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Survey: Americans struggle with science; respect scientists

By Guest PostFebruary 23, 2014General, Scienceamericans, earth, john besley, michigan state university, respect scientists, Science, struggle, survey, technology museum, united states

While most Americans could be a bit more knowledgeable in the ways of science, a majority are interested in hearing about the latest scientific breakthroughs and think highly of scientists.

This is according to a survey of more than 2,200 people conducted by the National Science Foundation, one that is conducted every two years and is part of a report – Science and Engineering Indicators – that the National Science Board provides to the president and Congress. (more…)

Sunny days

By Guest PostFebruary 2, 2014Education, ScienceBaltimore, city paper, columbia university, galway city, job, laura dattaro, national geographic, new scientist, new york city, Science, sunny days, Technology, the green guide, the review, university of delaware, Washington, weather, weather channel

Alumna pairs passions for writing, science at Weather Channel website

Five years since graduating from the University of Delaware, Laura Dattaro is right where she belongs. Not playing the trumpet professionally, as she assumed she would be entering her freshman year of college, but writing for The Weather Channel at weather.com, immersed in the two things she loves most: writing and science.

Dattaro never thought she would be a journalist. Majoring in English and music and playing for the UD Marching Band, the Honors Program student had ambitions to make music her main career focus. That was until a fellow band member and city news desk editor at The Review, UD’s student run newspaper, gave her a story to work on. (more…)

Big data and how to use it

By Guest PostDecember 28, 2013Economy, Technologybank of america, big data, bintong chen, bruce weber, charles riordan, chitra dorai, consumer analytics, courtney smith goodrich, data analytics, david schweidel, emory university, era, hannah montana, ifsa, industry applications, information systems, jason van hulse, jpmorgan chase, magic, nate silver, pratap manyam, raj venkatesan, Science, sequencing, skyrocketed, Technology, university of delaware

UD Consumer Analytics and Industry Applications conference discusses big data

In the era of big data come big questions about how to use it. These questions and more were the backdrop of the recent Consumer Analytics and Industry Applications conference, put on by the University of Delaware’s Institute for Financial Services Analytics (IFSA).

“We are living in a big data world,” said IFSA director and professor of business administration, Bintong Chen. The institute is a collaboration between UD’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, the College of Engineering and JPMorgan Chase. (more…)

Creative classroom: In ‘books of secrets,’ historian’s students find an unexpected past

By Guest PostDecember 16, 2013Education15th century, beinecke rare book, books of secrets, carbon dated, cold war, creative classroom, cyrus nguyen, elusive knowledge, exhibition project, harvey cushing, manuscript library, medical historical library, nell meosky, paola bertucci, Science, secrets, spencer weinreich, spies, summer session course, voynich manuscript

One afternoon Nell Meosky ’14 was sitting at a table in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library with her classmates in the undergraduate seminar “Spies, Secrets, and Science.” She eagerly began to leaf through pages of a late medieval text, when an exclamation of “Wait!” by her professor, Paola Bertucci, made her take pause.

The text, Bertucci explained to her students, was the famous Voynich manuscript, an illustrated codex penned in an unknown writing system that has baffled scholars and fired the imaginations of people around the world. Carbon-dated to the early 15th century, the manuscript was acquired by the Beinecke Library in 1969, and Bertucci wanted her students to know that what they were seeing — and touching — is a rare treasure. (more…)

No peak in sight for evolving bacteria

By Guest PostDecember 6, 2013Sciencebacteria, Environment, frozen fossil record, generation, mathematical function, michael wiser, michigan state university, noah ribeck, population, power law, quantitatively, richard lenski, Science, set of mutations, simple environment

There’s no peak in sight – fitness peak, that is – for the bacteria in Richard Lenski’s Michigan State University lab.

Lenski, MSU Hannah Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, has been running his evolutionary bacteria experiment for 25 years, generating more than 58,000 generations. In a paper published in the current issue of Science, Michael Wiser, lead author and MSU zoology graduate student in Lenski’s lab, compares it to hiking. (more…)

Curiosity Resumes Science after Analysis of Voltage Issue

By Guest PostNovember 26, 2013Scienceanalysis, cumberland, curiosity, data, electrical shorts, electrical system, engineering data, mars rover curiosity, mechanical frame, microbial life, multi mission radioisotope, NASA, rob zimmerman, robotic arm, Science, thermoelectric generator, voltage issue

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity resumed full science operations on Saturday, Nov. 23.

Activities over the weekend included use of Curiosity’s robotic arm to deliver portions of powdered rock to a laboratory inside the rover. The powder has been stored in the arm since the rover collected it by drilling into the target rock “Cumberland” six months ago. Several portions of the powder have already been analyzed. The laboratory has flexibility for examining duplicate samples in different ways. (more…)

Mutual benefits: Stressed-out trees boost sugary rewards to ant defenders

By Guest PostNovember 14, 2013Natureant, ant protection, azteca ants, azteca pittieri, carnegie institution, central america, climate change, cordia alliodora, deborah gordon, dry tropical forest, ecologist, ecologists, ecuador laurel trees, elizabeth pringle, erol akcay, evolution, evolutionary model, honeydew, insurance model, key environmental factor, life sustaining foliage, mutual benefits, pacific coast, plant animal interaction, rodolfo dirzo, santa fe institute, scale insects, Science, southern mexico, stanford university, stressed out trees, sugary reward, ted raab, theory, university of michigan, university of pennsylvania

ANN ARBOR — When water is scarce, Ecuador laurel trees ramp up their investment in a syrupy treat that sends resident ant defenders into overdrive, protecting the trees from defoliation by leaf-munching pests.

The water-stressed tropical forest trees support the production of more honeydew, a sugary excretion imbibed by the Azteca ants that nest in the laurels’ stem cavities. In return, ant colonies boost their numbers and more vigorously defend the life-sustaining foliage. (more…)

We are sorry to see this

By ShamsOctober 3, 2013Economy, Environment, Politics, Scienceamerica, Barack Obama, blame, changing world, core, federal government shutdown, house speaker, john boehner, Science, scientific developments, U.S. Geological Survey, unavailable, us president, usgs, usgs website

While U.S President Barack Obama blames House Speaker John Boehner for the Federal Government Shutdown, it already started to hit at the cores of scientific developments in America. Today we noticed that the website of USGS (U.S Geological Survey) whose logo says ‘Science for a changing World’ is unavailable.

It reads ‘Due to the Federal government shutdown, usgs.gov and most associated web sites are unavailable.’ (more…)

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