Yellowstone – new government petascale supercomputer – to attack chaos theory in climate change

This month, on a barren Wyoming landscape dotted with gopher holes and hay bales, the federal government is assembling a supercomputer 10 years in the making, one of the fastest computers ever built and the largest ever devoted to the study of atmospheric science. The National Center for Atmospheric Research’s supercomputer has been dubbed Yellowstone, …

Girls in STEM: A New Generation of Women in Science

Girls in STEM, featuring young women scientists and engineers who wowed the President and the nation at the White House Science Fair in February, shines a spotlight on these extraordinary young role models and their exciting projects — ranging from a machine that detects buried landmines, to a prosthetic hand device, to a lunchbox that …

High school students create model boats that sail from California to Hawaii

Making a third try at sailing handmade sailboats on a course for Hawaii, students from Regional Occupational Program model-making classes at San Clemente High School launched three new vessels into the Pacific from Capistrano Beach on Tuesday afternoon. Under the supervision of Malcolm Wilson, an instructor in the Capistrano-Laguna Beach ROP, about 75 students in …

Universal Music Catalog – just a few years away

With the announcement of Amazon’s new Cloud Player iPhone app, the Universal Music Catalog is one step closer. For years I have dreamed of this Star Trek-like device, where I can find any song I want and listen to it, from anywhere. Preferably this will be an app on a device I already own (smartphone), …

Winter surfing in New Hampshire – Salmon Theory

A glimpse of the New Hampshire winter surfing experience Voice of Casey Lockwood Surfers: Casey Lockwood Shawn MacDonald Stevie O’Hara and others thegranitestoke.blogspot.com

Update on San Onofre Nuclear Plant – backup emergency generators also flawed

NRC OVERSIGHT HAS FAILED AT SAN ONOFRE This letter was sent to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko, with a copy to The Orange County Register: Dear Chairman, We were stunned to learn recently that for nearly three decades, the San Onofre nuclear reactors have been operating with inherently flawed backup emergency diesel generators, …

Electric Car Owners Dish on Their Real-World EV Experiences

Safety first “I’d rather sit on batteries than a tank of gas, in terms of explosion risk,” says Olivier Chalouhi, who became the world’s first Nissan LEAF owner when he took delivery of one in late 2010. It is a sentiment that Patrick Wang, one of the first to own the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt, shares. “There’s …

ESPN launches iPhone/iPad app version 4.0 – ESPN Radio

If you’re needing to keep Mike & Mike an arm’s length away at all times, ESPN has refreshed its Radio app to help with just that. Now optimized to the iPad in addition to the iPhone and iPod touch, the software allows you to sort your listening habits by sports, teams and athletes that you …

Science Experiment: How fast can you react?

I love this piece from Scientific American, written in the format of a teaching lesson, instructing you how to perform a science experiment: How Fast Can You React? Key concepts: Reaction time Neuroscience Gravity Introduction Think fast! Have you ever noticed that when someone unexpectedly tosses a softball at you, you need a little time …

America’s Best High Schools 2012

  This year, our ranking highlights the best 1,000 public high schools in the nation—the ones that have proven to be the most effective in turning out college-ready grads. The list is based on six components provided by school administrators: Graduation rate (25 percent) College matriculation rate (25 percent) AP/IB/AICE tests taken per student (25 percent) Average SAT/ACT scores (10 percent) Average …