magnetic field that stretches across the universe. If scientists confirm the finding, it could help reveal the origins of magnetism in the cosmos.
Article: Primordial Magnetic Field May Permeate the Universe
Article: Primordial Magnetic Field May Permeate the Universe
Energy Access Seen as Vital to Abolishing Worst Poverty
By DAVID JOLLY
Published: September 21, 2010, NYTimes.com
"In a report prepared for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals meeting in New York, the agency said the goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2015 would be possible only if an additional 395 million people obtained access to electricity and one billion gained access to more modern cooking facilities that minimize harmful smoke in the next few years.
“Without electricity, social and economic development is much more difficult,” Fatih Birol, the energy agency’s chief economist, said by telephone. “Addressing sanitation, clean water, hunger — these goals can’t be met without providing access to energy.”
...and poverty breeds crime and recruits for terrorism (opinion of blogger).
See: NY Times Business Article and comments.
Published: September 21, 2010, NYTimes.com
"In a report prepared for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals meeting in New York, the agency said the goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2015 would be possible only if an additional 395 million people obtained access to electricity and one billion gained access to more modern cooking facilities that minimize harmful smoke in the next few years.
“Without electricity, social and economic development is much more difficult,” Fatih Birol, the energy agency’s chief economist, said by telephone. “Addressing sanitation, clean water, hunger — these goals can’t be met without providing access to energy.”
...and poverty breeds crime and recruits for terrorism (opinion of blogger).
See: NY Times Business Article and comments.
Reverse Combustion: Can CO2 Be Turned Back into Fuel?
"In the 1990s a graduate student named Lin Chao at Princeton University decided to bubble carbon dioxide into an electrochemical cell. Using cathodes made from the element palladium and a catalyst known as pyridinium—a garden variety organic chemical that is a by-product of oil refining—he discovered that applying an electric current would assemble methanol from the CO2. He published his findings in 1994—and no one cared.
"But by 2003, Chao's successor in the Princeton lab of chemist Andrew Bocarsly was deeply interested in finding a solution to the growing problem of the CO2 pollution causing global climate change. Graduate student Emily Barton picked up where he left off and, using an electrochemical cell that employs a semiconducting material used in photovoltaic solar cells for one of its electrodes, succeeded in tapping sunlight to transform CO2 into the basic fuel.
I know...more chemistry than physics, but if the process works, I'm not hating!
See: Reverse combustion article, and a start up company trying to turn the technology into GOLD: Liquid Light, Inc.
"But by 2003, Chao's successor in the Princeton lab of chemist Andrew Bocarsly was deeply interested in finding a solution to the growing problem of the CO2 pollution causing global climate change. Graduate student Emily Barton picked up where he left off and, using an electrochemical cell that employs a semiconducting material used in photovoltaic solar cells for one of its electrodes, succeeded in tapping sunlight to transform CO2 into the basic fuel.
I know...more chemistry than physics, but if the process works, I'm not hating!
See: Reverse combustion article, and a start up company trying to turn the technology into GOLD: Liquid Light, Inc.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
APS: Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship
Robert Noyce from Answers.com:
(born Dec. 12, 1927, Burlington, Iowa, U.S. — died June 3, 1990, Austin, Texas) U.S. engineer. He received a Ph.D. from MIT. In 1957 he launched Fairchild Semiconductor, one of the first electronics firms in what came to be called Silicon Valley. Simultaneously but independently, he and Jack Kilby invented the integrated circuit computer chip in 1959. With his colleague Gordon Moore, he founded Intel Corporation. in 1968. In 1988 Noyce became president of Sematech, Inc., a research consortium formed and financed jointly by industry and the U.S. government to keep the U.S. semiconductor industry at the forefront of semiconductor manufacturing technology.
The PhysTEC project has produced a video introduction to the benefits of the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship, as told by two Noyce Scholars and a Noyce Program Coordinator. This inspiring two-minute video can be screened in university classrooms, department open houses, scholarship information sessions, or any other place physics majors meet.
More on Robert Norton Noyce at Britannica Online.
(born Dec. 12, 1927, Burlington, Iowa, U.S. — died June 3, 1990, Austin, Texas) U.S. engineer. He received a Ph.D. from MIT. In 1957 he launched Fairchild Semiconductor, one of the first electronics firms in what came to be called Silicon Valley. Simultaneously but independently, he and Jack Kilby invented the integrated circuit computer chip in 1959. With his colleague Gordon Moore, he founded Intel Corporation. in 1968. In 1988 Noyce became president of Sematech, Inc., a research consortium formed and financed jointly by industry and the U.S. government to keep the U.S. semiconductor industry at the forefront of semiconductor manufacturing technology.
The PhysTEC project has produced a video introduction to the benefits of the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship, as told by two Noyce Scholars and a Noyce Program Coordinator. This inspiring two-minute video can be screened in university classrooms, department open houses, scholarship information sessions, or any other place physics majors meet.
More on Robert Norton Noyce at Britannica Online.
Friday, September 17, 2010
May of 2011: Pop the Champagne if this prediction holds true...
The Star Trek vernacular is "Class M," or "Mother Earth"-like planet.
I firmly believe imagination fuels research: the question of "what-if" it were true, then someone goes and applies the Scientific Method. We have automatic doors, cell phones from the flip communicators (the Enterprise a giant cellular tower), the Kindle, especially in the classroom, what could be seen as a medical tricorder and closer to quantum computing.
Class M Planet Predictions
I firmly believe imagination fuels research: the question of "what-if" it were true, then someone goes and applies the Scientific Method. We have automatic doors, cell phones from the flip communicators (the Enterprise a giant cellular tower), the Kindle, especially in the classroom, what could be seen as a medical tricorder and closer to quantum computing.
Class M Planet Predictions
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
The Scientific Method: Monty Python Holy Grail Style
The Scientific Method
Problem/Research/Hypothesis/Test Hypothesis/Data Analysis/Conclusion/Retest
Problem:
Is she a witch? (Prove it!)
Research:
-The way she’s dressed (even though they mention that they “helped” her in this area, which invalidates anything going forward).
-“She turned me into a Newt.” (I got better.)
Hypothesis:
"If she weighs the same as a duck, then she’s made of wood, therefore SHE’S A WITCH!"
Test the Hypothesis:
-What can you do with wood?
-Burn it
-Build bridges with it
-See if it floats on water
-What other things float on water?
-Ducks!
Resolution - medieval scale (kind of a jacked-up device, if you ask ME!)
Data Analysis:
The-eyeball-o-meter, but REALLY, from this crowd?
Conclusion:
She's a witch (definitely NOT!)
Retest:
Well, with the combined IQ of this crowd not getting above 30, do you think retesting the hypothesis would actually occur to them?
USA Science & Engineering Festival: Sputnik Moments
The USA Science & Engineering Festivalis this country's first national science festival and will be held in Washington, D.C. starting October 10, 2010.
This is a good thing!
I went to the web site for the National Society of Hispanic Physicists to get something for Hispanic Heritage Month, and this gem was on their web site.
I talk to a lot of kids, naturally since I teach High School. Many of them of course think I'm weird that I blog about physics or that I actually LIKE math. I get the usual questions that give one pause at their audacity:
"What am I ever going to use this for?"
"I don't need math to be a mechanic or in fashion merchandising."
Actually, you do really.
I usually say they haven't had their "Sputnik moment," when the United States was caught completely off-guard. Americans are uncomfortable with being seen as "second."
We were well into the "Cold War" with the former Soviet Union, so a satellite on October 4, 1957 translated to the Russians ability to deliver thermonuclear warheads to our shores. We caught up January 31, 1958 with our first satellite Explorer I. In July of 1958, NASA was born (I blogged about it) with the National Space Act. Popular Culture followed with series like Star Trek, Lost in Space, The Invaders and The Jetsons.
So often, the fear of war was the motivation for progress and creativity.
A "Sputnik moment":
I blog this on 10 September 2010, a day before the 9th year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. That was almost a moment, when out of fear we were willing to trade civil liberties for security. A day before a Florida Pastor may or may not put veterans at risk overseas with a controversial burning of the Koran.
The fourth estate - the news media - is forced to print immediately without much review and then print retractions sheepishly where they cannot be found. The Internet has made print media almost obsolete in that whatever newspaper or magazine you can purchase you can see online for free. Without an estate responsible for sifting through falsities and truths, without fact checking, we're in a cyberspace free-for-all, informing like minds with sometimes monolithic monologues and being in full agreement. Our concept of an informed citizenry in a democracy is threatened.
We are surrounded by information and starving for wisdom: we're entertained by performance and not enthralled by the results of investigation using the Scientific Method. As far as STEM, science, math and engineering are in the words of my students "boring," but the technology that allows them to text, tweet, Facebook and blog they're all over, with no appreciation for the other facets that brought the possibilities of their casual amusement into existence.
In the US, we've created a culture of entertainment, probably at the moment a television program or DVD became the defacto "baby sitter," and when we say to our kids "I can't stand reading/writing/math" and wonder why they're not doing so well in the same subjects at school. In education, it's called "modeling," and not the kind you'd see on the fashion runway.
For my students, this is your "Sputnik moment": the world you will inherit will be far more complicated than the one I grew up in. You have the ever present fear of war around the globe, global warming, natural disasters, technological preeminence or inferiority, economic harmony or disparity; political efficiency or fecklessness. How well you lead and manage it will depend on how well you prepared for it.
2010 Blake Lilly Prize Recipients...
The Blake Lilly Prize recognizes SPS chapters and individuals who make a genuine effort to positively influence the attitudes of school children and the general public about physics. For example, many chapters perform "Physics Circuses," conduct classroom demonstrations, offer tutoring services for grades K-12, or assist with school science fairs. The Blake Lilly Prize is an opportunity for you and your chapter to be publicly recognized for these types of physics outreach efforts.
Inspiration from Richard Feynman:
“Feynman’s real gift may have been that he made physics accessible to students like Blake, who have a compelling interest and commitment, but whose talent lay in diligence and hard, consistent study rather than in super intelligence. Feynman spoke to the ordinary student in Blake about the extraordinary beauty of physics.”
Link to flyer: Blake Lilly Flyer
2010 Blake Lilly Prize Recipients: Hartnell College, Henderson State University, Michigan State University and Utah State University
Inspiration from Richard Feynman:
“Feynman’s real gift may have been that he made physics accessible to students like Blake, who have a compelling interest and commitment, but whose talent lay in diligence and hard, consistent study rather than in super intelligence. Feynman spoke to the ordinary student in Blake about the extraordinary beauty of physics.”
Link to flyer: Blake Lilly Flyer
2010 Blake Lilly Prize Recipients: Hartnell College, Henderson State University, Michigan State University and Utah State University
Sunday, September 5, 2010
First Harry Potter, then G.I. Joe,...
Star Trek introduced us to communicators, automatic doors and cloaking devices, which gave rise to Stealth Technology, making fighter planes and bombers invisible to radar.
Harry Potter used a Cloak of Invisibility as well as the cartoon-to-movie action-packed G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
...and now...
Weaving the invisible thread: design of an optically invisible metamaterial fibre
Alessandro Tuniz,* Boris T. Kuhlmey, Parry Y. Chen and Simon C. Fleming
Institute of Photonics and Optical Science (IPOS), School of Physics, University of Sydney, New South Wales 2006,
Australia
Invisibility Cloak
Harry Potter used a Cloak of Invisibility as well as the cartoon-to-movie action-packed G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
...and now...
Weaving the invisible thread: design of an optically invisible metamaterial fibre
Alessandro Tuniz,* Boris T. Kuhlmey, Parry Y. Chen and Simon C. Fleming
Institute of Photonics and Optical Science (IPOS), School of Physics, University of Sydney, New South Wales 2006,
Australia
Invisibility Cloak
Saturday, September 4, 2010
A "Boldy Go" Mission in Solar Probe Plus...
"NASA is developing an ambitious new mission to plunge a car-sized probe directly into the sun's atmosphere," slated for launch in 2018.
"As Solar Probe Plus approaches the sun, it will face temperatures exceeding 2,550 degrees Fahrenheit (1,399 degrees Celsius) and powerful radiation blasts.
"The spacecraft is expected to take unprecedented, up-close view of our home star, enabling scientists to better understand, characterize and forecast the radiation environment for future space explorers, NASA officials said."
Five fascinating experiments are planned for the sun in this mission: NASA Aims to Plunge Car-Sized Probe Into the Sun, SPACE.com staff.
See also: Sun Image Gallery
Thursday, September 2, 2010
OSA, SPIE and MRS Announce 2010-2011 Congressional Science and Engineering Fellows
"The purpose of the Congressional Fellowships program is to bring technical and science backgrounds and external perspectives to the decision-making process in Congress. Typically, fellows conduct legislative or oversight work, assist in congressional hearings and debates, prepare briefs and write speeches as a part of their daily responsibilities. By applying their scientific expertise in this policy environment, Extavour and White will help to broaden awareness of the value of scientist- and engineer-government interaction."
Related links:
The Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)
The Optical Society (OSA)
The Materials Research Society (MRS)
Related links:
The Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)
The Optical Society (OSA)
The Materials Research Society (MRS)
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