Author Archives: curiouscat

Well Preserved Baby Mammoth Discovered in Permafrost

The six-month-old female calf was discovered on the Yamal peninsula of Russia and is thought to have died 10,000 years ago. The animal’s trunk and eyes are still intact and some of its fur remains on the body.
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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.

Engineering – Economic Benefits

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:

Not unlike Hewlett and Packard or Harley and Davidson, Bob Kern created a company while tinkering in a rented garage in Waukesha more than five decades ago. To him, too few Americans seem capable of doing that today. “There’s a gross shortage of engineering talent in the country,” Kern says. Now 81, Kern built Generac into a company that employs some 2,000 people at three factories in Wisconsin and one in his native Iowa.

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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1=2: A Proof

1=2: A Proof using Complex Numbers

See if you can figure out in which step the fallacy lies. When you think you’ve figured it out, click on that step and the computer will tell you whether you are correct or not, and will give an additional explanation of why that step is or isn’t valid.

See how many tries it takes you to correctly identify the fallacious step!

This is a nice quick math refresher but the real reason I posted it is so I can say I got it on the first try ðŸ™‚

Economic Strength Through Technology Leadership

One of the topics I keep coming back to is the future economic impact of science, engineering, technology and the supporting structures in countries for the same. I believe a significant part of the benefit we enjoy today and will enjoy in the future is tied to how well those areas are integrated with economic factors (raising capital, open financial markets, infrastructure…). Some past posts include: The Future is Engineering, U.S. Slipping on Science, Diplomacy and Science Research, Shrinking Science Gap and Engineering the Future Economy. Fortune discusses the issue in – The United States of Technology?:

As we celebrated the nation’s birthday, I asked myself a patriotic question: Does the United States still lead in tech? As an American myself, my lens is inevitably distorted. Even so, the answer is hardly an unqualified yes.

I agree. While I still think the USA leads the question is debatable in various fields and as I have said before the future looks to be moving in the other direction. This is more due to the rest of the World improving than the USA failing. The continued reduction in advanced science and engineering degrees awarded to USA citizens compared to the rest of the world is a leading indicator I believe. Along with my belief that we will attract fewer leaders to the USA than we have in the past.

No other country can duplicate the American environment of tech creativity, which arises from a unique stew of entrepreneurs, academics, engineers, imaginative marketers and savvy financiers packed together in an atmosphere of risk-taking and plentiful capital. There is nowhere outside the United States remotely like the three places where this formula is most clearly at work – Silicon Valley of course, plus Austin and Boston.

True but the precursors for doing so are being created, the question is whether countries can pull all of it together. If only one country had a shot, I would guess that they would fail, because it is a difficult thing to do. But given how many places have a chance (including: China, Japan, UK, Singapore, France, India, Germany, Korea, Canada, Finland…) it seems very possible other centers of such excellence will appear. I must admit I would not put Austin in such a class, but maybe I am uninformed…

Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2007

Top 3 students - Intel ISEF 2007

Can These Kids Save American Science?

Jose Manuel Otero realized that science was his goal in 1996, when he went to ISEF with a project on filtering diesel from water using charcoal that he made from leaves and grass. Otero, the son of Spanish immigrants who never finished high school, took first place in the Connecticut state fair and went on to the internationals, winning third place in his division. “I didn’t know I wanted to be a scientist until I got to ISEF,” he says.
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Where students in previous generations built robots in their basements or sampled pond water in the local park, the majority of today’s winning projects showcase research done in a lab under the supervision of a mentor, an academic at a university or corporate research institute. Students get their own portion of the lab’s investigation. If they discover anything of significance, they might be rewarded as a co-author of a paper the professor submits to a journal, or they might share in a patent that the lab takes out on their work. One team project from Stony Brook’s summer program on detecting individual cancer cells by how hard or soft they are is up for a patent and has been submitted to the journal Science.

The top three winners of the ISEF receive a $50,000 scholarship and $4 million in cash and scholarships are awarded. Related: Intel ISEF Awards 2006 – Science Fair Project on Bacterial Growth on Packaged Salads – Amber’s Science Talent Search Blog – Science Fair Directory

USA Losing Brain Drain Benefits

US should act to curb reverse brain drain, India Times:

“Indians are among the best educated of all immigrant groups,” he says, adding that Indians founded more engineering and technology companies in the US in the decade up to 2005 than the next four groups combined-those from Britain, China, Taiwan and Japan. They accounted for 26 percent of all start-ups, about 117,000 jobs and $14 billion in revenue in 2005.

But that trend could be arrested or reversed by a growing phenomenon: Large numbers of skilled Indian immigrants are returning home. Many of them are heading back, Wadhwa says, because of the six-to-10 years it takes for their green cards – or permanent immigrant status – to arrive. “This is a double loss for the US. One is that we lose good people. The second loss is that they will become our competitors,” he notes, adding that this is true for many Chinese, Russian and European immigrants too.
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Unlike in earlier years, Wadhwa doesn’t expect the Indian government, for one, to lobby for easier green cards for its people in the US “Right now, India wants its people to come back home,” he says. “India has gone from a country which was dependent on revenues from foreign workers to one that is booming on its own. It needs all the skilled people it can get.”

I have discussed before that my belief is the USA will not continue to be able to attract as large a percentage of the highly educated and skilled scientists and engineers as they have in the last 30 years. Obviously other countries will take actions that they believe will benefit them and as times change what they seek will change – as they should. In my opinion other countries are doing a better job of encouraging investment in science and engineering excellence. The USA continues to do very well but risks having their positions deteriorate much faster than is expected (especially since some don’t seem to expect any relative deterioration) as others continue to make great strides.

The USA has taken for granted the many advantages of hosting scientific, engineering and related entrepreneurship excellence. As other locations establish centers that can draw the best minds and capital they will get the benefits the USA has grown to expect. Countries that aim to gain these benefits are doing the right thing. And the USA continues to make good progress (the biggest comparative advantage the USA has now is in entrepreneurism and the combination of technology and business) but the competitions continues to grow stronger and the level of performance to remain at the top continues to increase. And if the USA doesn’t respond with appropriate investments and action it will suffer economically.

Chocolate Every Day Will Keep the Doctor Away

We need more news like this: A Bite of Chocolate a Day May Keep Blood Pressure at Bay:

Chocolate lovers can rejoice again: More research has found that the antioxidants in dark chocolate can help slightly lower blood pressure. But the good news comes with a caveat — the chocolate portions have to be limited to 30 calories a day, which works out to slightly more than one Hershey’s Kiss.

Such small amounts of the flavanol-rich cocoa found in dark chocolate “may be a promising behavioral approach to lower blood pressure in individuals with above-optimal blood pressure,” the German researchers reported in their study. Unlimited quantities of chocolate won’t work, they added, because “the potential blood pressure reduction contributed by the flavanols could be offset by the high sugar, fat and calorie intake with the cocoa products.”

Ok, I’ll admit I am eating a bit more than that but I have cut back my Mountain Dew from 2 day a couple years ago to maybe 3 a week now so I figure I have some leeway ðŸ™‚ Remember it has to be the dark chocolate with flavanol – given the recent positive press those the packaging usually makes the point of mentioning that the good stuff is included if it is.

Home Engineering: Windmill for Electricity

photo of windmill

William Kamkwamba’s Malawi Windmill:

I built my first windmill when I was 15. Over the next few years I kept refining the design. I made many modifications to the plans i found in the book. For example, I increased the blades from three to four to provide more power output. The windmill now powers lights for 3 rooms and a light over our porch outside. I also use it to power my family’s two radios. I also can charge mobile phones that the neighbors have.
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Two weeks ago I used a computer for the first time. I learned about Google and searched for “windmill” and “solar energy.” I was amazed to learn how many entries there were for both subjects. My friends showed me how to create an email address and now I am on Gmail. Now I am practicing sending and receiving emails when I have access to a computer.
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On Sunday, my friends from National Solar and I completed the next phase of work on my electrical system. You can see a compete set of (my first) digital photos at my new site on Flickr. I had the following goals:

1. Upgrade the power generation in the windmill
2. Upgrade the battery technology and capacity, to provide more even power for more hours at a time
3. Increase the brightness of the lighting (lumens) to make it easier for my family to accomplish tasks at night, especially to read…

Photo: Back in November, the windmill was only 5 meters (15 feet) tall compared to 12 meters (36 feet) today. I raised the height because I discovered that the best wind was just over the top of the shorter windmill.

Microfinancing Entrepreneurs

From the Curious Cat Investing and Economics Blog: Microfinancing Entrepreneurs:

Kiva is another interesting organization that lets you loan directly to an entrepreneur of your choice. In fact, I have just placed $350 in loans to 5 business entrepreneurs (in Kenya, Mexico, Cameroon and Azerbaijan) – and a made a $50 donation to Kiva. Kiva provides loans through partners (operating in the countries) to the entrepreneurs. Those partners do charge the entrepreneurs interest (to fund the operations of the lending partner). Kiva pays the principle back to you but does not pay interest. And if the entrepreneur defaults then you do not get your principle paid back (in other words you lose the money you loaned). I plan to just recycle repaid loans to other entrepreneurs.

The Kiva web site does a great job of using the internet to create a direct connection between those with money to lend and those in need of money to grow a business.

Learn Physics with Free Space Flight Simulator

The free, Orbiter Space Flight Simulator, is not a typical computer game.

The emphasis is firmly on realism, and the learning curve can be steep. Be prepared to invest some time and effort to brush up on your orbital mechanics background. Good starting points are JPL’s Basics of Space Flight, and R. Braeunig’s Rocket & Space Technology.
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Improved physics: Gravity-gradient torque effects are now implemented. Vessels in low orbit will now experience torques as a result of their mass distribution. Orbiter’s model of angular motion has also been extensively overhauled.

via: Space Simulator Related: So You Want to be a Computer Game Programmer – Physics Concepts in 60 Seconds – PhysicsQuest – Non-Newtonian Fluid Demo