On the precipice of the largest decrease in biomedical science funding ever.
http://www.metafilter.com/94824/On-the-precipice-of-the-largest-decrease-in-biomedical-science-funding-ever
The National Institute of Mental Health already shifted focus from "basic" research to favor "translational" research (i.e., research that directly applies to people with mental illness), when it's the basic research--including social psych and the studies of perception and language-- that provides the foundation for a great deal of translational research. A funding cut is Very Bad News for these research areas.
posted by emilyd22222 at 8:29 PM on August 16
The flat funding situation has been made into much more of a problem than it should be because it was preceeded by a doubling of budget. And that doubling was directed specifically towards training many more PhDs. This resulted in far more people vying for the same amount of money. And still the NIH emphasizes that grant money should mostly be used to train more scientists.
This has resulted in the postdoc purgatory mentioned in the article, a period after getting a PhD that consists of a series of short-term positions scattered across the country. God help you if your partner or spouse is also a scientist, or have extended family that needs your support; you're usually lucky if you can find a "permanent" tenure-track position by your mid-30s.
It's irresponsible of the NIH to focus so heavily and flooding the country with PhDs. There are far too many for either industry or academia. The NIH has to be willing to fund research performed by research scientists--people who have been trained but aren't dedicated to exponentially expanding the number of people that do science. This will not only make science into a career that a rational person would choose, but I would also bet that it would result in more research for the same amount of funding, as a competent research scientist is often well worth having to pay them a decent wage.
posted by Llama-Lime at 8:51 PM on August 16 [6 favorites]
Energy shortages and poor sanitation are two of the most serious problems in refugee camps. Now engineers say they can solve both problems by harvesting energy from human excrement.
Refugee camps to use gas from human waste.
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:27 AM - 34 comments
Refugee camps to use gas from human waste.
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:27 AM - 34 comments
Washington, We Have a Problem. On the heels of a New Yorker feature exploring the question, "Just How Broken Is The Senate," Vanity Fair publishes a look at the (mindboggling) day-to-day life of the modern US Presidency.
posted by availablelight at 6:36 AM - 120 comments
posted by availablelight at 6:36 AM - 120 comments
Texas State astronomers solve Walt Whitman meteor mystery
http://www.txstate.edu/news/news_releases/news_archive/2010/06/YearOfMeteors060110.html
http://www.txstate.edu/news/news_releases/news_archive/2010/06/YearOfMeteors060110.html
In his landmark collection Leaves of Grass, famed poet Walt Whitman wrote of a "strange huge meteor-procession" in such vivid detail that scholars have debated the possible inspiration for decades.
Now, a team of astronomers from Texas State University-San Marcos has applied its unique brand of forensic astronomy to the question, rediscovering one of the most famous celestial events of Whitman's day--one that inspired both Whitman and famed landscape painter Frederic Church--yet became inexplicably forgotten by modern times.
Texas State physics professors Donald Olson and Russell Doescher, English professor Marilynn S. Olson and Honors Program student Ava G. Pope publish their findings in the July 2010 edition of Sky & Telescope magazine, on newsstands now.
Now, a team of astronomers from Texas State University-San Marcos has applied its unique brand of forensic astronomy to the question, rediscovering one of the most famous celestial events of Whitman's day--one that inspired both Whitman and famed landscape painter Frederic Church--yet became inexplicably forgotten by modern times.
Texas State physics professors Donald Olson and Russell Doescher, English professor Marilynn S. Olson and Honors Program student Ava G. Pope publish their findings in the July 2010 edition of Sky & Telescope magazine, on newsstands now.
Something fishy is going on in the automotive industry, and it all began when people started complaining about stuck accelerator pedals on Toyota vehicles. However an U.S. government investigation into the complaints and the machinery/electronics shows there was nothing wrong with the vehicles that crashed.
Big Three Automakers Outsourcing To Mexico
http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/sourceoff-blog/big-three-automakers-outsourcing-to-mexico-39465
http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/sourceoff-blog/big-three-automakers-outsourcing-to-mexico-39465
The American automakers have been furnished aid in the form of $80 billion amid the economic downturn that roiled financial markets and in the credit crisis. Skeptics say that they are leaving the American taxpayer in the dust and turning to cheaper labor down south and this has left many with a strong sense of displeasure among the big three. Although Ford has not received financial assistance, Ford is another firm that is outsourcing to Mexico and is included in the list of companies that turning its back on America.
Reports cite that Mexican autoworkers typically make just ten percent of what a U.S. automaker takes home.
Reports cite that Mexican autoworkers typically make just ten percent of what a U.S. automaker takes home.
A Better Ethanol Policy
http://www.consumerenergyreport.com/blogs/rsquared
http://www.consumerenergyreport.com/blogs/rsquared
It would seem to be a more sensible energy policy to utilize ethanol production closer to the source of production — especially given that the motor fuel demand in the Midwest is far greater than the volume of ethanol produced there. I drew on reader comments in my latest essay for Forbes: The Midwest Should Use Its Own Ethanol.
Here I want to continue to develop policy recommendations around this theme. Reader Paul Nash came up with a specific plan, which I share below (here is the link to the original comments).
Slowing CO2 emissions cannot end global warming, but removing CO2 from the atmosphere will.
http://www.theenergycollective.com/andre-garnet/41653/slowing-co2-emissions-cannot-end-global-warming-removing-co2-atmosphere-will#comment-5466
http://www.theenergycollective.com/andre-garnet/41653/slowing-co2-emissions-cannot-end-global-warming-removing-co2-atmosphere-will#comment-5466
The EPA just killed any plans for "Cellulosic" with their rules on burning biomass. That baby is "dead as a doornail."
http://www.consumerenergyreport.com/boards/r-squared-blog-posts/aftermath-in-the-gulf/page-2/#p3677
http://www.consumerenergyreport.com/boards/r-squared-blog-posts/aftermath-in-the-gulf/page-2/#p3677
Please: Let's not confuse the word 'burning' here. I interpret that burning (more appropriately defined as combusting) of biomass in order to produce process heat — may be what you are referring to???
databending and glitch art primer, part 1: the wordpad effect
http://blog.animalswithinanimals.com/2008/08/databending-and-glitch-art-primer-part.html
http://blog.animalswithinanimals.com/2008/08/databending-and-glitch-art-primer-part.html
Discovery Educator Network
This group is for educators to aggregate content from Discovery Educator Network events, institutes, conference presentations, webinars, blogs, and workshops.http://groups.diigo.com/group/discovery-educator-network
Israel Palestine Info
Negotiations for peace can be covered herehttp://groups.diigo.com/group/israel-palestine-info
A small group of writers, consultants and therapists thrives on repeating the same old mantra, namely that our youth is shaped through and through by the online medium in which it grew up. They claim that our schools must, therefore, offer young people completely new avenues -- surely traditional education cannot reach this generation any longer, they argue.
There is little evidence to back such theories up, however.
It became clear that young people primarily use the Internet to interact with friends. They go on social networking sites like Facebook and the popular German website SchülerVZ, which is aimed at school students, to chat, mess around and show off -- just like they do in real life.
"We want our pupils to learn how to use the Internet productively," says music teacher André Spang, "Not just for clicking around in."
Spang uses Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. When teaching them about the music of the 20th century, for example, he got his 12th-graders to produce a blog on the subject. "They didn't even know what that was," he says. Now they're writing articles on aleatoric music and musique concrete, composing simple 12-tone rows and collecting musical examples, videos, and links about it. Everyone can access the project online, see what the others are doing and comment on each other's work. The fact that the material is public also helps to promote healthy competition and ambition among the participants.
Blogs are not technically challenging and are quick to set up. That's why they are also being used to teach other subjects. Piggybacking on the enormous success of Wikipedia, the collaborative online encyclopedia produced entirely by volunteer contributors, wikis are also being employed in schools. The 10th-graders in the physics class of Spang's colleague Thomas Vieth are currently putting together a miniature encyclopedia of electromagnetism. "In the past all we could do was give out group assignments, and people would just rattle off their presentations," Vieth says. "Now everyone reads along, partly because all the articles are connected and have to be interlinked."
Spang uses Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. When teaching them about the music of the 20th century, for example, he got his 12th-graders to produce a blog on the subject. "They didn't even know what that was," he says. Now they're writing articles on aleatoric music and musique concrete, composing simple 12-tone rows and collecting musical examples, videos, and links about it. Everyone can access the project online, see what the others are doing and comment on each other's work. The fact that the material is public also helps to promote healthy competition and ambition among the participants.
Blogs are not technically challenging and are quick to set up. That's why they are also being used to teach other subjects. Piggybacking on the enormous success of Wikipedia, the collaborative online encyclopedia produced entirely by volunteer contributors, wikis are also being employed in schools. The 10th-graders in the physics class of Spang's colleague Thomas Vieth are currently putting together a miniature encyclopedia of electromagnetism. "In the past all we could do was give out group assignments, and people would just rattle off their presentations," Vieth says. "Now everyone reads along, partly because all the articles are connected and have to be interlinked."
"Media are used by the masses if they have some relevance to everyday life," says Rolf Schulmeister, the educational researcher. "And they are used for aims that people already had anyway."
Originally from Esquire 1971
Since 1950, the study found, the oceans have lost 40 percent of their phytoplankton. These organisms account for the production of half the earth’s organic matter. No one knows for sure what happens when the oceans are diminished like this—that’s the point. We’re in a new and dangerous place, without a clue.
The 'Ground Zero Mosque' Is Not a Mosque (or at Ground Zero)
http://politics.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2010/08/16/the-ground-zero-mosque-is-not-a-mosque-or-at-ground-zero?msg=1
The 'Ground Zero Mosque' Is Not a Mosque (or at Ground Zero)
http://politics.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2010/08/16/the-ground-zero-mosque-is-not-a-mosque-or-at-ground-zero?msg=1
U.S. Vietnam nuclear talks focus on enrichment
http://www.theenergycollective.com/dan-yurman/41429/us-vietnam-nuclear-talks-focus-enrichment#comment-5467
http://www.theenergycollective.com/dan-yurman/41429/us-vietnam-nuclear-talks-focus-enrichment#comment-5467
( What fun. Perhaps Iran's Ahmadinejad can coach them from experience on the likely repercussions of being so stupid as to buy a U.S.-made reactor after their decades of being denied free use of their technology and having their bank deposits turned into worthless 'frozen' assets for no good reason whatsoever : plus Embargo. I'd mention Saddam Hussein - but he's unavailable at the moment.)
Merkel's nuclear energy tax plan backfires
http://www.theenergycollective.com/dan-yurman/41770/merkels-nuclear-energy-tax-plan-backfires
http://www.theenergycollective.com/dan-yurman/41770/merkels-nuclear-energy-tax-plan-backfires
Planned tax on nation’s 17 reactors prompts a threat by utilities to shut them down
( Why would you shut down something that is unreliable, expensive and runs over budget just because you are to be assessed added penalties ? )
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