Category: News
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Citizen Scientists Discover Four-Star Planet with NASA Kepler
The discovery of planets continues to expand beyond the domain of professional astronomers. A joint effort of amateur astronomers and scientists has led to the first reported case of a planet orbiting a double-star that, in turn, is orbited by a second distant pair of stars. Aided by volunteer citizen scientists using the Planethunters.org website,…
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Ada Lovelace Day: celebrating women in science, technology, engineering and maths
In the 1800s, Ada Lovelace, an English mathematician, worked with inventor Charles Babbage on a plan for an “analytical engine.” Though the device was never actually made, it is considered the first computer model, and Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer. Today, October 16, is Ada Lovelace Day, a celebration of women in science, technology,…
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The evolution of human mortality
How long until we live forever? The general consensus is that we are getting older and living longer. Despite consequences and kryptonite, it is getting easier to stay alive. Heaven can wait, it seems. Every year each baby born is expected to live 3 months longer than its predecessor of the previous year. This has…
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Weekly Science Picks
This past week was made notable by the Nobel Prizes awarded. So much great research being done, it can make your head spin. Chinese literature took center stage, and for peace…the European Union… Be sure to catch up on all the action here. Just some of the stories that grabbed me, motivated me and infuriated me…
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Weekly Science Picks
Happy Birthday! This first week of October there seemed to be a recurring theme — one of birthdays. On the 1st Nigeria celebrated 52 years of independence, followed closely Germany celebrating unity on the 3rd. But possibly the oldest this week had to be the birthplace of tropical medicine — the London School. “On the…
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For sale: One world class infrared telescope
The world’s largest and most productive dedicated infrared observatory just went on the market in an unprecedented attempt to try and prevent it from being shut down and dismantled. In a bold move, the directors of the United Kingdom InfraRed Telescope (UKIRT), based on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, have just released a prospectus detailing the…
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Growth of Scholarly Open Access Agricultural Repositories in India
After the successful organisation of workshop and seminar on Open Access Indian Academy of Sciences (IAS), Bangalore and Indian National Science Academy (INSA), New Delhi at Bangalore and Pune in 2002 and 2003 respectively, the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) had organised two workshops on Open Access at Chennai in 2004. In these workshops,…
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Botanist Wins Prestigious Nature Conservancy Award to Work on Grass Trees
24 September 2012. MEDIA RELEASE Botanist Todd McLay has won the 2012 prestigious Australian Conservation Taxonomy Award to delve further into the mysteries of the iconic Xanthorrhoea genus or, Australia¹s native grass trees. The Nature Conservancy and The Thomas Foundation launched the award last year to foster research by young scientists into important taxonomic works with significant implications…
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Weekly Science Picks
It’s been an interesting week for science news, and I’ve been lucky enough to be asked to give this week’s science picks! This made me spend a little while sipping contemplatively on a cup of vanilla iced coffee and wondering where to even start… The articles I’ve selected are, of course, slanted towards my own…
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Music Underlies the Ability to Acquire Language, Theorists Propose
Contrary to the prevailing theories that music and language are cognitively separate or that music is a byproduct of language, theorists at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) advocate that music underlies the ability to acquire language. “Spoken language is a special type of music,” said Anthony…
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Open Monograph Press 1.0 (Beta)
The Public Knowledge Project (PKP) is very pleased to announce the 1.0 (Beta) release of Open Monograph Press (OMP). OMP is an open source software platform for managing the editorial workflow required to see monographs, edited volumes, and scholarly editions through internal and external review, editing, cataloguing, production, and publication. OMP will operate, as well, as…
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Open Access Initiative policy recommendations for the next 10 years
Ten years after the release of the Budapest Open Access Initiative, OA advocates last week released updated recommendations in support of open access around the world, touching on areas including policy, licensing, sustainability, and advocacy. Of particular interest are recommendations that urge funders to require open access when they make grants: “When possible, funder policies should require libre…
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Got Science? Australian Science on Display at Mitchelton State School
In my last post, I talked about the role of imagination in science and early childhood education and the U.S. efforts on encouraging students to pursue careers focused on STEM (Science, Technology, Education and Mathematics). I also mentioned that I would be featuring a primary school in Brisbane, Australia to gain an understanding of their…
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Weekly Science Picks
Sigh, my photo caption sums it all up… But here are the news stories that caught my eye and I hope you find them interesting as well. Maybe reading them will inspire your own work or to dig deeper for answers. In any case, enjoy! This is one of my favorite topics because it…