Tag Archives: new york times

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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Political Leaders Play Key Role in How Worried Americans Are By Climate Change

COLUMBUS, Ohio – More than extreme weather events and the work of scientists, it is national political leaders who influence how much Americans worry about the threat of climate change, new research finds.

In a study of public opinion from 2002 to 2010, researchers found that public belief that climate change was a threat peaked in 2006-2007 when Democrats and Republicans in Congress showed the most agreement on the issue. (more…)

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2012 Economic Forecast from UMD Business Faculty

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – A weak housing market, tight credit for small businesses, no significant growth in the banking sector, anemic consumer spending, and modest sales for retailers – that’s the outlook for 2012 according to experts at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

“Several important dynamics frame the 2012 economic outlook,” says Cliff Rossi, Tyser Teacher Fellow and executive-in-residence. These factors include:

  • Massive financial leveraging across the board by sovereign countries, state and local governments, banks, businesses, and individuals;
  • Fear and uncertainty among consumers and investors, despite faint signs of optimism at times;
  • Political self-interest and brinksmanship increasingly interfering with effective policy making. (more…)

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The Times they are acclaimin’

*Fiction writer Charles Baxter talks about writing and life*

Miss Ferenczi, a substitute teacher, begins a stint by ditching a boring lesson on traditional Egyptian irrigation methods and winging it.

Her amazed class of fourth graders is left to sift through the torrent of information she spews and figure out what might be true.

So it goes in “Gryphon,” the title story in English professor Charles Baxter’s latest book, a collection of stories the New York Times named to its “100 Notable Books of 2011” list in November. “Gryphon: New and Selected Stories” is published by Pantheon Books. (more…)

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MSU Research Sheds Light on Origins of Greatness

EAST LANSING, Mich. — What makes people great? Popular theorists such as the New Yorker’s Malcolm Gladwell and the New York Times’ David Brooks argue that intelligence plays a role – but only up to a point. Beyond that, they say, it’s practice, practice, practice.

Zach Hambrick agrees with the practice argument – imagine where Bill Gates would be if he hadn’t honed his programming skills, after all – but the Michigan State University scientist takes exception to the view that intelligence plays no role in determining excellence. (more…)

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Developers Tune In to Microsoft’s Channel 9

*Channel 9 has been broadcasting from inside Microsoft’s labs and offices since 2004, giving a large community of developers an insider’s view of the people behind the company’s products and technologies.*

REDMOND, Wash – Passengers on United Airlines flights have long turned their in-flight entertainment dials to Channel 9 to hear what’s happening in the cockpit. For more than seven years, developers have had a similar opportunity to get inside the mind of Microsoft.

Microsoft’s Channel 9 – named for United’s cockpit channel – has been broadcasting since 2004 from inside the company’s offices and labs. Be it quirky Halloween videos that get hundreds of thousands of hits or hour-long interviews with the company’s most talented engineers, Channel 9 pulls back the curtain at Microsoft to reveal its human side. (more…)

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