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Can't believe he's gone. He was the original sci-fi straight man, making us laugh as his character innocently posed the obvious questions about ourselves that we never thought to ask. In that next life, live long and prosper.
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| Image Source: NobelPrize.org |
Topics: Biochemistry, Cell Physiology, Diversity, Diversity in Science, Medicine, Nobel Prize, Women in Science
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1986
Rita Levi-Montalcini
Born: 22 April 1909, Turin, Italy
Died: 30 December 2012, Rome, Italy
Affiliation at the time of the award: Institute of Cell Biology of the C.N.R., Rome, Italy
Prize motivation: "for their discoveries of growth factors"
Field: biochemistry, cell physiology
Prize share: Stanley Cohen and Rita Levi-Montalcini "for their discoveries of growth factors"
My twin sister Paola and I were born in Turin on April 22, 1909, the youngest of four children. Our parents were Adamo Levi, an electrical engineer and gifted mathematician, and Adele Montalcini, a talented painter and an exquisite human being. Our older brother Gino, who died twelve years ago of a heart attack, was one of the most well known Italian architects and a professor at the University of Turin. Our sister Anna, five years older than Paola and myself, lives in Turin with her children and grandchildren. Ever since adolescence, she has been an enthusiastic admirer of the great Swedish writer, the Nobel Laureate Selma Lagerlöf, and she infected me so much with her enthusiasm that I decided to become a writer and describe Italian saga "à la Lagerlöf". But things were to take a different turn.
Ever since childhood, Paola had shown an extraordinary artistic talent and father's decision did not prevent her full-time dedication to painting. She became one of the most outstanding women painters in Italy and is at present still in full activity. I had a more difficult time. At twenty, I realized that I could not possibly adjust to a feminine role as conceived by my father, and asked him permission to engage in a professional career. In eight months I filled my gaps in Latin, Greek and mathematics, graduated from high school, and entered medical school in Turin. Two of my university colleagues and close friends, Salvador Luria and Renato Dulbecco, were to receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, respectively, seventeen and eleven years before I would receive the same most prestigious award. All three of us were students of the famous Italian histologist, Giuseppe Levi. We are indebted to him for a superb training in biological science, and for having learned to approach scientific problems in a most rigorous way at a time when such an approach was still unusual.
In 1936 I graduated from medical school with a summa cum laude degree in Medicine and Surgery, and enrolled in the three year specialization in neurology and psychiatry, still uncertain whether I should devote myself fully to the medical profession or pursue at the same time basic research in neurology. My perplexity was not to last too long.
"Rita Levi-Montalcini - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 21 Mar 2015. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1986/levi-montalcini-facts.html
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| Image Source: Carl Sagan Contact |
Topics: Commentary, Existentialism, First Contact, Sectarianism, SETI
"Man fears time, but time fears only the pyramids." Arab Proverb
Before the movie of the same name by the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, there was an episode using the same name - "First Contact." The implications were that the particular alien species had a lot invested in their traditions and customs; the introduction of another humanoid species outside of itself would profoundly change their self-concept, similar to early man thinking Earth being the center of the universe, and the scientific, Heliocentric corrections of Copernicus and Galileo being heresy. I alluded to this in the post Terms of Indifference, and it was definitely brought to fore in the movie Contact based on a novel by Carl Sagan, which originally started life as a stalled screenplay. We don't have to go warp drive or travel to other worlds to see this species sectarianism. Just the transition from our current Type 0 Kardashev Scale (or, Carl Sagan gave us 0.7) to a Type 1 civilization is daily fraught with regressive forces determined to look backwards fearing natural forward motion, science and knowledge. That would thus bring an end to their respective hegemony, as they would no longer have unquestionable basis to their authority over others. It is incredulous the pull of ignorance on species survival. The irony is they typically rail about this online (often, in all CAPS) with a platform created by science in many cases, in 140 characters or less. It may be why the stars are silent: Type 1 may be a hard gap to leap and Type 2 a rarity; sadly, intelligence maybe its own Entropy.
My ORIGINAL Acrylic Painting of THE ADIGUN OGUNSANWO™ comic strip #1 is on for sale. Click here to purchase the acrylic on canvas, matted and famed art by CJ Juzang.
Check out creator Paul Louise-Julie comic story featured On Kindle and IBooks A NEW DURECTION in the saga of Lycans on earth.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/24241855/The-Pack-Graphic-Novel
Painting in Acrylic THE ADIGUN OGUNSANWO™ comic strip #2. One Panel done Four more to go. Stay connected to abyssiniamedia.net to see the final ORIGINAL painting and poster for sale.
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| Image Source: Louisiana Tech University |
Topics: Diversity, Diversity in Science, Economy, Engineering, Women in Science
Arizona: The Women in Engineering Program at the University of Arizona aims to increase interest and diversity in the fields of social and natural science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine by offering a variety of outreach programs and student engagement opportunities. In doing so, we work to motivate students to enter careers in STEM fields and to support them along the way. At WISE we firmly believe that greater diversity produces better science and science that is better equipped to address some of the most pressing problems we face in the world today.
Stony Brook: The Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Program seeks to increase the number of women in science, math and engineering fields through outreach, recruitment and retention efforts. Combining the vast resources of a major university with the close bonds of a small community, the WISE College Program enables undergraduate women to work closely with peers and faculty to form friendships and to achieve a solid background in their field. The WISE Precollege Program reaches out to local schools to inspire young women to choose to pursue science math and engineering degrees.
The WISE Program is multidimensional. Thank you for your interest in the program. We hope you find the information on this web site useful. If you would like additional information, please contact the WISE office.
UK: At WISE (Women in to Science and Engineering), our mission is to increase the gender balance in the UK’s STEM workforce, pushing the presence of female employees from 13% as it stands now, to 30% by 2020.
Our services are designed to build and sustain the pipeline of female talent in STEM from classroom to boardroom, boosting the talent pool to drive economic growth.
WISE, which has 30 years experience of inspiring girls to pursue STEM subjects, now incorporates the UKRC, which had a contract from the Government from 2004-12 to increase opportunities for women in science, engineering and technology through support services to business, education and women returners. The UKRC is now an independent Community Interest Company trading as WISE (company number 07533934).
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Topics: Consumer Electronics, Economy, Electrical Engineering, Jobs, Nanotechnology, Materials Science
TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: Diamond films are among the most extraordinary materials on the planet. They are strong, transparent and they conduct heat well. They are biologically inert but can also be chemically functionalised by attaching molecules to their surface. What’s more, when doped, they become semiconductors and so can be used in electronic circuits.
So it’s no wonder that materials scientists are licking their lips at the prospect of incorporating this wonder material into more or less any device they can think of.
But there’s a problem. Diamond films have to be grown at high temperatures in an atmosphere of pure hydrogen, which is not compatible with the way other microdevices are made, such as silicon chips.
So a useful trick would be to have a way to make diamonds films in one place and then transfer them to another so that they can be placed onto chips and other devices.
Today, Venkatesh Seshan at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience in The Netherlands and a few pals, say they have perfected a way to grow diamond films on a quartz substrate, separate the films and then pick them up and place them somewhere else.
The team begin by placing nanodiamond seed crystals on the quartz surface and heating it to over 500 degrees C in a hydrogen plasma atmosphere. The seeds then grow, creating a crystalline diamond surface up to 180 nanometres thick.
Physics arXiv: Pick-up and drop transfer of diamond nanosheets
V. Seshan, J.O. Island, R. van Leeuwen, W.J. Venstra, B.H. Schneider, S.D. Janssens, K. Haenen, E.J.R. Sudhölter, L.C.P.M. de Smet, H.S.J. van der Zant, G.A. Steele, A. Castellanos-Gomez
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| Image Source: NobelPrize.org |
Topics: Diversity, Diversity in Science, Medicine, Nobel Prize, Pharmacology, Women in Science
Note: though her doctorate was honorary, her life and contributions were extraordinary. She completed Masters work, and never married though had a full life as an aunt and researcher (and Nobel Laureate). You owe it to yourself to read her entire bio, which I excerpt below. Note 2: she was the daughter of immigrants.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1988
Born: 23 January 1918, New York, NY, USA
Died: 21 February 1999, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Affiliation at the time of the award: Wellcome Research Laboratories, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
Prize motivation: "for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment".
Prize share: James W. Black, Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings "for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment".
I was born in New York City on a cold January night when the water pipes in our apartment froze and burst. Fortunately, my mother was in the hospital rather than at home at the time. My father emigrated from Lithuania to the United States at the age of 12. He received his higher education in New York City and graduated in 1914 from the New York University School of Dentistry. My mother came at the age of 14 from a part of Russia which, after the war, became Poland; she was only 19 when she was married to my father. My first seven years were spent in a large apartment in Manhattan where my father had his dental office, with our living quarters adjoining it.
My brother was born about six years after I was, and shortly thereafter we moved to the Bronx, which was then considered a suburb of New York City. There were still many open lots where children could play and large parks, including the Bronx Zoo, to which I was very much devoted. My brother and I had a happy childhood. We went to a public school within walking distance of our house. Our classrooms were generally quite crowded, but we received a good basic education.
I was a child with an insatiable thirst for knowledge and remember enjoying all of my courses almost equally. When it came time at the end of my high school career to choose a major in which to specialize I was in a quandary. One of the deciding factors may have been that my grandfather, whom I loved dearly, died of cancer when I was 15. I was highly motivated to do something that might eventually lead to a cure for this terrible disease. When I entered Hunter College in 1933, I decided to major in science and, in particular, chemistry.
By this time my father was not financially well-off since he, like many others, had invested heavily in the stock market, and in the crash of 1929 had gone into bankruptcy. Fortunately, he still had his profession and his loyal patients. Had it not been that Hunter College was a free college, and that my grades were good enough for me to enter it, I suspect I might never have received a higher education. My brother also was able to take advantage of a free higher education, going to the College of the City of New York where he studied physics and engineering.
"Gertrude B. Elion - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 19 Mar 2015. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1988/elion-facts.html
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| Image Source: See "link" in following paragraph |
Topics: Astronomy, Eclipse, Safety, Space
Please enjoy the Solar Eclipse safely from your vantage point. This link (also the source of the photo above) has a scientist explaining how to build a pinhole viewing box. I've used one with one of my undergrad professors at the observatory on the top floor of Marteena Hall. I can't overemphasize safety enough. If you're lucky to see it in person, protect the only eyes you'll ever own.
Since I'm neither at the Faroe Islands or Svalbard, I don't think we're going to see anything in New York. Besides: we have more snow in the forecast from "Ultima" for the first official day of Spring. This is one many hope the meteorologists got hopefully wrong! If I sound frustrated, ask any New Yorker in Manhattan, and give them some space in their reply (again, for your safety).
Slooh Community Observatory: The Total Solar Eclipse of 2015
Solar Eclipses: An Observer's Guide (Infographic)
Source SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration
New technique works 100 times faster than conventional 3D printing and makes objects within minutes by simply lifting them out of a pool of resin.
Scientists have created a Terminator 2-inspired 3D printer that lifts objects fully-formed from a pool of goo in a matter of minutes.
Seeking real and sincere persons to collaborate, partner, and represent THE AFRICAN SCIENCE FICTION PROJECT in the United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom. (Science fiction writing trainers, electric vehicle conversion trainers, and science fiction event developers needed in these countries). Persons must be permanent residents of these countries. Please call +2348038853832. Email: frontpagetechnics@gmail.com. Thanks.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-African-Science-Fiction-Project/155052544549796?ref=hl
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| Image Source: [3] below |
Topics: Diversity, Diversity in Science, Economy, Women in Science, Science, Research, STEM
Most STEM (science, technology, engineering, or math) fields are dominated by men. That makes these fields an excellent career choice for women!
STEM Careers Just Right for Many Women
Men outnumber women in most STEM careers. For example, just 17 percent of chemical engineers and 22 percent of environmental scientists are women. But that doesn't mean it's hard for women to get jobs in those fields. In fact, many companies want to hire and keep qualified women for STEM jobs.
There are challenges, but help is out there. If you're a woman considering a STEM field, don't be put off by some of the challenges you may face.
Challenge 1: Shortage of mentors for women in STEM fields.
- Solution 1: If you can't find a mentor in your organization, join a professional association.
Challenge 2: Lack of acceptance from coworkers and supervisors.
- Solution 2: Work for a company with female-friendly policies and programs.
Challenge 3: Coping with gender differences in the workplace.
- Solution 3: Educate yourself. [1]
1. Iseek.com: Women in STEM
2. US Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration:
Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation
3. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy: Women in STEM
4. Brain Pickings: Einstein's Advice to a Little Girl Who Wants to be a Scientist, Maria Popova
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| Image Source: MIT Open Course Ware - General Relativity |
Topics: Black Holes, Einstein, Special Relativity, GPS, Gravity, General Relativity, Spacetime, Wormholes
The 100th anniversary of the General Theory of Relativity also happens to have coincided with Einstein's birthday and the American Nerd-inspired Pi Day last Saturday (I say American, because it works when you use the dating sequence 3-14-15, and breaks down if you use military or European dating formats: e.g. 14 March 15; 14.3.15). Star Trek abused the word "warp" ad nauseum to get their astronauts from one side of the galaxy to the other in record time to solve galactic issues before the ending credits. Space is still vast, and getting to even our own solar system's planets in a human lifetime will take something more than conventional chemical rockets and Newtonian momentum, hence NASA's concentration on breakthrough propulsion technologies up to and inclusive of warp drive. Quoting one of the articles whose link I give below:
In 1905, Albert Einstein determined that the laws of physics are the same for all non-accelerating observers, and that the speed of light in a vacuum was independent of the motion of all observers. This was the theory of special relativity. It introduced a new framework for all of physics and proposed new concepts of space and time.
Einstein then spent ten years trying to include acceleration in the theory and published his theory of general relativity in 1915. In it, he determined that massive objects cause a distortion in space-time, which is felt as gravity. [1]
It is our current, best description in modern physics of gravity, and along with its effects, our Global Positioning Systems in our cars and smart phones; the evolution of stars into Brown Dwarfs; White Dwarfs, Black Holes and the theoretical possibility of Wormholes. It has outlived Einstein and proven its usefulness time and again.
1. Space.com: Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, Nola Taylor Redd
2. Einstein-Online: General Relativity
3. Princeton University Press: Relativity: The Special and the General Theory
100th Anniversary edition, Edited by Hanoch Gutfreund & Jürgen Renn
4. Physics Central: Einstein's Relativity and Everyday Life, Clifford M. Will (think GPS)
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| Image Source: NobelPrize.org |
Topics: Biology, Diversity in Science, Embryology, Genetics, Medicine, Physiology, Women in Science
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1995
Born: 20 October 1942, Magdeburg, Germany
Affiliation at the time of the award: Max-Planck-Institut für Entwicklungsbiologie, Tübingen, Federal Republic of Germany
Prize motivation: "for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development"
Field: developmental biology, embryology, genetics
Prize Share: Edward B. Lewis, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard and Eric F. Wieschaus "for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development".
I am the second of five children. My father, Rolf Volhard, was an architect. He was the eighth of ten children of Franz Volhard, a professor of medicine in Frankfurt, and specialist for heart and kidney.
We lived in a flat in the south of Frankfurt, with a rather large garden, close to the forest. I had a happy childhood with many stimulation's and support from my parents who, in postwar times, when it was difficult to buy things, made children's books and toys for us. We had much freedom and we were encouraged by our parents to do interesting things. I remember my father showed much interest in what we did, and thereby had great influences on our performances, without being particularly ambitious (although good grades at school were more or less a matter of course).
"Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 18 Mar 2015. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1995/nusslein-volhard-facts.html
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| Rear side of the new nanowire-based electrode. (Courtesy: Ashutosh Kumar Singh and Kalyan Mandal) |
Topics: Economy, Jobs, Nanotechnology, Semiconductor Technology, STEM
A new type of electrode that could lead to the development of more efficient and lighter supercapacitors has been unveiled by researchers in India. The electrode has a new hybrid structure that is made from iron and nickel nanowires, and could be used to boost the capacitance, current density and charging/discharging rates of big capacitors used to store large amounts of electrical energy. The electrodes are inexpensive and environmentally friendly to produce, say the researchers, and could someday be used to make supercapacitors to power a range of devices, from mobile phones to electric cars.
Supercapacitors store energy by separating positive and negative charge through electrochemical reactions that involve the exchange of electrons and ions at the interfaces between two electrodes and an electrolyte. These devices combine the large-scale energy-storage properties of batteries with the rapid charging times and long lifespans of conventional capacitors. In principle, supercapacitors could be used to create electric cars that could be fully charged in minutes, and mobile phones that would charge in seconds. Today, however, a supercapacitor is much larger and heavier than a conventional battery that holds the same amount of energy.
Physics World: Nanowire-based electrode could lead to better supercapacitors, Ian Randall
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| Image Source: Link below |
Topics: Diversity, Computer Science, Economy, Jobs, Microsoft, Women in Science, XBOX
I happened to catch her story at the end of an OWN show: "Where Are They Now?" They had just finished an interview with Harry Wayne Casey, leader of the multicultural KC and the Sunshine Band (I'm severely dating myself).
What I found astonishing is not only does she have a degree in a STEM field and a thriving business she started BEFORE college; she seems to be enjoying herself and single-handed demolishing any stereotype of Nerds in any culture or gender. Catch her photos on her site in Galleries: Adventures and Travels provided below. We should all have so much fun!
Happy Saint Patrick's Day, by the way! Don't forget to wear something green.
A recent graduate of the College of Computing at Georgia Tech, Jasmine earned her bachelors degree in computer science with concentrations in devices and artificial intelligence. She is currently working at Microsoft as a Program Manager on the Xbox One Engineering team.
Additionally, Jasmine conducted research in the field of robotics at the Georgia Tech Healthcare Robotics Lab and the Robotics and Intelligent Machines Lab @ Georgia Tech. She was the 2012-2013 Ms. Georgia Tech, a proud executive leader of StartUp at Georgia Tech and a member of the National Society of Black Engineers. She is also a member of Omicron Delta Kappa, the national leadership honor society, and Upsilon Pi Epsilon, the international computing honor society. In her “free” time, Jasmine plays the harmonica, programs robots, and makes stained glass. She is also a poet, motivational speaker, tutor, mentor and an avid sports fan who loves to play basketball.
Official Site: JasmineLawrence.com
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| Intel Science Talent Search first-place winner Michael Hofmann Winer’s research could have an impact on the electronics of the future. (Photo by Chris Ayers/Intel) |
Topics: Education, Electronics, Intel, High School, Phonons, Physics, Superconductors
Michael Hofmann Winer is a physics phenom who has won awards and studied how fundamental quasi-particles of sound, called phonons, interact with electrons. His research could potentially be applied to complex electronic materials, such as superconductors.
But first he needs to finish his senior year at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Md.
The 18-year-old’s work during two summer internships at the University of Maryland, College Park, flashed into the national spotlight last week, when he was honored as one of the country’s most-promising young science students — one of three top medalists in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search competition.
“I think I’m as happy as I’ve ever been,” the Montgomery County student said after he won a $150,000 first-place prize for innovation, based on work he did in collaboration with U-Md. physics professor Victor Galitski and graduate student Justin Wilson.
Winer credited the math, science and computer science magnet program at Montgomery Blair as a difference-maker, too, as well as teacher James R. Schafer, whom he called “one of the best teachers in the universe.”
Schafer, in turn, said Winer is “certainly one of the best students I’ve ever taught.” Schafer said Winer’s talent goes beyond his “incredible” intellect.
I saw this on my Twitter feed, re-tweeted it and shared it also here. Michael alluded to almost fainting as the fact he won the award was announced, and the glare of the cameras on him almost got the best of him. I choked a little when he gave credit to his high school physics teacher (as a group, we rarely get any props). Montgomery Blair High School can be by some dismissed as a "ringer" for the award - 32 Intel finalist since 1999 - equates to two a year. But, as Dean Kamen (inventor of the Segway) states below:
Happy Saint Patrick's Day, by the way! Don't forget to wear something green.
Washington Post:
Maryland physics phenom ‘tried not to faint’ upon winning national award,
Donna St. George
DEKA Research: About Dean Kamen
Related Site: USFirst.org
