science – Page 2

Scientists Can Look Like Them – What Sending Science Majors Into Elementary Schools Helps Latino And Black Students Realize

24May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

EDUCATION

Scientists Can Look Like Them – What Sending Science Majors Into Elementary Schools Helps Latino And Black Students Realize

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. A student’s drawings of a scientist upon starting and after completing the Young Scientists Program. USC Young Scientists Program, CC BY-NC-ND The big idea After taking part in hands-on STEM lab experiments as part of a youth science program I coordinate, Latino and Black students were more likely to picture scientists as people who look like them – and not stereotypical white men in lab coats. The Young Scientists Program at the Joint Educational Project of the University of Southern California offers specialized science, technology, engineering and math instruction in local elementary schools that have mostly Latino and Black students – two groups long underrepresented in STEM fields. My colleagues and I recruit underg...

Detecting Fake Science News – 6 Tips To Help You

15Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE

Detecting Fake Science News – 6 Tips To Help You

I’m a professor of chemistry, have a Ph.D. and conduct my own scientific research, yet when consuming media, even I frequently need to ask myself: “Is this science or is it fiction?” If what you’re reading seems too good to be true, it just might be. Mark Hang Fung So/Unsplash, CC BY There are plenty of reasons a science story might not be sound. Quacks and charlatans take advantage of the complexity of science, some content providers can’t tell bad science from good and some politicians peddle fake science to support their positions. If the science sounds too good to be true or too wacky to be real, or very conveniently supports a contentious cause, then you might want to check its veracity. Here are six tips to help you detect fake science. Tip 1: Seek the peer review seal of approval...

Frozen Wind Turbines – The Science Behind Them And How To Keep Them Spinning Through The Winter

5Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE

Frozen Wind Turbines – The Science Behind Them And How To Keep Them Spinning Through The Winter

Winter is supposed to be the best season for wind power – the winds are stronger, and since air density increases as the temperature drops, more force is pushing on the blades. But winter also comes with a problem: freezing weather. Even light icing can produce enough surface roughness on wind turbine blades to reduce their aerodynamic efficiency, which reduces the amount of power they can produce, as Texas experienced in February. Frequent severe icing can cut a wind farm’s annual energy production by over 20%, costing the industry hundreds of millions of dollars. Power loss isn’t the only problem from icing, either. The uneven way ice forms on blades can create imbalances, causing a turbine’s parts to wear out more quickly. It can also induce vibrations that cause the turbines to shut ...

Why Are Computer Science Jobs Out Of Reach For So Many Of America’s Students? They Are Growing Fast And They Pay Well

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY, VIDEO REELS

Why Are Computer Science Jobs Out Of Reach For So Many Of America’s Students? They Are Growing Fast And They Pay Well

When it comes to the digital divide, often the focus is on how lack of internet service and basic technology will hurt students’ academic performance. This is particularly true during the pandemic, when most schools are operating online. But as a STEM educator at one of the nation’s elite historically Black colleges, I see another negative effect of the digital divide: racial disparities in the field of computer science. Computer science is one of the fastest-growing and highest-paying fields. So if students from certain groups are being shut out of the field, it means that public education is failing in its role as the great equalizer. I see some ways for that to change. But first, a few statistics. The color of computer science When you look at computer science, just 8.9% of the more ...

The Science You Need To Understand: Viral Mutation, Coronavirus Variants And COVID-19 Vaccines

3Feb

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

The Science You Need To Understand: Viral Mutation, Coronavirus Variants And COVID-19 Vaccines

The SARS-CoV-2 virus mutates fast. That’s a concern because these more transmissible variants of SARS-CoV-2 are now present in the U.S., U.K. and South Africa and other countries, and many people are wondering whether the current vaccines will protect the recipients from the virus. Furthermore, many question whether we will we be able to keep ahead of future variants of SARS-CoV-2, which will certainly arise. In my laboratory I study the molecular structure of RNA viruses – like the one that causes COVID-19 – and how they replicate and multiply in the host. As the virus infects more people and the pandemic spreads, SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve. This process of evolution is constant and it allows the virus to sample its environment and select changes that make it grow more efficiently. T...

Editor Of NAACP’s Magazine The Crisis – W.E.B. Du Bois Embraced Science To Fight Racism

14Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Editor Of NAACP’s Magazine The Crisis – W.E.B. Du Bois Embraced Science To Fight Racism

The NAACP – the most prominent interracial civil rights organization in American history – published the first issue of The Crisis, its official magazine, 110 years ago, in 1910. W.E.B. Du Bois in his office at The Crisis in New York City, 1925. W. E. B. Du Bois Papers (MS 312). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries, CC BY-ND For almost two and a half decades, sociologist and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois served as its editor, famously using this platform to dismantle scientific racism. An advertisement for The Crisis, circa March 1925. W.E.B. Du Bois Papers (MS 312). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries, CC BY-ND At the time, many widely respected intellectuals gave credence ...

Using The Science Of Memory, New DIY Contact Tracing App Expands The Fight Against COVID-19

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS, TECHNOLOGY

Using The Science Of Memory, New DIY Contact Tracing App Expands The Fight Against COVID-19

Imagine you begin to feel ill on Thursday, a few days after returning from a trip. You’re afraid it’s COVID-19, so you get tested on Friday. Even under good circumstances, it will probably be at least Monday before a contact tracer calls from the health department. And then some phone tag may ensue before you speak with anyone – if you get a call at all. Once a contact tracer does reach you, you will be asked to remember all the people you were in close contact with, starting two days before you began feeling symptoms. That means recalling all the places you went and the people you saw over the past week. It isn’t easy. As time passes, memories fade. Unfortunately, your contacts, unaware they were exposed to the coronavirus, may have already infected others. Concerned about those delays...

China Beat The Coronavirus, Not Just With Authoritarianism But With Science And Strong Public Health Measures

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS, VIDEO REELS

China Beat The Coronavirus, Not Just With Authoritarianism But With Science And Strong Public Health Measures

I live in a democracy. But as Thanksgiving approaches, I find myself longing for the type of freedom I am seeing in China. One of the Wuhan train stations in fall 2020. The city reopened in April 2020 after a total shutdown. Liu Yan, CC BY-SA People in China are able to move around freely right now. Many Americans may believe that the Chinese are able to enjoy this freedom because of China’s authoritarian regime. As a scholar of public health in China, I think the answers go beyond that. My research suggests that the control of the virus in China is not the result of authoritarian policy, but of a national prioritization of health. China learned a tough lesson with SARS, the first coronavirus pandemic of the 21st century. How China flattened its curve Barely less than a year ago, a nove...

Science untangles the elusive power and influence of hope in our lives

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE

Science untangles the elusive power and influence of hope in our lives

On Erin Gruwell’s first day as a high school English teacher, she faced a classroom of 150 “at risk” freshmen. Most of these kids, statistically, were going to fail. They were tough, their young lives already defined by poverty, gangs, violence and low expectations. These students, she wrote, knew nearly every “four-letter word” except one: hope. Traditional dancers celebrate Hari Raya, the end of Ramadan. Photo by Aniq Danial for Unsplash, CC BY-ND Yet four years later, every one of her “at risk” students at Wilson High School in Long Beach, CA, had graduated from high school. More than half went on to graduate from college. The stories written by Gruwell’s students were published as a book called “The Freedom Writers Diary”. It became a New York Times bestseller and in 2007 was made int...

Future teachers often think memorization is the best way to teach math and science – until they learn a different way

18Sep

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

EDUCATION

Future teachers often think memorization is the best way to teach math and science – until they learn a different way

I found that college students who are taking courses to become teachers can change their beliefs of how science and mathematics should be taught to and learned by K-12 students. Most of these future teachers tell me when they start my course, they believe that K-12 students must memorize science and mathematics knowledge to learn it. They also believe that students cannot acquire knowledge through a process used by scientists and mathematicians called problem-solving. Problem-solving asks students to solve engaging and challenging problems that are provided without a strategy or solution. It also involves group work and a time to present and justify their strategies and solutions to the class. To challenge my students’ beliefs, I ask future teachers to teach science and mathematics to st...