Peter Thiel, who is the co-founder of PayPal and president of the Thiel Foundation, just announced the inaugural class of his Twenty Under Twenty fellows. These young people will be given $100,000 each to drop out of school, and pursue their ideas in the areas of science and technology. Dale Stephens is one of those lucky winners.

For Stephens, leaving school was an easy decision. “I was sitting in religion class. I was leaving the next day to interview for the Thiel fellowship - the professor was playing a video about Shabbat dinners... I decided I didn’t need to watch a half hour video about something that I experienced on a monthly basis for a number of years, so I took out a notebook and started making notes about my Thiel interviews. The professor walked up to me and said, 'If you’re not going to listen you should probably leave.' I said, 'That’s a great idea,' and I left.”

Stephens has never been a traditionalist in terms of education. On the first day of kindergarten, his mom reminded him, he told the teacher that the classroom should be rearranged because it was inefficient. In fifth grade, Stephens was fed up with school and demanded an alternative. That’s when he found out about unschooling - a specific type of homeschooling that is unstructured and self-directed. He was unschooled from then on. Stephens started UnCollege in February- an online movement and program that aims to contradict the conclusion that college degrees equals success, and connect students with other options for real-world experience.

Stephens plans to use the $100,000 from the Thiel Foundation to continue supporting people who choose self-directed learning. The first thing Stephens plans on doing is writing a book, “about evaluating the opportunity cost of going to college. I want to help individuals to evaluate whether or not they should leave school and give them the skills for success in today’s entrepreneurial economy,” he said. Secondly, Stephens plans on developing a project called RadMatter. “RadMatter is to help people demonstrate and develop their talents and bypass the college experience. If we can allow people to directly connect their life-wide experiences, whether in classes, service, or travel - to opportunities, jobs, internships, and externships, we can bypass the monopoly that colleges have on accredidation,” said Stephens.

By Morgan Wilson

Two million. That’s the expected growth of the Bay Area’s population in twenty years. With an expected total population of nine-and-a-half million, expanding roads and building more housing isn’t enough to accommodate such a large number. We need to focus on the certain service that has proved very significant in the growth and movement of big cities. We need to focus on transit.

I’ve recently attended the YouChoose/Plan Bay Area workshop for Alameda County in Berkeley. It centered on the predicted growth of the Bay Area, and focused on the transportation and community fixes needed to accommodate this growth. It was a forum designed not only to educate about the options, but also to gather community input.

Here’s my feedback: when we’re planning cleaner, greener, and better sustaining communities of the future, public transportation should definitely be prioritized.

One key way to do this is to expand transit services to rather underserved areas, especially those that are in the far outskirts of the main metropolis. New citizens with housing in further areas wouldn’t have to drive as much to get to work or school in the major cities.

In turn, the reduction in driving eases pollution. According to the Greenbelt Alliance, the Bay Area’s advocate for open space for fifty years, the Bay Area needs to reduce its emissions by fifteen percent by 2035. The use of alternative transportation, as well as cleaner transit, will greatly help achieve this goal. It’ll also reduce the demand for oil.

As a result, cities will become more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. More transit allows people to walk to the train station, bus stop, or ferry terminal nearest them. The cut-down on cars allows more room for bikers to travel to their destinations. There would also be more room, and cleaner air, to take a walk or bike ride for leisure and relaxation.

By Ashleigh Kenny

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, one of the longest and most heavily-trafficked bridges in the world, is undergoing a major retrofit to bring it up to current seismic safety standards in earthquake-prone California. As a result, the 280,000 motorists who traverse the bridge each day have to adapt to periodic changes in traffic patterns. The latest traffic redesign happens on Memorial Day weekend but motorists have some high-tech tools at their disposal to experience the future of the bridge, piece by piece, in three dimensions.

Caltrans has worked with software company Autodesk to create a mobile app that puts iPad, iPhone and iPod users behind the wheel for a drive across the new east span of the bridge during construction. The first edition of the app, called the Bay  Bridge Explorer, enables users to experience the upcoming Oakland touchdown detour in the virtual world before it goes into effect in reality.

I took a test drive of the iPad app at a recent Caltrans press conference, and cruised by virtual traffic across realigned lanes. The experience felt much like playing a video game to this occasional driver, but the virtual orientation can be a useful safety tool for daily commuters.

The construction of the new east span of the Bay Bridge is a complex undertaking- the biggest engineering project in California’s history. 3-D technology is an innovative and resourceful way to help tech-savvy drivers acclimate to abrupt changes in their daily commutes across the Bay.

And in case the app doesn’t offer an immersive enough experience, you can visit the Autodesk Transportation Simulator and test drive the Bay Bridge and detour routes. The Simulator is housed in the [LINK:http://usa.autodesk.com/gallery/] Autodesk Gallery, which is free and open to the public each Wednesday from 12 p.m.-5 p.m.

The following originally aired on KCBS.

By Kazia Berman

Environmentalists tend to believe that population density is best. But what about when it endangers the delicate fabric of a beloved city?

I live in the middle of a block that is home to neighbors who make wine with my dad, dogs, bees and a best friend who is literally within shouting distance. This is what people love about Berkeley; it’s a city with quirky small town qualities.

However, it could be at risk. The Bay Area’s population has been steadily increasing over the years -about a million every decade since 1940 -  and the rate of growth is projected to speed up over the next 15 years. People fear that Berkeley’s aesthetics are in jeopardy, as evidenced by the handful of new apartment buildings scattered around town and refer to the situation as “Manhatanization”.

And while many are annoyed, I’m pretty apathetic. People who live in those new apartments are more likely to use public transportation, which lowers greenhouse gas emissions, and I’d rather something be environmentally friendly than nice to look at.

Berkeley is my home; a few apartment buildings here and there aren’t going to change that.

Max Dougherty's new social networking service Envoy- to be released in the near future- bridges a digital divide that was previously ignored... the one between this life and the next.

Envoy essentially allows the living to connect with their loved ones who have passed away. Envoy starts with the deceased person's Facebook account and analyzes every status update, comment, photo, and chat in the person's digital history. Envoy uses this information to create new updates, posts, and status feeds in the person's style of language. Basically - you can pretend that your loved one is NOT in fact deceased.

This demo video leaves me asking the question... why??

Keep an eye out for WEIRD media demos at 3:30 and 4:24 that show how you can have voice chats with the deceased and incorporate them into your every day life.
 

The following originally aired on KCBS.

By Deyantae Newson

There is a theory based on the Mayan calendar that the Earth is coming to an end in 2012. There were similar concerns during Y2K. Instead of overreacting and being afraid, we should do what we can to help our Earth in the meantime.

When I first heard of these Doomsday theories, I was shocked because I thought Armageddon’s only occurred in movies. I admit I got a little scared when I heard these theories. Eventually, I realized that if they were true, there’s nothing I can do but live my life.

Instead of panicking over something unpredictable, I want to focus on preventing the world from getting any worse.

Look at the small pieces of pollution that we make everyday. Cars create pollution, we eat foods with chemicals, and we litter. What if the whole world littered? We would be living on top of trash.

Besides hurting our environment, we also harm our bodies. Soda has harmful chemicals in it. We should consume more water and invent healthier drinks.

I would rather focus my efforts on trying to do something beneficial for myself, my friends, and if possible my environment.

I used to want Alameda County Transit to improve its service, but now – selfishly – I wish it would die.

 An irrational part of me would be fine stranding every senior citizen, student, and poor person that relies on AC transit. Because no more buses would mean I’d have no choice but to get my own car.

 Which in the end is all any teenager wants – the freedom of the open road. Dealing with public transportation, meanwhile, is one big hassle.

 I waste an hour of my life every week waiting for the bus. The line near my house runs every half-hour. And while it’s usually on time, there are those days when it’s late and you’ve got to start walking.

 In the end, I take the bus because it’s way cheaper than driving. I should be thankful for the bus system, but I’m not. I want funding cuts put me out of my misery and force me to fork up the cash for the cheapest car I can find that starts.

It sounds so simple. We know kids get thirsty at school. Why not make fresh tap water readily available in the cafeteria? It's free and a whole lot healthier than sodas and other sugar-sweetened beverages.

Alas, like so many issues in public education, it turns out the reality is a lot more complicated than that. California Food Policy Advocates reports that more than 40% of school districts responding to a survey in 2009 said they did not have access to free drinking water. A new law aims to change all that. It says by July 2011, schools will be required to offer free, fresh water to students during mealtimes.

To find out why access to water's so important, and what the research says about student attitudes, reporter Sayre Quevedo interviewed UCSF Professor Anisha Patel.

Patel: "Another thing that has been studied is improving cognition. There have been studies where they’ve provided students with water and looked at cognitive function and found an association. Schools anecdotally a lot of times do provide water for testing, which we find interesting. So maybe they’ve also noticed this association… That’s one thing that policy-makers and school officials could be excited about, improving performance of students in their schools."

For the full interview, listen here.

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(download mp3)

Teachers and educators are vibrantly discussing if and how technology should be integrated into the classroom.  

Are students happy with this trend?

According to a recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Ed, the majority of college students surveyed said  they are concerned about their technology habits. They admit to being constantly on Facebook and Twitter, but they’re not necessarily happy while being technologically engaged. One student quoted in the article said, "I don't realize how much time is passing while on my phone and computer. I'm so preoccupied, I'm not paying attention to what else is going on around me."

On the other hand, the New York Times recently spotlighted a teacher who is using technology in her classroom to give students a voice - resulting in her students spending more intentional time on their digital devices. The featured teacher has her students use a Twitter “backchannel” to ask questions and post comments during a class discussion. She says it has increased student participation by almost a third - contrasting dissenting voices that technology in the classroom is a distraction.

The article reads, “The real-time digital streams allow students to comment, pose questions (answered either by one another or the teacher) and shed inhibitions about voicing opinions. Perhaps most importantly, if they are texting on-task, they are less likely to be texting about something else.”  

Students asked about using the “backchannel” had positive things to say. “When you type something down, it’s a lot easier to say what I feel,” said Justin Lansik, 17, according to the Times.

Are students looking for an escape from the digital world? Or are students eager to have their social networks integrated with their education? 

Part of being a child is playing, dancing, going to the park, and enjoying the beauty of being a child. But there are certain parents with different parenting plans for their kids. Good Morning America sat down with a San Francisco pageant mom who injects her 8-year-old daughter with Botox. According to the mom, injecting kids with Botox is nothing out of the ordinary in the pageant world and she's only one of the many parents injecting their kids. 

The mom claims that pageant competions are extremely competitive and by injecting her 8-year-old daughter with Botox is part of the winning process.