Every Girl Should Go To The Science Fair

From Wired:  Every Girl Should Go To The Science Fair

A couple of weeks ago, our family’s main babysitter, an undergraduate chemistry major, made a depressing — and depressingly accurate — observation: She has several female friends who are chemistry majors, all of whom are smart and technically proficient and genuinely interested in the subject. But when she goes to research-intensive summer programs, and meets graduate students from a variety of institutions, the women aren’t there anymore. This anecdote illustrates what more serious research quickly proves: that despite the professional gains of women over the past several decades, they are still underrepresented in STEM careers and fields.

One reason our sitter’s observation stuck with me was that I had been listening to an advance copy of Science Fair, the newest family music compilation from Spare the Rock Records. Science Fair is a album of songs by women, in support of girls’ science education. I mean “in support” as broadly as possible: Virtually all of the songs explicitly promote the message that girls can do science, and the net proceeds from the record will go to Girls Inc.‘s science education program.

Science Fair is so up-front and direct about its message that it would have been easy for the album to be insufferably earnest and dogmatic. That it’s not, I think, stems from several different causes: First, there’s an impressive array of family music talent on display. There are new songs by Mates of State, Laura Veirs, Elizabeth Mitchell, Frances England, and many others, and so there are catchy tracks aplenty. While the target audience is probably a little younger, I can report that my 9yo son, whose musical tastes run more to The Decemberists and The Hold Steady, has consistently enjoyed the record. (And he immediately had us buy a copy to give to one of his science-oriented friends at school.)

Let’s not kid ourselves: Anyone who has any sort of connection to indie rock from the last several decades will be grateful for one of Science Fair‘s achievements: introducing a new generation to the genius of Guided By Voices. The first video from the record is the Mates of State, covering “I Am a Scientist”:
(Here’s a link to the GBV classic.)

The other thing, I think, that keeps Science Fair from veering into insufferability is that Bill Childs, the founder of Spare the Rock Records, conceived of the record in part as a tribute to his parents, as he thought back over the distinctive experience of being raised by feminist scientists. His mother gives the flavor of being a hardcore scientist in industry in the 1960s:

I was slow in coming to the realization that I was drastically underpaid and disrespected compared to my male coworkers. It was 1964 and I was in my second year of my first off-campus job, at Phillips Petroleum Company. I was using the company’s new IBM 7094 mainframe computer to model and optimize nonlinear systems like gasoline plants, a somewhat harder group of problems than those most of my coworkers were working on.
I knew that my job title (engineering aide) was different from those of my peers (research scientist, computer analyst), though my job was similar; I thought that was because I had been hired more recently than everyone else. I was grateful to have been hired at all, though I had a solid BS degree with a double major in math and chemistry . . .
The new engineering aide was a young man with a high school diploma and a drafting class. His job was more clerical than technical. He was paid slightly more than I was.

Bill’s sister has also reminisced about their upbringing, including both the grandmother who ran a biological supply company and the local guidance counselor who doled out advice about prospective colleges based in large part on the prospects for an Mrs. degree.

Even though the Childs aren’t actually on the record — though his daughter is in the Mates of State video! (Don’t be creepy!) — that sense of personal commitment to, and understanding of, the issues shines through the project.

Commitment and dedication to a cause aside, however, the record stands and falls on the music. Childs has been running a “kindie rock” radio show, Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child with his children for some years now, as well as coordinating various festivals and other family music projects, and so he has both extensive contacts and good taste. (I interviewed Bill about kindie rock in 2010 on the occasion of Spare the Rock Record’s first release, a fundraising record for Haiti.) Buy it for the worthy cause; play it because your family will find tracks that they love.

Science: It's a Girl Thing

From EPSA blog: Science: It’s a Girl Thing!

Women represent 32 % of total researchers in the EU

Women represent 39 % of researchers in Higher Education in the EU

Women represent 39 % of researchers in Government in the EU

In an era when women are increasingly prominent in medicine, law and business, why are there so few women scientists and engineers? 

Factors that block women’s participation and progress in science, technology, engineering, and math include stereotypes, gender bias and the climate of science and engineering departments in colleges and universities.

Women continue to be under-represented in research at a time when Europe needs more researchers to foster innovation and bolster its economy. The European Commission launched a campaign to attract young women to research careers in order to increase the total number of researchers in Europe. The European Union has set itself the goal of increasing R&D spending to 3 per cent of GDP by 2020, compared with around 2 per cent now.

As part of this campaign, the EC prepared an ad, Science: It’s a Girl Thing! The ad combines Euro-pop with lots of pink, lots of lipstick, a petri-dish or two and a male model in a lab-coat for good measure giving it a kind of reverse ‘Weird Science’ feel. It even replaces the ‘I’ in ‘science’ with a lipstick.

The ad was a teaser for the EC’s campaign that aims to get young women to seriously consider a career in science. Predictably, the ad took a battering from the general public – science enthusiasts or otherwise. It has already racked up almost 4,000 dislikes compared to only 550 likes.

U.S.'s Rhode sets Olympic record on way to skeet gold medal

Not about a woman scientist...but interesting nevertheless. Shows what hard work combined with a bit of skill can do for you!

From CBS Sports: U.S.'s Rhode sets Olympic record on way to skeet gold medal

The U.S. team notches its biggest day in shooting history with Rhode hitting her marks. (Getty Images)

LONDON -- Kimberly Rhode won the gold medal in women's skeet shooting Sunday, making her the first American to take an individual-sport medal in five consecutive Olympics.
Rhode tied the world record and set an Olympic record with 99 points. Wei Ning of China took silver with 91 points and Danka Bartekova of Slovakia got bronze by beating Marina Belikova of Russia in a shootout after they tied with 90 points.
Rhode won a gold medal in double trap at Atlanta as a teenager in 1996, took bronze in that event four years later at Sydney, reclaimed the gold at Athens in 2004 and won the silver in skeet at Beijing in 2008.
In qualifying, Rhode set another Olympic record, missing only one of her 75 shots. Rhode led by four points entering the final, and the way she was connecting Sunday, there was no way she was getting caught.
USA Shooting touted it as the biggest day in shooting history.
Hard to argue with that.
Rhode was a perfect 25-for-25 in each of the first two qualifying sessions, then ran her streak to 65 straight hits before her lone qualifying misfire. Several people watching on a chilly, rainy day at the Royal Artillery Barracks sighed in disbelief at the miss, which Rhode shrugged off with ease.
When qualifying was complete, she flipped the last of the empty shells from her gun, gave a brief fist-pump, followed by a wave and a smile. Rhode thanked several well-wishers as she walked away, moments before rain started falling significantly harder.
The field started with 17 women from 17 nations, before getting pared to six for the final later Sunday.

Celebrating women in science

From ManillaStandardToday:  Celebrating women in science

a. Cecilia Conaco and Aletta Yñiguez are not just women with beauty and brains. Thanks to their curiosity and thirst for knowledge, they are making a difference in the world.
Conaco and Yñiguez are part of the second batch of grant awardees of For Women In Science, a joint undertaking of L’Oréal Philippines, the worldwide leader in cosmetics and Unesco, a specialized agency of the United Nations.

Through these grants, Conaco and Yñiguez will pursue their respective scientific researches that would make marine biology more relevant to Filipinos and move science forward among women.

As a child, Conaco was an avid reader and her fascination over different life forms drove her to pursue a career in science. Upon the encouragement of her teachers, she pursued her dream to become a scientist and completed her doctorate in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Stony Brook University in New York.
“Science is fast-moving field and in research, there’s no typical day,” says Conaco.

Conaco was on her post-doctoral research at the Neuroscience Research Institute at the University of California when she thought of going back to the Philippines. The FWIS program gave the doctor the perfect opportunity time to restart her career in the Philippines.

Conaco’s research involves the collection of marine sponges that will undergo gene sequencing techniques. With the title Dynamic Gene Regulation in Marine Sponges, the study stands to reveal the gene expression of marine sponges in different stages of its life cycle, and their recorded responses to environmental changes. From this information, useful compounds may contribute to the development new drugs or the synthesis of nano materials may help develop new materials.

“Since adult sponges are immobile and filter water for food, these marine animals record environmental changes and this is an important resource in monitoring and conserving marine ecosystems,” adds Conaco
Curiously, Yñiguez was afraid of the water when she was young. When she eventually outgrew her fear and started snorkeling, the diversity of the marine environment awed during her. This fascination prompted Yñiguez to take up marine ecology as her major during undergraduate studies. She completed her doctorate in Marine Biology and Fisheries at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science in the University of Miami. Currently, she is an assistant professor at the Marine Science Institute at the University of the Philippines.

Science fulfills Yñiguez’s sense of adventure and excitement when most of her days were spent collecting specimens and sea water samples.

“It is an exciting field, even for women, and there so much opportunities,” she says.

Researching on the changes in the phytoplankton types and the environmental conditions accompanying those types, Yñiguez hopes her study would help in the development of computer models in the management and mitigation of harmful algal blooms—an example would be the red tide.

“Marine plants and planktons are at the base of the food web. When these organisms produce harmful algal blooms, there could be poisoning, fatalities and economic losses.

This study can help validate and increase reliability of monitoring platforms that will eventually improve the existing bloom forecasting system,” explains Yñiguez.

The research study, Enhancing Robustness of Plankton models and Monitoring systems by Understanding Fine-scale Biophysical processes, will place Yñiguez in Bicol, specifically at Lamon Bay, a productive fisheries area, and Sorsogon Bay, a red tide area.

In aid of their research, Conaco and Yñiguez will receive P400,000 as national fellows of the FWIS.

Launched in 2010, first batch of FWIS Philippines national fellows included doctors Laura David and Maria Corazon De Ungria. On its second year in the country, FWIS and Unesco with the assistance of the Science and Technology Department, identified two Filipina scientists of no more than 35 years old, and supported their careers by giving them visibility and reward with a grant for their proposed research.

In 1998, L’Oreal Foundation together with Unesco created this ambitious program to promote research of women in science. In every continent, L’Oreal, UNESCO and the scientific community have built a worldwide network that encourages women fellows to pursue research in national and international levels.

“FWIS is one of the strongest programs L’Oreal has globally today, mainly because it values key components in our company DNA – science and women. Through this program, we have been able to create a community of women who move science forward in the hopes of making the world a better place,” shares Luc Olivier-Marquet, managing director of L’Oreal Philippines.

Christian Cayaba, the Scientific and Technico Regulatory Affairs manager of L’Oreal Philippines, hopes that the program encourages young girls pursue their interest in science.

“We would like to see more women join the science community. We hope to inspire new models of women with focus, great level of patience, and attention to details, inherent traits found in women that science researches are in need of,” says Cayaba.

Cayaba also announced that for the next FWIS national fellows, applicants may submit research proposals related to the Life and Material sciences. Applicants should not be more than 45 years of age and must hold or currently pursue masteral or doctoral degrees in any field of Life and Material science. Two fellowship grants worth P40,000 will be given to deserving women based on the criteria of an esteemed jury composed of representatives from L’Oreal Philippines, Unesco and the DOST. The deadline for submission is March 2013.

 

Left or Right? A Woman's Sense of Direction Can Be Judged by Looking at Her Hands

Note that the conclusions drawn in the article below come from 82 women. 92, out of a population of what, 6 billion? Talk about extrapolation!

From Medical Daily:  Left or Right? A Woman's Sense of Direction Can Be Judged by Looking at Her Hands

It's a known stereotype that men cannot multi-task and women have no sense of direction, but scientists have now found a simple way to spot whether a woman can navigate or not.

A new study revealed that just people can tell how good a woman's sense of direction is just by looking at her fingers.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge found that women whose ring finger is shorter than their index finger are much more likely to rely on satellite navigation technology to find their way round, whereas women whose ring fingers are of similar height to their index finger are better at navigation.

Researchers explain that finger length reflects exposure to different level of hormones in the womb, explaining why men tend to have long ring fingers because they were exposed greater levels of testosterone in the developmental stage and women tend to have ring and index fingers that are similar in length.

Scientists also believe that testosterone plays an essential role in the way the brain develops in the early stages of life.


The study was made up of 82 male and female students. After researchers measured the length of the student's fingers, they had the students play a series of computerized navigational tasks.
Participants were asked to watch a computer game clip that was set among fields and rivers. Researchers asked students to memorize the exact location of a tiny blue crystal that appeared on the screen, and participants were given 20 seconds to try to navigate their way back to where the crystal had been.
At the end of the task the crystal reappears briefly to show participants how close they came to determining the exact location of the blue crystal.

The findings, published in Plos One, showed that women performed significantly better and were more accurate in the navigation tasks if their ring finger, like men, was longer than their index finger.

"These results demonstrate for the first time that a sex difference in the use of directional cues, i.e., the sense of direction, is associated with more male-like digit ratio," researchers wrote in the study.

Researchers said a person's ring finger length is usually determined by the 14^th week of gestation, depending on the level testosterone exposure.

Higher levels of testosterone exposure in the womb increases the chances that a baby boy will grow up with a slightly longer ring finger on each hand, and higher levels of estrogen exposure will result in shorter ring fingers.

Previous studies have also linked finger length to prostate cancer risk, athletic ability in men and arthritis and sexuality in women.

 

Leading the Fleet: Explorer Sylvia Earle’s Pioneering Life in Marine Science and Conservation

From Txnologist:  Leading the Fleet: Explorer Sylvia Earle’s Pioneering Life in Marine Science and Conservation

A host of names gets thrown around when oceanographer, undersea explorer and advocate Dr. Sylvia Earle gets mentioned. Hero of the Planet. Living Legend. Ambassador of the World’s Oceans. Pioneer.
Earle has led more than 400 expeditions, logged more than 7,000 hours underwater, holds multiple diving records and has been instrumental in developing and engineering deep-water submersibles. She has authored more than 125 publications focused on marine science and technology.
She is the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s former chief scientist and is now a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, founder of global ocean advocacy initiative Mission Blue and serves on multiple boards. She’s currently training for an upcoming NOAA Aquarius undersea laboratory mission in which she’ll be conducting research for a week.
Txchnologist: When did you first know you wanted to dedicate yourself to studying and advocating for the world’s oceans?
Sylvia Earle: Since I was a child. I was always trying to figure out as much as I could about the natural world. I fell in love with the ocean at age three. But, it wasn’t the water that was most compelling; it was the life that was in the water — the big glossy horseshoe crabs that came out during the summer months. I spent a lot of time trying to turn horseshoe crabs around and get them back into the ocean, not realizing that they really wanted to come up on the beach and lay their eggs. I suppose I was always trying to be a scientist and an explorer.
Txch: Were there other girls in the classes you took?
SE: I made choices along the way to take all the science classes I could possibly fit in. It was unusual to have other girls in my science classes—in most I was either the only woman, or one of very few. That has changed. It’s really exciting to see that in many marine science classes today, nearly half the students are women.
Txch: What inspired you to pursue a career in marine science?

Dr. Sylvia Earle in her natural environment. Courtesy Kip Evans.

SE: My parents encouraged me to follow my heart.
A number of books were also truly influential. One by William BeeBe called “Half Mile Down,” published in the 1930’s. BeeBe and his engineer associate actually built and used a bathyscaphe [ed.- a deep-sea submersible] in the waters off Bermuda. His descriptions and the images, the pictures that were rendered in beautiful paintings just captured my imagination. I just became fascinated with the whole idea of being able to access the sea. And, of course, Cousteau. When I read his book, “Silent World,” I knew I really wanted to try that.
Txch: Do you have any stories that make you cringe or laugh about being a woman in the field?
SE: There are a number of headlines that signify some of the experiences. One was a headline in the Mombasa Daily Times that read, “Sylvia Sails Away with 70 Men, But She Expects No Problem.” Another came out when I was preparing for the Tektite II, mission 6 project, an all-female research expedition. The Boston Globe reported, “Beacon Hill Housewife to Lead Team of Female Aquanauts.” Another headline came out when I was using a diving suit called Jim. The system could go more than a thousand feet down. The Star, a tabloid, ran a double-paged spread that read, “Brave Mom Dives to 1,250 Feet.” So, over the years I was a Beacon Hill housewife, a brave mom, an Aqua-Babe’ and ‘Sailing away with 70 Men.’
At Duke University, I was told flat out I could not have the position I had applied for to be a research assistant because I was just going to get married and have kids. They told me they had to give those positions to the young men because they would stick it out and become professionals. To them, it was a logical thing. Today, that would never fly. But back then it did.
I didn’t end up getting the position. But some of the other faculty members were sympathetic, so I got another job for less money.
In the 1960s and 1970s, I was on half-dozen international expeditions and I really wanted to be the chief scientist. On one expedition in particular, I felt very strongly I had helped craft the work being done and it just seemed logical that I would have a chance at chief scientist. Again I was told flat out that it didn’t seem appropriate for a woman to be a chief scientist on a ship. It is so different from today. Many women now serve in that position.
Txch: What is the biggest problem that needs to be addressed within your field?
SE: I think there are many people who still think the ocean is too big to fail—that what we put in or what we take out doesn’t matter; that even though fish are declining by as much as 90 percent or more for some species, it doesn’t matter. Whatever we have put our sites on to extract we have managed to overdo to the point of real concern.
It is an awareness of the ocean that really matters. Every breath we take and every drop of water we drink, or even that we are alive at all on Earth, relies on the existence of the ocean and its life. The biggest problem is making people become aware. The ocean is fundamental to everything we care about—our economy, our security, our health.
Another big problem is our capacity to alter the nature of the ocean. There is a lack of awareness that the ocean is changing and that it matters. The solution is to expand exploration, to communicate the importance of the sea and to inspire a much greater commitment than we currently have to care for it.
It’s becoming clear that fish are more valuable swimming around as part of the systems that keep us alive than swimming with lemon slices in butter on a plate.
We are investing substantial resources into exploring the skies above and the heavens beyond. But we’re neglecting this part of the universe, this part of the solar system, this blue planet. What is under the surface is still unknown, unexplored. What we do know is that it keeps us alive. It’s where most of earth’s water is; it’s where most life is. Failing to recognize the significance of that is incredibly dangerous.
Txch: What advice do you have for girls and women who look up to you and are interested in following in your footsteps?
SE: It’s pretty simple: Go for it! There will be people who will say that it’s inappropriate, that you can’t, you mustn’t, you shouldn’t. But if it’s what you really love, then find a way to do it. There are always obstacles and that is not a bad thing, because it causes you to be creative in figuring out how to get over them, around them, under them or through them. Whatever you do, don’t let the obstacles stop you.

 

Sally Ride, first US woman in space, dies at 61

From Boston.com:  Sally Ride, first US woman in space, dies at 61 FILE - This undated photo released by NASA shows astronaut Sally Ride. Ride, the first American woman in space, died Monday, July 23, 2012 after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 61. (AP Photo/NASA, File)

• News /

By Seth Borenstein and Alicia Chang

LOS ANGELES—Space used to be a man's world. Then came Sally Ride, who blazed a cosmic trail for U.S. women into orbit. With a pitch perfect name out of a pop song refrain, she joined the select club of American space heroes the public knew by heart: Shepard, Glenn, Armstrong and Aldrin.

Ride, the first American woman in orbit, died Monday at her home in the San Diego community of La Jolla at age 61. The cause was pancreatic cancer, an illness she had for 17 months, according to her company, Sally Ride Science.

Ride rode into space on the space shuttle Challenger on June 18, 1983, when she was 32. Since then, 42 other American women flew in space.

"Sally was a national hero and a powerful role model. She inspired generations of young girls to reach for the stars," President Barack Obama said in a statement.

When shuttles started flying frequently with crews of six or seven, astronauts became plentiful and anonymous. Not Ride.

"People around the world still recognize her name as the first American woman in space, and she took that title seriously even after departing NASA," Eileen Collins, the first female space shuttle commander, said in a statement. "She never sought media attention for herself, but rather focused on doing her normally outstanding job."

When Ride first launched into space, feminist icons such as Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda were at Kennedy Space Center and many wore T-shirts alluding to the pop song with the refrain of the same name: "Ride, Sally Ride."

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, a former astronaut, said Ride "broke barriers with grace and professionalism -- and literally changed the face of America's space program."

"The nation has lost one of its finest leaders, teachers and explorers," he said in a statement.

Ride was a physicist, writer of five science books for children and president of her own company, which motivates youngsters to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math. She had also been a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego.

In 1978, NASA included women in the astronaut corps, selecting Ride and five other women to join the club, which had been dominated by male military test pilots. Ride beat out fellow astronaut candidates to be the first American female in space. Her first flight came two decades after the Soviets sent a woman into space. A second Soviet woman flew in space in 1982.

"On launch day, there was so much excitement and so much happening around us in crew quarters, even on the way to the launch pad," Ride recalled in a NASA interview for the 25th anniversary of her flight in 2008. "I didn't really think about it that much at the time -- but I came to appreciate what an honor it was to be selected to be the first to get a chance to go into space."

Ride flew in space twice, both times on Challenger, in 1983 and on October 5, 1984, logging 343 hours in space. A third flight was cancelled when Challenger exploded in 1986. She was on the commission investigating that accident and later served on the panel for the 2003 Columbia shuttle accident, the only person on both boards. She also was on the president's committee of science advisers.

The 20th anniversary of her first flight also coincided with the loss of Columbia, a bittersweet time for Ride, who discussed it in a 2003 interview with The Associated Press. She acknowledged it was depressing to spend the anniversary investigating the accident, which killed seven astronauts.

"But in another sense, it's rewarding because it's an opportunity to be part of the solution and part of the changes that will occur and will make the program better," she said.

Later in the interview, she focused on science education and talked about "being a role model and being very visible."

"She was very smart," said former astronaut Norman Thagard, who was on Ride's first flight. "We did have a good time."

It was all work on that first flight, except for a first-in-space sprint around the inside of the shuttle, Thagard recalled in a phone interview Monday. He didn't know who won.

Born on May 26, 1951, in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, Ride became fascinated with science early on, playing with a chemistry kit and telescope. She also excelled in tennis and competed in national junior tournaments.

She earned bachelor's degrees in physics and English from Stanford University in 1973 and a master's in 1975. She was studying for a Ph.D. when she saw an ad in the student newspaper calling for scientists and engineers to apply to become astronauts. She was chosen in 1978, the same year she earned her doctorate in physics from Stanford.

Ride was married to fellow astronaut Steve Hawley from 1982 to 1987. Hawley said Ride was never fully comfortable being in the spotlight.

"While she never enjoyed being a celebrity, she recognized that it gave her the opportunity to encourage children, particularly young girls, to reach their full potential," Hawley said in a statement released by NASA.

One of Ride's last legacies was allowing middle school students to take their own pictures of the moon using cameras aboard NASA's twin Grail spacecraft in a project spearheaded by her company.

"Sally literally could have done anything with her life. She decided to devote her life to education and to inspiring young people. To me, that's such a powerful thing. It's extraordinarily admirable," said Maria Zuber, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who heads the Grail mission.

Ride's office said she is survived by Tam O'Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years and a co-founder of Sally Ride Science; her mother, Joyce; her sister, Bear, a niece; and a nephew.

Ireland: Queen's University scientist awarded top prize

From PhyOrg:  Queen's University scientist awarded top prize


A female scientist from the Queen's University Ionic Liquid Laboratories (QUILL) Research Centre has won a prestigious fellowship for her work on ionic liquids enabling biomedical applications.

Dr Geetha Srinivasan is one of four outstanding female scientists to be awarded the 2012 L'Oréal-UNESCO UK and Ireland For Women In Science Fellowships (FWIS) The fellowships,worth £15,000 each, can be spent on whatever they may need to continue their research, from buying scientific equipment to paying for childcare or travel.

The winners were selected by a jury of eminent scientists, chaired by Professor Dame Athene Donald (DBE, FRS), Professor of Physics and Gender Equality Champion at the University of Cambridge and FWIS Laureate.

The other winners were Dr Silvia Giordani, from Trinity College Dublin, for her work on a new avenue towards "smart" medicines; Dr Katrina Lythgoe, from Imperial College London, for her work in multiscale evolutionary dynamics of important human diseases; and Dr Claire Spottiswoode, from the University of Cambridge, for her work on the genetics of cuckoo egg mimicry: solving a century-old evolutionary puzzle.

Chair of the jury Professor Donald said: "These awards are always a joy to judge. We had an outstanding shortlist of eight bright young women who care deeply about their areas of study. This made selecting the winners an incredibly tough task, but it also showed the extraordinary range of scientific research being carried out by female scientists in the UK and Ireland.

"I am delighted that the scientific community in UK and Ireland is waking up to the fact that we have to provide men and women with a level playing field in scientific study, allowing us judges the privilege of making our selection from such a fantastic shortlist."

The fellowships, now in their fourteenth year internationally and sixth year in the UK, promote the importance of ensuring greater participation of women in science by offering awards to outstanding female postdoctoral researchers. The UK fellowships have been designed to provide flexible financial help for the winners to undertake research in their chosen fields.

 

Canadian scientists protest firings, spending cuts

From People's World:  Canadian scientists protest firings, spending cuts

In June 2012, Canada's government made excessive cuts in its environmental departments, resulting in the firing of many top scientists. On July 9, those scientists - and their supporters - had decided they'd had enough; they led a march through central Ottawa to Parliament Hill, in protesting what they said was a vicious attack on science and the environment.

The demonstration was led by a woman pointedly dressed as a Grim Reaper, leading the rest of the workers along with a coffin meant to represent "the death of evidence." That symbolism served as commentary on conservative Prime Minister Harper's apparent disinterest in funding or supporting all things scientific, which many feel is motivated by his administration's bedfellowship with Big Oil.

"Evidence is the way that adults navigate reality. When countries [deny evidence and] engage in fantasy, that's called state propaganda," said professor Arne Moores, addressing a crowd of 800+ people at Parliament Hill.

On top of the firings and department cuts, said scientists, the Harper administration intends to stop funding a number of additional projects, like an Arctic environment atmospheric research laboratory. U.S. scientists have remarked that shutting down that lab will interfere with the world's ability to monitor the ozone layer. Activists are quick to note that this comes at a time when oil companies are setting their sights on the Arctic and its sensitive ecosystem.

Also being shut down is the Experimental Lakes Area in Ontario, which plays a big role in studying the effects of water pollution. That area - a collection of 58 remote lakes and a laboratory - has been running since the 60's, and was the place where the first evidence of acid rain came from.

"It is completely shocking," said Jim Elser, an aquatic ecologist at Arizona State University, who performed experiments at the site during the 90's. "It's sort of like the U.S. government shutting down Los Alamos [it's most important nuclear physics site] or taking the world's best telescope and turning it off."
Doing away with the ELA also means that all workers there will lose their jobs.

"The government is shutting down science and decimating Canada's environment," said earth sciences professor Sherry Schiff. "It's pretty transparent."

Jeff Hutchings, professor of biology at Dalhousie University, added, "An iron curtain is being drawn between science and society. Closed curtains, especially those made of iron, make for very dark rooms."

The ELA also played a key role - albeit inadverdently - in the fight against Big Oil. "People working at ELA [were] constantly finding reasons why you can't just put a pipeline here, or an industry there, because there are going to be environmental costs," said freshwater lake biologist John Smol.

University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver was able to sum up the reason for the Harper administration's anti-science assault: "It's not about saving money [for the government]. It's about improvising ideology. What's happened here is that the government has an ideological agenda to develop the Canadian economy based on the extraction of oil as quickly as possible." They want to "sell it as fast as they can, come hell or high water - and eliminate any barriers that stand in their way."

 

Scientists at Lucas Heights nuclear reactor tarnished by The Shire

The cast of The Shire. Picture: Channel 10 Source: The Daily Telegraph

From the Herald Sun:  Scientists at Lucas Heights nuclear reactor tarnished by The Shire

YOU don't have to be a nuclear physicist to realise Channel 10's new series The Shire has put a few noses out of joint. 
 
Scientists at Lucas Heights nuclear reactor - in the heart of the Sutherland Shire - are sick of the stereotype of pumped-up princesses and sculpted surfers and have decided to take a stand against the show, which airs on Monday. Call it, if you will, the revenge of the nerds.

Engadine's Dr Joanne Lackenby works in nuclear operations and is on the board of the Women in Nuclear program.

"The Shire has scientists as well as surfers and biologists as well as beach babes," the 32-year-old said.
"There are 1400 people at ANSTO alone, and a third live locally and a quarter have PhDs. People who try to paint the Shire as anything other than diverse are just wrong."

Engineer Sam Harrison, 23, is also from Sutherland.

He works with instrumentation and safety systems and in his spare time he - shock horror! - likes going to the beach at Cronulla, seeing friends and going to local pubs.

"I work in the Shire, I socialise in the Shire, and I love the Shire. The people I work with in the Shire work hard, we're smart, we're ambitious and driven," he said.

"You don't have to be a nuclear scientist to know we have some smarts in the Shire."

 

Culture barrier to women in science

From Sydney Morning Herald:  Culture barrier to women in science

Crikey, is Australian science too blokey for women? According to University of Canberra vice-chancellor Professor Stephen Parker, there's possibly ''something in Australian culture'' that seems to discourage young women from studying maths and science.

''I don't think it comes down to gender identification with specific subjects in the schools system. I think it's something much deeper than that, and I strongly suspect it's got a lot to do with Australian culture,'' he said.
Professor Parker has launched a proposal to establish a new science and education ''super-faculty'' at the University of Canberra by merging disciplines in applied science, mathematics, statistics and education.
The new faculty, which could begin operating next year, is the first of its kind in Australia and will aim to boost the number of high quality maths and science teachers in secondary schools.

''We have a problem, in that Australia is falling well behind in the sciences, and if we want to be taken seriously on the world stage, we need to do something to boost our science capital,'' he said.

ACT Education Minister Chris Bourke has welcomed the proposal, saying good science teachers were critical to Canberra's economic future. ''Canberra's future prosperity relies on young people becoming the scientists and technicians who drive innovation and economic growth,'' Dr Bourke said.

Professor Parker said the nation's schools needed ''many more confident maths and science teachers'' who could inspire and enthuse secondary students to continue their studies at university. The proposed new faculty of education, science and mathematics would also aim to improve science communication.
''We want the University of Canberra to develop a reputation as the place to be if you want a career as a maths or science teacher. The benefit of this particular mix of disciplines is that it puts educators directly in touch with scientists.''

The new arrangement will include the department of applied ecological science, and the university is hoping to offer a new degree in environmental education.

''Applied ecology is one of the jewels in the university's crown, and I promise I'll be doing everything I can to advance its reputation,'' Professor Parker said.

And, the new super-faculty won't require budget or job cuts from the departments that will be amalgamated. Professor Parker said there was ''no downside to this proposal, because there will be no closures or disruptions''.

A number of staff meetings had already occurred and ''staff were positive about the proposed changes,'' he said.

The plan will be discussed by the university's academic board next week, and then go to the university council for approval.

 

Pair studies fragments of prehistory

From Daily Inter Lake: Pair studies fragments of prehistory

When asked what they did over the summer, two Flathead High School alumni will be able to say they spent several weeks in China trying to piece together the prehistoric past using fragments of fossilized dinosaur eggs.

Hannah Wilson, a 2011 Flathead graduate, and Robert Rader, a 2008 Flathead graduate, went on a paleontology trip May 17 through June 19 in China’s Zhejiang Province, studying dinosaur eggs at the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History in Hangzhou.

Wilson just completed her freshman year at Montana State University majoring in history and economics while Rader finished his junior year at the University of Montana and is majoring in geoscience.

They were among nine students chosen from across the state to participate in the International Research Experience for Students program through National Science Foundation grants.

Wilson was intrigued by paleontology after taking a course on dinosaurs through Montana State University Associate Professor of Paleontology David Varricchio in the fall.

“That was the beginning,” Wilson said. “I like the mystery of fossils. In general, it’s like a big puzzle. You find bits and pieces of fossils and have to reconstruct them to see what it looked like, but you’re never completely sure what an organism looked like millions of years ago, how it died or how it lived.”  

Wilson and Rader worked alongside Varricchio in China.

They spent a majority of their time looking at incomplete eggs from the museum’s extensive collection to decipher if holes or cracks found in eggs were made from hatchlings, predators or the natural elements.

“A lot of eggs were fragmented. Some are about the size of a grapefruit or an orange and they are black, almost perfectly round. Previous research said the holes were from hatchlings. We disagreed. Some hatched, but maybe they were crushed over time. We’re still very early in the research process,” Rader said, noting he has yet to study data collected during the trip.

While in China, the students also traveled to Shanghai, Beijing and various rural areas to conduct a week of fieldwork and learn about the culture.

“The program enabled you to interact with local Chinese people, eat authentically and explore the culture,” Wilson said.

Field research and study were different in China compared to the United States. Wilson said there was not much emphasis on documenting field findings.

Wilson said this was a challenge. In the museum, the students did not have documented clues of where or how fossils were found since many of the specimens were dropped off by local farmers or construction workers. Something as simple as deciphering the round egg’s top or bottom was challenging without documenting the position fossils were found in the field, Wilson said.

“A project I took on was trying to identify the tops and bottoms of eggs. We didn’t know how they were laid,” Wilson said.

Wilson said she learned valuable skills in museum exhibit preparation, field exploration, lab work and writing professional research papers.

“The program gave a good sense of what a research project entails,” Wilson said. “I believe the ability to properly execute the scientific method is really important and it’s something I hope to improve upon in my own skill set.”

Wilson, who was an International Baccalaureate student at Flathead, said the baccalaureate program helped her appreciate an interdisciplinary education. She described it as “holistic” learning.

“I would definitely credit the International Baccalaureate program for being able to do all this,” Wilson said.

Both Wilson and Rader are working on research papers with fellow participants on the trip in hopes of publishing and presenting at conferences.

Additionally Wilson is working on papers to submit to the International Symposium on Dinosaur Eggs and Babies in Hangzhou. If accepted, she would present her research at the conference.

Wilson and Rader have extended their fossil digs over the summer. Wilson is in Choteau chipping away at rocks to find more fossilized eggs while Rader is in Bear Gulch searching for fish fossils.

“Yesterday we found a really beautiful Troodon dinosaur tooth,” Wilson said, noting that the Troodon is closely related to birds.

After Wilson graduates, she wants to attend law school while Rader plans to pursue a master’s program in paleontology.

The Subtle ‘Stereotype Threat’ That May Be Driving Women Out of Science-Related Fields

From Jezebel:  The Subtle ‘Stereotype Threat’ That May Be Driving Women Out of Science-Related Fields

 According to new research into the glaring gender gap in science and math-related fields, the psychological phenomenon known as the "stereotype threat" may be discouraging female scientists from relishing their work, which sucks because without more women entering the scientific workforce, America is probably going to soon become a nation of cave-dwelling primates that believe thunder is just God's giant cosmic dog thumping against celestial floorboards in an effort to scratch behind its ear. Or some such non-scientific wackiness.
NPR's Shankar Vedantam reports on a study about why so many women drop out of science-related fields conducted by University of British Columbia psychologist Toni Schmader and her University of Arizona colleague Matthias Mehl. Using a device called an Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) that the Stasi would have been super jealous of, Schmader and Mehl collected daily soundbites (about 5 an hour and 70 a day) of women working in science-related fields. They found that, whereas men seemed more energized when discussing their work, when women talked to their male colleagues about work, they seemed disengaged. When women talked to other female colleagues about work, however, they seemed engaged, and when they talked to men about leisure activities, the anxieties that marred previous work-related conversations vanished. Schmader and Mehl looked for instances of men being overtly hostile or nasty to their female colleagues as a possible explanation for this disconnect, but, finding that all the conversations were perfectly civil, they realized that there was another far more subtle phenomenon causing women who'd endured grueling Ph.D. programs to suddenly cut their science careers short.
Schmader and Mehl identified the "stereotype threat," a psychological phenomenon first identified by psychologist Claude Steele, as the culprit behind the dearth of women in science-related fields. Steele explained the threat as something that, though never necessarily overt, would hang over the heads of certain groups of people like a cloud, affecting the way they saw themselves in the context of a larger group of people. Describing how the "stereotype threat" affects us, Steele wrote,

Everyone experiences stereotype threat. We are all members of some group about which negative stereotypes exist, from white males and Methodists to women and the elderly. And in a situation where one of those stereotypes applies - a man talking to women about pay equity, for example, or an aging faculty member trying to remember a number sequence in the middle of a lecture - we know that we may be judged by it.

As it pertained to Schmader and Mehl's study, the stereotype threat made women second guess themselves when they talked to a male colleague because there's an implicit cultural assumption that men are just naturally more inclined towards the sciences than women. That, coupled with the fact that the sciences are dominated by men threw female scientists off-balance in their work-related conversations with male colleagues. According to Schmader,

For a female scientist, particularly talking to a male colleague, if she thinks it's possible he might hold this stereotype, a piece of her mind is spent monitoring the conversation and monitoring what it is she is saying, and wondering whether or not she is saying the right thing, and wondering whether or not she is sounding competent, and wondering whether or not she is confirming the stereotype.

Schmader and Mehl warned that people shouldn't take this to mean that the difficulty women have staying put in science fields is all some elaborate, paranoid fiction — the stereotype threat is a very real and pernicious phenomenon that keeps people from feeling confident about their standing within a particular community. When women look around a lab and see a bunch of lab-coated penises flopping from petri dish to petri dish, they might wonder if they really belong in that environment. "If people like me," Schmader said, explaining a female scientist's dismay at finding herself the seeming exception to some unspoken stereotype, "aren't represented in this field, then it makes me feel like it's a bad fit, like I don't belong here." The only way to combat the stereotype threat, then, is to more actively encourage women to enter the sciences, which in turn will keep America out of the caves and maybe help us staff up a mission to Mars. Come on, people, we can totally do this.

 

The Obvious Reason Why More Girls Aren't Scientists

Every other day, until July 31, I'll be sharing a news article (and get back to one or more articles every day in August). Most of 'em detail what governments are trying to do to get girls interested in careers in science, or wondering why there aren't more women scientists out there.

What is the real reason?

Mass media.

Look at the TV shows we see today, and the barrage of commercials for each TV show. Look at the movies that come out.

Even if a TV show or movie shows a "strong, independent" woman, she is invariably beautiful, and has no problem falling into bed at the drop of a hat with a handsome man.

But sitcoms? What do these teach kids? That beautiful women can be married to fat guys, but never vice versa. (I'm thinking The King of Queens. Life According to Bill (or whatever it's called). Then there's the abominations of Two and a Half Men, and the Big Bang Theory.

I liked the Big Bang Theory when it first started, for all that Penny, the dumb blonde roommate, was a bit too dumb (has she done anything about her check engine light yet?) But when they introduced a girlfriend for Sheldon, who is supposed to be the "female Sheldon" but instead cries and spoons and melts when Sheldon gives her a tiara and crap like that - it's an insult to all women scientists everywhere - for all that the actress who plays her Mayim Bailik, actually is a scientist and probably brighter than all of her co-stars.

Who are the women scientists on Big Bang Theory? A cold psychiatrist mother for Leonard, who nevertheless will get drunk and kiss Sheldon (although actually it was pretty funny to see them playing Guitar  Hero), Leslie Winkle who only wants sex and discards Leonard after she gets it, a physicist friend of Sheldon's who visits him and will  have sex with anyone... the list goes on.

How about cartoons?  We've got "Dora the Explorer," with Dora just exploring, but it's her sidekick Diego who stars in Go, Diego, Go, about a boy who goes places and actually rescues things. We've got Horseland, about a bunch of girls learning dressage, but who are invariably more concerned with finding boyfriends, or at least getting acknowledged as important by some boy.

Then there's things like Green Screen TV which shows adults acting stupidly...I can't watch it long enough to know what they're actually trying to accomplish.

There's Jimmy Neutron. Jimmy's the scientist, and he's badgered by a red-haired neighborhood girl who is a bossy know it all.

There's Arthur, whose little sister thinks she knows it all

There was a cartoon about a mad scientist...I'm blanking on the name - he talked with a German accent - and of course his sister is blonde and a total airhead...

Women fair somewhat better in drama shows - Mariska Hargitay in SVU - but of course every victim in that show is a woman...

The only Law and Order spin-off to have a woman in the lead either bombed or was never given a change to find its audience (not sure which)

THere's Psych, with an extrovert guy who behaves like an utter jerk - let a woman try to behave like that and see how soon she's squashed down.

And of course there's the spin-offs, The Mentalist, and now Perception... the guys are soooo smart and their female sidekicks just try to keep up.

Yes, there are a couple of female cop buddy shows - Rizzoli and Isles. ...Rizzoli and Isles. The only woman on The Closer is Brenda Lee Johnson the lead... I think Covert Affairs has a woman in the lead and a male side kick, and there was Alias...

But really, the proportions are in no way equal.

Scientist dreams of being first Puerto Rican woman in space

From Deccan Herald:  Scientist dreams of being first Puerto Rican woman in space

Yajaira Sierra Sastre says that dreaming "doesn't cost anything", so she's spent all her life getting ready to be the first Puerto Rican woman in space - and now she's a little closer to her goal after being chosen to take part in a new NASA project.

"I've wanted to be an astronaut since I was a little girl. I told people at school that's what I wanted, and since then I've kept every newspaper article I ever saw about astronauts and missions to outer space," she told EFE Friday in an interview.

Thirtyfive-year-old Sierra, who has a PhD in nanotechnology from Cornell University, could not hide her excitement while saying she is one of six people who will take part in a forward-looking NASA project.

"We're six scientists who will live for four months isolated in a planetary module to simulate what life will be like for astronauts at a future base on Mars, while also taking part in a study on the importance of healthy meals in outer space," she said.

Behind the project is NASA's interest in finding out why astronauts don't eat enough, having noted that they get bored with spaceship food and end up with problems like weight loss and lethargy that put their health at risk.

"It's a problem they want to solve for missions to Mars where astronauts will have to stay for more than a year," said the scientist, who would not speculate on when the first landing on the red planet will be but believes that manned spaceships will be going there "in the next 20 years".

During the four months of simulation at a base in Hawaii, the crew will have no real-time communications with the outside world, though they will have contact with "Earth" via e-mail, and every time they step outside the module they will have to wear space suits.

"As part of the food study, we want to control our exposure to fresh air, evaluate how our senses of smell and taste change over time in isolation, and find out what role food plays in the crew's spirits and state of mind," she said.

Astronauts currently eat pre-prepared meals, but Sierra said that on the surface of Mars "there is a certain degree of gravity" which will allow astronauts to cook, so those in the simulation study want to try cooking with a great many non-perishable ingredients.

"They're teaching us new cooking techniques and we're putting together a database of recipes that we'll recommend to NASA for future missions to Mars - and I will personally make sure we'll have Martian paella, which we will make with rehydrated seafood," she said with a broad smile.

The aspiring astronaut said that to add zest to the recipes, the "Martian pantry" of the future will not lack some typical ingredients of Puerto Rican cuisine, such as recaito pepper sauce, culantro and annatto.

She said that the simulation project is "one more step" toward having her dream come true, after sending in her application last November to fill one of the 15 available positions NASA announced for its team of astronauts.

Sierra, who recalls as if it were yesterday the first time she was entranced by the stars when as a five-year-old she watched a formation of planets with her dad in her native Puerto Rico, continues training so that one day she can observe her native island from faraway in outer space

 

Amulet depicting ancient Egyptian dwarf god Bes found among collection of artefacts in UK

From Ahmran Online: Amulet depicting ancient Egyptian dwarf god Bes found among collection of artefacts in UK 

A unique ancient Egyptian green faience amulet was discovered by a curator at Swansea University's Egypt Centre in Wales on Tuesday.

Carolyn Graves-Brown stumbled upon the amulet when examining a collection of 50 objects loaned to the centre by Woking College in England.

The amulet depicts the face of the ancient Egyptian dwarf god Bes, the protector of households. It has bulging eyes, a long tongue sticking out of its face and a crown of feathers. The amulet has a hole at its top so it can be suspended on a necklace or a pin.

In addition to the amulet, the collection includes a Sokar hawk, a large number of 3000-year-old ushabti figurines (servant statuettes), two glass bottles from the reign of Cleopatra and two amulets.

Grave-Brown told Live Science that she did not recognise the importance of the amulet until she learned of similar objects at the British Museum. She was then able to determine that it was a faience god Bes bell amulet once used to protect mothers and children from evil spirits.

“It is one of a very few known to exist,” she said.

The amulet is well preserved but fragile and could be easily broken, said Graves-Brown.

“Faience was very often used for objects that had a magical or religious significance in ancient Egypt,” she told Live Science. 

Few existing Bes bell amulets have been found in their original context, which is why there are several theories about their purpose, she added.

They may have been worn by pregnant mothers or children, or perhaps placed beside the child while they slept as magical protection against evil.

However, there could be another explanation, she said.  [WHICH IS???]

 

The Higgs Boson and my mom

From Scientific American:  The Higgs Boson and my mom

The Higgs boson is discovered and I am proud of my mom. My mom has worked as an administrative assistant in the Brown University Physics Department for 18 years. This morning I was sent news from Brown that Professors Landsberg, Narain, Heintz, and Cutts played important roles in the successful search for the ephemeral particle, and that Professor Guralnik was one of six originators of the theory that predicted the boson 48 years ago. I recognized their names from my mom’s work stories.
It wasn’t until I started graduate school that I appreciated what my mom does. I knew it involved typing, but I couldn’t really picture it, or maybe I didn’t take the time to picture it. But now I understand. My department’s administrative assistants help me at least once per week, whether I need help navigating my university’s byzantine structure or managing a grant. Lab technicians and undergraduate staff are also responsible for making any lab run. In short, I have benefitted massively from people who rarely get credit for what they do. Science functions because of their labor.

My mom does many things. She types and proofreads manuscripts with intricate technical formulas. She keeps tabs on research expenses. She publicizes visiting speakers. She organizes departmental events. She tracks large undergraduate classes. She Xeroxes tests. She schedules meetings. She answers the questions of undergraduates, graduates, faculty, and staff. She writes newsletters. She sorts mail. In sum, she helps professors attend to their research.

Office and administrative support staff make up approximately 20 percent of employment in private colleges and a similar employment share in state colleges. On average these employees make $33,000 per year. They do work that is essential to the functioning of science and of a university.

My mom loves her job and the people that she works with. Some of her coworkers have been instrumental in discovering the Higgs Boson. They deserve news coverage and big congratulations. Congratulations, also, to my mom, Jane Martin, and to the staff of the many universities and centers involved in this discovery.

 

The Higgs Boson: Why You Should Care About the God Particle. And, Sadly, Why You Don't

From Forbes SportsMoney Blog:  The Higgs Boson: Why You Should Care About the God Particle. And, Sadly, Why You Don't
My friend and collaborator Ainissa Ramirez, a Yale University materials scientist and TED Talker, likes to call herself a science evangelist,  and her passion and expertise at science education is unparalleled. So this week, with the announcement about the discovery of the Higgs Boson, was both exciting–because of an amazing opportunity–and frustrating–because she thought the science world largely blew it. Here’s her guest post about this defining moment in the history of modern science.
By Ainissa Ramirez, Yale University

Here’s what you need to know about the God Particle.

The Higgs boson (Higgs is a guy’s name, BTW, and a boson is a subatomic particle) is the biggest scientific discovery of the 21^st Century. Period.

This discovery is up there with Copernicus.  If we did not find the Higgs boson, everything that we understood about how the universe works would have been wrong.  We would have had nice equations that describe things we observed in the world, but they would have been crap. That would have been $10 billion flushed down the toilet with the creation of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and we would have gone back to the drawing board with our tail between our legs after fifty years of an aimless pursuit.

Ainissa Ramirez giving a TED Talk. Photo: James Duncan Davidson

It was a big gamble, and we won. It is that big.

 

And while we don’t know exactly how, this discovery will shape our world and that of our great-grandchildren in ways that we can’t quite imagine. When the electron was discovered in 1897, its uses were not obvious.  But, what is obvious today is that we can’t live without electrons, since they run through all our electronics (of cellphones, laptops and TVs) and even make it possible for you to read this now.
So what’s the problem?

One of the founders of the Higgs theory, Gerald Guralnik, was quoted in the New York Times saying he was glad to be at a physics meeting “where there is applause, like a football game.”

The problem is that it’s only physicists that are excited. A few thousand scientists (less than 1 percent of the population) are losing their minds, not taking any calls, getting buzzed in the middle of the day, and crying and hugging each other.

The rest of society is trying to figure out why this is a big whoop.

The biggest discovery of the 21^st century, which connects you (and the world and the universe) to the Big Bang, was barely a whimper to over 99 percent of the population.

As Cool Hand Luke said, “ What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.”

I think the nerds got it wrong by not inviting everyone to the party. The biggest discovery of the 21^st century may actually widen the gap between scientists and the general public.

For the past few days, I’ve been interviewed by CNN and several radio programs to talk about the God particle.  In preparation, I was armed with all kinds of pithy facts about the Large Hadron Collider, where the discovery was made, and the Higgs boson itself. I spent time searching for the best analogy to describe how this Higgs boson helped other particles gain mass. I had great facts like this: the LHC creates millions of mini-Big Bangs each second in an effort to create traces of Higgs bosons, like footprints in the snow.  And, that protons are accelerated to make these collisions at nearly the speed of light in a 17-mile long circular tunnel–-going around 11,000 times per second.

The facts about the experiment are mind-blowing.

But, what my interviewers really wanted to know—all apologizing for their lack of science background as they asked the question—was what does this all mean and why should we care. Like many of my physics brethren, I almost missed the boat myself in stating the significance.

People don’t want to know the details of the Higgs. Not yet. They want to know why it is important and how this changes human history.

I did my best to tell them in terms they could understand.  I felt like a voice in the wilderness.

Far too many physicists are freaking people out discussing how this changes religion, philosophy, and the like.

Hold up!  You’ve got to get people to understand what has been done before you claim to rock their world.  Shouldn’t we let people decide for themselves what this means?

This Higgs boson announcement typifies a big problem with science. The men (and sadly, it is mostly men) in the ivy tower throw information to the masses expecting them to appreciate it and even worse be grateful for it. (Oh, and by the way, these discoveries are made on taxpayers’ dimes–and Euros.)

I’m sorry. But, those good ‘old days, and I mean that with every bit of sarcasm I can muster, are over.
People are asking questions, and they have every right to get answers they can understand.

The headline is that we got it right. We came up with a theory, crunched the numbers, then we built a massive and wondrous machine to see if we were right, that this thing really does exist, and we were right.  That’s big. It’s a reason to be proud to be a human being.

Scientists can and should bask in that glow for a while, but we should also spend a bit more time talking with the rest of the population, sharing the enthusiasm. Specifically, I think we should do a better job at teaching science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) using events such as this as a catalyst.  Since science is right now part of the national conversation, let’s strike while the iron is hot and create ways to get more people excited about science.

Now, I’ll admit, the folks at CERN (the home of the LHC) have made some valiant efforts to teach the general public about science.  There is a cute pop-up book on the LHC that I cannot wait to get a hold of.

But they could do much more.  Since this is the biggest scientific experiment in history, they should set the gold standard for how to communicate science too.  They are the role models that everyone will follow. If they made it a priority to communicate the meaning of this discovery all along, we wouldn’t have reporters scrambling to use the same sound byte all week.

So how could we have done this differently?

CERN should have hired a PR firm to develop a website for the general public on the Higgs Boson.  Maybe CERN should have hired a TV personality to be a spokesperson.  (I’m in the book should anyone care to follow up.)

How about educational videogames where the player makes his or her own Higgs boson?
Or an amusement park ride called the Supercollider?
Or have Peter Higgs do a cameo on The Big Bang Theory.
Now that we have the public’s attention, let’s show them that science is important, and yes, fun too. The Higgs has opened up the door to a conversation between scientists and the public. Let’s boldly step through it.

Scifest unveils future opportunities for women in science

From Voxy (New Zealand):  Scifest unveils future opportunities for women in science

Want to discover opportunities opening up for young women in science? Hear from three inspirational women in science at a breakfast event in Dunedin on Tuesday 3 July, 2012 as part of the 2012 New Zealand International Science Festival.

Sponsored by the British High Commission, speakers at the breakfast include Professor Christine Winterbourn, Professor Helen Nicholson and Angela Clark who will be discussing their careers and opportunities today for young women in science. The event will be hosted by British High Commissioner Vicki Treadell and the event will feature an informative and lively programme.

"The British High Commission is delighted to support the New Zealand International Science Festival in Dunedin."

"For centuries, Great Britain has been a world leader in innovation. Britain has won 76 Nobel prizes in science and technology. Britain is home to 4 of the world's top 10 Universities. And London 2012 will be the world's first truly sustainable Olympics and Paralympics, featuring iconic sports venues that have set new standards in sustainable engineering, construction and design. So there is no better time than now for Great Britain to promote the wonders of science," says Vicki Treadell, British High Commissioner.

Festival director Chris Green says the breakfast will showcase exciting opportunities for young women interested in pursuing science-related careers:

"Thanks to the British High Commission we have been able to secure some truly inspirational speakers for this event - they will give attendees an invaluable insight into their own experiences and help young students or graduates in considering the next steps in their careers."

Prof Christine Winterbourn is a biochemist who holds a personal chair in the Pathology Department at the Christchurch School of Medicine, where she has worked since 1971. She directs the Free Radical Research Group, which is supported by a programme grant from the Health Research Council. She was born in Auckland, has an MSc in chemistry from the University of Auckland and a PhD in biochemistry from Massey University. She has a distinguished record of achievement in her field. In 2011 she received New Zealand's highest scientific award, the Royal Society of NZ's Rutherford Medal. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of NZ in 1988, won the New Zealand Association of Scientists Marsden Medal in 1996, was awarded a Massey University 75th Anniversary Medal in 2002, received the University of Otago Distinguished Research Medal in 2004 and the Society for Free Radical Research (International) Trevor Slater Award for lifetime achievement in 2008. In 1997 she became an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

She was a member of the Biomedical Research Committee of the Health Research Council when it was established in 1991, and served a term as chair of the committee and a member of the council. Prof Winterbourn was recently awarded the Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Prof Helen Nicholson was appointed to a chair in anatomy in 2000 at the University of Otago and served as head of the Department of Anatomy from 2003 to 2007, when she became the second dean of the Otago School of Medical Sciences. In 2011 Helen was seconded as the acting DVC Research from June-December. In 2012 she was appointed as deputy PVC Health Sciences in addition to her role as dean. Helen continues to be an active researcher who also has strong interests in medical teaching and curriculum development. Helen was a founding member, and founding president, of ANZACA (Australian and NZ Association of Clinical Anatomists). She is on the board of NZGL (NZ Genomics Ltd), is an executive member of the NZISF (NZ International Science Festival), and serves on the executive of the International Federation of Associated Anatomical Societies. She is a member of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Board, is on the editorial board of 4 international anatomy journals and was the co-producer of the critically acclaimed television documentary "Donated to Science".

Angela Clarke is a British graduate from the University of Bradford and is currently enrolled in a PhD program with the University of Otago. She is working on a thesis entitled: 'An Investigation of Sexual Dimorphism at the Intensification of Agriculture in Prehistoric Thailand'. Angela Clark is an experienced bioarchaeologist examining changes in the health of prehistoric people living nearly 4000 years ago in Thailand through skeletal and archaeological analysis. She has many hours of experience in teaching, demonstrating and tutoring small groups in biological anthropological techniques and human evolutionary theory. Angela has been involved in archaeological excavations in the UK, Thailand and Peru and moved to Dunedin in June 2009 to undertake her current PhD research.

This event is exclusively sponsored by the British High Commission. Tickets cost $20 (single); booking is essential as numbers are limited. The breakfast will take place on Tuesday 3 July, starting at 8.30am to finish at 9.30am, and will be held at Technique Restaurant, Otago Polytechnic, Harbour Terrace, Dunedin. Booking details are available online at www.scifest.org.nz

 

Aaron Sorkin's 'The Newsroom' Broadcasts His Backward Views On Women

Whatever happened to "You've Come a long Way, Baby?"

Not about women pilots, but a review of an HBO tv show that is utter garbage. Sadly, though, it is not an unusual state. Although I like the Big Bang Theory (at least until they added Amy Farrah Fowler and Leslie Winkle) there's no denying that there's stereotypes there as well. Penny is so stupid that she not only doesn't know what a check engine light means, but even after Sheldon explains it to her she still doesn't know or care. Amy Farrah Fowler is the "female Sheldon," except she yearns for sex, calls Penny "bestie" even though they're not, and is just a demeaning character - for all that the actress who plays her, Mayim Balik, is a scientist in real life!

There's nothing wrong with a new woman employee being supervised by a man, what's wrong is that the woman is so incompetent. In real life an incompetent employee MUST be fired - but in sit coms they are invariably allowed to hang around to be made the butt of jokes. Stupid  - and dangerous.


From International Business News: Aaron Sorkin's 'The Newsroom' Broadcasts His Backward Views On Women

The first minutes of "The Newsroom's" pilot episode are a harbinger of the appalling gender representations to come. While giving a talk at a university, the show's protagonist, newscaster Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) explodes after a perky blonde college sophomore asks a (stupid) question about why America is the greatest country in the world, referring to the dumbfounded student as a "sorority girl" who may or may not "accidently wander into a voting booth one day."

When the actual newsroom is first introduced, a young assistant, Maggie (Alison Pill), weakly pleads with her producer boyfriend Don to come to dinner with her parents. He refuses in a most patronizing manner, while simultaneously belittling a recent career decision she made, calling her choices "dumb." After humiliating and berating her, he nonetheless makes arrangements to meet her later that night, presumably for sex. Of course, she obliges. These insulting portrayals of women continue throughout the rest of the episode, and, according to numerous television critics, it doesn't get any better in future episodes. On Monday, the Daily Beast released a lengthy discussion between TV columnists Lace Jacob and Maureen Ryan that examined the subordinate role of women in the series.

"One of the bigger problems with 'The Newsroom' is that so many scenes involve men setting women straight, men supervising women, a man teaching a woman how to use email (and the woman getting it spectacularly wrong regardless), a hapless woman seesawing between two different men, etc.," says Ryan.
Jacob concurs, referring to a scene in episode two, in which one of the female leads, and the only woman with any kind of power, Mackenzie (Emily Mortimer) struggles to send an email, making an embarrassing and outdated gaffe when a private message intended for McAvoy instead goes out to the whole staff.

"It's hard to know what's more infuriating: that MacKenzie is written as though she hasn't even heard of a war zone or that she's presented as alternately hysterical and incompetent. Her email gaffe in the second episode is unbelievable and galling, says Jacob. "If you're thinking, well, who hasn't sent an errant email? Why does it have to be some symbol of misogyny? Then picture a male character in Sorkin's world who doesn't know the difference between the '*' and 's' keys on his BlackBerry. Impossible."

Poorly sketched female characters are only part of Sorkin's problem. "The Newsroom" began generating criticism well before its premiere on HBO, with countless outlets accusing Sorkin of having a superiority complex.
After Sorkin told Entertainment Weekly that "reporters used to be the good guys in popular culture, and I wanted to write them that way," Gawker's Drew Magary lampooned him in an article titled "Aaron Sorkin Is Ready to Masturbate All Over Your HBO ..."

"I can't think of a more Sisyphean mission than to try and restore America's faith in the media with a f--king TV show," Magary wrote. "Yes, reporters used to be depicted as good guys in pop culture, and that's because pop culture back then was naive and stupid. That was before everyone realized that the media is filled with incompetent, self-admiring dips--ts who choose stories essentially at random. And that was before the Internet exposed the media as being almost comically unreliable."

The New Yorker's Emily Nussbaum wrote a widely read critique of the show, which helped set the tone for numerous critical assaults, from the New York Times to Newsweek to the Washington Post, while a few outliers came to Sorkin's defense -- including the New Yorker's own David Denby, who responded to Nussbaum and other critics' dismissal of the show.

Jeff Daniels told the Los Angeles Times that he welcomes the chatter -- whether it's positive or negative.
"The fact that everyone is talking about it, for whatever reason -- challenged by it, disturbed by it, annoyed by it, loving it, can't wait to see the next one, all of the above -- we absolutely love it."

We certainly are in no hurry to watch Sorkin continue to get away with presenting a modern-day workplace that's about as evolved as the offices of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. If there's any silver lining to be found, it's in the very strong likelihood that "The Newsroom" will get shut down before too long.

First female taikonaut: 'It's good to stand on Earth'

From New Scientist:  First female taikonaut: 'It's good to stand on Earth'

 
(Image: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/Rex Features)

Liu Yang, the first Chinese woman in space, returned to Earth today as the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft landed safely in Inner Mongolia at 10:05 local time (02:05 GMT). The descent was slowed by parachutes, as well as rockets which fired when the capsule was 1 metre above the ground, slowing the capsule to a touchdown speed of 3.5 metres per second. Upon exiting the Shenzhou-9 capsule, Liu said "It feels so good to stand on Earth, and it feels even better to be home".

Liu and her colleagues, Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang, were returning from the first crewed mission to the Chinese space station, Tiangong-1, meaning "Heavenly Place". As part of their 13-day mission, the trio spent several days aboard the station, during which time they conducted a number of experiments and performed technical demonstrations required for the creation of a larger space station.

The Chinese space agency aims to use the knowledge gained during this mission to help it assemble a larger, modular space station over the next decade. A second crewed flight, Shenzhou-10, is planned for next year before China delivers its more sophisticated Tiangong-2 module to orbit. Subsequent modules will then follow. The completed station is expected to be similar in size to the now-defunct US space station Skylab, which is roughly a sixth of the size of the International Space Station.

 

Did NASA Unearth Life and a Hidden Ocean on Saturn's Moon Titan?

From Lguna-Niguel Patch :  Did NASA Unearth Life and a Hidden Ocean on Saturn's Moon Titan?

  
 Is it possible that NASA's Cassini spacecraft has found evidence of an ocean of water and perhaps even life beneath the frozen crust of Saturn's largest moon called Titan?

A team of researchers' findings were reported and released online by the journal Science on Thursday that they: "saw a large amount of squeezing and stretching as the moon orbited Saturn."

What's it mean? These discoveries may reveal that if Titan were made up of just mounds of stiff rock, the gravitational attraction of Saturn would cause bulges, or solid "tides," on the moon only 3 feet high.

"Cassini's detection of large tides on Titan leads to the almost inescapable conclusion that there is a hidden ocean at depth," said Luciano Iess, the lead author of the report and a Cassini team member at the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy in a news release issued by NASA. "The search for water is an important goal in solar system exploration, and now we've spotted another place where it is abundant."

The news release further explained that it takes the Titan moon around 16 days to orbit Saturn, and the team was able to study the moon's shape at different parts of its orbit.

"Because Titan is not spherical but slightly elongated like a football, its long axis grew when it was closer to Saturn. Eight days later, when Titan was farther from Saturn, it became less elongated and more nearly round," according to the NASA news release.

It was part of Cassini's mission to measure the gravitational effect of that squeeze and pull.

The Cassini mission findings are truly imporant and intriguing, said resident Richard Bent, who spent more than 20 years working on satellites and rockets for the aerospace industry.

"In April 2012, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft found evidence of amino acid like molecules. Combined with the new information about potential aquifers on Titan, the likelihood of finding some type of life on the Saturn moon becomes more likely," Bent said.

"Still, we have yet to discover organisms outside of earth. The importance of finding water on other space bodies is important in that the possibility of life goes up and the potential as a planetary base increases as well as water can be made into  fuel and oxygen." 

Mystery of Saturn
Local astrologer and author of several books, Donna Stellhorn who studies the planets, explained that Saturn's Moon, Titan, was discovered in 1655 by Dutch astronomer, Christiaan Huygens, although he is not responsible for naming the moon Titan.

“He called it simply Saturn IV representing the fourth moon of Saturn. It was John Herschel in 1847 who named it Titan for the Titans of Greek mythology from what I have studied. What's most interesting about this name is many scholars believe the word Titan is related to the Greek verb meaning 'to stretch,'” she said.
“And here we're told that NASA made this fascinating discovery of Titan's buried ocean by watching Titan 'squeeze and stretch' in its orbit around Saturn," she continued.

“From an astrological point of view this discovery signals that we should be asking ourselves is: 'where do we need to stretch ourselves' to gain what we want?”

Stellhorn said that she has also read that Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturnus, and it is where we get the word, Saturday.

"But despite the joy of our modern day Saturday, Saturn has two sides; one of restriction and inhibition and the other of success and achievement," she said. "In astrology, Saturn represents your career like in ancient times Saturnus ruled over agriculture (the first career of ancient people)."

Currently, Saturn is in Libra and it is considered exalted in Libra meaning that Saturn is very strong in this sign. Saturn in Libra brings our attention to partnerships and relationships where we test them to see if it's a partnership that will bring us what we want, Stellhorn said.

"Saturn in Libra brings us a strong sense of duty and obligation to others whether they be friends or the community at large (hence the passing of the Affordable Care Act)," she said. "But Saturn in Libra can also make us inhibited around others, we want to guard and protect ourselves from potential danger and ridicule."
Saturn will leave Libra around October 5 and "as he leaves he will take something from each of us; a friendship or relationship may end, your career may shift, or an opportunity may escape you."

But the void left from whatever Saturn takes will soon be filled with something much, much better, she said.
Incidentally, the NASA news release also said: "that an ocean layer does not have to be huge or deep to create these tides. A liquid layer between the external, deformable shell and a solid mantle would enable Titan to bulge and compress as it orbits Saturn."

Scientists believe that Titan's surface is made up mostly of liquid water, the news release said.
"The presence of a subsurface layer of liquid water at Titan is not itself an indicator for life. Scientists think life is more likely to arise when liquid water is in contact with rock, and these measurements cannot tell whether the ocean bottom is made up of rock or ice. The results have a bigger implication for the mystery of methane replenishment on Titan," according to the NASA news release.