From Tierney Lab/New York Times:
If the United States really has a critical shortage of scientists and engineers, why didn’t this year’s graduates get showered with lucrative job offers and signing bonuses?
That’s the question that comes to my mind after reading about Barack Obama’s plans to address the “shortage” we keep hearing about from blue-ribbon commissions of scientists and engineers. He wants to pay for the training of 100,000 more engineers and scientists over the next four years, as my colleagues Bill Broad and Cory Dean note in their excellent analysis of the presidential candidates’ plans to encourage technological innovation.
Now, I’m all in favor of American technological innovation, and I’m glad to see Mr. Obama promising to review the export restrictions that have been so damaging to the aerospace industry (and that were promoted by John McCain because of what he called national-security risks). I’m also all in favor of American scientists and engineers, especially the ones in my family. (My father is a chemical engineer; my brother is an electrical engineer.) I’d love to see American corporations and universities frantically competing to offer them the kind of salaries paid to M.B.A.’s and lawyers.
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Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Keyboard Sniffers To Steal Data
From The BBC:Computer criminals could soon be eavesdropping on what you type by analysing the electromagnetic signals produced by every key press.
By analysing the signals produced by keystrokes, Swiss researchers have reproduced what a target typed.
The security researchers have developed four attacks that work on a wide variety of computer keyboards.
The results led the researchers to declare keyboards were "not safe to transmit sensitive information".
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Mars Astronauts Should Never Return To Earth, Says Buzz Aldrin
Some scientists fear a mission to Mars would be expensive and the astronauts would struggle to survive, much like in the film Red Planet (Photo from The Daily Mail)From The Daily Mail:
The first astronauts sent to Mars should be prepared to never return to Earth, according to moonwalker Buzz Aldrin.
Like the European pioneers who set out for America they should set out knowing they will spend their lives there, the second man on the Moon said. Though presumably they would hope to survive longer than their first harsh winter.
In an interview the outspoken former astronaut said the Red Planet, which appears to have fast reserves of frozen water at each pole, has far greater potential for habitation than the Moon.
'It is nearer terrestrial conditions, much better than the Moon and any other place,' the 78-year-old said.
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Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Scientists Find Way To Erase Memories In Mice
(Photo from Reuters)From Reuters:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It seems like a movie plot, but scientists have developed a way to erase specific memories in mice while leaving others intact and not damaging the brain.
By manipulating levels of an important protein in the brain, certain memories can be selectively deleted, researchers led by neurobiologist Joe Tsien of the Medical College of Georgia reported in the journal Neuron.
While some experts have suggested there could be value in erasing certain memories in people such as wartime traumas, Tsien doubted this could be done as it was in mice. Tsien also questioned the wisdom of wiping out a person's memories.
"All memories, including the painful emotional memories, have their purposes. We learn great lessons from those memories or experiences so we can avoid making the same kinds of mistakes again, and help us to adapt down the road," Tsien said in a telephone interview on Thursday.
The study focused on a protein called alpha-CaMKII involved in learning and memory. The scientists manipulated alpha-CaMKII activity in the brains of genetically modified mice to influence the retrieval of short-term and long-term memories.
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Investigation Of Changes In Properties Of Water Under The Action Of A Magnetic Field
From E! Science News:Feng and Deng Bo studied the properties of water, and their changes under the action of a magnetic field were gathered by the spectrum techniques of infrared, Raman, visible, ultraviolet and X-ray lights, which may give an insight into molecular and atomic structures of water. It was found that some properties of water were changed, and a lot of new and strange phenomena were discovered after magnetization. Magnetized water really has magnetism, which has been verified by a peak shift of X-ray diffraction of magnetized water +Fe3O4 hybrid relative to that of pure water + Fe3O4 hybrid, that is, a saturation and memory effect. The study is being reported in the November 2008 issue of Science in China Series G- Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy because of its significant values in science and extensive applications in industry, agriculture and medicine. Water is the most common and important material in nature. However, what is water on earth? What properties does water have? They are both challenging problems, and need further study. The changes in properties of water under the action of a magnetic field are also an interesting and important question, which has not been solved yet, although it has been studied for about one hundred years. So in this work, authors collected and studied the light spectra of water and its features using the spectrum techniques of light for giving an insight into the features of molecular structure in water and seeking the mechanism of magnetization of water. . These spectra may embody the features of molecular, atomic and electronic structures of water, thus giving an insight into the structures of atoms and molecules in water and providing some accurate and credible data for the features of water.
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Distant Stars Send Good Vibes
Illustration of a stellar global oscillation shaking the whole star interior and thus carrying information on it. Yellow refers to maximum temperature variations due to oscillations. Credit: Aarhus University/S. FrandsenFrom Cosmos Magazine:
PARIS: French astronomers have measured vibrations from distant stars for the first time, a technical feat that could also help answer questions about climate change caused by solar activity here on Earth.
Using an orbital telescope called CoRoT, launched in December 2006 by the European Space Agency, the researchers analysed oscillations from three stars that result from nuclear fusion which shakes the stellar interior. They report the find today in the U.S. journal Science.
The stars measured are all between 1.2 and 1.4 times more massive than the Sun, and located between 100 and 200 light years away. The study revealed that all three are much hotter than the Sun and have vibrations around 50 per cent more fierce, though still far less than had been predicted.
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Goce Gravity Flight Slips To 2009
From The BBC:Europe's gravity mission has been bumped to next year because of ongoing technical problems with its launcher.
The arrow-shaped Goce satellite will map tiny variations in the pull of gravity experienced across the world.
The information will give scientists a clearer insight into how the oceans move, and provide a universal reference to measure height anywhere on Earth.
But concerns about the reliability of its Russian rocket mean a lift-off is now unlikely before February.
It is a frustrating delay for the Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (Goce).
The satellite was already two years behind schedule when it was sent to the launch pad because engineers had to work through immense technical difficulties in building it.
The super-sleek spacecraft was due to go into orbit on a modified intercontinental ballistic missile, known at the Rockot, from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in north-west Russia in the spring.
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No Money, No Spacecraft, Russian Producer Warns
The Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft leaves the international space station on Oct. 11, as seen through a station porthole. The craft consists of three modules: from left, the service module with solar arrays, the descent capsule and the spherical orbital module. (Photo from MSNBC)From Space Daily:
Russia's spacecraft producer Energiya will not provide any more Soyuz vessels for trips to the International Space Station unless funds could urgently be found, Energiya's president and general constructor warned Friday.
"We have vessels and funding for them for the next two trips, but I do not know what will happen with expeditions after that," Vitaly Lopota told reporters as quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency.
"We have no funds to produce new Soyuz craft. Unless we are granted loans or advance payment in the next two or three weeks, we cannot be responsible for future Soyuz production," Lopota explained.
The Soyuz is Russia's workhorse spacecraft that has carried out more than 1,600 flights, despite glitches that have bedevilled recent landings of the Soyuz capsule.
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Science Of Speed: Building The Fastest Car In The World
Computer-generated image of the BLOODHOUND SSC (super sonic car). If the vehicle achieves its target of 1,000mph (Mach 1.4), it will mark the greatest incremental increase in the history of the World Land Speed Record. (Credit: BLOODHOUND SSC image by CURVENTA)From Science Daily:
ScienceDaily (Oct. 24, 2008) — World class UK research is helping to build the fastest car in the world thanks to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The BLOODHOUND SSC Project, led by Richard Noble OBE, is aiming to set a new world land speed record of a thousand miles per hour by 2011.
The challenge at the heart of the project is to create a car capable of 1,000mph – a car 30% faster than any car that has gone before.
An aerodynamics team at Swansea University – funded by EPSRC – is playing a vital role. Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), the team has spent the last year creating the predictive airflow data that has shaped the car.
In time, the research could lead to better vehicle or aircraft design, improved fuel efficiencies, and even new medical techniques.
"From the nose to the tail, anything that has any kind of aerodynamic influence we are modelling," says researcher Dr. Ben Evans – who as a school boy watched the Thrust SSC record on TV.
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Searching For Intelligence In Our Genes
Photo from Scientific AmericanFrom Scientific American:
IQ is easy to measure and reflects something real. But scientists hunting among our genes for the factors that shape intelligence are discovering they are more elusive than expected.
* Researchers have powerful new technologies to probe genes and the brain, looking for the basis of intelligence differences among individuals.
* Their work is providing a new understanding of what intelligence is, while also revealing unanticipated complexity in the interplay between genes and environment.
* The more scientists learn about the role of genes in intelligence, the more mysterious it becomes, but the quest is still worth pursuing.
In Robert Plomin’s line of work, patience is essential. Plomin, a behavioral geneticist at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, wants to understand the nature of intelligence. As part of his research, he has been watching thousands of children grow up. Plomin asks the children questions such as “What do water and milk have in common?” and “In what direction does the sun set?” At first he and his colleagues quizzed the children in person or over the telephone. Today many of those children are in their early teens, and they take their tests on the Internet.
In one sense, the research has been a rousing success. The children who take the tests are all twins, and throughout the study identical twins have tended to get scores closer to each other than those of nonidentical twins, who in turn have closer scores than unrelated children. These results—along with similar ones from other studies—make clear to the scientists that genes have an important influence on how children score on intelligence tests.
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The Biological Clock's Incredible Influence Revealed
James Griffith, coordinator of Jonathan Arnold's lab, goes over data from the clock project. Credit: Andrew Tucker, University of GeorgiaFrom Live Science:
This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.
It’s a sunny Thursday morning and two accomplished scientists are seated on either side of a non-descript table in a University of Georgia conference room talking about bread mold.
Bread mold? Nobody uses that term around here, though. In the lab, it’s Neurospora crassa. (Because of its long striations, the growing mold looks like a nerve system, so Neurospora literally means “nerve spore.”) Jonathan Arnold, a geneticist and Heinz-Bernd Schuttler, a computational physicist, are not explaining something as plebian as bread mold, though. They’re talking about biological clocks, those internal tickers that, among other things, tell all living things when to rest and when to awaken.
For years, researchers thought that the function of these clocks was relatively straightforward. Now, a new NSF-supported research thrust by the two scientists and their colleagues is showing that the number of genes in Neurospora under the control of the biological clock is dramatically higher than anyone ever suspected.
“We’re just now beginning to see why the clock is so far-reaching in effects on the organism,” says Arnold, whose excitement when discussing his latest work is palpable. The clock’s off-on abilities don’t just intrigue geneticists, either.
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Monday, October 27, 2008
Roots Of Voodoo: Why Sarkozy Is Getting Skewered
(Image from Live Science)From Live Science:
A controversial voodoo doll is proving to be quite the pain in the side of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The doll, which features Sarkozy's likeness and is being sold in some French stores, comes with a set of pins and an instruction manual on how to inflict voodoo curses on him.
Sarzoky is now suing the producer of the doll, which he says is an affront to his reputation and a misuse of his personal image.
It is unlikely that the publisher or Sarkozy have thought much about voodoo's ancient roots during the doll fiasco, but the practice is in fact just one insignificant part of a complex belief system that makes up the mysterious religion, which is still practiced in many parts of Africa, Haiti, Jamaica and Louisiana, among others.
Vodoun, as the official religion is called by most of its practitioners, has little to do with the black magic, as its detractors suggest.
It does, however, have a lot to do with zombies.
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What It's Like To Work At Microsoft
Photo from The Seattle Times (GREG GILBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES)From Qbrundage:
Background
As a long-time Apple and UNIX user/programmer, I never aspired to work at Microsoft. (And I'm still a little surprised to be here.) I've never despised Microsoft like so many people seem to do — it's just that Microsoft products weren't a part of my world.
Then my wife got a job at Microsoft, so I needed to leave Caltech/JPL to work in Seattle. I didn't actually apply to Microsoft — a friend of ours who worked there circulated my résumé and Microsoft responded rapidly and set up a last-minute interview. Although I had five other offers, Microsoft made the best impression.
And so, here I am. I've been working at Microsoft since October, 1999 as a full-time Software Design Engineer. In that time, I've worked for three teams in two divisions, and had six or seven different managers. Four products I've worked on have shipped, two more are in beta, and I've also "consulted" for many other teams across the company, thereby influencing directly and indirectly a large number of Microsoft's products.
Between my experience and my wife's, I think I've gotten a pretty solid feel for what it's like to work in a product group at Microsoft.
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What It's Like To Work At Google
Google Campus in Mountain View (Photo from Panoramio)10 Insights From 11 Months Of Working At Google
-- Occam's Razor
-- Occam's Razor
It will soon be a year of working at Google and milestones are always a good time for introspection.
I have a lot on my mind but there was one thing in particular that I wanted to share with you all:
What it is has been like working at Google.
Interesting, fun, surprising, insightful, inspiring, impactful, and more such words. This post shares that experience.
I went into Google with my own filters and expectations on what the experience would be like and what I would end up doing.
Looking back the reality has been different in so many ways, even for a jaded Silicon Valley veteran of layoffs and cool companies like myself.
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Researchers Play Tune Recorded Before Edison
The audio historian David Giovannoni with a recently discovered phonautogram that is among the earliest sound recordings. (Image from The New York Times)From The New York Times:
For more than a century, since he captured the spoken words “Mary had a little lamb” on a sheet of tinfoil, Thomas Edison has been considered the father of recorded sound. But researchers say they have unearthed a recording of the human voice, made by a little-known Frenchman, that predates Edison’s invention of the phonograph by nearly two decades.
The 10-second recording of a singer crooning the folk song “Au Clair de la Lune” was discovered earlier this month in an archive in Paris by a group of American audio historians. It was made, the researchers say, on April 9, 1860, on a phonautograph, a machine designed to record sounds visually, not to play them back. But the phonautograph recording, or phonautogram, was made playable — converted from squiggles on paper to sound — by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif.
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Animals Are Smarter Than You Think.
(Photo from National Geographic)Minds Of Their Own -- National Geographic
In 1977 Irene Pepperberg, a recent graduate of Harvard University, did something very bold. At a time when animals still were considered automatons, she set out to find what was on another creature's mind by talking to it. She brought a one-year-old African gray parrot she named Alex into her lab to teach him to reproduce the sounds of the English language. "I thought if he learned to communicate, I could ask him questions about how he sees the world."
When Pepperberg began her dialogue with Alex, who died last September at the age of 31, many scientists believed animals were incapable of any thought. They were simply machines, robots programmed to react to stimuli but lacking the ability to think or feel. Any pet owner would disagree. We see the love in our dogs' eyes and know that, of course, Spot has thoughts and emotions. But such claims remain highly controversial. Gut instinct is not science, and it is all too easy to project human thoughts and feelings onto another creature. How, then, does a scientist prove that an animal is capable of thinking—that it is able to acquire information about the world and act on it?
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Scientists Take Drugs To Boost Brain Power: Study
(Photo from Pet-Comfort)From Breitbart/AFP:
Twenty percent of scientists admit to using performance-enhancing prescription drugs for non-medical reasons, according to a survey released Wednesday by Nature, Britain's top science journal.
The overwhelming majority of these med-taking brainiacs said they indulged in order to "improve concentration," and 60 percent said they did so on a daily or weekly basis.
The 1,427 respondents -- most of them in the United States -- completed an informal, online survey posted on the "Nature Network" Web forum, a discussion site for scientists operated by the Nature Publishing Group.
More than a third said that they would feel pressure to give their children such drugs if they knew other kids at school were also taking them.
"These are academics working in scientific institutions," Ruth Francis, who handles press relations for the group, told AFP.
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Sunday, October 26, 2008
Depressed Astronauts Might Get Computerized Solace
Dartmouth psychologist Dr. Mark Hegel poses in his office with his laptop in Lebanon, N.H., Friday, Oct. 17, 2008. Hegel is working on a computer program, "The Virtual Space Station," that will guide astronauts through treatment for depression and other problems while in space. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)From Myway:
BOSTON (AP) - Your work is dangerous and your co-workers rely on you to stay alive. But you can never get far from those colleagues. You can't see your family for months, even years. The food isn't great. And forget stepping out for some fresh air.
No wonder the adventure of space flight can also be stressful, isolating and depressing. So scientists are working on giving a computer the ability to offer some of the understanding guidance - if not all the warmth - of a human therapist, before psychological problems or interpersonal conflicts compromise a mission.
Clinical tests on the four-year, $1.74 million project for NASA, called the Virtual Space Station, are expected to begin in the Boston area by next month.
The new program is nothing like science fiction's infamous HAL, the onboard artificial intelligence that goes awry in "2001: A Space Odyssey." The Virtual Space Station's interaction between astronaut and computer is far less sophisticated and far more benevolent.
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