Science Daily: News & Articles in Science, Health, Environment & Technology Bad Science Making the University a Police State This weekend The Chronicle of Higher Education published an opinion piece by Michael Morris arguing that in the name of campus security campuses should start data mining all student internet traffic. Or as the not so subtle, fear mongering, almost fit for Fox News title says, “Mining Student Data Could Save Lives.” Morris’s article to put the matter bluntly is a phenomenally bad idea. Indeed his argument so ill conceived that it is difficult to know where to begin in exposing the problems. I even question The Chronicle’s choice to publish this piece. Yes, opinions are helpful for generating discussion, but a certain amount of competency should have to be cleared before The Chronicle is willing to co-sign your piece, even if done under the commentary section. Let’s start by being clear on what Morris is calling for. Technologically Morris doesn’t know what he is talking about and ethically he equates himself with some of the world’s most oppressive governments.
NSDL.org - National Science Digital Library Japanese Nuclear Crisis: TMI, Chernobyl, or In-between | Fred Bortz My favorite chapter from my 1995 book Catastrophe! Great Engineering Failure–and Success is the one where I discuss two very different nuclear reactor accidents, Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. …sometime in your lifetime, the question of nuclear power is likely to arise again. As I follow the unfolding story, I am struck by the different views being expressed by experts in the media. This morning, the reporting on NPR’s Morning Edition was less sensational without understating the problem. The brave Japanese workers who are still in the plant will not be so lucky. Listening to the NPR report, it was also clear that a much greater problem may still lie ahead. Assuming the cooling is restored in time, and the people can return to their homes, the world will still be faced with the same difficult political choices I outlined in Catastrophe!. More than ever, critical thinking will be needed in a world where sound-bite and YouTube clip mentality rules.
Free Ebook Download Links SciLogs - Tagebücher der Wissenschaft Science Made Cool: Biology My personal fitness plan revolves around trees. We have a wood stove which contributes a not-inconsiderable fraction of our home heating during the winter, and that means I have to spend spring and summer refilling the woodpile. Mostly I cut up deadfalls, but occasionally I do cut down trees which look as though they're going to fall down anyway, or which are in places I don't want them to be. (I've tried asking them politely to move, but they ignore me.) Earlier this summer I took down a medium-sized pine tree, about 40 feet tall, in order to bring more light to part of the yard. Now, pine wood isn't as dense as, say, maple or oak, so it doesn't burn as hot. A couple of weeks later I happened to pass the stack of pine logs, and I noticed something. The first was the sawdust. I bent closer and noticed the second thing. My resident scientist did some Googling, and we guess it was some sort of beetle larvae, from one of the many species of beetles which attack pine logs.