Climate change is starting to become a problem and I’m not strictly speaking to the melting ice caps or extreme weather—it’s creating a problem for teachers too. The debate about integrating climate change into class curriculums is one that is (no pun intended) starting to heat up. That’s why the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) has launched a new initiative to support the teaching of climate change in classrooms.

As if mannequins weren’t already creepy enough Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University in conjunction with Takashimiya, a department store in Tokyo, has developed an android mannequin that interacts with shoppers. The android, who as far as I can tell doesn’t really have a name, sits in the display window of a store, staring at her phone and yawning. She apparently is capable of 40 different facial expressions, though in the video she appears to only know how to look bored, creepy, or tired.

What does the phrase "emotional science" mean to you? For some, it implies psychology. For Greg Niemeyer, a tenured associate professor in UC Berkeley's department in New Media, "emotional science" means science that stimulates and engages. Read more...

Angela Zhang is one teenager who does not need to be told to “Dream big.” 17-year-old Zhang is the winner of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, and received $100,000 for the nanoparticle that she created.

What’s so special about the nanoparticle? It kills cancer. Her project is called, “Design of Image-guided, Photo-thermal Controlled Drug Releasing Multifuntional Nanosystem for the Treatment of Cancer Stem Cells.” According to Geekosystem, she spent 1,000 hours developing the particle since 2009.

Geek.com says:

Her creation is being heralded as a “Swiss army knife of cancer treatment.” Zhang managed to develop a nanoparticle that can be delivered to the site of a tumor through the drug salinomycin. Once there it kills the cancer stem cells. However, Zhang went further and included both gold and iron-oxide components, which allow for non-invasive imaging of the site through MRI and Photoacoustics.

A lot of my friends think current music is way too reliant on technology instead of good old fashioned musical talent but a new video by bd594 turns that argument on its head.

A new study suggests that the age-old phrase, “just sleep it off” may actually have some scientific basis.

As reported in the National Geographic article "Why Do We Sleep? To Ease Painful Memories, Study Hints," REM sleep may be a type of built-in stress reliever for the brain, like a giant filter to help us deal with big bad emotions we have during the day.

By Rayana Godfrey

Gratitude, research psychologists have found, is an abstract concept. It requires reflecting on not only how another person has done right by you, but also how you might return the favor. Perhaps that’s not something we need experts to tell us, but it’s worth bearing in mind when considering whether gratitude might be beyond the capabilities of the teenage brain.

Take for example the popular YouTube clip “Greatest freak out ever (ORIGINAL VIDEO),” in which a teenage boy goes ballistic in his bedroom after his mom cancels his World of Warcraft account. “I'm going to run away! You'll never see me again! I swear!” he shouts, as he slams himself repeatedly into his bed, tears off his clothes and screeches like someone out of an Exorcist movie.

CAPTION: Musician, Alex De Grassi (background) and author, Daniel Levitin (foreground) sign books and CD's at Inforum. Photo Credit: Meles Gebru

The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco hosted an Inforum event last week that featured a conversation between Daniel Levitin, author of This Is Your Brain on Music and musician Alex de Grassi, a Grammy Award-nominated Fingerstyle Guitarist.

Levitin, who is also a Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience at McGill University, provided the technical know-how about music and cognitive functions while De Grassi brought years of musical experience as a guitarist. The conversation had something for everyone, neuroscientist or music nerd.

While this was Levitin and De Grassi’s first time formally working together, De Grassi happens to be one of Levitin’s favorite musicians. When he wasn’t bouncing information off of De Grassi, Levitin was requesting he play bits of his favorite songs.

One interesting topic they discussed was about the chemicals the body releases while listening to music. Oxytocin, the same chemical that is found in breast-milk and is also released during sex, is present when people listen to music together. “I’m not saying that listening to music is the same thing as having sex or doing drugs, but our bodies do react in a lot of the same ways to it,” said Levitin.

So while questions like, “Is musical talent genetic?” remained unanswered, the audience got a little more insight into why, for example, it feels good to go to shows.
 

Meles Gebru also contributed to this post.

In October 2011 a study, conducted by the Lawrence Hall of Science and SRI International of Menlo Park entitled “High Hopes:--Few Opportunities: The Status Elementary Science Education in California,” was released about the state of elementary science education, according to The Mercury News.

There has been much debate in the U.S. on whether or not students should begin studying science as soon as they enter Elementary school. This study shows that California schools spend very little time teaching science compared to math and English. The study also argues this is the reason state test scores in science are low. Science only makes up six percent of a school’s test scores while subjects like English make up 57 %.

Rob Zaccheo of Pioneer High in San Jose who has been teaching for seventeen years, told the Mercury News that the amount of scientific thinking among students has shrunk. He said that while one’s scientific knowledge depends on what they have practiced in the past, many students would tell the teachers to, “just tell me what I need to know to past the test.” 

The study shows that the lack of elementary science can affect not only the students, but even the teachers. Studies show that 85% of elementary teachers have received no training in science in the past three years. Holly Jacobson of the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning at WestEd told the Mercury News that mastering science at a young age is beneficial. But Jacobson also stated that at the end of the day there is no time left for subjects like science.  

 Whether or not science is added to elementary school one thing is for certain, there will be much debate about this topic for a long time. Let’s see what happens next.

By Robyn Gee, Turnstyle News

Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and President of the Thiel Foundation announced the first class of 20 Under 20 fellows last week. Each under-20-year-old receives $100,000 to leave school and pursue their visions in science and technology for the next two years.

But interestingly enough, only two of the 24 fellowship winners are women. Jonathan Cain of the Thiel Foundation said they did not take gender or ethnicity into account when considering applications for the fellowship.

Eden Full, one of the female winners, received a Thiel Fellowship to pursue her research into solar energy. At the age of 19, she is "stopping out" of Princeton University to take this opportunity, but has every intention to return to school after the fellowship. She has already re-modeled the traditional rotating solar panel to make it cost-efficient, and deployed her new technology to Kenya. She plans to alter the design and apply for a patent during the fellowship.

Full said when she came to San Francisco for the finalist round of interviews for the fellowship, there were five girls out of 40 finalists. “I did feel that my work wasn’t taken too seriously,” she said. In the back of her mind, there was a fear that she was included for media purposes only to show some diversity. “I’m a minority female in engineering... I don’t mind being the underdog. I would rather have people not take me seriously and then I can go do something amazing. Or maybe not - and if I don’t, then I won’t have let anyone down,” she said.

“I do wish that more women were selected, but If I am the under dog, fine. I’ll use that to my advantage,” said Full.

Laura Deming, also a female fellowship winner, feels completely different about the lack of gender diversity. She is adamant that gender doesn’t matter, and thinks it’s a great sign that there was no affirmative action in the Thiel Fellowship. Deming began doing anti-aging research at the age of 12 at in a lab at UCSF, and matriculated into MIT at the age of 14. At 17, she is dedicated to curing aging.

“Growing up, I knew I wanted to be a biologist. I idolized scientists like Nikola Tesla and Micheal Faraday. But I didn’t know I wanted to focus on curing aging, until one night when I was eight years old. It suddenly hit me that we were all going to die – I and everyone I knew – from a horrible, painful, degenerative disease that nobody could cure. Ever since, I haven’t been able to imagine anything more important, or interesting to work on,” she said.

Female Scientists Weigh In