Science Cheerleader

Check out the federal government’s new crop of smart phone applications!

Find alternative fuel locations, on the go with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fueling Station Locator. The locator works on any mobile Internet-ready device and allows drivers to find the five closest biodiesel, electricity, E85 (etha­nol), hydrogen, natural gas, and propane fueling sites. It uses familiar, easy-to-navigate Google technology to map fueling stations, list contact information and business hours, and provide detailed driving directions and an instant phone connection..

.

.

.

.

Now you can SHOW and tell little Johnny why sunblock is needed on any given day with this app for real-time UV index rating. Use your mobile device to check the UV Index and air quality ratings wherever you are. .

.

.

.

Before you reach for that cake, check your Body Mass Index with this app. One of the most popular tools on the NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Web site is the BMI (Body Mass Index) calculator. BMI is a reliable indicator of total body fat, which is related to the risk of disease and death. The NHLBI BMI calculator receives 1.6 million visitors a month and ranks #1 on Google. This mobile application provides results right on your phone along with links to healthy weight resources on the NHLBI Web site. .

.

.

.

Be a virtual bounty hunter with you spare time this summer using the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted App. With information provided directly from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, this application includes: the Top Ten Most Wanted, Most Wanted Terrorists, and Missing Children. A picture and background information is provided for each individual. The application also provides a link to submit tip information directly to the FBI. This application allows you to quickly identify Most Wanted criminals or missing children. Additionally, it provides the means to submit a tip, conveniently from your iPhone or iTouch device while you are on the go.

More government apps can be found here. (Hat tip to Jeffrey Levy, EPA, @levyj413)

As I prepare an update to this Discover piece re: the development of a process to harness American ingenuity and apply it to help fix an immediate, national crisis (e.g. the Deepwater Horizon disaster), I came across this statement from the Society of Wetland Scientists. I found it enlightening; you might, too.

Highlights, scientific literature on the effects of oil on wetlands:

The Deepwater Horizon disaster and wetlands
Statement from the Environmental Concerns Committee
Society of Wetland Scientists

Coastal wetlands are essential components of healthy and productive coastal fisheries, and nowhere within the lower 48 states has the critical linkage between wetlands and fisheries resources been more clearly demonstrated than in the Gulf Mexico (e.g., Chesney et al. 2000, Crain et al. 1979). Louisiana alone, for example, generates 30% of the nation’s seafood production (Day et. al., 2005) and accounts for 40% of the total wetlands in the conterminous United States (Richardson and Pahl 2006). The ongoing loss of wetland resources in the Gulf of Mexico and the potential economic and environmental costs, especially in Louisiana and Florida, is an issue of international concern. The impacts of the current oil spill are unknown but the potential for direct and indirect environmental damage to coastal ecosystem services are extraordinary. Both the oil and the activities used in the cleanup have the potential to adversely affect wetland flora and fauna.
Thus far, most of the oil has remained offshore but reports of oil reaching the coast have been geographically extensive ranging from Florida to Louisiana. The potential geographic extent of the spill could result in the exposure of many types of coastal wetlands to oil, ranging from mangroves in Florida, Texas, Mexico and islands in the Caribbean basin to tidal freshwater wetlands along the Gulf Coast. Most wetlands that will potentially be exposed to oil are saline and brackish tidal wetlands, which are nursery grounds for economically important coastal fish and shellfish. Seagrass beds are also at risk. Read more.

Our own Dr. John Ohab was invited to speak at Tim O’Reilly’s Gov 2.0 conference in D.C. this week. He demonstrated how federal government agencies (the Department of Defense, in particular)  are applying social media strategies to inform and engage the public. Great job, John!

A friend’s daughter, pictured here, created this lovely prom gown using Duct Tape. That’s right, Duct Tape. Now through June 7th, prom-goers are invited to send in pictures of their creative duct tape gowns or suits to win scholarship money as part of the Stuck at Prom contest, sponsored by DuckBrand in celebration of its 10th anniversary.

Yes, she did indeed wear this to the prom!

Here’s a short piece I wrote for DiscoverMagazine.com, yesterday, about a promising new use for Pokeberry weeds. Their berries’  highly absorbent dye is being used to coat fiber solar cells. Turns out their dye can trap lots of the sun’s energy in these lightweight, plastic storage devices. This solar energy is then converted to power/electricity.  Check it out!

In January 2009, two Red-tailed Hawks built a nest on a window ledge at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The nest sits just outside a window where a camera has been positioned to create this video stream. The camera looks through the glass window pane. No artificial lighting has been added, so the nest is only visible during daylight hours.

The nest was productive in 2009 and it is again now! Two hatchlings hatched already and one is about to! You can watch it live, here:

Free Webcam Chat at Ustream

The Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation is an independent Federal government agency established to “encourage and support research, study and labor designed to produce new discoveries in all fields of endeavor for the benefit of mankind.” Governed by a Presidential appointed Board of Trustees, the Foundation seeks to nurture and recognize pioneering individuals and programs which reflect the visionary spirit and pioneering heritage of Christopher Columbus.

The Foundation is currently seeking nominations for the following awards (self nominations are permitted):

The Life Sciences Awards:  $25,000 award to a scientist, with additional funds for research; three $10,000 awards to high school educators; and three $5,000 awards to high school students, who are judged to exemplify excellence in life sciences.   Nomination deadline is Tuesday, April 13, 2010.

Homeland Security Award: I’ve been asked by the Foundation to recommend outstanding candidates for this award so if you have suggestions, bring ‘em on. $25,000 prize presented to innovators in each of the following four fields:  1) Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Chemical and Explosive Attacks; 2) Border and Transportation Security; 3) Cyber Security and Information Sharing; and 4) Emergency Response to Natural and Man-made Disasters.  Nomination deadline is Friday, May 7, 2010. (more…)

Michael C shared this article from CNET with us: “Science in the public view: a good gamble.” The author does a good job illustrating why more dialogue between researchers and the public is needed:

There are plenty of practical barriers between physicists and ordinary people, but too many of them are gratuitous. I don’t expect the public to regain its faith in science anytime soon, but rebuilding the ties between the public and the researchers, or at least opening the doors, will help the public be more sympathetic and the researchers be more honest with their ultimate audience.

On DiscoverMagazine.com you can find a terrific compilation of public, panel discussions I helped Discover put together with a grant from the National Science Foundation. (I’m a senior advisor and contributor over at Discover.) Here’s a link to the series. Below, I’ve  posted  summary of one of our recent discussions on robotics, at Carnegie Mellon University. I’ll have more information about our wild chat at SXSW about the “future of gaming” soon.

In the interim, here’s an invite for west coast readers to attend our next panel event: Quest for the Living World at Caltech, in partnership with Thirty Meter Telescope on 4/21.

In January, DISCOVER and the National Science Foundation continued their Grand Challenges event series with a panel discussion at Carnegie Mellon University exploring the dynamic world of robotics.

The panel included four eminent roboticists—Javier Movellan from University of California San Diego, Rodney Brooks from the Massachussetts Institute of Technology, William “Red” Whittaker from Carnegie Mellon University, and Robyn Murphy from Texas A&M University—who discussed some the big questions on the future of their field: How will robots transform industry, health care, and warfare? Will they ever be our equals? The conversation was moderated by DISCOVER editor-in-chief Corey Powell. Watch videos of the discussion and read more here: http://discovermagazine.com/events/grand-challenges-of-science-robotics/

This is cool. The U.S. Census Department is tapping into the competitive spirit of men and women everywhere in an effort to get more people to complete and mail in their census forms. Meet, the Census Tracker. Simply type in your zip code and see how your neighborhood compares to others in response rates.  I see my home state of Pennsylvania is pulling in a 56% response rate compared to a national average of 50%….so far. Off to return my census form!