Space weather is a threat, but don’t panic
This week, our writer Alaina Levine reports for EuroScientist from the AAAS conference in Washington DC, USA.
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This week, our writer Alaina Levine reports for EuroScientist from the AAAS conference in Washington DC, USA.
Utrecht staff and students say no to physics cuts
Bright and early on 3 January 2011, 140 physics lecturers, students and other staff at Utrecht University in the Netherlands made their way from the physics department to the offices of the university administration. The purpose of the demonstration was to submit a petition objecting to proposed cutbacks, and to the removal of department head Casper Erkelens after he refused to sign a document agreeing to the reforms.
Can Greece afford science?
Greece is the first country to seek help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/EU austerity package following a disastrous financial crash. The science in Greece is being severely affected.
Carbon capture and storage – will it work?
“The single most effective way to tackle these [greenhouse] gases is to capture them and store them safely underground” – Shell Website
Impact of the Census of Marine Life
The Census of Marine Life (CoML) programme addresses three major questions: What lived in the oceans? What lives in the oceans now? What will live in the oceans? This 10-year programme (2000–2010) is a unique global effort to develop the first comprehensive assessment of life in the oceans, from bacteria to large animals, from coastal and shallow waters to the poorly known habitats in the deep sea, through more than 500 expeditions. It has resulted in partnerships and an international network of over 2700 scientists from 80 countries. Through 14 field studies in distinct ocean realms, ranging from analysing historical documents to modeling future ecosystems, the Census enables scientists to describe the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the oceans, to compare what once lived in the oceans to what lives there now, and to postulate what will live there in the future.
Macs in science
As the Mac platform increases in popularity (Apple currently claim 20% of laptops sold are Macintoshes) it should come as no surprise that there are increasing numbers of students turning up to university with Macintosh laptops. Recent figures from the Apple-blogosphere suggest that around a quarter of new US students arrive with a machine running Mac OS X, and around half are planning on buying a machine from the company in Cupertino in the future. Some of these students will eventually make the move into postgraduate studies, and it makes sense that they’ll want to use the computers that they’ve become comfortable using. The Apple website has it’s own science section , with people using Macs to do everything from 3D medical imaging to submarine paleo-seismology.
UK fights tuition fees
Michael Conway discusses the UK’s drastic shake up to University funding and student fees.
European airspace – acting as one
The lonely scientist, covered by his papers alone in his room, talking to no one, is extinct. Science happens world wide in connection with partners around the globe, frequent travels are part of the daily life. Like for anybody else, delays are quite an annoying concomitant, especially if you travel by plane to reach your destination faster. Very often in Europe the cause for a late arrival is Air Traffic Control (ATC) related.
Biotechs speak up on GM crops
Despite a largely negative response from EU agriculture ministers to proposals to allow individual countries make their own decisions on the cultivation of GM crops, it seems certain that the battle over GM will be won or lost in the hearts and minds of EU citizens. It is their opinions on GM which influence local and national policy, which in turn, feeds into the European debate.
The airplane of the future
A simple white paper napkin depicts the future: at an informal dinner with aviation professionals the lead technical design engineer of Boeing sketches his personal vision of the airplane of the future, which is so futuristic that it even outranges the companies conceptual airplane. Any minute when a plane is not flying is a waste of money – the goal is to minimise the downtime. Leading airline companies already try to have their birds in the air around the clock. What still takes time is passenger boarding and de-boarding from an aircraft. Since there is no way to beam the humans aboard, the creative engineer found another solution to save time. In his futuristic vision, an airplane consists of a movable compartment, a ‘container’, where all passengers can be seated in a comfortable way before the plane has even landed. After embarking, while the passengers already enjoy their welcome drink, the whole compartment will be safely moved and secured to the fuselage, which consists mainly of one big airfoil with the engines.
Is DTC the new PhD?
Doctoral Training Centres, or DTCs, are a new trend in UK doctoral training and are an alternative option to the traditional PhDs. Simon Hutchinson investigates.
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