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The Impact of Developing Biofuels on Travel Emissions

January 31, 2019January 26, 2019 Science Connectedbiofuel, emissions, energy, transportation, travel

By Emily Folk (@EmilySFolk) Approximately 29 percent of the energy the US consumes is for transportation, and about 92 percent of US transportation is fueled by petroleum products. As a result, transportation is the sector that produces the most greenhouse gas emissions in the US. With the threat of climate change and other environmental challenges looming, we need to find a way to reduce emissions from the transportation sector. Biofuels are one potential solution. What Are Biofuels? Biofuel is fuel made from organic matter known as biomass. This organic matter…

Biology Health Technology

Ultrafast Camera Freezes Time

October 25, 2018October 25, 2018 Science Connectedbiotech, camera, fastest camera, imaging, Photography

By Kate Stone (@GotScienceOrg) A new camera technology is making it possible to see extremely fast phenomena, even light, in slow motion. Called T-CUP, the world’s fastest camera can capture ten trillion (10 exp 13) frames per second. To put that into perspective, high-speed cameras capture around 250 to 1,000 frames per second. Let’s think about that for a moment. CUP stands for compressed ultrafast photography. The operative word here is ultrafast. This new camera technology is so fast and so precise that it operates on a scale far beyond…

Technology Videos

How Some Words Get Forgetted

August 28, 2018August 28, 2018 Science Connectedbig data, data, it's okay to be smart, language, linguistics

Get ready for a dive into linguistic history! Our friend Dr. Joe Hanson from It’s Okay to Be Smart (PBS Digital Studios) goes full science nerd on the English language–and irregular verbs. Why are irregular verbs so common in English? Where do they come from? English is a confusing language for many reasons. But the irregular verbs might be the most confusing part. Why is “told” the past tense of “tell” but “smold” isn’t the past tense of “smell”? It turns out that the study of irregular verbs can teach…

Citizen Science Technology

Citizen Science Games Mix Design with Discovery

July 25, 2018 Science Connectedalzheimers, citizen science, gamification, gaming, video games

By Shayna Keyles @shaynakeyles Citizen science is a collaborative scientific process in which scientists and members of the greater public both participate. This happens in many ways: scientists design an experiment for the greater public to complete, for example, or scientists and the public work side by side to accomplish a goal. (For a detailed introduction to citizen science, read our white paper, “Citizen Science: A Tool for Conservation.”) At GotScience Magazine, we’ve looked at a wide range of citizen science projects, from using crowdsourcing to track auroras to using…

Opinion Technology

What the Tech Industry Can Teach Academia

July 3, 2018July 3, 2018 Science Connectedinnovation, open-source, scientific research

OPINION By Sami Benchekroun Without taking risks and challenging the status quo, the majority of the world’s biggest scientific breakthroughs would not have been possible. That’s why it’s all the more surprising that academia itself is often reluctant to embrace new ways of working and sharing results. Scientists work on their research in secrecy for months or years and then wait an average of 100 days from the moment they submit their paper until it is published in a journal. Early-stage findings are hidden, failures are rarely shared, and the…

Technology Videos

Technology Design to Step up Your Game

May 24, 2018 Science Connectedaccessibility, design, disabilities, gamers, gaming, technology

Accessibility is critical to extend the advantages of technology to as a large number of people as possible. Microsoft estimates that there are over a billion people with disabilities around the world, many of whom like to game. Hence, three years ago, the XBox Accessibility team started working on a new type of controller. They collaborated with occupational therapy groups and nonprofits to build the controller that people with disabilities needed. How does it work? What are its features? Watch this video from the Endgadget series. With smooth, rounded edges and…

Astronomy Technology

What’s Jupiter Hiding?

February 22, 2018March 12, 2018 Science Connectedastronomy, JPL, Juno, Jupiter, NASA, space

By Steven Spence @TheStevenSpence Juno: Aptly named The Juno spacecraft currently orbiting Jupiter is appropriately named. In Roman mythology, Jupiter created a veil of clouds to hide his escapades with Io from his wife, Juno, but Juno was able to peer through the clouds and foil his plan. The Juno spacecraft, currently on its 11th science orbit[1] of Jupiter, is designed to see through Jupiter’s clouds, revealing secrets of the planet’s atmosphere and interior. Boldly going on a five-year mission Juno launched on August 5, 2011, from Cape Canaveral aboard…

$Math structures the world around us$ Education Technology Videos

Math Structures the World around Us

January 16, 2018January 16, 2018 Science Connectedmathemathics, technology

From Google searches to sunflowers’ structures, we can look at and understand the world around us through the lens of math. Watch this video by Techsploration to know more about the critical skills you can develop by studying math. Math can not only help us understand the structure of the world around us but also lead to many job opportunities, from epidemiology to finance and from business to teaching. The cool thing about math is that it’s all around us. Whether you realize it or not, you are using math and…

Environment Technology

Artificial Night-Lights Are Growing, Getting Brighter

December 7, 2017December 12, 2017 Science Connectedenergy, LED, light, night, pollution

By Neha Jain @lifesciexplore As soon as it gets dark, street lights, which have become widespread in the developed world—and are rapidly expanding in the developing world—are switched on. Indeed, since the second half of the twentieth century, Earth has become brighter at night. Now, new satellite-based research shows that our outdoor artificial night-lights are still spreading to more areas on Earth and have gotten brighter over the past few years. How night-lights impact the world Outdoor lighting is regarded as a necessity, especially in highly populated areas, but artificial…

Science Policy Technology

Science Policy Challenges, Part Four: Information Overload

June 28, 2017June 28, 2017 Science Connecteddata, database, information, research, science policy

By Jonathan Trinastic @jptrinastic This is the fourth in a series of four articles by Dr. Jonathan Trinastic in our new Science Policy section. In 2002, human civilization duplicated or recorded 23 exabytes of data (that’s 23 followed by 18 zeros, or 23 billion gigabytes). That may sound like a lot, but fast-forward to 2017, and we are manipulating this much data in just one week. The amount of information at our fingertips is staggering, whether it be about Stephen Curry’s clutch 3-point field goal percentage at home against winning…