Khalil’s Picks (8 November 2013)
You’ve been waiting the entire week for this, haven’t you? The first piece is a highly-recommended analysis of freelance science journalism salaries.
"technology"
Are “Big Data” Sucking Scientific Talent into Big Business?
Over the last few years, we’ve heard a lot about how “Big Data”—which as far as I can tell is just data mining in a glossy new wrapper–are going to revolutionize science and help us create a better world.* These claims strike me as all too familiar...
Teen Builds Gateway to the Brain for Girls
The Synapse Project “encourages young women to enter the field of neuroscience through information and mentorship,” according to its website.
My God, Man! XPRIZE Unveils Medical Tricorder Teams
In the Star Trek universe, handheld medical tricorders became standard issue for Starfleet vessels as early as the mid-22nd century. Here in a little place we like to call “reality,” a competition seeks to help deliver such all-in-one health analyzers at least 100 years ahead of schedule...
Keep It Simple, Stupid: Math Doesn’t Have to Be “Complex”
When we go to the cinema, we expect certain things of big-screen scientists. Most of us will get annoyed if a film gets its basic facts wrong, for example.
Guest post: Electric Vehicles Need New “Assembly Line” Breakthrough
By Wang Tao Struggling sales in the electric vehicle (EV) market have resulted in serious questions being raised about their viability. Despite Chinese government incentives, only a few Chinese EV pilot cities have met their target of putting 1,000 EVs on the road...
#SciAmBlogs Tuesday – D-Wave, brain-eating amoeba, sexting, giant water bug, squid tentacle, nuclear waste, and more.
- Jesse Dunietz – Quantum Computing Disentangled: A Look Behind the D-Wave Buzz - Judy Stone – Where’s the Real Danger from Infection This Summer?
Arctic Methane: Flight Sunday 18th PM
As the Red Team member who was co-ordinating with the Blue Team during their flight, I must emphasise the crucial role I played in using the chat room to keep up to date with the Blue Team and their new plans, and then making a phone call to the TCCON site manager...
Photo Friday: The pessimist complains about the wind…the realist adjusts the sails.
“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.“ ~William Arthur Ward When it was built in 2000, Middelgrunden (situated 3.5 km off Denmark’s coastline) was the largest offshore wind farm in the world...
Arctic Methane: Flight Friday 16th PM
We followed exactly the same flight path as this morning’s flight. Credit to the amazing (auto) pilots! Like the earlier flight, we also saw gradual changes in the methane concentration as we traversed east to went and north to south...
A discussion on Big Science, Small Science and the future of all science
Tomorrow I have the privilege of joining a panel discussion on Big Science with three very distinguished scientists: Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg, MIT astrophysics professor Sara Seager and Perimeter Institute cosmologist Neil Turok...
In Arromanches, the artificial harbor that fed the Allied invasion of Normandy still lives
A feat of engineering secured the flow of goods and fuel to Allied troops during World War II.
#SciAmBlogs Tuesday – Empathetic Mapping, Psychology of Freedom, Correlation Is Not Causation, Metric System, Quetzalcoatlus, Whistleblowing, Jumping Caterpillar, and more.
- Karna Gowda – Empathetic Mapping: Redrawing Chicago to Examine School Choice - William Skaggs – The Psychology of Freedom - Becky Crew – Move Over, Mexican Jumping Beans – There’s a New Jumping Caterpillar in Town - Evelyn Lamb – Sex Makes You Rich?...
#SXSW 2014 PanelPicker is open and I’m voting for Broader STEM Engagement
Source We Are Bit Yes, it’s that time of year again: PanelPicker for South By South West. As always, the lineup for the Interactive events are crowdsourced.
More Solar Panels at the White House
The Washington Post‘s indefatigable Juliet Eilperin got an unnamed official at the White House to confirm that solar panels are being reinstalled at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue this week—fulfilling a promise made by the Obama administration three years ago...
Summer Vacation! – Best of the Blogs #7
Video of the Week #105, August 14th, 2013: From: #SciAmBlogs Thursday – glass sponges, dog sounds, sharks friends, med school interviews, and more.
40 Percent of Food in the U.S. Never Gets Eaten
My second round of inquiry into The Dating Game report by NRDC, which explains how the food dating system drives food waste in America, was with two authors of the report itself- Emily Broad Lieb, who directs the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, an expert on the legal system that contributes to [...]..
Ella Gale: Building a Neuromorphic (Brain-Like) Computer
This is a part of a series of Q&As with mathematicians and computer scientists participating at the 1st Heidelberg Laureate Forum, September 22-27, 2013.
“The Scarecrow” – Lots of Heart, But It Could Use More Brain
Have you seen the Chipotle Grill animated video “The Scarecrow”? More than four million people have, since it was first published last week.
The Incredible Beauty of a Blown Out Candle
Image of the Week #108, September 11th, 2013: From: Waxbows: The Incredible Beauty of a Blown Out Candle by Kyle Hill at But Not Simpler. Source: Grover Schrayer With video so widely available, why would anyone choose to make still image?...
