Science and engineering

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"Science is the pursuit of knowledge, and engineering is the application of that knowledge for the benefit of people."

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Science and engineering

(Difference between revisions)

"Science is the pursuit of knowledge, and engineering is the application of that knowledge for the benefit of people."

View the original article here

Highly trained physical science teachers needed to educate students for high-tech economy

Highly trained physical science teachers needed to educate students for high-tech economy - The Hill's Congress Blog @import "/plugins/content/jw_disqus/tmpl/css/template.css"; li.item435,li.item437,li.item439,li.item441,li.item443,li.item497,li.item499,li.item501,li.item503,li.item605,li.item689,li.item691,li.item693,li.item695,li.item697,li.item683,li.item685{display: none;} var _comscore = _comscore || []; _comscore.push({ c1: "2", c2: "10314615" }); (function() { var s = document.createElement("script"), el = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.async = true; s.src = (document.location.protocol == "https:" ? "https://sb" : "http://b") + ".scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js"; el.parentNode.insertBefore(s, el); })(); function getURLParameter(name) { return decodeURI( (RegExp(name + '=' + '(.+?)(&|$)').exec(location.search)||[,null])[1] );}(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=369058349794205"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); if (getURLParameter("set_fb_var") == '1') { jQuery.cookie('set_fb_var', 'true', { expires: 7, path: '/' }); return true; } if (!jQuery.cookie('set_fb_var') && d.referrer.match(/facebook.com/i)) { window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({ appId : '340094652706297', status: true, xfbml: true, cookie: true, oauth: true }); }; }}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));if((navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone/i)) || (navigator.userAgent.match(/iPod/i))) {document.write('');}if(navigator.userAgent.match(/iPad/i)) {document.write('');}if(navigator.userAgent.match(/Android/i)) {document.write('');} Follow!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");Advanced Search Options » Home/NewsSenateHouseAdministrationCampaignPollsBusiness & LobbyingSunday Talk ShowsCampaignBusiness & LobbyingK Street InsidersLobbying ContractsLobbying HiresLobbying RevenueOpinionColumnistsEditorialsLettersOp-EdWeyants WorldCapital LivingCover StoriesFood & DrinkNew Member of the Week20 QuestionsMy 5 Min. W/ObamaAnnouncementsMeet the LawmakerJobsVideoGossip: In The Know Briefing RoomRegWatchHillicon ValleyE2-WireFloor ActionOn The MoneyHealthwatchTransportationDEFCON HillGlobal AffairsCongressBallot BoxIn The KnowPunditsTwitter Room HomeSenateHouseAdministrationCampaignPollsBusiness & LobbyingSunday Talk ShowsBlogsBriefing RoomRegWatchHillicon ValleyE2-WireFloor ActionOn The MoneyHealthwatchTransportationDEFCON HillGlobal AffairsCongressBallot BoxIn The KnowPunditsTwitter RoomOpinionA.B. StoddardBrent BudowskyLanny DavisDavid HillCheri JacobusMark MellmanDick MorrisMarkos Moulitsas (Kos)Robin BronkEditorialsLettersOp-EdsJuan WilliamsJudd GreggChristian HeinzeKaren FinneyJohn FeeheryCapital LivingCover StoriesFood & DrinkAnnouncementsNew Member of the WeekMy 5 Min. W/ObamaAll Capital LivingVideoHillTubeEventsVideoClassifiedsJobsClassifiedsResourcesMobile SiteiPhoneAndroidiPadLawmaker RatingsWhite PapersOrder ReprintsLast 6 IssuesOutside LinksRSS FeedsContact UsAdvertiseReach UsSubmitting LettersSubmitting Op-edsSubscriptions   Highly trained physical science teachers needed to educate students for high-tech economyBy Stamatis Vokos, professor of Physics, Seattle Pacific University-04/25/13 02:00 PM ET Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

In an increasingly high-tech economy, we cannot continue to handicap students and neglect the workforce needs of our nation. And that is why it is high time the nation addresses the severe shortage of physical science teachers. Far too often, the teacher in a physics or chemistry classroom has neither the content knowledge nor the focused pedagogical education necessary to effectively teach the subject. Only 47 percent of physics and 46 percent of chemistry classrooms are taught by teachers with a degree in the subject. Physics and chemistry top the list of hardest teaching positions to fill year after year.

As a result, students go to college underprepared for demanding courses and unmotivated to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) courses of study. The situation is unfortunate because STEM disciplines hold great employment opportunities: Overall there are 3.6 unemployed people for every job posting, but in STEM fields, for every unemployed person there are 1.9 job postings. Shortages of STEM workers are particularly acute in the physical sciences where 1 in 4 workers are foreign born.
 
It is shocking that, despite repeated calls for action stretching over more than 100 years, the situation has improved very little, if at all. Things may soon change. President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2014 budget, released April 10, contains the beginning of a national strategy to address teacher shortages in STEM.
 
The nation needs a coordinated strategy to ensure that all teachers in the physical sciences are well prepared, not just a small fraction. The Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics (T-TEP), which recently completed a four-year study, found that “the national landscape of professional preparation of physics teachers shows a system that is largely inefficient, mostly incoherent, and completely unprepared to deal with the current and future needs of the nation’s students.”
 
The good news is we know what works. T-TEP identified several exemplary programs that could serve as models for a more systematic national effort. For instance, Rutgers University runs one of the most active physics and physical science teacher preparation programs in the nation; the program supplies a large number of highly effective teachers to northern New Jersey. School districts express a high degree of satisfaction with these graduates, who receive rigorous preparation, including five courses on physics pedagogy closely integrated with teaching experiences. A national strategy is needed to expand these and similar successes, so they become the norm rather than the exception.
 
Mr. Obama’s budget contains $265 million in new initiatives for K-12 STEM education, including STEM Innovation Networks that partner school districts with universities and other entities to improve STEM instruction. It is encouraging that this plan is aligned with the central recommendation of the T-TEP report, which is to establish a network of university-based regional centers for educating teachers in physics. However, some critical improvements are needed if STEM Innovation Networks are to become the basis for a successful national program to address the nation’s need for effective teachers in the physical sciences.
 
One thing we must take into consideration is that not all STEM fields have the same needs. Programs with the label “STEM” tend to neglect physics, partly due to the relatively small numbers of teachers compared to biology. Yet the need is arguably greater. In contrast to the severe shortage of teachers in physics and chemistry, teacher shortages in biology are much less common and a high percentage of biology teachers (73 percent) have a degree in the subject. Teacher shortages in the physical sciences will not be resolved without a concentrated effort specifically in these disciplines. The UTeach program, which has a goal of graduating more STEM teachers, has had great success in math and biology but little impact on physics. By comparison, the Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC), which concentrates specifically on physics teachers, has shown dramatic increases in program graduates.
 
In addition, it is critical to prioritize the education of new teachers. Most of the federal funds are directed toward professional development for practicing teachers, and while professional development is important, this approach is unlikely to solve the shortage of effective teachers in the long run. Practicing teachers who are underprepared to teach physics typically do not have the extensive time required to develop content knowledge and pedagogical skill at a deep enough level. A more robust solution must give top priority to building high quality programs for educating new teachers, so they supply effective teachers in sufficient numbers to meet the national need.
 
We must make sure our students are ready to compete in a high-tech economy, and that means making sure that every physics and chemistry classroom has a well prepared teacher. With a president who strongly supports STEM education, we have an important opportunity to transform teacher education through establishing regional centers and solving these longstanding teacher shortages.  But without getting the details right, we risk continuing the long-established trend of mediocrity.
 
Vokos is professor of Physics at Seattle Pacific University and is chairman of the Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics (T-TEP).

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NEW DETAILS: President Obama to Host White House Science Fair

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For Immediate Release April 22, 2013 NEW DETAILS: President Obama to Host White House Science Fair

WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, President Obama will host the White House Science Fair and celebrate the student winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions from across the country. The President will also announce new steps as part of his Educate to Innovate campaign, an all-hands-on-deck effort to get more girls and boys inspired to excel in these key subjects.

“When students excel in math and science, they help America compete for the jobs and industries of the future,” said President Obama. “That’s why I’m proud to celebrate outstanding students at the White House Science Fair, and to announce new steps my Administration and its partners are taking to help more young people succeed in these critical subjects."

The White House Science Fair will feature 100 students from more than 40 states, representing 45 different STEM competitions and organizations that recognize the talents of America’s next generation of scientists, engineers, inventors and innovators. Approximately 30 student teams will have the opportunity to exhibit their projects as part of the Fair. The President will view exhibits of the student work, ranging from breakthrough basic research to new inventions, followed by remarks to an audience of students, science educators and business leaders on the importance of STEM education to the country’s economic future.

The White House Science Fair is a key commitment in the President’s Educate to Innovate campaign to inspire more girls and boys to excel in STEM subjects. As the President has noted, “If you win the NCAA championship, you come to the White House. Well, if you're a young person and you produce the best experiment or design, the best hardware or software, you ought to be recognized for that achievement, too.”

New Commitments Being Announced Today to Advance the President’s Educate to Innovate Campaign
New AmeriCorps track focused on STEM Education: Starting this year, and in partnership with leading nonprofits, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) will announce a new dedicated cohort of national service participants, called STEM AmeriCorps. This effort will place national service members in nonprofits that mobilize STEM professionals to inspire young people to excel in STEM education. As a key first step, CNCS will place 50 AmeriCorps VISTA members across the country to build the capacity of FIRST, a nonprofit organization that sponsors robotics competitions and other tech challenges.  As a result of support from the AmeriCorps VISTA members, FIRST will be able to connect more low-income children with FIRST’s exciting competitions. AmeriCorps VISTA will partner with leading non-profits in the Maker Movement to create Maker Spaces in high schools around the country. These investments will lay the foundation for an AmeriCorps competition later this year in which STEM will be a priority, allowing the funding of hundreds of STEM-focused AmeriCorps members across the country. These members will recruit and support thousands of STEM professionals to volunteer in schools and academic programs. To maximize this opportunity, CNCS will pursue partnerships with both the private sector and other Federal agencies.

Multi-year STEM mentoring campaign – US2020 – to get many more companies to commit their science and technology workforce to STEM volunteering:  In response to the President’s call to action, ten leading education non-profits and U.S. technology companies, including Fortune 500 firms SanDisk, Cognizant, and Cisco are launching US2020, an all-hands-on-deck effort to have many more STEM professionals mentor children from kindergarten through college. US2020 aims to make mentoring the new normal in the STEM professions in the same way that pro-bono work is common in the legal profession.  Member companies will work to have 20 percent of their STEM employees engaged in at least 20 hours a year of mentoring or teaching by the year 2020. The long-term goal of US2020 will be to mobilize 1 million STEM mentors annually by the year 2020, creating millions of moments of discovery – those life changing events when children launch rockets, build robots, write a computer program, or look into the farthest reaches of the universe.  Collectively, the founding partners and members of US2020 have already committed more than $2 million in private funds to launch the organization and support STEM mentoring. Partners have also committed to focus on scaling up quality mentoring and reaching many more underserved students – particularly girls and underrepresented minorities.  Over the next year, US2020 will be incubated within the non-profit organization Citizen Schools and will become a stand-alone non-profit entity in 2014. Additional US2020 founding partners and members include Weber Shandwick, AfterCollege, HotChalk, CodeNow, TEALS and the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future.

Summer campaign to give many more students the ability to be “Makers”: This summer, the Maker Education Initiative will launch the first-ever MakerCorps.  These volunteers will give more young people the opportunity to design and build something that is personally meaningfully to them.  In its first year, over 100 MakerCorps members – in 19 states and Washington D.C. —will work work with 34 different partner organizations such as schools, libraries, and science centers.  In addition, Mozilla and the National Writing Project will lead Maker Party 2013: Learn, Connect, Share, a summer long campaign where teachers, technologists and families across the country will join dozens of partner organizations including the NYC Department of Education, Intel, and DIY.org to help young people embrace the maker spirit and learn career building STEM skills. The campaign will launch on June 15 with a Hive Learning Popup, the first of over 1,000 summer learning events planned as part of the Summer of Making and Connecting supported by the MacArthur Foundation.

Math and Science AP Initiative to Expand to 70 High Schools Serving Military Families: As part of the First Lady’s Joining Forces effort, the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI), in partnership with Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) and Military Impacted Schools Association (MISA), is leading a campaign to give many more students at public high schools serving a high percentage of military families access to rigorous Advanced Placement (AP) coursework in math and science. NMSI will now expand its Initiative for Military Families this fall to an additional 17 public high schools serving children of military families in eight new states, reaching a total of 70 schools. In the first two years alone, this initiative has led to students from military-impacted schools taking and passing an additional 1,150 AP courses. Corporate, philanthropic and government partners making investments in this initiative include the Department of Defense Education Activity, the Office of Naval Research, BAE Systems, Boeing, ExxonMobil, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman.

Time Warner Cable’s “STEM in Sports:” As part of the Educate to Innovate initiative, Time Warner Cable (TWC) has made a $100 million commitment to inspire the next generation by connecting students to highly-engaging after-school STEM activities. As part of its Connect a Million Minds initiative and with partners including New York Giants receiver Victor Cruz, TWC will launch a new effort in May 2013 to get kids and parents excited about STEM by highlighting the role these subjects play in sports. TWC will work with star athletes, including Cruz, motorsports driver Kasey Kahne and golf champion Ian James Poulter.

Continued momentum on the 100Kin10 coalition: Responding to the President’s call to action to prepare 100,000 excellent STEM teachers over the next ten years, more than 150 organizations have now come together in a coalition called 100Kin10. These organizations have made over 150 measurable commitments to increasing the supply of excellent STEM teachers; hiring, developing, and retaining excellent STEM teachers; and building the 100Kin10 movement. With leadership from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the coalition has raised over $30 million from a broad range of foundations and philanthropists under a unique “funding marketplace” model through which funders can choose from a registry of high-quality proposals.  As a next step, 100Kin10 is announcing a new commitment from Chevron, with a leadership pledge of $5 million to invest in partnerships that prepare, retain, develop, and motivate STEM professionals to effectively engage students in engineering design and to support implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards in the classroom. This builds upon contributions by Amgen Corporation, MacArthur Foundation, Noyce Foundation, and Samueli Foundation, among others, who have made commitments in the past year, with the capital campaign closing at the Clinton Global Initiative-America meeting in June 2013.

Next steps in Discovery Communications’ STEM Campaign: As part of Educate to Innovate, Discovery Communications launched a multi-year campaign to get more students excited about STEM, including a dedicated commercial-free educational kids block on the Science Channel, and programming on the “grand challenges” of the 21st century. As a key next step, on May 1st, Discovery is launching a new science-focused series to inspire the next generation of students, “The Big Brain Theory: Pure Genius,” hosted by Kal Penn. On the show, 10 contestants will navigate engineering challenges using design and logic as they compete to see who will be America’s next great innovator.

Additional details on the White House Science Fair
Senior Administration officials and leading STEM communicators, advocates, and educators will also attend the White House Science Fair and meet the students. For a full list of the exhibits that the President will see, as well as more information on all the students, competitions, and organizations being honored, click here.

Senior Administration Officials and Other Attendees
John Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy
Nancy Sutley, Chair, White House Council on Environmental Quality
Francis Collins, Director, National Institutes of Health
Cora Marrett, Director, National Science Foundation
Charles F. Bolden, Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Harold Varmus, Director, National Cancer Institute
Kathryn D. Sullivan, Acting Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Wendy Spencer, Chief Executive Officer, Corporation for National and Community Service
Rosina Bierbaum, Professor, University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment and member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson

Leading STEM and Media Communicators
Bill Nye, Bill Nye the Science Guy and Executive Director, Planetary Society
Kal Penn, Actor, Producer, Host of upcoming Discovery Channel series The Big Brain Theory: Pure Genius
Victor Cruz, Wide Receiver, New York Giants
Bobak Ferdowsi, Flight Director, Mars Curiosity Rover (aka NASA’s “Mohawk Guy”)
Bill Prady, Writer, Producer, and Co-Creator, The Big Bang Theory
LeVar Burton, Actor, Director, and Producer, Reading Rainbow and Star Trek: The Next Generation

A sampling of the exhibits at the White House Science Fair include:

Lending a hand for a fraction of the cost: After years of tinkering with robotic arms made of Legos and controlled by Nintendo gloves, Easton LaChapelle, 17 of Mancos, Colorado was inspired to take his efforts to the next level when he met a girl with an $80,000 prosthetic arm at a science and engineering festival. With that encounter, he decided that he could find a cheaper way to build a more functional limb at a fraction of the cost. Generating most of the parts through a 3D printer, Easton was able to assemble a fully operational arm at a price of only $250. He is now working on controlling the hand through a headset to further improve its utility for people with limited limb mobility.

Sports-loving grade-schoolers create new product concept to keep athletes cool: Evan Jackson (10), Alec Jackson (8), and Caleb Robinson (8)—all Flippen Elementary School students from McDonough, Georgia—noticed first-hand that dehydration and overheating are common problems on the football field. The students came up with an innovative product concept: COOL PADS for the shoulders, helmet, armpits, and groin that feature temperature sensors and a cooling system to help players maintain safe body temperatures on the field. Evan got his start with science using an at-home science kit and watching YouTube videos of simple experiments; Alec is a Junior Olympic Champion with a penchant for breaking things apart to see what’s inside; and Caleb is an avid reader interested in the mechanics of cars, airplanes, and ice–cream-making machines. The Team’s design is a Grade K – 3 Regional Winner of the 2012 Toshiba and National Science Teachers Association ExploraVision competition.

Using the cloud to combat cancer: A self-described teen who never grew out of the “why” phase, Brittany Wenger, a high school Senior from Sarasota, Florida, recently took home the Grand Prize at the Google Science Fair for developing a computer program that improves cancer detection. Inspired by her cousin’s battle with breast cancer, Brittany spent over 1,000 hours researching and creating the Global Neural Network Cloud Service for Breast Cancer, a service that combines multiple data from a single less invasive procedure to improve cancer detection.  Originally conceived with the goal of helping hospitals to diagnose and treat more women earlier, the service has already run 7.6 million trials, with 99.11 percent sensitivity. Though science has been her passion since first starting a science club in the third grade, Brittany has managed to master other talents as well as a varsity soccer player and mentor to students in her community.

Kid “maker” builds paint-bot with artistic flair: 11-year-old Sylvia Todd—known to many as “Super-Awesome Sylvia”—hails from Auburn, California, and is making the most of being a young maker. Inspired by her first visit to a Maker Faire at age 7, Sylvia quickly learned to solder and started a web show with her father devoted to sharing the fun of “making” with the world. Sylvia had the idea to build a drawing robot that paints with watercolors, and with the help of Evil Mad Scientists Laboratories and lot of hard work, she spent her President’s Week school-vacation turning the idea into reality. Today, Sylvia’s web videos have been viewed millions of times and she is slated to showcase her art ‘bot at the 2013 RoboGames.

Teens design pedal-powered filtration system: High-schoolers Payton Karr and Kiona Elliot, from Oakland Park, Florida, led a team of inventors who designed a collapsible, transportable, bicycle-powered emergency water-sanitation station that filters E. coli and other harmful pathogens from contaminated water. In emergencies, the device can be assembled and disassembled in under an hour, and can produce enough water to hydrate 20 – 30 people during a 15 hour period. Payton, Kiona, and their Northeast High School classmates received a 2012 InvenTeam grant from the Lemelson-MIT Program, which supported their development of the innovative design. Both Payton and Kiona intend to be the first in their families to attend college.

Young inventors design alarm system to save swimmers’ lives: Julie Xu, Spencer Ottarson, and a team of ambitious high-schoolers from Willamston, Michigan, invented the Offshore Rip Current Alert System (ORCA)—a buoy outfitted with a solar-powered flow-meter and alarm system that can alerts swimmers to dangerous conditions in the water. The students, who were selected to be a 2012 Lemelson-MIT program InvenTeam, built the device with the goal of reducing the number of drowning deaths due to rip currents in the Great Lakes. Julie moved to the United States from China in 1999 and plans to study biomedical engineering in college. Spencer is a freshman computer science major at Michigan State University who hopes to harness his entrepreneurial spirit to someday build and run his own software start-up.

High-school “fly boys” launch rockets (and stellar aviation careers): As rocketry-loving students at Wooddale High School’s aviation program in Memphis, Tennessee, Wesley Carter and Darius Hooker trained for private pilot’s licenses and studied rocket science alongside their traditional coursework. Sometimes called “fly boys” by their peers, Wesley and Darius received financial support from their community to travel to Washington for the Team America Rocketry Challenge—which dared competitors to propel eggs to a certain altitude and return them to the ground unbroken in less than a minute. Darius is now earning his aircraft mechanics license at the Tennessee Technology Center and plans to attend college before taking a job with FedEx, and Wesley is studying at Middle Tennessee State University.

 

Girl Scout Troop develops non-pharmaceutical remedy for sleeplessness in senior citizens: When faced with the challenge of alleviating insomnia without complicated drug interactions, The Atomic Flying Pickles, a FIRST Lego League team of 6th grade Girl Scouts hailing from Los Alamos, New Mexico, came up with a novel idea. After reading about a circulating water cooling cap that was used in a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine sleep study, the girls set about creating a cheaper, lighter, and less onerous solution—the cooling headband. Summer Bronson, Catherine Rousculp, and their teammates have already begun to test the model to the great enthusiasm of their subjects. When not helping seniors to rest easy or designing Lego robots, Summer and Catherine both enjoy computer programming and rock climbing.

Young problem solvers make fuel wood-alternative from bio-waste: Jon Kubricki and Bridget Zarych, both 16-year-old students at Pinelands Eco Regional High School in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, are winning team-members of the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge. Jon, Bridget, and their teammates designed a low-cost, easy-to-ship mini-press that can turn biomass waste products, such as banana peels, into a viable wood-alternative for cooking. Jon lived the first two years of his life in a Guatemala City orphanage, before moving to New Jersey with his adopted family. He is a football player, wrestler, and fisherman who hopes to pursue a fisheries science degree in college. Bridget is deeply involved in theater arts at school, and says her hero is her Mom.

Multi-heritage city-design team innovates for urban water management: Emily Ocon, Catalina Rincon-Arcila, and Amanda Gonzalez are students at St. Thomas the Apostle School in Miami, Florida, whose city-design, Infinitum X, earned them a Future City National Award for Best Management of Water Resources. The students designed a progressive urban environment that can handle large amounts of storm-water runoff by using green technologies and major roadways as storm-water filtration and transport surfaces. Teamwork and sharing diverse perspectives are important to these students, whose parents come from Colombia, Nicaragua, Italy, and Cuba. Emily, Catalina, and Amanda recently learned that they will receive a student recognition award at an upcoming Association of Cuban Engineers Gala.

Student leader inspires community youths to pursue STEM: Portland, Oregon’s Meghana Rao is a Jesuit High School junior who—in addition to researching the ability of a class of charcoal known as biochar to store carbon—founded and directs a student-run non-profit organization, Portland Junior Scientists (PJS). Her organization connects high school students with underprivileged youths through collaborative hands-on science experiments, with the aim of inspiring all participants to pursue higher education.  Meghana started PJS in 2011, after learning that severe budget cuts where forcing local elementary schools to cut back on science curricula. Through her organization, local students can attend weekly 1-hour afterschool science programs, participate in science fairs, and attend summer science programs. Her hard work helped her earn a 2013 Young Naturalist Award from the American Natural History Museum, and brought PJS a $5,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project and an $11,500 grant from the Case Foundation’s Finding Fearless program.

Small school achieves heavy lift: As the smallest middle school in a field of 57 competitors that were mostly high schools, odds were against the St Vincent de Paul BEST Robotics Team from Theodore, Alabama. Yet their remarkable robot, “Vator” (short for Ele-Vator), which was designed to mimic space elevators by carrying cargo up a 10 foot pole, emerged triumphant, winning a 1st Place Robot Award. For Victoria Fletcher (13), Rush Lyons (14), Thomas Shields (13) and their teammates, the experience of designing a product and marketing it to judges not only reinforced the value of teamwork, but demonstrated the applications that science and math can have on Earth and beyond.

Blog posts on this issue April 22, 2013 6:34 PM EDTCelebrate National Park Week!

National Park Week celebrates and gives back to our country’s great natural and cultural landscapes.

April 22, 2013 5:57 PM EDTYoung Scientists and Innovators Amaze President Obama at the White House Science Fair

100 students from more than 40 states were at the White House for an all-day, hands-on celebration of the power and potential of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education.

April 20, 2013 1:10 PM EDTWatch Live: 2013 White House Science Fair

President Obama hosts the 3rd Annual White House Science Fair and celebrate the student winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions from across the country.

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Remarks by the President at the 2013 White House Science Fair

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

East Room

2:21 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, everybody.  (Applause.)  Please have a seat.  Have a seat.  Well, good afternoon, everybody.  And welcome to the White House Science Fair, one of my favorite events during the course of the year.

And I just had a chance to see some of the outstanding exhibits that have been put forward by some of these amazing young people.  And let me just start by saying, in my official capacity as President:  This stuff is really cool.  (Laughter.)  And I want to thank these incredible young people for explaining to me what the heck is going on.  (Laughter.)

Every one of you is enormously talented, obviously, but there’s also a community of people who helped all these young people succeed -- dedicated teachers who believed in them and challenged them to do even more; all of them have loving parents and mentors and family.  So I want to not only give the young people a big round of applause, but all the parents and teachers and principals and everybody who was involved, give yourselves a big round of applause as well.  (Applause.) 

Of course, primarily we’re here to celebrate these young scientists and visionaries who dream, and create, and innovate; who ask the question, why not?  Why not try something better?  Something that’s faster; something that helps more people.  And that drive, that refusal to give up, that focus on the future is part of what makes America great.  And all of you are participants in this long line of inventors and creators that have made this the most dynamic economy and the most dynamic country on Earth.

And that’s one of the things that I’ve been focused on as President is how do we create an all-hands-on-deck approach to science, technology, engineering, and math.  And I’m happy to have so many key members of my science team who are here today, including my Chief Science Advisor, John Holdren, who is here.  There’s John.  NIH Director Francis Collins.  There’s Francis right there, the tall guy.  We’ve got Acting Director of the National Science Foundation, Cora Marrett, who is here.  There’s Cora.  And we’ve got real-life astronaut and NASA Administrator, Charles Bolden.  Where’s Charlie?  There he is, right there.

So we need to make this a priority to train an army of new teachers in these subject areas, and to make sure that all of us as a country are lifting up these subjects for the respect that they deserve.  And one of the things that I’m concerned about is that, as a culture, we’re great consumers of technology, but we’re not always properly respecting the people who are in the labs and behind the scenes creating the stuff that we now take for granted.  And we’ve got to give the millions of Americans who work in science and technology not only the kind of respect they deserve but also new ways to engage young people. 

So today, I’m proud to announce a new AmeriCorps program that are going to -- (applause) --  that’s our Community Service Director.  (Laughter.)  She is a little bit biased, but I like that in her.  She’s got that kind of get-up-and-go.  A new AmeriCorps program that’s going to connect more professional scientists and engineers to young students who might follow in their footsteps.  And other people are stepping up, too. 

Some of America’s biggest tech companies are encouraging their workers to mentor young students.  You’ve got media organizations that are working with athletes like outstanding wide receiver Victor Cruz from the New York Giants, who’s here to highlight how critical math and science are to sports.  (Applause.)  And, by the way, since Victor is here, I don’t know -- did you see the exhibit about the whole cooling shoulder pads and helmet that these young guys did?  And they had a whole slogan that said you can succeed in athletics and science.  They were very impressive.  Had the little Gatorade so you -- (laughter) -- you didn’t even have to, like, reach for your Gatorade; you could just -- it would automatically transmit itself into your helmet.  (Laughter.)  It could work. 

We’ve got non-profits that are helping to organize 1,000 summer learning events this year.  They all realize how important science, technology, engineering, and math are to our future.  So we are doing this together.

And, after all, the science fair projects of today could become the products and businesses of tomorrow.  Three students -- Evan Jackson, Alec Jackson, and Caleb Robinson -- those are the folks that I talked about.  They’re from Flippen Elementary School.  Keep in mind, they’re in third, fourth grade, and they’ve already got this idea for COOL Pads so that Victor doesn’t get overheated when he’s out on the field.  But think about that.  If you’re inventing stuff in the third grade, what are you going to do by the time you get to college?  (Laughter.) 

And we just had the University of Alabama’s national championship football team here last week, and I know they’re interested in this idea because it gets really hot down in Alabama.

A lot of these students are working on the next generation of medical research.  So listen to this story.  When pancreatic cancer took the life of Jack Andraka’s close family friend, it inspired Jack to look for new ways to improve detection.  So Jack requested space from research labs to pursue his work -- nearly 200 times.  Two hundred times he asked.  Two hundred times he was turned down.  Finally, with the help of some folks at Johns Hopkins, he got the research facilities that he needed, developed a pancreatic cancer test that is faster, cheaper and more sensitive than the test that came before it -- which is not bad for a guy who is just barely old enough to drive.  So where's Jack?  There he is.  Jack, stand up, because that's pretty spectacular stuff.  (Applause.)  That's great work.  I don't know what you guys were doing when you were juniors in high school.  (Laughter.)  That's what Jack is doing.  (Laughter.)  Better than I was doing, I promise you.  (Laughter.)

Now, today is not just the third White House Science Fair.  It’s also the 43rd Earth Day.  So I want to give a special shout-out to all of the young people who participated, who focused their attention on how to harness cleaner forms of energy and how to create more energy efficiency.  So we’ve got young people like Caleb Meyer -- where's Caleb?  Caleb is way back there.  Stand up, Caleb, so we can see you.  (Applause.)  Caleb built a wind turbine that's small and fast enough to be installed on your roof or in your front yard.  

We’ve got Jon Kubricki and Bridget Zarych, who, together with their classmates, designed an inexpensive press that can recycle garbage like banana peels into briquettes as an alternative to using wood for fuel.  They're in eighth grade.  I don't know what you were doing in eighth grade.  (Laughter.)  That's what they're doing -- which could potentially help to reduce carbon emissions, save trees and deforestation, and reduce the amount of smoke inhalation that has an impact on people.

We've got Sara Volz, who is breeding new types of algae.  Where's Sara?  There's Sara.  (Applause.)  Sara is breeding new types of algae.  She stores this in a lab in her bedroom.  (Laughter.)  So, Sara, you have very supportive parents.  (Laughter.)  One reporter asked her, “Exactly what is growing under your bed that’s going to save the planet?”  (Laughter.)  And Sara’s answer was algae that can produce more oil for cheaper biofuels.  So, by the way, Jon Kubricki and Bridget Zarych, I didn't have them stand up.  I want to acknowledge them.  I saw them.  Maybe they're still cleaning their hands off.  (Applause.)  But there they are.  There they are. 

So I've got to say, young people like these, every one of them have these kinds of incredible innovations.  Some of them are already fully operational.  Some of them are getting fine-tuned.  But young people like these have to make you hopeful about the future of our country.  And it's also a reminder for us -- the adults -- we've got to do our part.  We've got to do everything we can to make sure that we are giving these young people opportunity to pursue their studies and discover new ways of doing things.  And we've got to make sure that we're also leaving behind a world that is safer and cleaner and healthier than the one we found.  That’s our obligation.   

And that’s why, over the last four years, we’ve made historic investments in the clean energy future that we need.  And today we import less oil than we have in 20 years.  Thanks to new fuel economy standards, by the middle of the next decade, cars will go twice as far on a gallon of gas.  We’ve doubled the amount of renewable energy that we're generating from sources like wind and solar -- and, by the way, creating tens of thousands of good, American jobs in the process.  We're emitting less carbon pollution into the environment than we have in nearly 20 years.

But we understand this is not enough.  We've got to do better.  And that's why we've got to pursue an all-of-the-above energy strategy that includes investing in more biofuels and more fuel-efficient vehicles, and more solar power and more wind power, and more people going back to work building cars and homes and businesses that are more energy efficient than the ones that we've got right now. 

And that’s why I’ve proposed new job-creating investments in science and innovation.  And all these young people, as young as they are, they're all going to be going to college, and a lot of them are going to want to continue to pursue their research and pursue their dreams.  And if there is not the research grant pipeline in place, many of them will not have the resources to invent and discover the things that will make us healthier and make us more energy efficient and improve the quality of our lives. 

So this is not the time to gut investments that keep our businesses on the cutting edge, that keep our economy humming, that improve the quality of our lives.  This is the time to reach a level of research and development that we haven't seen since the height of the Space Race.  That's what we should be doing.  That's what we should be focused on.  (Applause.)  

And that should not be a partisan idea.  America has always been about discovery, and invention, and engineering, and science and evidence.  That's who we are.  That's in our DNA.  That's how this country became the greatest economic power in the history of the world.  That's how we’re able to provide so many contributions to people all around the world with our scientific and medical and technological discoveries.

And that's what these young people here are all about.  And if extraordinary young people like all of you can use your talents to shape the future for our families and our communities and our countries, we’ve got a responsibility to make sure that they’ve got the tools to do it. 

So I want to thank all the Science Fair winners not only for the work that you guys are doing, but also the example that you’re setting for your peers and also for your adults -- the adults in your lives.  We could not be prouder of you.  And I want you to keep up your incredible work.

And part of the reason that we’re doing this here -- we celebrate our great football players like Victor, and we celebrate outstanding musicians, and that's all appropriate.  But we’ve got to make sure that we’re also celebrating every single day in our schools, in our classrooms, and in our country the outstanding contributions that scientists and engineers and mathematicians and engineers are providing to us every single day.  And we want you to know that you’ve got a whole country behind you as you pursue your dreams.  And your success is going to be our success, as well.  So way to go. 

Thank you.  Appreciate it, everybody.  Thank you very much.  (Applause.)

END
2:35 P.M. EDT

National Park Week celebrates and gives back to our country’s great natural and cultural landscapes.

100 students from more than 40 states were at the White House for an all-day, hands-on celebration of the power and potential of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education.

President Obama hosts the 3rd Annual White House Science Fair and celebrate the student winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions from across the country.

view all related blog posts

View the original article here

Aether (science)

(Difference between revisions)#[[Maxwell's Equations]] assume events in a space that is evidently void. There must be something to which these properties could be ascribed.  #[[Maxwell's Equations]] assume events in a space that is evidently void. There must be something to which these properties could be ascribed.  #The identification of light with electromagnetic waves performed by [[James Maxwell|C.Maxwell]] shows that the same entity (aether) is implied by at first glance different optical and electromagnetic phenomena thus should be able to unify their interpretation#The identification of light with electromagnetic waves performed by [[James Maxwell|C.Maxwell]] shows that the same entity (aether) is implied by at first glance different optical and electromagnetic phenomena thus should be able to unify their interpretation#The possibility to perceive static "ether sea" which homogeneously penetrates all space of cosmos as absolute frame of reference towards which the Newton's laws of motion are referenced. Ether acquires this special character in [[Hendrik Lorentz|Lorentz]]'s and Larmore's theory however such extrapolation is discouraged by Whitehead as it is rooted in solely speculative entity lacking any experimental evidence.#The possibility to perceive static "ether sea" which homogeneously penetrates all space of cosmos as absolute frame of reference towards which the Newton's laws of motion are referenced. Ether acquires this special character in [[Hendrik Lorentz|Lorentz]]'s and Larmore's theory however such extrapolation is discouraged by Whitehead as it is rooted in solely speculative entity lacking any [[experimental science|experimental]] [[scientific evidence|evidence]].==Politically incorrect term====Politically incorrect term==

At the beginning of 19. century the English polymath T.Yong demonstrated that light behaves like a wave.[1] The luminiferous aether (or ether) is defined to be whatever medium transmits the light waves.

The Michelson-Morley experiment in 1887 failed to detect any motion of the Earth relative to the aether. Henri Poincaré conjectured that the aether may be unobservable, and invented special relativity based on the notion that the aether may be superfluous. Albert Einstein published conflicting opinions on whether the aether exists. According to R.Humphreys Einstein’s theories of special and general relativity not only stem from Maxwell’s work which required existence of ether as one of its postulates, but at bottom they only make sense if space (and time) is some kind of “stuff”. Humphreys portrays Einstein as recanting in 1920 his 1905 denial of the 19th-century idea of an “ether” meant to propagate light waves.[2]

Quantum electrodynamics (QED) teaches that when light goes through a vacuum, it is really going through a sea of virtual particles. Cosmologists say that the vacuum is really filled with dark energy, and it is unknown whether that has any relation to the aether concept. According to these theories, there is no such thing as empty space. The aether describes space when it is as empty as possible.

The existence of luminiferous aether is a counterexample to relativity as it is sometimes described, as it is sometimes said that Einstein abolished the aether.[3]

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A.N. Whitehead states 5 reasons that had provided for long the support for acceptance of aether hypothesis:[4]

The wave theory of light required existence of ether as one of its postulates Maxwell's Equations describe electrostatic and magnetic attractions by means of describing the status changes of ether Maxwell's Equations assume events in a space that is evidently void. There must be something to which these properties could be ascribed. The identification of light with electromagnetic waves performed by C.Maxwell shows that the same entity (aether) is implied by at first glance different optical and electromagnetic phenomena thus should be able to unify their interpretation The possibility to perceive static "ether sea" which homogeneously penetrates all space of cosmos as absolute frame of reference towards which the Newton's laws of motion are referenced. Ether acquires this special character in Lorentz's and Larmore's theory however such extrapolation is discouraged by Whitehead as it is rooted in solely speculative entity lacking any experimental evidence.

YEC creationist R.Humphreys states that in contemporary mainstream science the term ether have become politically incorrect and although there are many various paradoxes in physics that could be addressed by de-facto aether hypothesis, the materialistic scientists are verbally "beating-around-the-bush" and use many code words such as various combinations of: “spacetime,” “continuum,” “manifold,” “quantum vacuum,” “the Vacuum,” “substratum,” “Dirac sea,” “plenum,” and “medium,”—all just to avoid using the word “ether”.[2]

? David Berlinski. "The Reason", The Devil’s Delusion. Basic Books, New York, 2009, 90-93. ISBN 978-0-465-01937-3. “In the early years of the nineteenth century, the English polymath Thomas Young demonstrated that light behaves like a wave. ...Light, they argued, is both like a wave and like a particle, and what is more, it is like wave and like a particle on the level of individual photons themselves.” ? 2.0 2.1 Russell Humphreys. God’s mighty expanse. Creation Ministries International. Retrieved on 2012-10-08. “Einstein’s theories of special and general relativity not only stem from Maxwell’s work, but at bottom they only make sense if space (and time) is some kind of “stuff,” as Einstein finally acknowledged in a little-known speech in 1920.2 The famous limit for the speeds of light and particles, c, could only work if there were a real material to enforce the speed limit. (Why should there be a limit if space were completely empty?) Space could be “warped” or “bent” only if it were actual solid matter. ...Strangely, academic materialists have tried to ignore the physics clues that space is a material, probably for religious and philosophical reasons. They even ignored Einstein’s 1920 recantation (see second item above) of his 1905 denial of the 19th-century idea of an “ether” (or “aether”) meant to propagate light waves. The academics have made the word “ether” politically incorrect. Now that it looks as if the ether idea merely needed a bit more sophistication, physicists use many code words for it, such as various combinations of: “spacetime,” “continuum,” “manifold,” “quantum vacuum,” “the Vacuum,” “substratum,” “Dirac sea,” “plenum,” and “medium,”—all to avoid using the word “ether.” This verbal beating-around-the-bush amuses me. It prevents academics from explaining relativity and quantum mechanics in simple, visualizable terms that solve the various paradoxes. I suspect the academic experts on relativity and quantum theories prefer to keep them arcane and perplexing (to other academics as well), because the mystery makes them the high priests of a secular religion for which the public needs interpreters.”? Moshe Carmeli (2002). Cosmological Special Relativity, The Large-Scale Structure of Space, Time and Velocity, 2nd Edition. World Scientific Publishing, 22. ISBN 9-789-02-4936-5. “...Does this mean that the hypothetical dark matter can be abolished just as the "luminiferous ether" was proved to be superfluous by special relativity?” ? A. N. Whitehead (1919, 1925, 2011). "5.The Ether", An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Natural Knowledge. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-60012-6. 

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Postmodern science

(Difference between revisions)'''Postmodern science''' is the one governed by the principle: "''anything goes''" {{#tag:ref|cf.''"When an [[explanation in science|explanation]] is so supple that it can explain any behavior, it is difficult to test it experimentally, much less use it as a catalyst for scientific discovery."''{{cite web |title=Why Do We Invoke Darwin? Evolutionary theory contributes little to experimental biology|author=Philip Skell|publisher=The Scientist (quoted by the Center for Science and Culture)|volume=19(16):10|date=29 August 2005|accessdate=03.03.2013|url=http://www.discovery.org/a/2816}}|group=note}} (native also to [[moral relativism]]) as aftereffect of the [[Postmodernism|postmodern]] concept that it is not possible to learn the objective true [[knowledge]] about reality and world. In consequence of landing at conclusion that science is not really knowledge at all, postmodern scientists speak in terms of [[chaos theory]], the unpredictability of science, indeterminacy, or uncertainty.  '''Postmodern science''' is the one governed by the principle: "''anything goes''" {{#tag:ref|cf.''"When an [[explanation in science|explanation]] is so supple that it can explain any behavior, it is difficult to test it [[experimental science|experimentally]], much less use it as a catalyst for [[scientific discovery]]."''{{cite web |title=Why Do We Invoke Darwin? Evolutionary theory contributes little to experimental biology|author=Philip Skell|publisher=The Scientist (quoted by the Center for Science and Culture)|volume=19(16):10|date=29 August 2005|accessdate=03.03.2013|url=http://www.discovery.org/a/2816}}|group=note}} (native also to [[moral relativism]]) as aftereffect of the [[Postmodernism|postmodern]] concept that it is not possible to learn the objective true [[knowledge]] about reality and world. In consequence of landing at conclusion that science is not really knowledge at all, postmodern scientists speak in terms of [[chaos theory]], the unpredictability of science, indeterminacy, or uncertainty.  Paul Feyerabend, former philosophy professor at the University of California (Berkeley) explains how in the history of science many theories have arisen, been accepted as established, promoted as the truth, and then eventually discarded. Feyerabend further maintains that scientific data promoted by scientist in support of a theory are anything but neutral because every scientist has an agenda. In all fields of science questions remain open as scientific theories are regularly tweaked. Moreover, the scientific establishment is regarded as very much [[Politically correct|politicized]]. Thus, scientists regularly work with unproven assumptions and filter data through their preconceived ideas.Paul Feyerabend, former philosophy professor at the University of California (Berkeley) explains how in the history of science many theories have arisen, been accepted as established, promoted as the truth, and then eventually discarded. Feyerabend further maintains that scientific data promoted by scientist in support of a theory are anything but neutral because every scientist has an agenda. In all fields of science questions remain open as scientific theories are regularly tweaked. Moreover, the scientific establishment is regarded as very much [[Politically correct|politicized]]. Thus, scientists regularly work with unproven assumptions and filter data through their preconceived ideas.In Humanist Manifesto 2000, secular Humanist [[Paul Kurtz]] insists that rejecting [[objectivity]] is a mistake and that [[Postmodernism]] is counterproductive, even [[nihilism|nihilistic]].{{cite web |title=Postmodern Science|author=|publisher=AllAboutWorldview.org#sthash.XYgaloi0.dpuf|access date=03.03.2013|url=http://www.allaboutworldview.org/postmodern-science.htm|quote=For that reason, science cannot tell us what is real, only what scientists believe to be the case at that particular time in history. This falls in line with the Postmodern concept that everyone, including the scientist, is locked into his or her particular culture and language, and thus cannot claim to have an objective picture of the world.}}  In Humanist Manifesto 2000, secular Humanist [[Paul Kurtz]] insists that rejecting [[objectivity]] is a mistake and that [[Postmodernism]] is counterproductive, even [[nihilism|nihilistic]].{{cite web |title=Postmodern Science|author=|publisher=AllAboutWorldview.org#sthash.XYgaloi0.dpuf|access date=03.03.2013|url=http://www.allaboutworldview.org/postmodern-science.htm|quote=For that reason, science cannot tell us what is real, only what scientists believe to be the case at that particular time in history. This falls in line with the Postmodern concept that everyone, including the scientist, is locked into his or her particular culture and language, and thus cannot claim to have an objective picture of the world.}}  

Postmodern science is the one governed by the principle: "anything goes" [note 1] (native also to moral relativism) as aftereffect of the postmodern concept that it is not possible to learn the objective true knowledge about reality and world. In consequence of landing at conclusion that science is not really knowledge at all, postmodern scientists speak in terms of chaos theory, the unpredictability of science, indeterminacy, or uncertainty. Paul Feyerabend, former philosophy professor at the University of California (Berkeley) explains how in the history of science many theories have arisen, been accepted as established, promoted as the truth, and then eventually discarded. Feyerabend further maintains that scientific data promoted by scientist in support of a theory are anything but neutral because every scientist has an agenda. In all fields of science questions remain open as scientific theories are regularly tweaked. Moreover, the scientific establishment is regarded as very much politicized. Thus, scientists regularly work with unproven assumptions and filter data through their preconceived ideas. In Humanist Manifesto 2000, secular Humanist Paul Kurtz insists that rejecting objectivity is a mistake and that Postmodernism is counterproductive, even nihilistic.[2]

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Postmodern doubts about the objectivity and neutrality of science arose in the mid-1900s from Michael Polanyi’s Personal Knowledge and Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolution. Kuhn points out that science is not merely a progressive and incremental discipline that studies and records facts. So-called facts can be understood and interpreted in a variety of ways depending on the worldview assumptions of the scientist. Kuhn further asserts that scientific theories are often not discarded due to being proven wrong, but rather older theories tend to die out along with their proponents.[note 2] Then the new and creative theories attract the attention of younger scientists who, in turn, promote their theories over the older ones. From this perspective, a current scientific theory is just a momentary current theory that will be replaced by another current theory in the future. For that reason, postmodernists held that science cannot tell us what is real, only what scientists believe to be the case at that particular period in history of humankind.[2] In 1996 the physicist Alan Sokal published a paper entitled "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity" in the journal Social Text. This essay was a hoax designed to ridicule post-modern thought and consequently a call was made to make a radical change in what scientific community accepts as a legitimate foundation for a physical theory. The department of physics at Hardvard is now often referred to as the department of post-modern physics by its critics.[5]

In the postmodern science, the traditional scientific method demanding from scientists to provide the scientific evidence for their hypothesis and conduct experiments was replaced by logic of possibility. This paradigm shift in science can be demonstrated at a representative example, the description of research by Alan Guth, where a claim is made about tests being performed in a 'hypothetical laboratory' [6]:

"Working with Prof. Edward Farhi and others, Guth has explored the question of whether it is in principle possible to ignite inflation in a hypothetical laboratory, thereby creating a new universe. The answer is a definite maybe. They showed that it cannot be done classically, but with quantum tunneling it might be theoretically possible.[note 3] The new universe, if it can be created, would not endanger our own universe. Instead it would slip through a wormhole and rapidly disconnect completely."

Postmodern science does not lead to resolution of scientific questions but leaves them undecided by applying terms like 'a definite maybe' [note 4]. Consequently, the scientific discoveries are being replaced by the beliefs affected by worldview of scientist which are then effectively promulgated as statements of faith or scientific myth calling for public acceptance. The journal Science published in 2002 an article in which Charles Darwin is criticised for gamely nailing together a just-so story of how creation of complex organs might have happened.[9] Another example demonstrating the traits of Postmodern science can be given from interview with Joseph Silk, Savilian Professor of Astronomy at University of Oxford[10]:

ESA: We seem to agree that the Big Bang started with an 'inflation', a short period of high-speed expansion. But what happened before that? Joseph Silk: Maybe long before inflation there was a Universe that was collapsing near a singularity, which then inflated again, so there was already a history before the Big Bang. Some people think there was a 'pre-Big Bang'. One possibility is that this pre-Big Bang, if there was such a place, would have made lots of entropy (the amount of disorder in the Universe). And the Universe we live in does have huge amounts of entropy. That's one theory. But we have no understanding of how to change from collapsing to expanding. There's no physical way to explain that transition. Some people believe that they have explanations the pre-Big Bang, so it's a respectable theory.

In Postmodern science theories are considered 'respectable' not due to their merits in terms of observational discoveries or scientific evidence but merely because 'Some people believe [them]'. ? cf."When an explanation is so supple that it can explain any behavior, it is difficult to test it experimentally, much less use it as a catalyst for scientific discovery."[1]? cf. "An important scientific innovation rarely makes its way by gradually winning over and converting its opponents: it rarely happens that Saul becomes Paul. What does happen is that its opponents gradually die out and that the growing generation is familiarized with the idea from the beginning." Max Planck, The Philosophy of Physics[3] "Academic appointments were also manipulated to favor younger scientists with Darwinian sympathies who would ensure that the next generation was educated to take the theory for granted."[4]? cf."Physical scientists like Newton are not content to say that it may be so, and then build up theories based on bare possibilites."[7]? cf."If one wishes to obtain a definite answer from Nature one must attack the question from a more general and less selfish point of view." Max Planck[8]? Philip Skell (29 August 2005). Why Do We Invoke Darwin? Evolutionary theory contributes little to experimental biology. The Scientist (quoted by the Center for Science and Culture). Retrieved on 03.03.2013.? 2.0 2.1 Postmodern Science. AllAboutWorldview.org#sthash.XYgaloi0.dpuf. “For that reason, science cannot tell us what is real, only what scientists believe to be the case at that particular time in history. This falls in line with the Postmodern concept that everyone, including the scientist, is locked into his or her particular culture and language, and thus cannot claim to have an objective picture of the world.”? Max Planck (1936). The philosophy of physics. W.W. Norton & Company, inc., 97. ? Janet Browne (Feb 23, 2010). Charles Darwin Volume 2: The Power at Place. Random House, 608. ISBN 9781407053233. ? David Berlinski (2009). "The State of the Matter", The Deniable Darwin. Seattle, USA: Discovery Institute Press (reprinted from Commentary February 1998 by permission), 511. ISBN 978-0-9790141-2-3. ? Faculty Directory: Alan Guth, Victor F. Weisskopf Professor of Physics. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics. Retrieved on 03.03.2013.? David L. Hull (1973). Darwin and his critics: the reception of Darwin's theory of evolution by the scientific community. Harvard University Press, 275. ? Alfred Korzybski (1995). Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics. Institute of General Semantics, 415. ISBN 978-0937298015. ? Virginia Morell (01-Nov-2002). Placentas May Nourish Complexity Studies. Science Magazine. Retrieved on 17-Mar-2013. “It's one of the oldest riddles in evolutionary biology: How does natural selection gradually create an eye, or any complex organ for that matter? The puzzle troubled Charles Darwin, who nevertheless gamely nailed together just-so story of how it might have happened...”? Is the Universe finite or infinite? An interview with Joseph Silk. ESA, European Space Agency (02-May-2001).

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High School Science Teacher Investigated For Using Word ‘Vagina’, Showing Clip Of ‘An Inconvenient Truth’

Turns out “climate change” isn’t the only thing you can’t say in Idaho biology class.

The headline grabber, as Raw Story covered it, was “Idaho teacher investigated for saying ‘vagina’ during biology lesson.” That would be Tim McDaniel, who has been teaching in the Dietrich, Idaho biology department for almost two decades. Here’s the part of the Twin-Falls’s Times-News story that is germane to Climate Progress:

According to McDaniel, the commission is also investigating a complaint that accuses him of using school property to promote a political candidate. The complaint was because he showed the climate change film “An Inconvenient Truth,” also in his science class. McDaniel said he includes the film to spark a discussion on climate change among the students. After watching the film, he asks students to write a response paper explaining their thoughts on climate change. “I’m not looking for one answer, I just want them to be able to explain what they believe,” he said.

How do you stop a teacher from showing one of the most popular documentaries of all time? Assert Al Gore is a political candidate. I wonder where they teach people to come up with that kind of logic.
Students have set up a “SAVE THE SCIENCE TEACHER!!” Facebook page and online petition here.

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‘Orphan Black’ Star Tatiana Maslany On Science Fiction, Class, and Female Anti-Heroines

This Saturday at 9PM, BBC America debuts its second original series, Orphan Black. A science fiction thriller, Orphan Black follows a young woman named Sarah (Tatiana Maslany), who is returning home after ten months away to try to reclaim custody of her daughter, who is being raised by Sarah’s own foster mother, when she witnesses another young woman, Beth, commit suicide at a train station. If that wasn’t unsettling enough, the other woman shares Sarah’s face. And as Sarah, desperate for cash, appropriates the dead woman’s identity, apartment—and as it turns out, the police department review she’s under for an unjustified shooting of a civilian—she learns that she doesn’t just have a twin: there are a disturbing number of other women wearing Sarah’s face.

I spoke to Maslany about the challenge of playing multiple characters in a single show, how viewers relate to unsympathetic female characters, and how science fiction depicts the near future and handles class. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

In Orphan Black, you’ve got a core role playing Sarah, but you have to portray a number of other women as well. Was that one of the things that drew you to the series?

Absolutely…They’re all compelling, they’re all complex, they’re all very different. Sarah was definitely my entry point into the series. What fascianted me about her so much was her extreme flaws that were right out there, her behavior that was completely immoral and self-absorbed, always defending herself. What’s fascinating to me is she’s got that beautiful heart as well. She completely wants to be a mother to her daughter, and every part of her upbringing is saying she can’t do that, and she’s not worthy of that. It’s a really nice tension to play. And to get into all the other characters, each has a different worldview, and that’s how I approached them. How do they see the world? Is it a fearful place? is it fascinating? Do they love people?

Was part of the appeal the opportunity to build audience sympathy for an unlikeable female character? Men get to be anti-heroes far more often.

Yeah, that’s what I love about it. I think, for me, it was unlike any character I’d seen on screeen, any female character especially. She’s not immediately likable. She’s not good or bad. She’s very much an animal of impulse and instinct, of self-preservation and survival. People can relate to that. There’s something glamorous abou people on Breaking Bad or whatever, because I think it tapes into the darker parts of ourselves that we don’t get to experience on a day to day basis, or that society tells us is bad. And I think that’s what’s so compelling about Sarah. We’re all so flawed. we’re all like that. We’re all bad people sometime. It’s a matter of circumstance, it’s a matter of our rsesponse to the world and what it’s told us about who we can be and who we are. She’s really grown up in a world of hostility and violence. I’m happy that she gets to be the protagonist, that her action saren’t condemned.

Do you think that audiences are more comfortable with male anti-heroes because they don’t reflect back on us? None of us are going to cook meth to deal with our own insecurities, but we might be bad friends, or indecisive, or weak, or bad mothers, ways that female characters are often painted as flawed.

It’s way more personal. I think the mother relationship is extremely personal to so many people. I’m not a mother, but I have extreme feelings about it. Whether you’re a mother or not, I think women have an understanding of that relationship. I think, yeah, there’s something interesting in the kind of crone aspects of things, where we see different variations on who I could have been and who I am. It’s an external manifestation of that identity crisis. Whether people can relate to Sarah’s dreams of bein ga mother and not being able to do that, or Alison’s stranglehold on her life, none of it is glamorous, none of it is outside of reality. As much as it’s a sci-fi show, it’s so personal.

What about the role of the foster care system in the show? It’s how Sarah gets close to her foster-brother, and it’s clearly shaped her significantly as a character.

Sarah, also being form the UK and London specifically, and from a working class perspective, you can tell by someone’s accent in the UK where they came form, what school they went to, how they were educated. She was immediately pinopointed as an outsider. To have somebody like that as a protagonist and as someone going through this…She kind of uses that as an entry point….You can relate to the psychology of belonging, or having a place that’s yours. When presented with these other women, there’s a a chance she could belong somewhere, a sense that she could have, in some way, a family. I think she’s resistant to that because she doesn’t have that structure in her life. It’s the reason she can’t stay still with Felix. She has to run away…When she assumes Beth’s life, she sees not as a woman who killed herself, but who had money, a beautiful apartment, a boyfriend, who had her life together on paper…she starts to empathize with Beth. She starts to understand herself better through being Beth and through the complexity of someone else’s life. She could go, she has everything.

But she also learns that money doesn’t protect you. Beth may have her life together on paper, but she also killed someone on duty, and is suicidal.

Exactly. But she never would have known that had she seen that life from the outside. It’s kind of an ease, it comes back to the other women she meets. There’s a way that we see people from the outside that lets us define them and not have to touch them. I don’t have to be vulnerable with you, I don’t have to be intimate with you. Sarah, I don’t think she’s been intimate with everyone in the emotional sense. It’s very much about power. That’s another cool thing, coming to know all these other versions of herself. She actually gets to know them. We start to get to see that.

Tell me about the pace at which the sci-fi elements of the show are going to be revealed. Through the first two episodes I was struck by the way the show uses those elements in service of Sarah’s upbringing and self-image, rather than trying to impress us with flashy mythology.

Yeah, to me, it’s a more human way of going at it. We’re following Sarah, who is not part of that world, who does not have any frame of reference for what the sci-fi side of this world is, for what the scientific implications are. She’s seeing it from the human level, which is: “I’m totally lost, I’m confused, who am I?” To me, that’s what I love about it. I never really thought, as much as it is sci-fi show, I always thought of it as a character piece. Unraveling the character within the context of clones. It’s for me about the personal implications and how it changes the women and how it changes the people around them. We have episodes that get more sci-fi heavy and that are more into that zone. But the cool thing is, it’s always about not-too-far-away potential science. It’s like the present day. Cloning has been happening. It’s not a new phenomenon. What it raises in such an interesting way is where science, religion, humanity, what’s in our control, what is not for us to touch?

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Idaho Science Teacher Is Under Investigation For Teaching About Climate Change And Orgasms

A 10th grade science teacher in Idaho is being investigated by his school after parents complained that he included the word “vagina” in his lessons, taught the class about the female orgasm, and showed Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.”

Some of the allegations are more serious, including that “he shared confidential student files with an individual other than their parents,” and “told inappropriate jokes in class,” but science teacher Tim McDaniel suspects that the complaints originated because of his discussions about issues considered controversial in the largely Mormon community where he teaches:

“I teach straight out of the textbook, I don’t include anything that the textbook doesn’t mention,” McDaniel said. “But I give every student the option not attend this class when I teach on the reproductive system if they don’t feel comfortable with the material.”

The science teacher said he has taught Dietrich’s science classes for the past 18 years without receiving a complaint from parents or students.

According to McDaniel, the commission is also investigating a complaint that accuses him of using school property to promote a political candidate. The complaint was because he showed the climate change film “An Inconvenient Truth,” also in his science class.

McDaniel said he includes the film to spark a discussion on climate change among the students. After watching the film, he asks students to write a response paper explaining their thoughts on climate change.

Idaho is a state that has no requirement for sex education and no mandated HIV education. It does have a requirement that students be allowed to opt out of sex ed classes, to which McDaniel says he adhered.

(HT: Raw Story )

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The Science Of Human Nature Is Proving Classical Economics False. What Comes Next?

In a previous post, I wrote about the emerging view of human nature as fundamentally cooperative and group-oriented rather than simply self-interested as most conservatives believe.  I noted that this paradigm shift has important implications for progressives in a political sense.  We should not shy away from appeals to cooperative instincts and the common good because they are “fuzzy” and “soft”.  Instead they should be front and center because they touch something deep within our basic nature.

But that’s not all the implications of these new findings.  There are also very important implications for economic policy.  Start with middle class economics.  This school of thought, associated with progressive economists like Robert Reich, Joseph Stiglitz, Paul Krugman and progressive institutions like (ahem) the Center for American Progress, ties progressive policy proposals directly to the interests and capabilities of the middle class. Since the middle class as a group embraces a huge swathe of American society, this is a very promising framework for a group-oriented appeal.

The new theory of human nature also casts considerable doubt on the standard model of economics, based around neoclassical assumptions that people are solely motivated by self-interested concerns.  As we have just seen, they aren’t, which poses a rather fundamental problem for mainstream economics.  The problem deepens when the other key part of the standard economic model is recalled: people rationally, efficiently and effectively pursue that self-interest at all times, carefully calculating probabilities and assessing costs and benefits so they can get the best possible deal for themselves—like a sort of self-interested Mr. Spock.  People aren’t like that either, as the evolving science of behavioral economics has clearly established.

Behavioral economics has found, based on observation of actual people making decisions, that people don’t understand probability, under- and over-estimate risk, respond heavily to how choices are framed and generally fail, in a wide variety of contexts, to “rationally” pursue their goals.  These results, now widely accepted even within mainstream economics, have been well-summarized by Cass Sustein and Richard Thaler in their book Nudge and by Daniel Kahneman in his book Thinking Fast and Slow.

So we’re not purely self-interested and we do a spotty job of pursuing that self-interest when we try.  What does this say about standard models of the economy based on aggregating the assumed efficient, self-interested actions of millions and “proving” that everything works out for the best if those efficient, self-interested individuals are left alone?  Nothing good.

And indeed nothing good has come out of applying that model for three decades.  There has been no growth boom and no rapid rise in living standards.  In fact, both overall economic growth and, especially, living standards growth have been relatively slow by historical standards.  And instead of unleashing a frenzy of creative solutions to long-standing economic problems, deregulated economies have just made most of them worse: more speculative bubbles; more risky investments; more inequality; more unemployment; more bad jobs; and so on.  Finally, risky economic behavior got completely out of control and the resulting financial meltdown sent the economy into the biggest nose-dive since the Great Depression.

It’s fair to say the mainstream economic model now lies in ruins.  Its core assumptions have been tested and found wanting.  Unleashing purely rational, purely self-interested individuals to do whatever they want has proved to be a recipe for stagnation at best and utter disaster at worst.  And the reason is simple: these individuals don’t exist and never will.  Therefore, the market will never work as the current standard economic model says it should.  Instead, an effective economics should accept the preferences and inclinations of actually-existing people and reject the limits that imaginary perfect markets supposedly put on economic objectives.

These points have been made and made forcefully by very prominent progressive economists like Krugman, Stiglitz, George Akerlof and Robert Shiller among many others.   But, as noted recently by economic journalist John Cassidy, we have yet to see the emergence of a “new Keynes” with a positive theory of how the economy works that can replace the standard model.  That is not to say there are not at least the beginnings of such a theory.  Again, the emerging middle class economics school of thought is starting to generate both the theoretical and empirical work that could lead to a true alternative paradigm to neoclassical economics.

But as yet there is no worked-out theory that connects the microfoundations of actual human behavior to the macro outcomes that economic policy is concerned with.  The microfoundations of the standard model—completely self-interested homo economicus—however unrealistic are mathematically tractable in a way that lends itself to macro analysis.  The same is not true for our new, more accurate, but complicated, understanding of human motivation.   But the micro-macro connection will have to be bridged if our new Keynes is to emerge and consolidate a theory to guide a new era of capitalist growth.

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