Episode 13

How a Computer Game is Reinventing the Science of Expertise [Video] A crowd observes the match playing on the main stage at the StarCraft 2 championships in Providence, RI.

Credit: Major League Gaming If there is one general rule about the limitations of the human mind, it is that we are terrible at multitasking. The old phrase “united we stand, divided we fall” applies equally well to the mechanisms of attention as it does to a patriotic cause. When devoted to a single task, the brain excels; when several goals splinter its focus, errors become unavoidable. But clear exceptions challenge that general rule. Challenges in learning biology. I spent Monday & Tuesday of this week down in Wellington, attending the 2nd First-Year Biology Educators’ Colloquium.

(Yes, that’s a mouthful! We usually just say FYBEC to those in the know.) It was really refreshing to spend time focusing on how we teach first-year biology at university, and on research into ways to enhance that teaching. Finding out about the astronomers who found the universe. Why don’t we have a cure for AIDS yet? Last week I came across this article which describes how the number of people living with AIDS has increased due to better access to drugs which fight HIV.

A fairly reasonable article … But then I made the mistake of reading some of the comments (I know, I know, I should know better) where several misconceived and ill informed opinions were circulating including the suggestion that drug companies are not interested in finding a cure – rather they are only interested in drugs that prolong life so they could profit over long periods of time.

While I can understand that such misguided views could easily arise from the frustration at the perceived slow progress of science, and the fact that pharmaceutical companies have a less than pure reputation, the real reason why a cure has not been found is due to the complexity of the science involved. 1) Virus reservoirs Many drugs are limited to where they can get to in the human body. 2) Mutation 3) Complexity of Drug Design and Development*

Sciblogs Events. Stephen Colbert Interviews Neil deGrasse Tyson at Montclair Kimberley Academy - 2010-Jan-29. Kiwi Captures Solar System: Beta Pictoris and Rolf. Last updated 09:55 28/11/2011 SKY HIGH: Titirangi man Rolf Olsen's picture of the star Beta Pictoris, believed to be the first image by an amateur photographer.

INGENIOUS KIWI: Rolf Olsen. A New Zealand man has been hailed as the first amateur photographer to capture an image of another solar system. Aucklander Rolf Olsen has captured the star Beta Pictoris, and the disk of debris and dust orbiting it, in a stunning image that has amazed astronomers worldwide. "I realised it was a special thing but I didn't realise it would generate such a stir," Rolf said. The photo shows the protoplanetary disk surrounding the star. "This is a very young system thought to be only around 12 million years old and is essentially similar to how our own solar system must have formed some 4.5 billion years ago," Olsen wrote on his website.

Astronomer and astro-photographer John Field, from Wellington's Carter Observatory, said Olsen's picture was "absolutely amazing". "It's really cool work. . - © Fairfax NZ News. Weta minute - he's a wee 'un - Strange But True. International media are calling it the biggest weta ever found, but New Zealand experts are urging them to get a sense of perspective.

American researcher Mark Moffett fed a carrot to a giant weta on a recent visit to New Zealand's Little Barrier Island and the meeting has turned into major news in the Northern Hemisphere. Pictures of the weta, or wetapunga, and its carrot have featured on websites around the world with headings including, "World's biggest insect". The story has run in The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Sun, The Mirror, the Huffington Post and The Times of India. New Zealand insect expert, bug man Ruud Kleinpaste, a trustee of Little Barrier Island Supporters Trust, has played down the significance of the find. "There's nothing unusual to find these weta," Kleinpaste said, though he thought the publicity for the species could be a good thing. Kleinpaste said he saw wetapunga on Little Barrier Island every time he went there. Whales. Open Source Physics. + Author Affiliations ↵† Author for corespondence.

E-mail: wochristian@davidson.edu Scientists routinely use computer modeling and computation in innovative research, including predicting the nature of He4 at extremely low temperatures and the impact of human activity on climate. Why does computer-based modeling remain absent from many educational programs? The Open Source Physics (OSP) project, www.compadre.org/osp/, seeks to enhance computational physics education by providing a central Web site containing computer modeling tools, simulations, curricular resources such as lesson plans, and a computational physics textbook that explains the pedagogic simulations' algorithms (1).

Students who learn physics concepts via static pictures may be led to construct incomplete or incorrect mental models that hamper their understanding of physical concepts. Dynamic modeling. Middle school students launching bottle rockets for Tracker video analyses. Our simulations require student interaction.