Science Education & Policy
As the United States looks to alternate fuel sources, ethanol has become one of the front runners. Farmers have begun planting corn in the hopes that its potential new use for corn will be a new income source. What many don't realize, is the potential for other crops, besides corn, to provide an alternate energy source to fossil fuels. Scientists studied the greenhouse gas emissions and bioenergy of corn, hybrid poplar, switchgrass, and other crops to determine the efficiency of various biocrops in terms of energy consumption and energy output.
The study, "Net greenhouse gas flux of…
New research by Iowa State University psychologists says it provides more concrete evidence of the adverse effects of violent video game exposure on the behavior of children and adolescents.
Distinguished Professor of Psychology Craig Anderson, Assistant Professor of Psychology Douglas Gentile, and doctoral student Katherine Buckley share the results of three new studies in a book, "Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents" (Oxford University Press, 2007). It says it is the first book to unite empirical research and public policy related to violent video games.
The book's…
In the event of a nuclear or radiological catastrophe -- such as a nuclear accident or a “dirty bomb” -- thousands of people would be exposed to radiation, with no way of quickly determining how much of the deadly substance has seeped inside their bodies. Scientists at Duke University Medical Center have developed a new blood test to rapidly detect levels of radiation exposure so that potentially life-saving treatments could be administered to the people who need them most.
There appears to be a critical window of 48 to 72 hours for administering treatments aimed at halting the devastating…
Scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno are at the forefront on a number of seismological fields, including helping the world better determine whether an earthquake is big enough to generate an ocean-wide tsunami.
Through work at the Nevada Seismological Laboratory on the Nevada campus, important data on seismological events throughout the world is compiled, including Monday’s fatal occurrence in the Solomon Islands, where at least 13 people were killed. Tsunamis triggered by an undersea earthquake crashed ashore and wiped away entire villages and set off alerts from Australia to…
Attending the Tuesday lecture series of the ACS CINF division was a very educational experience, that provided me with some key insights into the present state of scientific collaboration. I observed that almost all people who presented were focused on different techniques that improved the way scientists could get information they need from sources that were not human, i.e., publications, databases, etc.
Almost no one was focused on getting information directly from other humans using direct human to human communication that could be allowed by such technologies as instant messaging and…
For all the current emphasis on standardized testing and teaching requirements, the quality of elementary school instruction is mediocre at best, according to a study from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development study published in the March 30 issue of Science magazine.
"Any given child has less than a 20 percent chance of having a rich classroom experience consistently through elementary school," says Robert C. Pianta, lead researcher and Novartis US Foundation Professor of Education in the University of Virginia Curry School of Education. And for low-income children, the…
Yesterday I presented my second talk, this time on the use of blogs and wikis to do laboratory research. This was under the Chemical Education symposium: Communicating Chemistry. Most of the talks were about teaching so it was perhaps not the best audience but that doesn't concern me as much since I started recording my talks at conferences.
And if I hadn't presented there I would have missed meeting Thomas Poon, whose high quality organic chemistry pre-lectures I have used in my classes as an extra resource for a while. I would have also probably missed Michelle Francl's talk about her…
Well, almost predictable. The changes are consistent and occur at a predictable rate but because they are random, no one can predict exactly which new fashions will replace the old ones.
Huh?
“It’s like American Idol,” said Dr Alex Bentley, a Lecturer in the Anthropology Department at Durham University. “We can predict the steady production of new winners from programme to programme, but the randomness means we can’t forecast the particular winners themselves.”
The research adds further weight to previous work by researchers, which challenged beliefs that our fashion choices are independent…
Cash |
Common sense says businesses, driven by profits, will go where they can make the most by paying the least.
Three researchers, Dr Holger Görg from GEP (the Globalisation and Economic Policy Centre, University of Nottingham ) and Professor Hassan Molana and Dr Catia Montagna from the University of Dundee, disagree.
After analyzing data from 18 countries over a 14 year period, the team found that the countries which attracted the highest levels of foreign investment were the ones with higher taxes and higher public social expenditure as a proportion of GDP.
Dr Görg, Associate Professor and…
People are mixing supplements, herbs and over-the-counter medications and prescription drugs to cure themselves of ills, unaware that they could be making themselves sicker, says George Grossberg, M.D., director of the division of geriatric psychiatry at Saint Louis University.
Dr. Grossberg is about to change all that. He is the co-author of a new book, "The Essential Herb-Drug-Vitamin Interaction Guide," which is a comprehensive listing of what various herbs and supplements do, possible side effects and how they might interact with other medications and foods.
"People think if it doesn't…