Crean red para jóvenes científicos latinoamericanos

Crédito de la imagen: Martín de Ambrosio

Congreso Iberoamericano de CTI y Educación

[BUENOS AIRES] “Las asociaciones de jóvenes científicos de Chile y México tiene los mismos objetivos y hasta el mismo nombre (+Ciencia), pero ni siquiera sabían de la existencia de la otra, ahí actuamos nosotros”, dirá luego Marga Gual Soler, cuando todo haya terminado.

Antes, durante más de tres horas, jóvenes investigadores —esa categoría tan elusiva— de la región mostraron sus esfuerzos personales y organizativos para llevar adelante proyectos. 

Fue en la doble sesión “Foro de ciencia joven en América Latina y el Caribe”, de la Asociación Mundial de Jóvenes Científicos (WAYS-Unesco), que reunió a una docena de participantes de Argentina, Chile, Puerto Rico, México y España, entre otros, en la jornada final del Congreso Iberoamericano de Ciencia, Tecnología, Innovación y Educación (12-14 de noviembre), en el Aula Magna de la Facultad de Derecho de la UBA. 

Gual Soler, que trabaja en la Asociación Estadounidense para el Progreso de las Ciencias (AAAS, en su sigla en inglés), se guardó para el mismísimo final el anuncio del lanzamiento de WAYS-LAC, la versión latinoamericana de un emprendimiento para dar soporte institucional a jóvenes investigadores que en ocasiones no lo tienen en países en vías de desarrollo y que ya funciona en otras regiones desde hace una década. 

Incluso hay una página web en versión beta disponible (www.wayslac.org). ¿El objetivo? Articular, dar visibilidad y proporcionar una voz colectiva a las organizaciones que la componen. 

Según cuenta Gual Soler, la financiación es incipiente y se cuentan apenas con recursos para algunos congresos y foros como el de Buenos Aires, siempre con el paraguas de la UNESCO. Pero es solo el comienzo: “Queremos articular, por ejemplo, con universidades de Estados Unidos y la Red Pop y armar un tejido que nos permita escribir nuestros propias becas de financiamiento”, dijo Gual Soler. 

El paraguas mencionado serviría para la química argentina Victoria Flexer, que dejará su trabajo en Bélgica para radicarse en el norte de su país, en Jujuy, en un mega laboratorio para investigar sobre litio, con los problemas que suelen tener becarios y post-becarios. 

O para sumar el inteligente entusiasmo de Fernando Valiente Echeverría quien impulsa Más Ciencia para Chile, organización que nació en 2007 por una protesta por salarios pero que trascendió ese pedido: “Queremos más institucionalidad en nuestro país, que haya un Ministerio de Ciencia independiente de Economía, y asumir un compromiso con la comunicación científica a la comunidad”, mencionó. 

O como José Antonio Alonso Pavón, parte de Más Ciencia México, que busca cuestionar la ciencia del modo que se la hace en su país, “sin apoyos del gobierno federal, con indiferencias que llevan a que a la gente no le parezca relevante la ciencia y crean que los científicos somos peligrosos, siempre a punto de hacer detonar algo en un laboratorio”. 

O Mónica Feliú-Mójer, que desde el archipiélago boricua busca que los científicos comuniquen a la sociedad sus conocimientos, y así armó la asociación sin fines de lucro Ciencia Puerto Rico. 

Hasta hubo espacio para la historia de Javier Santaolalla, del colectivo científico-humorístico The Big Van Theory, que contó sus hazañas y desventuras como joven investigador en el CERN de Suiza y luego en Brasil. Porque la ciencia con humor entra, y si está organizada mucho mejor.

ORIGINAL: SciDevNet

Martín De Ambrosio 

17/11/14

This 13-Year-Old Just Became the Youngest Person Ever to Build a Nuclear-Fusion Reactor

Remember that whole "The Effect of Carbonated Cola Beverages on Human Teeth" experiment you did for your Science Fair? Yeah.

http://jamiesfusionproject.blogspot.co.uk/

It started with the Internet.
"One day," Jamie Edwards recalls, "I was looking on the Internet for radiation or other aspects of nuclear energy." (As one does.) Through that search, he came across the story of Taylor Wilson, an American who, in 2008, had become the youngest person ever to build a nuclear-fusion reactor. Wilson was 14 at the time.
"I looked at it," Edwards says, and "thought 'that looks cool' and decided to have a go."

Edwards is 13. He is a student at the Priory Academy in Lancashire, in the U.K. He loves science—so much so that, as he told the Lancashire Evening Post, he used to try and steal his older brother Danny’s science homework. So that he could do that work himself.

Edwards—a "young boffin," as the Post delightfully calls him—began construction of his makeshift nuclear reactor back in October in a science lab at Priory. He also kept a blog tracking his progress in the work of reactor-building, cataloguing his collection of a diffusion pump and a control panel and other components of the device that would eventually smash some atoms.

This morning, all that work paid off. Edwards smashed two atoms of hydrogen together, creating helium. Yep: From a little science lab in a school in Lancashire, a 13-year-old created nuclear fusion.

"I can’t quite believe it," Edwards told the Post, of this accomplishment, adding that "all my friends think I am mad." But he's also a record-holder—and one who got his record in just under the wire. Edwards turns 14 on Sunday.

Via Lancashire Evening Post, hat tip Nicholas Slayton

ORIGINAL: The Atlantic

Megan Garber 

Mar 5 2014

3D Printed Robotic Arm: Colorado Teen Designs $500 Prosthetic Controlled By Bluetooth Headband

ORIGINAL: IB Times
By Ryan W. Neal
August 15 2013

A Colorado teenager has used 3D printing to create a robotic prosthetic arm that costs less than $500 and is fully functional. YouTube

A Colorado teenager has used 3D printing to create a robotic prosthetic arm that costs less than $500 and is fully functional. At Denver's TedxMileHigh, Easton LaChappelle, 17, demonstrated his robotic arm, and how he constructed it to keep the cost low.

LaChappelle said he came up with the idea for a robotic arm when he was 14, then turned to the Internet to teach himself the engineering and programming skills needed to execute it. When the costs involved in making a full-size arm became too great, LaChappelle looked into 3D printing.

“So, in the end, I built this robotic arm up to the shoulder, which was extremely strong,” LaChappelle said. “It could toss balls to you, it could shake your hand, it could pretty much do anything a human could if you program it correctly."

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LaChappelle entered his robotic arm in the Colorado Science and Engineering Fair, where he met a 7-year-old girl with a prosthetic arm that cost $80,000. LaChappelle decided to add a control system to the robotic arm and direct his fun project toward helping people.

Instead of neural sensors implanted in a spinal cord, LaChappelle wanted a control system that was external so it could be taken on and off. LaChappelle’s prosthetic arm is controlled with an electroencephalographic headband, which can read about 10 different channels of the brain and communicate with the arm wirelessly via Bluetooth technology.

LaChappelle said 3D printing was essential not only in building custom gears and prototypes at comparatively low cost but also in allowing him to construct a prosthetic arm that looks relatively organic. LaChappelle used acetone vapor on the 3D-printed hand to give it a clean, glossy finish.

LaChappelle’s work with the 3D-printed prosthetic arm landed him a job working at NASA on the Robonaut team. He's now engaged in producing a set of robotic legs for a classmate who can’t walk.

Advances in 3D printing technology are making huge waves for people with disabilities. At a recent Wearable Technology Conference in New York, a hat designed to help a person with hearing loss won recognition as the best in show, while 3D printing was also used to produce a prosthetic foot for a duck. In Europe, a set of robotic legs became the first robotic apparatus approved as a medical device there.

20 Things 20-Year-Olds Don't Get

ORIGINAL: Forbes
7/23/2013

 

I started Docstoc in my 20’s, made the cover of one of those cliché “20 Under 20” lists, and today I employ an amazing group of 20-somethings. Call me a curmudgeon, but at 34, how I came up seems so different from what this millennial generation expects. I made a lot of mistakes along the way, and I see this generation making their own. In response, here are my 20 Things 20-Year-Olds Don’t Get.

Time is Not a Limitless Commodity – I so rarely find young professionals that have a heightened sense of urgency to get to the next level. In our 20s we think we have all the time in the world to A) figure it out and B) get what we want. Time is the only treasure we start off with in abundance, and can never get back. Make the most of the opportunities you have today, because there will be a time when you have no more of it.

You’re Talented, But Talent is Overrated - Congratulations, you may be the most capable, creative, knowledgeable & multi-tasking generation yet. As my father says, “I’ll Give You a Sh-t Medal.” Unrefined raw materials (no matter how valuable) are simply wasted potential. There’s no prize for talent, just results. Even the most seemingly gifted folks methodically and painfully worked their way to success. (Tip: read “Talent is Overrated”)

We’re More Productive in the Morning – During my first 2 years at Docstoc (while I was still in my 20’s) I prided myself on staying at the office until 3am on a regular basis. I thought I got so much work done in those hours long after everyone else was gone. But in retrospect I got more menial, task-based items done, not the more complicated strategic planning, phone calls or meetings that needed to happen during business hours. Now I stress an office-wide early start time because I know, for the most part, we’re more productive as a team in those early hours of the day.  

Social Media is Not a Career – These job titles won’t exist in 5 years. Social media is simply a function of marketing; it helps support branding, ROI or both. Social media is a means to get more awareness, more users or more revenue. It’s not an end in itself. I’d strongly caution against pegging your career trajectory solely to a social media job title.

Pick Up the Phone – Stop hiding behind your computer. Business gets done on the phone and in person. It should be your first instinct, not last, to talk to a real person and source business opportunities. And when the Internet goes down… stop looking so befuddled and don’t ask to go home. Don’t be a pansy, pick up the phone.

Be the First In & Last to Leave ­– I give this advice to everyone starting a new job or still in the formative stages of their professional career. You have more ground to make up than everyone else around you, and you do have something to prove. There’s only one sure-fire way to get ahead, and that’s to work harder than all of your peers.

Don’t Wait to Be Told What to Do – You can’t have a sense of entitlement without a sense of responsibility. You’ll never get ahead by waiting for someone to tell you what to do. Saying “nobody asked me to do this” is a guaranteed recipe for failure. Err on the side of doing too much, not too little. (Watch: Millennials in the Workplace Training Video)

Take Responsibility for Your Mistakes – You should be making lots of mistakes when you’re early on in your career. But you shouldn’t be defensive about errors in judgment or execution. Stop trying to justify your F-ups. You’re only going to grow by embracing the lessons learned from your mistakes, and committing to learn from those experiences.

You Should Be Getting Your Butt Kicked – Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada” would be the most valuable boss you could possibly have. This is the most impressionable, malleable and formative stage of your professional career. Working for someone that demands excellence and pushes your limits every day will build the most solid foundation for your ongoing professional success.

A New Job a Year Isn’t a Good Thing ­­– 1-year stints don’t tell me that you’re so talented that you keep outgrowing your company. It tells me that you don’t have the discipline to see your own learning curve through to completion. It takes about 2-3 years to master any new critical skill, give yourself at least that much time before you jump ship. Otherwise your resume reads as a series of red flags on why not to be hired.

People Matter More Than Perks – It’s so trendy to pick the company that offers the most flex time, unlimited meals, company massages, game rooms and team outings. Those should all matter, but not as much as the character of your founders and managers. Great leaders will mentor you and will be a loyal source of employment long after you’ve left. Make a conscious bet on the folks you’re going to work for and your commitment to them will pay off much more than those fluffy perks.

Map Effort to Your Professional Gain – You’re going to be asked to do things you don’t like to do. Keep your eye on the prize. Connect what you’re doing today, with where you want to be tomorrow. That should be all the incentive you need. If you can’t map your future success to your current responsibilities, then it’s time to find a new opportunity.

Speak Up, Not Out – We’re raising a generation of sh-t talkers. In your workplace this is a cancer. If you have issues with management, culture or your role & responsibilities, SPEAK UP. Don’t take those complaints and trash-talk the company or co-workers on lunch breaks and anonymous chat boards. If you can effectively communicate what needs to be improved, you have the ability to shape your surroundings and professional destiny.

You HAVE to Build Your Technical Chops – Adding “Proficient in Microsoft Office” at the bottom of your resume under Skills, is not going to cut it anymore. I immediately give preference to candidates who are ninjas in: Photoshop, HTML/CSS, iOS, WordPress, Adwords, MySQL, Balsamiq, advanced Excel, Final Cut Pro – regardless of their job position. If you plan to stay gainfully employed, you better complement that humanities degree with some applicable technical chops.

Both the Size and Quality of Your Network Matter – It’s who you know more than what you know, that gets you ahead in business. Knowing a small group of folks very well, or a huge smattering of contacts superficially, just won’t cut it. Meet and stay connected to lots of folks, and invest your time developing as many of those relationships as possible. (TIP: Here is my Networking Advice)

You Need At Least 3 Professional Mentors – The most guaranteed path to success is to emulate those who’ve achieved what you seek. You should always have at least 3 people you call mentors who are where you want to be. Their free guidance and counsel will be the most priceless gift you can receive. (TIP: “The Secret to Finding and Keeping Mentors”)

Pick an Idol & Act “As If” – You may not know what to do, but your professional idol does. I often coach my employees to pick the businessperson they most admire, and act “as if.” If you were (fill in the blank) how would he or she carry themselves, make decisions, organize his/her day, accomplish goals? You’ve got to fake it until you make it, so it’s better to fake it as the most accomplished person you could imagine. (Shout out to Tony Robbins for the tip)

Read More Books, Fewer Tweets/Texts – Your generation consumes information in headlines and 140 characters: all breadth and no depth. Creativity, thoughtfulness and thinking skills are freed when you’re forced to read a full book cover to cover. All the keys to your future success, lay in the past experience of others. Make sure to read a book a month (fiction or non-fiction) and your career will blossom.

Spend 25% Less Than You Make – When your material needs meet or exceed your income, you’re sabotaging your ability to really make it big. Don’t shackle yourself with golden handcuffs (a fancy car or an expensive apartment). Be willing and able to take 20% less in the short term, if it could mean 200% more earning potential. You’re nothing more than penny wise and pound-foolish if you pass up an amazing new career opportunity to keep an extra little bit of income. No matter how much money you make, spend 25% less to support your life. It’s a guaranteed formula to be less stressed and to always have the flexibility to pursue your dreams.

Your Reputation is Priceless, Don’t Damage It – Over time, your reputation is the most valuable currency you have in business. It’s the invisible key that either opens or closes doors of professional opportunity. Especially in an age where everything is forever recorded and accessible, your reputation has to be guarded like the most sacred treasure. It’s the one item that, once lost, you can never get back.

Young Student's Quantum Physics Invention

ORIGINAL: Fast Company
By: Kit Eaton

[Image: Flickr user gordontarpley]

Aisha Mustafa Photo: OnIslam.net

Remember the name, because you might see it again: Aisha Mustafa, a 19-year-old Egyptian physics student, patented a new type of propulsion system for spacecraft that uses cutting edge quantum physics instead of thrusters.

First, a little background: One of the strange quantum facts at work in Mustafa's engine idea is that there's no such thing as a vacuum, devoid of particles, waves, and energy. Instead the universe's supposedly empty spaces are filled with a roiling sea of particles and anti-particles that pop into existence, then annihilate each other in such a short space of time that you can't readily detect them.

Mustafa invented a way of tapping this quantum effect via what's known as the dynamic Casimir effect. This uses a "moving mirror" cavity, where two very reflective very flat plates are held close together, and then moved slightly to interact with the quantum particle sea. It's horribly technical, but the end result is that Mustafa's use of shaped silicon plates similar to those used in solar power cells results in a net force being delivered. A force, of course, means a push or a pull and in space this equates to a drive or engine.

In terms of space propulsion, this is amazing. Most forms of spacecraft rely on the rocket principle to work: Some fuel is made energetic and then thrust out of an engine, pushing the rocket forward. It's tricky stuff to get right, particularly on Earth, which is why we shouldn't be surprised SpaceX's recent launch stopped at the critical moment due to a problem with one of its chemical rocket engines. For in-space maneuvering, many different types of rocket are used, but even exotic ones like ion drives (shown in a NASA image above) need fuel. The only space drive that doesn't involve hauling fuel and complex systems into orbit is a solar sail. And Mustafa's invention can, rudimentarily, be compared to a solar sail...because it doesn't need "fuel" as such, and exerts just the tiniest push compared to the thundery flames of SpaceX's rockets. It's potential is enormous--because of its mechanical simplicity and reliability it could make satellite propulsion lighter, cheaper, and thus indirectly lower the cost of space missions of all sorts.

And if you want proof that the tiniest of pushes can propel a spacecraft, check this out: Two Pioneer space probes, launched in the 1970s, are the farthest manmade objects from Earth...but they're not as far away as they should be. Over the course of a year they deviate by hundreds of kilometers from where all our science says they must be in orbit, and it's been found that it's down to the tiniest of pushes coming from radiators on-board that radiate heat waves out slghtly more in one direction than another.

Aisha's invention is so promising that her university's staff aided with a patent application. She intends to study the design further in the hope of testing it out for real in space, but as the OnIslam.net site points out she notes that there's no funding for a department of space science and this prevents important research being carried out in strife-ridden Egypt.

In college at 12, off to start her Ph.D. at 16, Tigard's Tesca Fitzgerald blazes new intellectual territory

ORIGINAL: Oregon Live
By Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian
June 12, 2013

 

At age 16, Tesca Fitzgerald will graduate with honors Sunday from Portland State University and head to a prestigious computer science Ph.D. program. Those who know her well say she is unfailingly fun to be around and always likes to try new things, whether tap dance, a new route to the bus stop or stretching software past what its designers thought were the limits. (Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian) 

During her first week in college, in a discrete mathematics class at Portland Community College, Tesca Fitzgerald sat in the back of the room trying not to call attention to herself. A diligent student, she soon raised her hand and asked a question.

Every head in the room swiveled. Why such a childlike-voice in advanced college math?

The pint-size pony-tailed 12-year-old would go on to ace the class.

Now 16, the self-possessed teen from Tigard will graduate Sunday from Portland State University with honors in computer science. Oregon's six other public universities will hold graduations Saturday and Monday.

After being heavily wooed by several of the nation's top computer science programs, Fitzgerald is headed to Georgia Tech to earn her Ph.D. with a specialty in artificial intelligence.

Over and over, she has turned heads by quietly pushing the envelope to pull off intellectual feats. Explaining one of them, with a simplicity that explains many, she says, "It was because I wanted to do something different that nobody had done before."

With her degree and know-how, Fitzgerald could easily have scored a high-paying job at her choice of Portland firms. Most of her fellow C.S. majors have done just that.

Her desire to stretch exploration of human and artificial intelligence explains her plans to instead move 2,600 miles from the parents and sisters she adores to spend six years or more earning a doctorate.

She chose Georgia Tech because it offers a computer science specialty called interactive computing that will allow her to delve into cognitive science, neuroscience and other interdisciplinary arenas.

"My passion lies in finding new solutions to new problems," she says.

Her talent for computing showed early, thanks in part to an unusual home environment. Her parents, both with MBAs, worked at home a lot, half time for her trust-manager mom, Ami, full time for her self-taught database designer dad, Mark.
He had a lot of computers, enough that all three daughters could bang around on them from infancy and got one of their own as preschoolers.

One scene from a plane, as recalled by Ami Fitzgerald: When Tesca was not yet 2, she and her mother took a flight, each with her own laptop, unusual for a toddler in the 1990s. While Ami worked, Tesca played a simple interactive game, appearing to deftly use the computer as she sucked on her pacifier. Other passengers gaped.

At landing time, mother told daughter to shut down her computer, and she did. But Ami struggled to get hers off, even after she yanked out the battery pack. A flustered flight attendant insisted she shut it down.

From the back of the plane, a chorus of voices shouted: "Ask the baby." Fitzgerald passed the laptop to Tesca, who did, indeed, turn it off.

"The whole back of the plane erupted," Ami Fitzgerald says.

The program Tesca played was a Reader Rabbit game designed to teach 4- to 6-year-olds letters, sounds and words. Her parents assumed she was just enjoying the goofy graphics and punching random keys.

When older sister Tayt was 5, her teacher declared her ready to read and sent home easy picture books. On her first try, Tayt did well.

Tesca, not yet 3, said what any little sister might: "My turn." Then, to her mother's astonishment, "She read and read and read. Every book you could put in front of her, she could read."

At age 2, with help only from Reader Rabbit, she had cracked the code.

On trips to and from Tayt's school, Ami Fitzgerald would strap 3-year-old Tesca in her car seat and hand her second-grade books. The toddler greedily consumed them.

"That's when I realized, 'Huh, we're going to have an issue,'" Ami Fitzgerald says.

At age 8, a pony-tailed Tesca Fitzgerald made a chess move in a game against her big sister, Tayt. The two super-smart sisters went through high school, Portland Community College and Portland State University together. Both graduate Sunday, Tayt with a degree in English, Tesca with hers in computer science. Bob Ellis / The Oregonian / 2005

She was a successful certified trust and financial adviser with a full-time career. She had barely heard of home schooling and had no idea how to teach.

But super-bright Tayt was being bullied at school. Ultra-bright Tesca was so far off the charts no regular classroom would fit.

So Ami Fitzgerald became a home-schooling mom, a role she still plays for 13-year-old Tylise.

Tesca Fitzgerald has a prodigious ability to memorize, lightning-fast learning skills and a passion for cutting-edge computing, says her senior thesis adviser, associate computer science professor Bart Massey. But his star student says another factor helps explain her trajectory: robotics team.

With its zany atmosphere, novel challenges and reward for smart coding, robotics taught her how much fun she could have writing software as part of a team, she says.

Almost by chance, Tesca got to take part at age 5 in an organized robotics program that has thousands of mostly middle-school-age Oregonians building and programming rudimentary robots for table-top contests each year.

Tayt was invited to help form a team. Tesca tagged along. On Day One, the woman guiding the team asked Tesca, "Do you want to learn how to program the robot?" She never looked back.

"I was the lead programmer that year," she says. "I loved the challenge, and I kept coming back to try to take it to the next level." As a member of the FIRST LEGO League's Fire-breathing Rubber Duckies, she programmed robots for seven years, culminating when she led the Duckies to the world competition as a 13-year-old PCC student.

Teams receive identical, easy-to-program kits. Tesca, naturally, found unprecedented ways to do more.

Tesca Fitzgerald, left, then a 14-year-old community college student, took part in a state robotics competition with friends Amiel Patton-Hall and Jevon Streicher. "Tesca is extremely smart and it's a ball to have conversations with her," says Patton-Hall, who took college physics at PSU with Fitzgerald this year. Randy Rasmussen/The Oregonian/2011 One year a new programmable box was introduced, with room to give the robot only five series of moves because the visual programming language took up so much space.

After reading 100 pages of technical background, Tesca found an out: She would write lots of programs to direct the robot's movements in plain text programs that take up little room. She would write only one program in the bulky built-in visual language -- one that could translate her text commands into the visual programming that was the only language the robot could understand.

Her team advanced to the international meet but was nearly disqualified there, Ami Fitzgerald says. "They didn't think a 10-year-old could do that work. It was such a unique concept, even the (organizers) had never thought of it and were sure a grown-up must have come up with it."

But the teen confidently made her case to 15 dubious adults. It helped that she is an unusually poised public speaker who has, among other things, helped keynote a major Google science fair event in New York City. Even so, she was asked to submit to a software exam and show her transcript before they relented.

Two years later, she reached her mini-robot zenith: She spent 600-plus hours to write and perfect a complex artificial intelligence code so the robot could make its own decisions and operate itself. Designers of the robotics program flew in from Europe and talked to her for hours about how she pushed their software beyond what any had imagined possible.

"These adults learned from someone who had tested their software to the absolute limit," Ami Fitzgerald says.

Massey, the honors thesis adviser, says Tesca Fitzgerald is still enlightening her elders. The speed, versatility and creativity she's exhibited in creating a program to test-drive user interfaces, researching machine learning logarithms and other projects have wowed people more than twice her age, he says.

"That's how it should be with your best undergraduates. By the end, they're teaching you stuff."

--Betsy Hammond

A Fifteen-Year-Old Has Invented an Incredible New Kind of Flashlight

ORIGINAL: Gizmodo
Andrew Liszewski
2013/06/28

Are you ready to play everybody's not-so-favorite guilt game: what was I doing at that age? Ann Makosinski, a tenth grader from Victoria, British Columbia, has created a simple LED flashlight powered by body heat

Makosinski has been entering science fairs since she was in grade six, and has an interest in alternative energy, particularly harvesting all the wasted energy around us. And while researching her favorite topic she came across a device called a Peltier tile which produces electricity when cooled on one side, and warmed on the other.

After crunching the numbers, she determined that the warmth from a human hand could produce enough energy via a Peltier tile to power an LED in a flashlight. And after several prototypes, a few dead-ends, and plenty of frustration, she managed to produce two working prototype flashlights—one made of aluminum pipe and the other PVC pipe—that earned her a spot as one of the 15 Google Science Fair finalists from around the world.

The parts that went into the flashlight cost a mere $26, but if Makosinski manages to win the grand prize in the science fair she'd walk away with a $50,000 scholarship. It's certainly an impressive feat for a fifteen-year-old, particularly if you remember back to what you were doing at that age. Inventing a revolutionary new gadget? Probably not. [YouTubeCBCDamn Geeky

16-year-old student in Turkey turns bananas into plastic

ORIGINAL: Raw Story
By Agence France-Presse
June 27, 2013

There’s nothing slippery about Elif Bilgin’s idea of using banana peels as a substitute for old-school petroleum-based plastics.

The 16-year-old student from Istanbul spent two years perfecting a way to make a bioplastic out of discarded banana peels that could, in turn, be used for the electrical insulation of cables.

On Thursday, her efforts paid off when Scientific American named her the winner of its $50,000 Science in Action prize, a stepping stone to the Google Science Fair for young inventors in California this September.

In her research, Bilgin — who says “science is my calling” — determined that if starch and cellulose from such food waste as mango skins can be used to make bioplastics, then banana peels ought to do the trick, too.

“For me, this means that my project actually has a potential to be a solution to the increasing pollution problem caused by petroleum-based plastic,” said Bilgin, who counts Nobel laureate Marie Curie among her heroes.

“It also means that I have started the process of changing the world, which makes me feel like a winner already,” she added in an interview on the Scientific American’s website, scientificamerican.com.

Florida teen charged with felony for trying science

ORIGINAL: Scientific American

By DNLee

May 1, 2013

News of Kiera Wilmot’s arrest has seriously unnerved me. She is the Florida high school student who was experimenting with common household chemicals in science class that resulted in a minor explosion. There were no injuries and no damage to school property; however, she was taken away in handcuffs, formally arrested and expelled from school.

I acknowledge that too little information has been provided on the case. (UPDATE:Here is the link to the Incident Report filed by the Compliance Officer at her school.) We have NO idea what was happening in the class. Where was the teacher? Were students involved in a laboratory activity at the time? (UPDATE: We now know she was not in class, but was on school grounds before the morning bell rang.) I have spent time in the high school classroom. I know the shenanigans (and havoc) these pre-adults can cause. It is no laughing matter. Even if this were a prank, say something akin to my generation’s idea of setting off smoke bombs in the hall during the passing of classes, my gut reaction stands. (UPDATE: It seems it was NOT aprank. It was a curious kid trying something she saw on the Internet, the toilet cleaner and aluminum project. It still counts as science and as an experiment in my book.) 

I don’t like what our public education (and justice) systems do to urban youth (e.g. the discipline gap with Black kids). I worry about urban kids who don’t (tend) to have access to social capital that advocates for them and gives them a chance after stupid mistakes. I worry what this will mean to her family financially. What will it mean for her future? Will graduating from an alternative school prevent her from attending college? Will she be marked as a trouble maker? Will she have a criminal record that prevents her from gainful employment and a meaningful life? More immediately, will she get locked away for 20 years? Shit like that happens to kids who look like her.

Kiera Wilmot from Miami New Times

(Yea, I cussed. That’s how livid I am.) I’ve heard of so many equally stupid and perhaps more dangerous things done by white suburban kids and nothing close to this happens to them.

The School Board had this to say about this situation.

“Anytime a student makes a bad choice it is disappointing to us. Unfortunately, the incident that occurred at Bartow High School yesterday was a serious breach of conduct. In order to maintain a safe and orderly learning environment, we simply must uphold our code of conduct rules. We urge our parents to join us in conveying the message that there are consequences to actions. We will not compromise the safety and security of our students and staff.”

This is a VERY BAD message to kids, especially urban students of color.

I’m reading between the lines.

A serious breach of conduct – students not sitting still in seats, faces front and being quiet.

Consequences to actions – kicked out of school, criminalized and tried as an adult for not sitting still, being quiet.

Our nation’s science education is already on shaky ground. Everyday kids are being bored to tears in the average science class. And in far too many urban high school science classes, curiosity, hands-on learning, and authentic experimentation rarely exist. The Pedagogy of Poverty that shapes the learning environment of many African-American, Latino and working class white students in our nation values classroom behavior & discipline over curiosity and exploration.

Many school districts have established Rules of Conduct and Zero Tolerance ordinates that penalize students who question a teacher’s authority on a subject (insubordination) or who require alternative learning approaches (behavior issues). Or worst, the concern over possible safety and security issues have resulted in shuttered science laboratories. I’ve witnessed beautifully remodeled lab classrooms with supplies, computers, and equipment – all locked away, never to be touched by most students.>

Why? Some teachers and administrators worry about damage and wear and tear or shenanigans. But the same administrators will brag about their facilities and take visiting dignitaries to tour their fancy facilities? What’s the point?! The kids aren’t getting a chance to experiment and learn. Such a system rewards students with meaningful learning opportunities only if they act right first. Relevant engaging lessons quash most behavior issues, not the other way around!

Already, students like Keira are behind the curve in preparation for 21st Century jobs in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). A system that values obedience over curiosity isn’t education and it definitely isn’t science. Her expulsion and arrest sends a very clear and striking message to students, especially urban students of color: Don’t try this at home, or school or anywhere. Science exploration is not for you!

And the message to parents is that if you want your child to not get into any trouble, then tell them to sit still and behave. Most parents of Black and Brown kids already worry enough that their children risk arrest or harm for walking around in hoodies. Now the same antics that happen at the Maker Faire can get your kid handcuffed.

I can’t name a single scientist or engineer, who hadn’t blown up, ripped apart, disassembled something at home or otherwise cause a big ruckus at school all in the name of curiosity, myself included. Science is not a clean. It is very messy and it is riddled with mistakes and mishaps.

I wonder if she was experimenting in class because she wanted to actually do something in science class and not merely be lectured to and complete worksheets. I wonder if she was bored or just wanted to see for herself how x and y react to each other.

Science is fun! I spend months traveling around the world studying wild animals in Africa. I have friends who do chemistry and solve crimes and who live on sea vessels for weeks studying plastic trash islands in the ocean. But the average high school student would have no idea of how exciting science could be because we’ve taken the action out of science.

We need to create ‘safe’ environments for children of color, especially Black children to study and pursue STEM. If what happened to Kiera is an example, then formal learning environments do not entrust students to explore science. There is a legitimate fear of extreme consequences; and losing another brilliant mind to the justice system is too great a cost to our community. That era s we need to create resourced and mentored places outside of the classroom for science exploration. Cultivating relationships between scientists and engineers and teachers and students is the key to creating this safe environment. By fostering multi-generational relationships a,omg STEM professionals, students, parents, teachers, and adult influencers we stand a chance at addressing both the justice and STEM education disparities in our community.

About the Author: DNLee is a biologist and she studies animal behavior, mammalogy, and ecology . She uses social media, informal experiential science experiences, and draws from hip hop culture to share science with general audiences, particularly under-served groups. Follow on Twitter @DNLee5.

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15-Year-Old May Be on Her Way to Mars

ORIGINAL: Mashable

Amanda Wills 

It was nothing short of fate when Abigail Harrison spotted her hero, astronaut Luca Parmitano, in an airport security line. 

At just 15 years old, Harrison knows what she wants to do with her life: become the first astronaut on Mars in 2030. And the ever-so-keen Harrison — a well-spoken Minnesota high school student who has a confidence that doesn't come naturally to most teenagers — knew picking Parmitano's brain would bring her one step closer. 

"He had an hour before flight, and we talked for the whole time," she tells Mashable. "He was really interested in my dream and wanted to stay in touch." 

Parmitano lived up to his promise, and now the two are undertaking an unprecedented project. When Parmitano travels to the International Space Station on board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft this May, Harrison will serve as his Earth-based liaison. 

Each day, Parmitano will correspond via email with Harrison, who will in turn distribute his photos, video and research to the world on her blog. Their hope is to continue the buzz that Twitter's favorite astronaut Chris Hadfield, who returns to Earth in May, has generated while on the ISS. 

"Commander Hadfield has done such amazing job of getting the public interested in the ISS, and we don't want that to go away when he comes back down," she says. "Luca is going to carry on the flag." 

Abigail Harrison video chats with astronaut Luca Parmitano. Image courtesy of Abigail/Nicole Harrison 

Harrison, who operates under the online persona "Astronaut Abby," has already amassed an impressive following. \Harrison's niche celebrity, though, wasn't her original intention. It all started with an eighth-grade project she was doing about the ISS. 

"My mom helped me set up Twitter to get in touch with NASA employees for quotes," she says. "So I started sharing pictures of projects I was working on and writing about my dreams." 

NASA and other influencers in the space community took notice and helped fill her plate with projects. Harrison now travels around the country promoting space and STEM careers in schools. She's introducing a pen-pal program in which she'll send readers personal emails about her experiences. This August, she will speak at a convention for the Mars Society about her No. 1 love: the importance of putting a human on the Red Planet. 

"I was raised on a diet of sci-fi and Star Wars, but the science drew me," Harrison says. 

"I was raised on a diet of sci-fi and Star Wars, but the science drew me," Harrison says. "The curiosity of the unknown is why I'm focused on Mars. There is so much we can learn; it's just an outstanding amount of knowledge waiting there for us to discover." 

SEE ALSO: One-Way Mars Mission Will Be World's Best Reality TV Show

Even as she manages these projects, her public-facing appearance and an upcoming trip to Russia for Parmitano's launch, Harrison is still a kid. She's studying hard to get into her college of choice — she plans to double major in biology and geology — and has social plans for the summer. 

So she relies heavily on her mother, Nicole, who says she knew her daughter's space aspiration was not merely a childhood fascination. 

"I told her [...] if she was serious she needs to research what it would take because it's a very hard career to attain," Mrs. Harrison tells Mashable via email. 

"She came back a week later with two sheets of paper and said, 'Mom there are two ways to become an astronaut: civilian and military. Here are the two paths and this is what I am going to do to make my dream happen.'" 

Today, Mrs. Harrison helps her daughter with article ideas, editing and publishing her posts, and assisting her on social outreach to make sure her news is getting out in a timely manner. Perhaps most importantly, Mrs. Harrison reviews and monitors all of her daughter's communications. 

"Reaching out to budding scientists and kids around the globe is what really drives Abby to chase her dreams. I've been so inspired by her as she continues to achieve her goals," Mrs. Harrison says. "At the rate she is going, I have no doubt she'll be the first astronaut on Mars." 

Cancer, Innovation and a Boy Named Jack

ORIGINAL: Forbes
2/01/2013

Innovation doesn’t care how old you are.

I’d like you to meet Jack Andraka. It’s a name you will be hearing a lot about–today, tomorrow and in the future.

Jack is a scientist and innovator. And his work on creating a simple test for the identification of pancreatic, lung and ovarian cancer is simply amazing.

Here are some of his facts:

• His test is 168 times faster than what is currently available.
• It’s 26,000 times less expensive. That’s not a typo.
• And it’s potentially almost 100% accurate.

Here’s what makes it even more astonishing:

• Jack is 15 years old.

So, I just had to speak with Jack. I tweeted him. His reply was swift and caught me off guard. ”That would be awesome! I get off school today at 2:15.” I had been caught up in the clinical implications and had forgotten that Jack was still a student.

Jack recognized that mesothelin is a key marker for certain cancers. To create his test, Jack mixed human mesothelin-specific antibodies with carbon nanotubes and coated strips of ordinary filter paper.

The Genius Of Raising Brilliant Kids

What resulted was a simple “dip-stick” tool similar to what a patient with diabetes might use to measure blood sugar.

But let’s hear the story directly from him:

–How did you first get interested in science and particularly cancer?
I was interested in science at an early age because my parents would never answer my questions but always helped me to discover or find out answers for myself. So I learned how to make hypotheses and test them without knowing I was ‘doing science’!

I became interested in cancer, particularly pancreatic cancer, after my ‘uncle’, a close family friend, died due to the disease. After researching about it, I discovered that 100 people die of pancreatic cancer every day and that although early detection is key to improved survival, there are no inexpensive, rapid and sensitive tests. I figured there had to be a better way.

–Who or what encouraged you to take this challenge on?
I really enjoy challenges and particularly enjoy looking for elegant and simple solutions to seemingly complex problems. I do a lot of math competitions and my math coaches always tell us that although you can use brute force to solve a problem that looks really complex you should think about other tools and figure out a more elegant way to solve it. My math heroes can reduce a really difficult proof to a few elegant lines.

So with that mindset I thought and thought about this new problem.

–Do people feel that your innovation is somehow less important because of your age?
I don’t think people feel my innovation is less important because of my age. They can see that it is a great idea. When I go to conferences I feel there is a subtle ‘age-ism” though because at the pre-talk meetings, it seems that people think I’m a speaker’s child tagging along but after I speak then I get to have the most amazing conversations. That’s why the internet is so great – people can’t see what age or race you are and I can have a great exchange of information.

–Was your discovery easy? Did the innovation come in a flash…then the details worked out?
I like to read a lot of journals and articles about different topics and then lie on the couch or take a walk and just let all the information settle. Then all of a sudden I can get an idea and connect some dots. Then it’s back to reading so I can fill in missing pieces. With this sensor I had put in a lot of time learning about nanoparticles for my previous research on the effects of bulk and nano metal oxides on marine and freshwater organisms. I felt that single walled carbon nano tubes were like the super heroes of material science and I wanted to work with them some more. Then when I was reading a paper about them in biology class, the teacher was explaining about antibodies. All of a sudden I made a connection and wondered what would happen if I dispersed single wall carbon nanotubes with an antibody to a protein over-expressed in pancreatic cancer. Then of course there was a lot of reading, learning and planning in front of me!

–How did your “rejections” help drive you? Or frustrate you?
I had visited ISEF when my brother was competing and talked to kids who mentioned they had done their work in a lab. It seemed so easy so I stalked the internet and found the names and professional emails of lots of professors in my area who were working on pancreatic cancer. Then I just figured I’d sit back and wait for the acceptances to roll in! Week after week I’d receive endless rejections. The most helpful one was actually from a researcher who took the time to point out every flaw and reason why my project was impossible. I began to despair!

–What is the role of mentors in helping you?
Finally, after 199 rejections, I received one email from Dr Maitra at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He invited me to come for a meeting. My mom drove me there and dropped me off. It was pretty exhilarating yet scary to walk in to the interview! Luckily I was really prepared and even had the cost and catalog numbers of the material I needed. He said it was like reading a grant proposal. I still had a great deal of basic lab routine to learn and I appreciate the time and patience of both Dr Maitra and Dr Chenna, the post- doc who supported me.

–What do you think about science as the driver of your fame?
I’m very surprised that people know about me. My original goal was to see if I could make a simple inexpensive sensor to detect pancreatic cancer because too many people were dying. I’m very happy that I’m known for science though because I enjoy sharing and learning about it so much. I hope kids feel ‘if Jack can do this, what can I do?’ and get inspired to take on big challenges in their own lives and communities.

–How has your world expanded from this innovation?
These past few months have been life changing. I’ve met so many of my heroes in math, science, and politics, including the Clintons when I spoke at the Clinton Global Initiative. I’ve traveled all over by myself and learned how to enjoy speaking and sharing my ideas with large audiences. One of my most world- expanding experiences came very quickly when I went to Singularity U in California. I met people who weren’t afraid of failure, but just used failure to say well that path didn’t work and moved on. I met people who were trying to improve the world for billions of people. They were starting businesses and thinking big and supporting each other. They told me about the Thiel Fellowship and opened my eyes to different ways of accomplishing goals. I’ve learned to look outside myself and my small community to the larger world and think about how I can help change the world for the better.

–What’s next for Jack?
I’m working on my next project but of course it isn’t coming easily! Professors still reject me from their labs saying that I don’t know enough, perhaps not even reading my proposal but just seeing ‘high school student’ on the proposal. But even great researchers still don’t always get accepted for every grant. Perseverance still counts! I’m trying to get a group of teens to work on the Tricorder X prize as ‘Generation Z’ and it’s difficult finding like-minded teens who can bring something to the table and who also have time in their over scheduled lives. I’m speaking at the Royal Society of Medicine in London and then at TED at Long Beach this month, talking with different biotech companies about producing my sensor and starting my first business. And of course there’s homework to be done!

Well done Jack!
One final thought about Mr. Andraka. I believe a more appropriate name for this post would be “Health, Innovation and a Man Named Jack”.

Keep Critical! Follow me on Twitter and my other blog THINKOLOGY.

My 3 Cents 0n Cancer: Jack Andraka at TEDxSanJoseCAWomen

ORIGINAL: TEDxSanJose  CA Women

Jack Andraka is a fifteen year old freshman in high school. He developed a paper sensor that could detect pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancer in five minutes for as little as 3 cents. He conducted his research at John Hopkins University. This research could change the face of cancer and promote early detection. He has been selected as the Intel 2012 ISEF winner and has won awards at multiple national and international math competitions. Jack is on the national junior whitewater kayaking team and enjoys playing with his dog and folding origami.

ADOLESCENTE DESCUBRIÓ GALAXIAS ENANAS ALREDEDOR DE ANDRÓMEDA

ORIGINAL: Diario ADN

Por: AFP CON INFORMACIÓN DE ELUNIVERSAL.COM.MX

- Bogotá

NEIL IBATA, DE APENAS 15 AÑOS, PUBLICÓ ARTÍCULO AL RESPECTO EN LA REVISTA 'NATURE'. Foto: Reuters

Un estudiante de secundaria de Estrasburgo (este de Francia), de tan sólo 15 años de edad, es el co-autor de un estudio de astrofísica publicado esta semana en la portada de la prestigiosa revista científica británica 'Nature'. 

"Autor principal de la publicación, Rodrigo Ibata, trajo a su hijo, Neil Ibata, al Observatorio Astronómico de Estrasburgo, donde trabaja, para que hiciera prácticas sobre el lenguaje de programación Python, que se utiliza para este estudio" sobre la evolución de las galaxias alrededor de Andrómeda, dijo el Centro Nacional de la investigación científica de Francia (Cnrs) en un comunicado. 

"Neil fue el primero en poner en evidencia la rotación de un disco de galaxias enanas alrededor de la galaxia de Andrómeda en el marco de este proyecto", subrayó la entidad. 

Se cree que las galaxias que forman el disco son remanentes de otras galaxias que fueron devoradas por una formación estelar más grande.

Ibata tuvo la pieza clave para hacer el descubrimiento, ya que luego de asistir a varias clases de Bachillerato en el Liceo Internacional Pontonniers, donde cursa primer año, creó un programa informático en el que ingresó los datos de investigaciones de su padre sobre Andrómeda, logrando un descubrimiento que ayudará a entender la evolución de las galaxias.

Cuando fue preguntado sobre si quería ser astrofísico, como su progenitor, el quinceañero contestó "me parece que es mejor no hacer lo mismo que hacen tus padres".

Por su participación en el descubrimiento, Neil Ibata tuvo el privilegio de ver su nombre junto al de su padre y el de otros quince astrónomos y físicos. 

AFP CON INFORMACIÓN DE ELUNIVERSAL.COM.MX

Women in Science: Einstein’s Advice to a Little Girl Who Wants to Be a Scientist

ORIGINAL: Brainpickings

by Maria Popova

On what matters and what doesn’t.

Earlier today, we witnessed the gender imbalance in philosophy — an imbalance arguably more pronounced in science than in any other field. It’s a systemic problem solved not simply by putting more women in the Science section of the bookstore or on the TED stage or on the science faculties of higher education, but by encouraging more little girls to become scientists in the first place. But, how?

From the delightful Dear Professor Einstein: Albert Einstein’s Letters to and from Children comes the following exchange between Einstein and a bright, witty South African girl named Tyfanny, who reminded Einstein of his own granddaughter and with whom he exchanged several letters despite being at the height of his career and cultural prominence.

In a letter dated September 19, 1946, Tyfanny writes:

"I forgot to tell you, in my last letter, that I was a girl. I mean I am a girl. I have always regretted this a great deal, but by now I have become more or less resigned to the fact. Anyway, I hate dresses and dances and all the kind of rot girls usually like. I much prefer horses and riding. Long ago, before I wanted to become a scientist, I wanted to be a jockey and ride horses in races. But that was ages ago, now. I hope you will not think any the less of me for being a girl!"

Sometime between September and October 1946 — a snappy response time by the day’s standards — Einstein replies:

"I do not mind that you are a girl, but the main thing is that you yourself do not mind. There is no reason for it."