The 2013 Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been awarded to Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel for their development of computer models of complex chemical systems. All three researchers have close links to physics. Karplus, who is a US and Austrian citizen, originally studied physics and chemistry at Harvard University and is now based there and at the University of Strasbourg. Levitt, who has a physics degree from King's College London, is a US and UK citizen working at Stanford University, while Warshel is a US and Israeli citizen based at the University of Southern California. The trio will share the SEK 8m (£775,000) and will receive their medals at a ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December.
Karplus, Levitt and Warshel won the prize for developing computational techniques that use both classical and quantum physics to describe complex chemical processes. Chemical models based on classical physics are relatively easy to compute and can therefore be used to simulate some aspects of the behaviour of large molecules such as proteins. The problem, however, is that these classical models cannot describe crucial aspects of chemistry such as how reactions proceed. To do so requires models based on quantum mechanics, which in turn need huge amounts of computing power. Quantum simulations can therefore only be applied to relatively small molecules.
As the Hispanic population grows, such students are increasingly a linchpin in state and federal plans to get more students trained in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields. But Hispanic students are also heavily underrepresented among degree recipients in those so-called STEM fields—and a new report from the Center for Urban Education provides some recommendations for changing that.
The report, "Tapping HSI-STEM Funds to Improve Latina and Latino Access to STEM Professions," argues that the Hispanic achievement gaps at the baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral levels exist in large part because of finances. "A lot of discussion about participation hasn't acknowledged that fact," said Lindsey E. Malcom, one of the co-authors and an assistant professor at the University of California at Riverside.
Hispanic students are more likely than their peers to come from low-income families—and that affects not only the competing demands on their time and money but also the types of institutions they are most likely to attend. Such students disproportionately start their college educations at community colleges and Hispanic-serving four-year colleges, which typically have lower costs. In turn, the researchers say, those institutions tend to have fewer resources, often leaving them less equipped to support students and to prepare them for graduate work.
The report recommends that colleges, particularly those with large Hispanic populations, work to better inform students of their full range of financial-aid options. It also pushes colleges to recognize that many Hispanic undergraduates are supporting themselves and are more likely to work and to put in longer hours than their peers.
Valjeanne Jeffers is the author of five books, The Immortal series and The Switch II: Clockwork (books 1 and 2). Her work has been featured in numerous anthologies including, Genesis: An Anthology of Black Science Fiction, Mocha Faeryland and Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology.
Quinton Veal is the author of three books, Her Black Body I Treasure, United Souls, and The Collected Works of Quinton Veal. His work has been featured in Genesis Science Fiction Magazine, Poetic Gumbo and I want my Poetry to. . . He has created and designed numerous covers including Immortal III and The Collected Works of Quinton Veal.
PERSONAL DATA: Born April 5, 1950, in San José, Costa Rica, to the late Mr. Ramón A. Chang-Morales and Mrs. María Eugenia Díaz De Chang. Married to the former Peggy Marguerite Doncaster of Alexandria, Louisiana. Four children. He enjoys music, glider planes, soccer, scuba diving and hiking. His mother, brothers and sisters still reside in Costa Rica.
EDUCATION: Graduated from Colegio De La Salle in San José, Costa Rica, in November 1967 and from Hartford High School in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1969; received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Connecticut in 1973 and a Doctorate in Applied Plasma Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1977.
SPECIAL HONORS: Recipient of the University of Connecticut’s Outstanding Alumni Award (1980); seven NASA Space Flight Medals (1986, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2002); two NASA Distinguished Service Medals (1995, 1997) and three NASA Exceptional Service Medals (1988, 1990, 1993). In 1986, he received the Liberty Medal from President Ronald Reagan at the Statue of Liberty Centennial Celebration in New York City and, in 1987, the Medal of Excellence from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He received the Cross of the Venezuelan Air Force from President Jaime Lusinchi during the 68th Anniversary of the Venezuelan Air Force in Caracas, Venezuela (1988), and the Flight Achievement Award from the American Astronautical Society (1989). Recipient of four Doctorates “Honoris Causa” (Doctor of Science from the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, Doctor of Science from the University of Connecticut, Doctor of Law from Babson College and Doctor of Science from the Universidade de Santiago de Chile. He is honorary faculty at the College of Engineering, University of Costa Rica. In April 1995, the government of Costa Rica conferred on him the title of “Honorary Citizen.” This is the highest honor Costa Rica confers to a foreign citizen, making him the first such honoree who was actually born there. Recipient of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 2001 Wyld Propulsion Award for his 21 years of research on the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) engine.
KANSAS CITY: TOPEKA, Kan. — An anti-evolution group filed a federal lawsuit Thursday to block Kansas from using new, multistate science standards in its public schools, arguing the guidelines promote atheism and violate students' and parents' religious freedom.
The group, Citizens for Objective Public Education, had criticized the standards developed by Kansas, 25 other states and the National Research Council for treating both evolution and climate change as key scientific concepts to be taught from kindergarten through 12th grade. The Kansas State Board of Education adopted them in June to replace evolution-friendly standards that had been in place since 2007.
The new standards, like the ones they replaced, reflect the mainstream scientific view that evolution is well-established. Most board members believed the guidelines will improve science education by shifting the emphasis in science classes to doing hands-on projects and experiments.
Chris Hedges, TRUTH DIG: U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz—whose father is Rafael Cruz, a rabid right-wing Christian preacher and the director of the Purifying Fire International ministry—and legions of the senator’s wealthy supporters, some of whom orchestrated the shutdown, are rooted in a radical Christian ideology known as Dominionism or Christian Reconstructionism. This ideology calls on anointed “Christian” leaders to take over the state and make the goals and laws of the nation “biblical.” It seeks to reduce government to organizing little more than defense, internal security and the protection of property rights. It fuses with the Christian religion the iconography and language of American imperialism and nationalism, along with the cruelest aspects of corporate capitalism. The intellectual and moral hollowness of the ideology, its flagrant distortion and misuse of the Bible, the contradictions that abound within it—its leaders champion small government and a large military, as if the military is not part of government—and its laughable pseudoscience are impervious to reason and fact. And that is why the movement is dangerous.
When our public officials can accuse the president of collusion with Al Qaeda (not acknowledging he ordered that hydra's former head slain), and close to the same breath say these are "signs of the end times"; when truckers ride to the capital to perform citizens' arrests (in a moribund protest) inevitably against their own best interests, goaded by talk show pundits collectively with less education than fruit flies; when the same group that denies climate science and its latest dire conclusions can also deny the global, catastrophic effects of hitting next Thursday's default (even the Koch brothers have pulled back from the brink of this Pokemon-AstroTurf-fully-metastasized-Godzilla they've created); when it is clear that Texas Senator Ted Cruz is a living "Deja Vu" of fictional Texas Senator Andrew Steele Jarret in Octavia Butler's "Parable of the Talents", we can not only not govern, we cannot sustain a republic that denies governance, denies science, denies engineering, denies math, denies environmental conservation, denies climate change, denies market regulation, denies civics, denies governance, denies economics, denies facts and reality with such impunity, and calls the child abuse of not teaching science in its proper context a "parental right."
We The People have a global economy built on science. No other nation has tax exempt "creation museums," and the nucleus mother-of-all-creation-museums is currently in financial trouble, as science denial in the long run is an obviously bankrupt strategy. Their solution: add dragons and zip lines (I'm not kidding). I'm sure Europe and Asia - devastating us in PISA results and STEM graduates - will be on board soon.
We have to decide if, as a country, we're going to prepare our youth to compete for jobs in the 21st and 22nd Century, or confuse the hell out of them with "teaching [made up] controversies" leaving them poor, uneducated, desperate and destitute with no hope of a future. This is not science, religion nor is it charity: it is authoritarianism, the societal mid misstep prior to fascism; it is a disservice to both science and faith from a faction of humanity whereby the fundamental known fact about nature - change - is a byword. We have to decide to prepare them for jobs in a middle class that will understandably require more hard skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or leave them defenseless and exacerbate the wealth gap between rich and poor, and the obvious societal instability that will follow. We have to stop parroting the talking points that debt is the only thing we don't want to pass on to our children: ignorance is even more devastating. We have to decide in the next and ongoing elections in a future more technical and challenging, to hear what our candidates - at all competitive levels of governance - have to say about science in an actual public debate, instead of the call-and-response sermon talking points they cynically memorize for a base. We have to decide to educate ourselves enough in science to call their bluff/BS when they are lying.
This status quo of stupidity is untenable; possessing a prayer cloth is not solving real or political Calculus. Your next I-phone or AIDS vaccine is not going to drop out of the sky from magical thinking. We have to decide if we're going to compete globally in the arena of ideas, or sit helplessly on the sidelines, and turn the opening lines of the Science Fiction comedy "Idiocracy" into prophesy:
Narrator: The years passed, mankind became stupider at a frightening rate. Some had high hopes that genetic engineering would correct this trend in evolution, but sadly the greatest minds and resources were focused on conquering hair loss and prolonging erections.
As the 21st century began, human evolution was at a turning point. Natural selection, the process by which the strongest, the smartest, the fastest, reproduced in greater numbers than the rest, a process which had once favored the noblest traits of man, now began to favor different traits. Most science fiction of the day predicted a future that was more civilized and more intelligent. But as time went on, things seemed to be heading in the opposite direction; a dumbing-down. How did this happen? Evolution does not necessarily reward intelligence. With no natural predators to thin the herd, it began to simply reward those who reproduced the most, and left the intelligent to become an endangered species.
PERSONAL DATA: Born October 8, 1959, in Lima, Peru. Considers Santa Clara, California, to be his hometown. Married to the former Wendy L. Thatcher. They have five children. He enjoys flying, running, snow skiing, racquetball and spending time with his children. His parents, Rodolfo and Nora Noriega, reside in Gilbert, Arizona. Her parents, John and Elizabeth Thatcher, reside in Honolulu, Hawaii.
EDUCATION: Graduated from Wilcox High School, Santa Clara, California, in 1977. Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from the University of Southern California, 1981. Master of Science degree in computer science and Master of Science degree in space systems operations from the Naval Postgraduate School, 1990.
SPECIAL HONORS: Defense Superior Service Medal, two Defense Meritorious Service Medals, Air Medal with Combat Distinguishing Device, Air Medal (Strike Flight Award), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, two NASA Space Flight Medals and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal.
EXPERIENCE: Noriega was a member of the Navy ROTC unit and received his commission in the United States Marine Corps at the University of Southern California in 1981. Following graduation from flight school, he flew CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters with HMM-165 from 1983 to 1985 at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. Noriega made two 6-month shipboard deployments in the West Pacific/Indian Ocean, including operations in support of the Multi-National Peacekeeping Force in Beirut, Lebanon. In 1986, he was transferred to MCAS Tustin, California, where he served as the aviation safety officer and instructor pilot with HMT-301. In 1988, Noriega was selected to attend the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Upon graduation in September 1990, he was assigned to United States Space Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In addition to serving as a Space Surveillance Center Commander, he was responsible for several software development projects and was ultimately the command representative for the development and integration of the major space and missile warning computer system upgrades for Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Base. At the time of his selection, he was serving on the staff of the First Marine Aircraft Wing in Okinawa, Japan. Noriega retired from the Marine Corps in January 2003.
Besides many great free textbooks that you can find online, the internet offers a variety of free science tutorials, videos and other resources. These are great to study individually or to assist you during revision. So today let’s take a look at some of the best links for science students.
Noches de Ciencias –Science Nights – is a national initiative established in 2008 by the SHPE Foundation to promote knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) among the Hispanic community. SHPE professional and student chapters conduct Noches de Ciencias around the country.
The goal of Noches de Ciencias is to inform K-12 students and their families about STEM education and college options through interactive workshops and activities.
SHPE professional and student chapters can fund Noches de Ciencias through their own fundraising efforts or the funding options below:
SHPE Foundation General Funding
Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Contract
Alcoa Foundation
SHPE Foundation - Advancing Hispanic Excellence in Technology, Engineering, Math and Science
Previous related link: Malala Day. I of course, think she got robbed for the Nobel Prize again. Dean Kaman says "you get what you celebrate." I celebrate Malala.
LISTEN to what this amazing young woman says about education; the passion in her voice. See her link below. This is what lifts all boats. Ms. Yousafzai is an impressive advocate.
Or, as the Taliban will one day call her: Madam President.
The 'Dark God's Gift' is far from over! Monday the saga continues with H. Wolfgang Porter's dark fantasy short story, 'Dark God's Gift: Power of Two'. A caravan carrying two runaway lovers from prominent families disappears in the bandit infested forest near the mutual borders of three provinces. Dispatched to find the pair is the infamous Bounty Hunter Wolfwalker! However, Wolfwalker is not alone as others are searching for the caravan. But, unknown to all is the disappearance has the vile taint of the 'Dark God's Gift' permeating a darker mystery. Can Wolfwalker uncover the fate of the lovers? Better yet, will he have a choice? All will be revealed in the next installment of the 'DARK GOD'S GIFT!'
Ronald T. Jones' Space Opera 'Dark God's Gift: A Dark Path' concludes as the Galactic Regent Alec Dishman finds himself at the center of a bloody coup attempt! Enemies surround Proctor Dishman but worst of all, his greatest enemy is all too familiar to him. Yet, with the Power of the Dark God's Gift the Galaxy's Ruler plans to crush the rebellion and cut his name into the firmament of history itself!
Two independent teams of physicists have used small pieces of glass etched with tiny gratings to accelerate electrons through enormous electric-field gradients. One team boosted the kinetic energy of the electrons at about the same rate as a conventional particle accelerator, while the other achieved 10 times that speed. The technology could one day be used to build table-top accelerators that are much smaller than conventional devices, bringing the benefits of particle-beam therapy to a wider range of cancer patients.
Laser-driven particle acceleration has been the subject of intense research over the past two decades, having been used to accelerate electrons, protons and other charged particles. Although several different techniques can be used, they all involve firing an intense pulse of laser light at a target. The intense electric field of the pulse separates electrons from the positively charged nuclei, creating a very strong electric field that can then be used to accelerate charged particles.
This latest breakthrough was made independently by two groups: one in the US and the other in Germany. The US team was led by Robert Byer of Stanford University and included physicists at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of California, Los Angeles and the Tech-X Corporation. In their set-up, a beam of electrons is first accelerated to a kinetic energy of about 60 MeV moving at near to the speed of light using the Next Linear Collider Test Accelerator Facility at SLAC. The other team was led by John Breuer and Peter Hommelhoff of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching, whose device works for much less energetic 28 keV electrons travelling at about one-third the speed of light.
Chris Hernandez, vice president of Advanced Systems at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems received the 2013 HENAAC Engineer of the Year Award.
October 7: Northrop Grumman Corporation employee Chris Hernandez was honored last Friday as the Engineer of the Year at the 25th anniversary HENAAC conference put on by Great Minds in STEM(TM). The conference recognizes the best and brightest science, technology, engineering, and math professionals on a national level who serve as role models to inspire young people to pursue technical careers with a focus on the Hispanic community.
He earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from California State University, Long Beach and a master's degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan Fellows program. Hernandez is on the board of directors of the Mexican American Opportunity Foundation and is active with the Boy Scouts of America.
Theodore Brewster Taylor (July 11, 1925 – October 28, 2004) was a Mexican-born, American theoretical physicist and prominent nuclear weapon designer who later in life became a nuclear disarmament advocate.
Taylor was born in Mexico City, Mexico, the son of a daughter of a congregationalist missionary and a director of the YMCA. He spent much of his childhood in Cuernavaca in the state of Morelos, south of Mexico City. From 1943 to 1946 he served on active duty in the United States Navy. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from the California Institute of Technology, pursued graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and received a PhD in theoretical physics from Cornell University in 1954.
From 1948 to 1956 he worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he gained some fame as a designer of small, efficient nuclear weapons. He was assigned to explore the bounds of fission weapons in an era when most weapons designers were focused on fusion. In 1956 he moved to General Atomics, where he directed Project Orion, with his friend Lew Allen as contract manager. He also was involved in the design of small nuclear reactors to produce radioactive isotopes for medical use, the TRIGA reactors. He led the team that designed the largest pure fission bomb ever detonated, the Super Oralloy Bomb ("SOB"), which had a yield of 500 kilotons in its only test (Ivy King). He similarly designed the small "Scorpion" on the small end of the scale which is documented in John McPhee's The Curve of Binding Energy. This knowledge of bombs requiring minimal amounts of fissile material contributed to his concerns about nuclear terrorism.
After the end of Project Orion, he worked for the Defense Atomic Support Agency, involved with controlling the US stockpile of nuclear weapons. Beginning in 1966 he advocated nuclear disarmament, and worked as a consultant to the United States Atomic Energy Commission from 1966 to 1968 evaluating the International Atomic Energy Agency in regard to nuclear non-proliferation. He worked as a visiting professor at University of California, Santa Cruz and Princeton University; in addition to nuclear proliferation, a topic on which he wrote several books, he studied renewable energy and energy conservation, including ice pond technology. Taylor was featured in the 1984 PBS series, The Voyage of the Mimi, starring a young Ben Affleck.
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2013 was awarded jointly to François Englert and Peter W. Higgs "for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider"
And we have Satyendranath Bose, the Indian after whom the boson is named.
Nanos gigantium humeris insidentes...I can't describe the feeling. The Nobel is more than a noble endeavor: it is the culmination of a lifetime of adhering to and triumph of the Scientific Method, testing and retesting hypotheses; weathering the withering criticism (and in many cases, wagers) against your theories being incorrect, and finding out in the lab that they are correct, unique and novel. I am astonishingly happy for these men, their work and the work they're sure to inspire; physicists working in labs and researchers yet born. It is emotional, not unlike witnessing a birth of a new chapter in our understanding of the universe.
PERSONAL DATA: Born June 27, 1951, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Married to the former Marianne Sue Cremer of Jefferson City, Missouri. They have three children. Recreational interests include camping, woodworking, and racquetball.
EDUCATION: Graduated from Valley High School, Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1969; received a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1973, and a master of arts degree in management from Webster College in 1977.
ORGANIZATIONS: Member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, the Air Force Association, the U.S. Air Force Academy Association of Graduates, and the Society of Space Explorers.
SPECIAL HONORS: NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal, Two NASA Space Flight Medals, 1990 Congressional Hispanic Caucus Award, Awarded Aviation Week and Space Technology Aerospace Laureate in Space and Missiles for 1991, Hispanic Engineer magazine 1992 Hispanic Engineer of the Year National Achievement Award, Aviation Week and Space Technology Citation for Aerospace Laureate in Space and Missiles for 1994, 1994 selected by Hispanic Business magazine as one of the 100 most Influential Hispanics, selected by Hispanic Magazine for the 1995 Hispanic Achievement Award in Science, 1995 inductee into the International Space Hall of Fame, Distinguished Graduate of the USAF Academy; awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Air Force Meritorious Service Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster, National Defense Service Medal, and Air Training Command Master Instructor.
EXPERIENCE: Gutierrez was a member of the National Collegiate Championship Air Force Academy Parachute Team with over 550 jumps, and a Master Parachutist rating. After graduation from the Academy he completed undergraduate pilot training at Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, Texas. He remained there as a T-38 instructor pilot from 1975 through 1977. In 1978 Gutierrez was assigned to the 7th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Hollomon Air Force Base, Alamagordo, New Mexico, where he flew the F-15 Eagle. He attended the USAF Test Pilot School in 1981 and was assigned to the F-16 Falcon Combined Test Force after graduation. While there, Gutierrez served as primary test pilot for airframe and propulsion testing on the F-16 aircraft. Test projects included the F-100 Digital Electronic Engine Control, F-16C & D Model Structural and Performance Testing, F-16 Maximum Performance Braking Tests, and F-16 Mobile Arrestment Qualification.
He has logged over 4,500 hours flying time in approximately 30 different types of airplanes, sailplanes, balloons, and rockets.
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory say they have tripled the number of neutrons produced by fusion in tiny capsules of deuterium and tritium and thus have moved the National Ignition Facility a step closer to its goal of sustained nuclear fusion. The 13 August firing of NIF's 192-beam laser yielded 3 × 1015 neutrons, whose total energy reached 8 kilo-joules. That output was nearly twice the 5 kJ of energy that produced the plasma in the peppercorn-sized sphere of fusion fuel, says Ed Moses, the lab's principal associate director for NIF.
The result puts NIF a factor of four to five away from ignition, says Moses; last fall the Department of Energy reported that NIF was an order of magnitude away from its goal. Only a factor-of-two increase in plasma energy will be needed to attain alpha heating, an intermediate milestone at which alpha particles from fusion reactions contribute twice as much energy to the plasma as the laser does.
Note the National Ignition Facility was the "warp core" engineering for the movie "Star Trek: Into Darkness." I've mentioned this before, as not only a means of diminishing our dependence on foreign oil, and thus volatile regions of the world: it could change our whole paradigm as a country and a species - heating, energy consumption, food prices at the grocers (determined by fossil fuel prices); income inequality...if we let it.
Of course, we'll have to get through the self-immolation also known as the government shutdown (I really tried to avoid mentioning that).
PERSONAL DATA: Born August 7, 1962 in French Camp, California. Considers Stockton, California, to be his hometown.
EDUCATION: B.S., Electrical Engineering, University of the Pacific, 1984.
M.S., Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of California-Santa Barbara, 1986.
ORGANIZATIONS: Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), Society of Mexican American Engineers and Scientists (MAES).
SPECIAL HONORS: Ph.D. Science, University of the Pacific (honoris causa), 2006. NASA Service Awards (2002, 2003), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory “Outstanding Engineer Award” (2001), Upward Bound National TRIO Achiever Award (2001), U.S. Department of Energy “Outstanding Performance Commendation” (2000), Society of Mexican American Engineers and Scientists (MAES) “Medalla de Oro” recipient for professional and community contributions (1999), Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Award, “Outstanding Technical Contribution” (1995), Graduate Engineering Minority Fellow (GEM) (1985), and Eta Kappa Nu Electrical Engineering Honor Society member.
This is archival information. Sadly, due to the unnecessary self-immolation AKA government shutdown, NASA.gov is currently offline.
I am admittedly, a Carl Sagan fan. As such, this book is not unfamiliar to me. As such, rereading it in trying times (what I will constantly refer to as the) self-immolation also known as government shutdown, his words are as poignant, as prescient as they were in the mid nineties when it was first published.
I completely avoided my "sermon soliloquy" Sunday, or tried to - see "self-immolation" above. Some paragraphs, sentences on my Kindle (unintentional Freudian slip) gave me pause. I share them without comment or edit, save underlined highlight:
For me, there are four main reasons for a concerted effort to convey science - in radio, TV, movies, newspapers, books, computer programs, theme parks, and classrooms - to every citizen. In all uses of science, it is insufficient - indeed it is dangerous - to produce only a small, highly competent, well-rewarded priesthood of professionals. Instead, some fundamental understanding of the findings and methods of science must be made available on the broadest scale.
Despite plentiful opportunities for misuse, science can be the golden road out of poverty and backwardness for emerging nations. It makes national economies and the global civilization run. Many nations understand this. It is why so many graduate students in science and engineering at American universities - still the best in the world - are from other countries. The corollary, one that the United States sometimes fails to grasp, is that abandoning science is the road back into poverty and backwardness.
Science alerts us to the perils introduced by our world-altering technologies, especially to the global environment on which our lives depend. Science provides an essential early warning system.
Science teaches us about the deepest issues of origins, natures, and fates - of our species, of life, of our planet, of the Universe. For the first time in human history we are able to secure a real understanding of some of these matters. Every culture on Earth has addressed such issues and valued their importance. All of us feel goosebumps when we approach these grand questions. In the long run, the greatest gift of science may be in teaching us, in ways no other human endeavor has been able, something about our cosmic context, about where, when and who we are.
The values of science and the values of democracy are concordant, in many cases indistinguishable. Science and democracy began - in their civilized incarnations - in the same time and place, Greece in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. Science confers power on anyone who takes the trouble to learn it (although too many have been systematically prevented from doing so). Science thrives on, indeed requires, the free exchange of ideas; its values are antithetical to secrecy. Science holds to no special vantage points or privileged positions. Both science and democracy encourage unconventional opinions and vigorous debate. Both demand adequate reason, coherent argument, rigorous standards of evidence and honesty. Science is a way to call the bluff of those who only pretend to knowledge. It is a bulwark against mysticism, against superstition, against religion misapplied to where it has no business being. If we're true to its values, it can tell us when we're being lied to.
Science Fiction Writer Ronald T. Jones' contribution to the 'Dark God's Gift' anthology 'A Dark Path' begins today!
Far into the distant future, down on his luck Freelance Starship Captain Alec Dishman longs for the days when the United Empire was the greatest power in the galaxy. Now little more than a backwater, Alec is struggling to make ends meet. Despite his hard luck, Alec has a vision for restoring the Empire to its former glory. But to put his plan in motion, he's going to need to 'borrow' a few ships! Along with his sexy Avatar Fara and crew of combat modded androids, Alec has exactly what he needs to really get himself in trouble! Little does Alec know, his plan is about to take him down a path which will see him become a gradious hero or a blood-soaked tyrant when he receives the 'Dark God's Gift!'
