A listener to Radio 4's PM programme got in touch recently asking why it did not get more scientists involved directly in its output.
So, for a each day this week, the programme has spoken to one scientist about the work they are doing, to try to learn more about what impact their work might have, and why a scientist chooses their particular field of inquiry.
The idea was to break out of the topical habit of only ever inviting scientists on to explain a particular story just because it is in the news, and learn about what scientists are up to when they are not being talking heads on a particular programme.
What they do: As scientists, we understand career development is difficult. That’s why RateMyPI.com was developed with the research professional and aspiring professionals in mind. You don’t start an experiment without a thorough knowledge base; why should choosing a principal investigator, collaborator, or employee be any different? It’s your career…take control of it!
In 1969, Princeton physicist Gerard O'Neill began looking outward to space colonies as the new frontier for humanity's expansion. A decade later, Eric Drexler, an MIT-trained engineer, turned his attention to the molecular world as the place where society's future needs could be met using self-replicating nanoscale machines. These modern utopians predicted that their technologies could transform society as humans mastered the ability to create new worlds, undertook atomic-scale engineering, and, if truly successful, overcame their own biological limits. The Visioneers tells the story of how these scientists and the communities they fostered imagined, designed, and popularized speculative technologies such as space colonies and nanotechnologies.
Patrick McCray traces how these visioneers blended countercultural ideals with hard science, entrepreneurship, libertarianism, and unbridled optimism about the future. He shows how they built networks that communicated their ideas to writers, politicians, and corporate leaders. But the visioneers were not immune to failure--or to the lures of profit, celebrity, and hype. O'Neill and Drexler faced difficulty funding their work and overcoming colleagues' skepticism, and saw their ideas co-opted and transformed by Timothy Leary, the scriptwriters of Star Trek, and many others. Ultimately, both men struggled to overcome stigma and ostracism as they tried to unshackle their visioneering from pejorative labels like "fringe" and "pseudoscience."
The Visioneers provides a balanced look at the successes and pitfalls they encountered. The book exposes the dangers of promotion--oversimplification, misuse, and misunderstanding--that can plague exploratory science. But above all, it highlights the importance of radical new ideas that inspire us to support cutting-edge research into tomorrow's technologies.
27 Science Fictions That Became Science Facts In 2012
We may never have our flying cars, but the future is here. From creating fully functioning artificial leaves to hacking the human brain, science made a lot of breakthroughs this year.
Cubic boron nitride, a material that in many ways resembles diamond. Boron nitride can be compressed into a superhard, transparent form—but unlike diamond and many other materials known for their extreme hardness, it is based not on carbon but on a latticework of boron and nitrogen atoms. Computer simulations have indicated that a rare crystalline form of boron nitride would resist indentation even better than diamond if it could be synthesized into large samples, and laboratory experiments have shown that more attainable forms of the stuff already approach the hardness of diamond.
Now a new set of experiments on a nanostructured form of boron nitride have yielded even greater measures of hardness than before. The new material exceeds that of some forms of diamond, according to the authors of a study reporting the findings in the January 17 issue of Nature.
The samples had a measured hardness of up to 108 gigapascals—slightly harder than synthetic diamond but less hard than polycrystalline diamonds made of nanoscale grains.
Science Hack Day brings together designers, developers, scientists, and other geeks in the same physical space for a brief but intense period of collaboration, hacking and building cool stuff.
for me in this period as seeing what in Russia is happening in cultural field theese types of research are importants with founding some correlate institutions where it needs and for example also in Ucraina not only in India is need an institute that is for me of estethic correlate to mexico for the fact that some many characteristics are really similars and i have a demonstration of an artist of Ukraina that could prove this.
Russia is not only in itself and not only european... is also caucasic cultural and for understanding this and improve also communication technologies perhaps the foundation of an institute in Ucraina is the right way.
Side-Dominant Science: Are You Left- or Right-Sided? Each person's brain is divided into two sides—the left and right hemispheres. In some cases, one hemisphere may be more active than the other during a certain activity. For example, when someone processes language, one hemisphere is usually more active than the other. Doing this or other activities, however, is not absolutely limited to using one hemisphere or the other, or even certain hemispheric parts. Different brain areas are important and work together for different activities, such as speech, hearing and sight. But if part of a hemisphere is damaged when a person is young, other parts of the brain can often take over doing whatever the damaged regions of the brain used to do.
What do the brain's hemispheres have to do with sidedness? When someone is processing language, one hemisphere is usually working harder than the other. There is also some correlation between the side(s) we use in our brain and the side we use on our body. This preference to use one side of the body over the other is known as sidedness, laterality or left/right dominance.
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/11/opinion/lotto-ted-science-play/?h...
Why science is like play
Nov 12, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Nov 14, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Nov 20, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Dec 1, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Dec 4, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Dec 5, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.rescorp.org/
Dec 5, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20640625
Science week on PM
A listener to Radio 4's PM programme got in touch recently asking why it did not get more scientists involved directly in its output.
So, for a each day this week, the programme has spoken to one scientist about the work they are doing, to try to learn more about what impact their work might have, and why a scientist chooses their particular field of inquiry.
The idea was to break out of the topical habit of only ever inviting scientists on to explain a particular story just because it is in the news, and learn about what scientists are up to when they are not being talking heads on a particular programme.
Dec 10, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2012/12/07/antibiotic.eating.bug.u...
Antibiotic eating bug unearthed in soil
https://www.agronomy.org/story/2012/dec/thu/antibiotic-eating-bug-u...
Dec 10, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
https://www.ratemypi.com/Default.aspx
What they do: As scientists, we understand career development is difficult. That’s why RateMyPI.com was developed with the research professional and aspiring professionals in mind. You don’t start an experiment without a thorough knowledge base; why should choosing a principal investigator, collaborator, or employee be any different? It’s your career…take control of it!
Dec 11, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2012/12/11/more.3000.epigenetic.sw...
Dec 13, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Dec 14, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.rubriq.com/?goback=.gde_4404405_member_195563455
Independent peer review system to publish your scientific research papers without much bother. For details watch the video posted below.
Dec 14, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Dec 15, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2012/12/17/new.form.cell.division....
New form of cell division found!
Dec 19, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Dec 19, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Science Journalism: Blogspot:
http://richa-malhotra.blogspot.in/
http://othersideofscience.com/
Dec 22, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Ambient noise of the International Space Station
https://soundcloud.com/colchrishadfield/space-station-noise
Dec 28, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://malina.diatrope.com/2012/12/26/the-visioneers-and-the-market...
THE VISIONEERS AND THE MARKETING OF SCIENCE
The Visioneers: How a Group of Elite Scientists Pursued Space Colonies, Nanotechnologies, and a Limitless Future
http://www.amazon.com/The-Visioneers-Scientists-Nanotechnologies-eb...
In 1969, Princeton physicist Gerard O'Neill began looking outward to space colonies as the new frontier for humanity's expansion. A decade later, Eric Drexler, an MIT-trained engineer, turned his attention to the molecular world as the place where society's future needs could be met using self-replicating nanoscale machines. These modern utopians predicted that their technologies could transform society as humans mastered the ability to create new worlds, undertook atomic-scale engineering, and, if truly successful, overcame their own biological limits. The Visioneers tells the story of how these scientists and the communities they fostered imagined, designed, and popularized speculative technologies such as space colonies and nanotechnologies.
Patrick McCray traces how these visioneers blended countercultural ideals with hard science, entrepreneurship, libertarianism, and unbridled optimism about the future. He shows how they built networks that communicated their ideas to writers, politicians, and corporate leaders. But the visioneers were not immune to failure--or to the lures of profit, celebrity, and hype. O'Neill and Drexler faced difficulty funding their work and overcoming colleagues' skepticism, and saw their ideas co-opted and transformed by Timothy Leary, the scriptwriters of Star Trek, and many others. Ultimately, both men struggled to overcome stigma and ostracism as they tried to unshackle their visioneering from pejorative labels like "fringe" and "pseudoscience."
The Visioneers provides a balanced look at the successes and pitfalls they encountered. The book exposes the dangers of promotion--oversimplification, misuse, and misunderstanding--that can plague exploratory science. But above all, it highlights the importance of radical new ideas that inspire us to support cutting-edge research into tomorrow's technologies.
Dec 29, 2012
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121230143021.htm
Jan 1, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.theweeklings.com/dnobacon/2013/01/02/science-art-and-the...
The story of an artist who was helped by and therefore inspired by science.
Jan 4, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.news.wisc.edu/21392
Researchers: Online science news needs careful study
Jan 6, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/27-science-fictions-that-became-scie...
27 Science Fictions That Became Science Facts In 2012
We may never have our flying cars, but the future is here. From creating fully functioning artificial leaves to hacking the human brain, science made a lot of breakthroughs this year.
Jan 11, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=does-constant-goog...
Some studies suggest that the best way to retain information is to write it out in longhand, which activates a tactile connection between the words and the brain that might be skipped by typing.
Jan 12, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9797948/Fish-cannot...
Fish cannot feel pain say scientists
Jan 14, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Cubic boron nitride, a material that in many ways resembles diamond. Boron nitride can be compressed into a superhard, transparent form—but unlike diamond and many other materials known for their extreme hardness, it is based not on carbon but on a latticework of boron and nitrogen atoms. Computer simulations have indicated that a rare crystalline form of boron nitride would resist indentation even better than diamond if it could be synthesized into large samples, and laboratory experiments have shown that more attainable forms of the stuff already approach the hardness of diamond.
Now a new set of experiments on a nanostructured form of boron nitride have yielded even greater measures of hardness than before. The new material exceeds that of some forms of diamond, according to the authors of a study reporting the findings in the January 17 issue of Nature.
The samples had a measured hardness of up to 108 gigapascals—slightly harder than synthetic diamond but less hard than polycrystalline diamonds made of nanoscale grains.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=nanotwinned-cubic-...
Jan 18, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2013/01/17/5-famous-...
5 Famous Scientists That Started Their Work as Young Teens
Jan 18, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://sciencehackday.com/
Science Hack Day brings together designers, developers, scientists, and other geeks in the same physical space for a brief but intense period of collaboration, hacking and building cool stuff.
Jan 21, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112771215/einstein-equation-h...
Was Einstein Really The Brain Behind E=mc2?
Jan 28, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Jan 30, 2013
Andrea
yes but my idea dear Challa is good also for reasons that you have indicated and so for founding institute of arts in IIT of INDIA is good
Jan 30, 2013
Andrea
i really think that with international riha journal for art history you should found in IIT in INDIA a section of MIT of BOSTON for ARTS
Jan 30, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Jan 31, 2013
Andrea
i have not understood this comment but i think my idea is good i would like to know your opinion, really...
Jan 31, 2013
Andrea
for me in this period as seeing what in Russia is happening in cultural field theese types of research are importants with founding some correlate institutions where it needs and for example also in Ucraina not only in India is need an institute that is for me of estethic correlate to mexico for the fact that some many characteristics are really similars and i have a demonstration of an artist of Ukraina that could prove this.
Russia is not only in itself and not only european... is also caucasic cultural and for understanding this and improve also communication technologies perhaps the foundation of an institute in Ucraina is the right way.
Jan 31, 2013
Andrea
it is a great pity that you not respond me..
bye
Jan 31, 2013
Andrea
in every case if you see or contact jojo marengo of world art foundation you could tell the same thing
i'm sure that he will listen you...
bye
Jan 31, 2013
Andrea
i think that is not a confusion idea and that is good..
bye
Jan 31, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Feb 2, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=humans-alone-wiped...
Humans Alone Wiped Out Tasmanian Tiger, Study Says
A new mathematical model shoots down claims that an unknown disease epidemic wiped out the meat-eating marsupial
Feb 2, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2013/02/03/caught.act.researchers.....
Feb 4, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.leonardo.info/reviews/jan2011/goodstein_zilberg.php
On Fact and Fraud: Cautionary Tales from the Front Lines of Science
Feb 6, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2013/02/07/social.network.use.refl...
Social network use reflects East-West disparity
Feb 8, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Side-Dominant Science: Are You Left- or Right-Sided?
Each person's brain is divided into two sides—the left and right hemispheres. In some cases, one hemisphere may be more active than the other during a certain activity. For example, when someone processes language, one hemisphere is usually more active than the other. Doing this or other activities, however, is not absolutely limited to using one hemisphere or the other, or even certain hemispheric parts. Different brain areas are important and work together for different activities, such as speech, hearing and sight. But if part of a hemisphere is damaged when a person is young, other parts of the brain can often take over doing whatever the damaged regions of the brain used to do.
What do the brain's hemispheres have to do with sidedness? When someone is processing language, one hemisphere is usually working harder than the other. There is also some correlation between the side(s) we use in our brain and the side we use on our body. This preference to use one side of the body over the other is known as sidedness, laterality or left/right dominance.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=bring-science-home...
Feb 8, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Feb 8, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/02/09/twist_weekly_vi...
New Video Science Series: TWIST
Feb 10, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/information-culture/2013/02/12/...
Your theory is rubbish (but I won’t say it out loud)
Feb 13, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Feb 15, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Feb 16, 2013
Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2013/02/24/the-langu...
The “Language” Gene and Women’s Wagging Tongues
Feb 26, 2013