Internet and Communication
I'd still like to see the candidates speak for themselves on scientific issues, but the Physics Today blog has a useful posting.
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory have come up with a potentially perfect way to sort and distribute the massive amounts of data that travel daily over optical fibers to people throughout the world. The new technology, a three-dimensional photonic crystal add-drop filter, promises greatly enhanced transmission of multiple wavelength channels (wavelengths of light) traveling along the same optical fiber.
ScienceDebate2008 is looking more and more likely as the campaigns of two major candidates (Obama and Clinton) sent surrogates on short notice to a hastily pulled-together preliminary session at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston. Senator McCain's campaign sent regrets due to the short notice, while the Huckabee and Paul campaigns did not respond at all.
It's official. Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, and Barack Obama have been invited to ScienceDebate2008.
The location? Philadelphia's Franklin Institute, named after one of our nation's greatest scientists (and greatest patriots). The date? April 18, just before the Pennsylvania Primary.
On 4 February, United Nations University launched the UNU OpenCourseWare Portal, accessible at http://ocw.unu.edu. Initially, the UNU OpenCourseWare Portal offers open access to about a dozen courses developed by three of UNU’s Research and Training Centres and Programmes (RTC/Ps) and the Tokyo-based UNU Media Studio.
If you thought ScienceDebate2008 was just a scientist's pipe dream, it's time to think again!
Organizations of scientists, industrialists, and business leaders have joined an impressive list of individuals and associations declaring that science and technology are too important not to know where the presidential candidates stand.
Does Michael Crichton wear a tin hat?
The Internet is not the font of all knowledge, despite the plethora of information available at your fingertips. Researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia have found that while Internet searches do bring up a variety of useful materials, people pay more attention to information that matches their pre-existing beliefs.
A Dutch-sponsored researcher has investigated how a small network for at home or in a company can function optimally. His research analyses the MGDM technique (Mode Group Diversity Multiplexing) to transmit each TV, telephone and Internet signal via a separate group of light rays through an optical fibre cable. Such technology has not yet been marketed, but in the ideal situation could be applied in a glass or polymer fibre, has the potential of being cheap, and transmits all information without disruption.
Researchers at Purdue University are working with the state of Indiana to develop a system that would use a network of cell phones to detect and track radiation to help prevent terrorist attacks with radiological "dirty bombs" and nuclear weapons.
A new National Research Council report chaired by University of Colorado at Boulder Distinguished Professor Frank Barnes calls for a stronger research effort on the potential health effects of exposure to radio frequency energy tied to the global explosion in wireless technology like cell phones, laptops and hand-held Web-surfing gadgets.
Will Kaiser/CDC admit we are infected with this? How will they react in the litterbox?
CDC produces Media Alert - Morgellons
How much of science is the data, how much is the presentation? The latest issue of Seed has an excellent quote form Lawrence Krauss, a theoretical physicist at Case Western Reserve University:
