In America, the last few years saw young females and males achieve math parity for the first time ever. But girls are still anxious about math, and that has nothing to do with teachers or outreach or the oppression of a liberal democracy.
Mathematics anxiety is a state of discomfort associated with performing mathematics tasks and is believed to affect both children and adults, having a negative impact on their mathematics performance. That makes sense. Math is difficult and difficult subjects make people nervous.
When the only organization who thinks continued funding of your technology is the United Steelworkers union, you may have a business problem.
Gamesa Wind Corporation has announced a layoff of 165 workers at plants in Fairless Hills and Ebensburg, Pa. The United Steelworkers (USW) says non-renewal of the the Production Tax Credit (PTC), which expires on December 31st, 2012, is the problem.
On July 11, NASA scientists will launch into space the highest resolution solar telescope ever to observe the solar corona, the million degree outer solar atmosphere.
But it will only last 10 minutes.
If you are not a fan of transgenic (GMO) technologies, just wait until you hear about the freakish practices scientists and big seed companies are sneaking under the radar! Now, scientists soak seeds or tissues in toxic chemicals or subject them to high fields of radiation to cause random damage and genetic changes. Random damage to DNA causes unknown effects that produce new proteins, leading to new plant traits. The new plant lines are untested for safety and not assessed for environmental impact. They want to put these on your dinner table and feed them to children!
Cyanobacteria are small organisms with huge importance. Ancient cyanobacteria created the oxygen atmosphere, and modern cyanobacteria produce a significant amount of the air we breathe. Now, these tiny organisms are helping us again by providing clues to improving biofuel production.
Because of their prolific photosynthesizing, cyanobacteria have great potential for solar-powered biofuel production. To tap into that potential, researchers from Queen Mary’s School of Biological and Chemical Sciences recently became the first to visualize and control the “biological electrical switch” that dictates how electrons flow through the bacterium.
In Basque, all you have to do is look at the verb to see whether the sentence has a direct object. Why not use that to learn the syntax of Spanish? If you already know how to form conditional sentences in Basque and in Spanish, why start from scratch to learn the same thing in English?
Basically, because languages are screwy. But they don't have to be. The DREAM group (Donostia Research group on Education And Multilingualism) is seeking to revolutionize language education using synergy: taking advantage of the features that languages share in order to educate truly multilingual students in schools.
When
I wrote about watching the Higgs discovery, I chided scientists on Twitter for over-reaching regarding what was being said and lauded science journalists for showing some moderation, but that does not mean all journalists could resist being silly. And it doesn't mean all scientists were over-reaching.
The Chinese are determined to be number one in the world at everything - including things that are not very healthy.
China has experienced unprecedented economic growth in the past two decades and with that have come equally dramatic changes in the weight, diets and physical activity levels of its people. A new analysis used data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), the longest ongoing study of its kind in China. Between 1989 and 2011, the study followed more than 29,000 people in 300 communities throughout China, with surveys conducted in 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2009 and 2011.
Yesterday the Italian newspaper "Il Manifesto" featured two pieces written by yours truly on the discovery of the Higgs boson. I was delighted to have a chance to write for that newspaper, which has an illustrious history and is totally independent (and on the verge of being shut down). By the way, I must thank
Peter Woit who suggested the reporters of the newspaper to contact me for the piece.
The articles are in Italian, but I can make an effort at translating them for you here.
Dark matter and dark energy is thought to account for up to 80% of the matter in the universe. Does it exist? Well, it has to, we just can't see it. So what is it? We better know what it isn't.
