Creating a Nation of Wimps
Posted on July 24, 2007 Comments (6)
I certainly don’t know if this is true, or the even the consensus of the scientific thought today, but it happens to feel right to me. Not exactly a scientific conclusion but there you go. From, Psychology Today says, A Nation of Wimps:
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In his now-famous studies of how children’s temperaments play out, Harvard psychologist Jerome Kagan has shown unequivocally that what creates anxious children is parents hovering and protecting them from stressful experiences. About 20 percent of babies are born with a high-strung temperament. They can be spotted even in the womb; they have fast heartbeats. Their nervous systems are innately programmed to be overexcitable in response to stimulation, constantly sending out false alarms about what is dangerous.
As infants and children this group experiences stress in situations most kids find unthreatening, and they may go through childhood and even adulthood fearful of unfamiliar people and events, withdrawn and shy. At school age they become cautious, quiet and introverted. Left to their own devices they grow up shrinking from social encounters. They lack confidence around others. They’re easily influenced by others. They are sitting ducks for bullies. And they are on the path to depression.
Well for whatever it is worth I think the article is interesting (I am not exactly sure about the introversion part that doesn’t seem to have a strong ring of truth but I do think it is better to experience real failure and overcome it than be too sheltered and without that you don’t learn confidence you just are kept from having to feel discomfort as long as the adults protect you…) even if it is just because it attacks something I find a bit annoying the increasing tendency to act like mistakes are not mistakes, failure to achieve an objective doesn’t matter, kids should not be challenged… I don’t think coddling is a good way to create confident people that function well in the world.
People need to learn that things often don’t work the way you might think or hope, things are not fair, things can hurt you, you can loose things you care about, if you make a decision you have to live with the consequences… It is not that hard to understand these things. Kids might well prefer to just be handed everything they want without an risk or effort on their part. But I believe they will learn how to cope and take pride in actually doing good stuff. Which will work much better than trying to convince them they should take pride in something even they can probably tell is fake, coddling. Of course I don’t have any kids either so my opinions are not only not put into practice by me. Oh well go read the article if you are interested.
Related: 5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids do
New York City Travel Photos
Posted on July 24, 2007 Comments (2)
Photos from my trip to New York City last year are now online. Photos include: The Cloisters (part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art – though located far uptown) art and architecture of medieval Europe, the remodeled Museum of Modern Art, Rockefeller Center, Empire State Building and Flatiron Building.
Related: New York City Photo Essays – Paris Travel Photos – Pacific Northwest photos – Curious Cat Travel Photos
Robo Insect Flight
Posted on July 20, 2007 Comments (5)
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is funding Wood’s research in the hope that it will lead to stealth surveillance robots for the battlefield and urban environments. The robot’s small size and fly-like appearance are critical to such missions. “You probably wouldn’t notice a fly in the room, but you certainly would notice a hawk,” Wood says.
Recreating a fly’s efficient movements in a robot roughly the size of the real insect was difficult, however, because existing manufacturing processes couldn’t be used to make the sturdy, lightweight parts required. The motors, bearings, and joints typically used for large-scale robots wouldn’t work for something the size of a fly. “Simply scaling down existing macro-scale techniques will not come close to the performance that we need,” Wood says.
Cool. How annoying are those pop up ads after you follow the link though? Extremely yucky usability.
Related: Mini Helicopter Masters Insect Navigation Trick – Micromechanical Flying Insect – Robofly- World’s Lightest Flying Robot – Magnificent Flying Machine
New York Steam Pipes
Posted on July 19, 2007 Comments (2)
About a year ago I posted about the civil engineering report that the USA Infrastructure Needs Improvement. Why the heck does New York have steam pipes, anyway?
The reason that’s interesting, at least to me, is that this is a prime example of what’s known as combined heat and power generation. It’s an old idea, but one that’s making a resurgence as bills for all our petroleum-dependent energy sources–heating oil, natural gas and electricity–continue to climb. As we all know, the easiest way to “generate” more energy per dollar spent is simply to conserve.
You might also wonder, as I did, why the heck these pipes are pressurized even in the middle of July–clearly the steam isn’t being piped into radiators. Here it turns out that an additional cleverness has been introduced into the system: buildings in the financial district use the steam to power the compressors that run their massive air conditioning units.
The whole thing is rather brilliant–a model of re-use and smart urban planning–that is until disaster strikes. Apparently there have been lethal steam pipe explosions before, the most recent in 1989 in Gramercy Park. There’s a movement to bring these kinds of combined heat and power systems to cities small and large throughout the U.S., since it’s more efficient to combine the two functions and reuse the “waste” products of the power generation process.
Interesting. The event has also resulted in several articles on the deteriorating infrastructure: When Cities Break Down – Explosion exposes NYC’s aging systems
Related: NYC travel photos – Curious Cat science and engineering search engine
Quantum Random Number Generator
Posted on July 18, 2007 Comments (1)
Quantum Random Bit Generator Service:
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To achieve high availability of the service, several network access modes are developed, or shall be developed. These include transparent acquisition of random numbers using C/C++ libraries, web services (access over the SOAP protocol), and Mathematica/MATLAB client add-ons.
To enable high security, in future, SSL protocol shall be supported, i.e. all data shall be encrypted, at users request, with user/service certificates.
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We use ‘Quantum Random Bit Generator’ (QRBG121), which is a fast non-deterministic random bit (number) generator whose randomness relies on intrinsic randomness of the quantum physical process of photonic emission in semiconductors and subsequent detection by photoelectric effect. In this process photons are detected at random, one by one independently of each other. Timing information of detected photons is used to generate random binary digits – bits.
Second Life for Scientist
Posted on July 17, 2007 Comments (0)
A farewell to academia and hello to Second Life – a professor of Physics and Astronomy moves on the the second act of his professional career.
It is a very good post that spells out several important points that should be addressed including:
Related: Research Career in Industry or Academia – The World’s Best Research Universities – So, You Want to be an Astrophysicist?
Lifestyle Drugs and Risk
Posted on July 15, 2007 Comments (10)
I see taking drugs as risky. Certain drug have long histories and seem safe and even seem to have positive side effect like Aspirin (though even it is not without risks – see below). Even if a drug has a good chance of a positive result in treating some medical condition – assuming it is otherwise safe is not wise. I believe you have have a significant positive known benefit to consider taking drugs given the unknown problems that are likely to be lurking. I find the pop a pill culture for anything that might be a minor annoyance to be foolish – taking risks without consideration. Taking drugs entails taking a risk and the more you take the risks of interactions and cumulative effects increase the risks to you. Business Week (somewhat surprising given the huge amount drug makers pay to advertise lifestyle drugs) has a decent article pointing out some of the foolishness involved in the Lifestyle Drug Binge:
This trend is surprising because such treatments can expose patients to risks, sparking criticism of drug companies at a time when patient safety is already under a spotlight. Lifestyle drugs are defined loosely as products used to treat conditions that are not life-threatening. Because people take them over long periods of time, sometimes on a daily basis, they may be more dangerous than they first appear.
We have found amazingly helpful and useful drugs. This is great. But people need to remember these drugs are not without potential negative consequences. Take advantage of them when appropriate but don’t forget the risks each instance has for negative side effects. Related: health care improvement articles – health care blog posts
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Tags: drugs,Health Care,human health
Evolution at Work – Blue Moon Butterfly
Posted on July 12, 2007 Comments (3)
Butterfly shows evolution at work
Scientists believe the comeback is due to “suppressor” genes that control the Wolbachia bacteria that is passed down from the mother and kills the male embryos before they hatch. “To my knowledge, this is the fastest evolutionary change that has ever been observed,” said Sylvain Charlat, of University College London, whose study appears in the journal Science.
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“We’re witnessing an evolutionary arms race between the parasite and the host. This strengthens the view that parasites can be major drivers in evolution,” Mr Charlat said.
It makes a great deal of sense that evolution would have such bursts under the right conditions. This seems an nearly perfect example of such conditions – if males can be produced they are going to have a large opening to reproduce and rapidly pass on a new tool to fight the bacteria. The University of California – Berkeley has a good site on understanding evolution (with lesson plans for k-16 and information for anyone interested in science).
Relates: Two Butterfly Species Evolved Into Third – Evolution in Darwin’s Finches – Evolution In Action – Evo-Devo
Science Interview with John Edwards
Posted on July 11, 2007 Comments (0)
Interview with Senator John Edwards on Science-Related Topics
There are so many things we can and must do. The president can send a signal that science is the cornerstone of American innovation and will support it, free from political agendas and distortions, send a signal that that the United States wants to lead the way in scientific inquiry, not close doors to certain avenues of research.
We must have a sensible policy towards attracting young scholars. International students are a valuable part of our higher education community, and I support our student visa programs. We need to do a better job tracking student visas, but we ought to be able to do that without creating long lines. U.S. consulates have been asked to interview more applicants personally, but have not been given enough resources.
The answers overall seem to be lacking in specifics. While providing a show of support for science they don’t seem to offer much else.
Related: Science and Engineering Innovation Legislation – The Innovation Agenda – Increasing American Fellowship Support for Scientists and Engineers – Open Access Legislation – Graduate Scholar Awards in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math
Well Preserved Baby Mammoth Discovered in Permafrost
Posted on July 10, 2007 Comments (4)
Baby mammoth discovery unveiled
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Mammoths first appeared in the Pliocene Epoch, 4.8 million years ago. What caused their widespread disappearance at the end of the last Ice Age remains unclear; but climate change, overkill by human hunters, or a combination of both could have been to blame. One population of mammoths lived on in isolation on Russia’s remote Wrangel Island until about 5,000 years ago.
Related: Fighting Elephant Poaching With Science – Effect of People on Other Species
Engineering – Economic Benefits
Posted on July 10, 2007 Comments (5)
The issues involved in the impact of engineering education and a strong economy are not easy to address in one short article. Impacts are delayed over time. Confusion between available skills and available skills at a certain price is often raised (people claiming there can’t be a shortfall of engineers if salaries are not rising even higher). But I continue to post about these topics because I think they are important (and I find it interesting to think about and read about…). And hopefully a good understanding can be gained through the many post (and the sources referenced in those posts – Economic Strength Through Technology Leadership, includes a listing of over 15 posts on these topics). Another article addresses some of these issues with some interesting points – Innovator fears U.S. losing edge:
Generac makes power generators, the type that back up data centers, hospitals and homes during power failures. Equipped with a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Illinois, Kern spent his career searching for inventive folks to maintain a culture of constant innovation. More often than he cares to admit, he couldn’t find them in his home country. Since the 1970s, he has contracted with engineers in Korea, Taiwan, China, Japan and Great Britain.
What Kern represents is exactly what countries around the world are trying to duplicate. Talented businessmen creating good job. And note he started as an engineer and retired as the head of a 2,000 person company (S&P 500 CEOs – Again Engineering Graduates Lead).
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