Radioactive particles released in the nuclear reactor meltdown in Fukushima, Japan, following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami were detected in giant kelp along the California coast, according to a recently published study. Radioactive iodine was found in samples collected from beds of kelp in locations along the coast from Laguna Beach to as far …
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An interesting story from the New York Times shows how current president of Harvey Mudd College, Maria Klawe, turned her school into a computer science powerhouse for women. She started her work in 2006, amidst a big downturn in female computer science graduates. “As recently as 1985, 37 percent of graduates in the field were …
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It’s interesting how San Diego is positioning itself as the country’s greatest biotech corridor: San Diego is in the midst of yet another big building boom…which involves some of the city’s biggest interconnected industries — science, medicine, biotechnology and engineering. At least nine major structures are nearing completion, under way, or soon to start. The projects …
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Harnessing the power of supercomputers and their million hours of processing power has allowed some very intriguing physics calculations to take place. One of them is the study of matter in the universe on a subatomic level. The question, how did we arrive at a universe composed almost exclusively of matter with virtually no antimatter? …
“Freakonomics” was the book that made the public believe the dismal science has something interesting to say about how people act in the real world. But “Nudge” was the one that got policy wonks excited. The book, first published in 2008, is about the potential for behavioural economics to improve the effectiveness of government. Behavioural …
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On March 1, University of California Television (UCTV) will launch a new YouTube original channel, UCTV Prime, the first university-run channel to be included among YouTube’s new production partnerships with such recognizable brands as the Wall Street Journal, Madonna and TED. Each week, UCTV Prime will debut 15 minutes of fresh content. The channel’s inaugural …
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This video shows a demonstration of the “Cheetah” robot galloping at speeds of up to 18 miles per hour (mph), setting a new land speed record for legged robots. The previous record was 13.1 mph, set in 1989. The robot’s movements are patterned after those of fast-running animals in nature. The robot increases its stride …
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Todd Park has been named the next U.S. Chief Technology Officer by the White House. A profile of him in O’Reilly Radar written by Alex Howard: Park has been working to revolutionize the healthcare industry at HHS since 2009, and in the private sector as an entrepreneur since 1997. Now he’ll have the opportunity to try to improve …
President Barack Obama proposed $80 million in new government funding for a program to boost science and math education in U.S. schools. The aim of the new proposed funding is to train 100,000 specialized teachers, who would help to “meet an ambitious goal, which is 1 million more American graduates in science, technology, engineering, and …
An electronic ID tag from a rare shark spotted off the (San Diego) county coast in June has popped to the surface near Hawaii, providing local marine researchers with an unprecedented look into the long-distance movements of the second-largest known fish. “I would characterize it as an avalanche of data,” said Van Sommeran said Monday. …
Continue reading “Trying to foster a recovery in Basking Sharks – the 40-foot docile giants”