Tag Archives: new york times

Panelists explore the NSA and the ‘knotty’ question of the public’s right to know

Without any sort of legal protections in place, journalists reporting on the National Security Agency’s (NSA) massive surveillance program are facing a huge challenge, said Spencer Ackerman, the Guardian’s U.S. national security editor, during a panel discussion at the Law School on Dec. 5.

Ackerman took part in a discussion titled “Investigative Reporting, Espionage and NSA Leaks” with James Bamford, who is widely regarded as the chief chronicler of the NSA, and Gabriel Schoenfeld, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. The discussion, sponsored by KLAMP and the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism, was moderated by David A. Schulz, the Floyd Abrams Clinical Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School and partner at Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz LLP in New York. (more…)

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Technology in the Classroom

UD students use iPads to study the presidential election

Ralph Begleiter and Paul Brewer, professors in the University of Delaware’s Department of Communication, wanted to see if students enrolled in their Road to the Presidency class would pay more attention to the presidential election if media were at their fingertips 24/7. Through a UD Information Technologies (IT) Transformation Grant, iPads were distributed to students enrolled in the course.

“There is something about a student laying their finger on the iPad and discovering what event occurred to make a jump in public opinion popularity occur. It’s that interactivity that makes it a personal experience for the student,” Begleiter observed. (more…)

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Crowdsourcing Site Compiles New Sign Language for Math and Science

A multimedia feature published this week in the New York Times, “Pushing Science’s Limits in Sign Language Lexicon,” outlines efforts in the United States and Europe to develop sign language versions of specialized terms used in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The article shares newly defined signs for terms like “light-year,” “organism” and “photosynthesis.” It also describes a successful crowdsourcing effort started at the University of Washington in 2008 that lets members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community build their own guide to the evolving lexicon of science.

“It’s not a dictionary,” explained Richard Ladner, a UW professor of computer science and engineering. “The goal of the forum is to be constantly changing, a reflection of the current use.” (more…)

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Global Science: U.S. is Still in The Game

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Globalization is a benefit to U.S. scientific achievement, not a threat. That’s the conclusion of a new book that weighs the evidence from a number of recent surveys to answer its title question: “Is American Science in Decline?”

American science is in good health, according to the book’s authors, sociologists Yu Xie of the University of Michigan and Alexandra Achen Killewald of Harvard University.

Although there are areas of concern, they maintain that traditional American values will help the nation maintain its strength in science for the foreseeable future, and that globalization will promote efficiency in science through knowledge sharing. (more…)

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Responding to the Radiation Threat

*Berkeley Lab Researchers Developing Promising Treatment for Safely Decontaminating Humans Exposed to Radioactive Actinides*

The New York Times recently reported that in the darkest moments of the triple meltdown last year of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Japanese officials considered the evacuation of the nearly 36 million residents of the Tokyo metropolitan area. The consideration of so drastic an action reflects the harsh fact that in the aftermath of a major radiation exposure event, such as a nuclear reactor accident or a “dirty bomb” terrorist attack, treatments for mass contamination are antiquated and very limited. The only chemical agent now available for decontamination – a compound known as DTPA – is a Cold War relic that must be administered intravenously and only partially removes some of the deadly actinides – the radioactive chemical elements spanning from actinium to lawrencium on the periodic table – that pose the greatest health threats. (more…)

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‘Art and the Unbreakable Spirit of Haiti’ opens Jan. 9 at Fowler Museum at UCLA

*Related event Jan. 29 features filmmaker Jonathan Demme, journalists, scholars*

Showcasing a selection of works collected by the Fowler Museum at UCLA over the past five decades, “Fowler in Focus: Art and the Unbreakable Spirit of Haiti” juxtaposes pieces produced for the international art market with those used in Port-au-Prince Vodou temples and nationwide seasonal festivities. 

The pieces illustrate how crucial aspects of the Haitian experience — including significant dates and galvanizing events — are made tangible through artistic and ritual practice.  (more…)

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‘Nightmare’ Economy Still a Source of Restless Nights, says Krugman

Paul Krugman. Image credit: Yale University

Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman had some generally dismal news for the near capacity audience that came to Sprague Hall on Tuesday for his Jackson Institute-sponsored town hall meeting.

The gathering, aimed at undergraduates, was held in conjunction with Krugman’s visit to Yale to receive the Henry E. Howland Memorial Prize, one of the highest honors that the University bestows.

Krugman was introduced by President Richard C. Levin; the two were briefly colleagues in Yale’s Department of Economics in the 1970s. He kicked off the Q&A with background on the current economic situation. (more…)

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