The Number of New Scientists

According to a new study, the number of native-born Americans studying Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) has stayed level over the past 30 years. These findings appear to be at odds with the public calls from the government and policy groups for more Americans to study science and engineering.

The paper was written by researchers at Rutgers University and Georgetown University. They conducted a longitudinal study, following students studying STEM through high school, college and into the workforce. They were looking for three things: the retention rate (how many students stayed in a STEM field), how this rate compared to previous generations, and the quality of the students who stayed with STEM studied.

What they found was a drop not in the overall numbers, but a drop in the final aspect, the quality. There was a sharp decline in the number of the highest performing students who continued to study STEM and join the workforce in an STEM related field. This decline began in the late 1990s.

This occurs because of the depressing wages in STEM fields, turning potential scientists and technology innovators into business people and office workers.

So is the public cry for more scientists beneficial? More scientists could cause a glut in the supply while driving down the quality.

Or instead, should we be more encouraging to those students who love science, and make sure there are more jobs available to them for wages commiserate with their importance.

2009 Science Nobel Prizes

While the announcement of Barack Obama as the winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize has surprised the world and overtaken the news cycle, the earlier announced awards in the science fields are just as worthy of discussion.

On October 5, 2009 it was announced that three people would share the award for the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Doctors Elizabeth H. Blackburn of the University of California, San Francisco; Carol W. Greider of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; and Jack W. Szostak of Massachusetts General Hospital received the award for their work with telomere research.

Telomere research deals with chromosomes. Chromosomes are comprised of a long strand of DNA. The strands ends are called telomeres. They get shorter during the aging process. This means they can be used to gauge cell age. Their research is important not only in the science of aging, but for cancer research.

This was the first time two women shared the prize for Medicine or Physiology. Another woman also received a share in a Nobel for her contribution to the science field. Ada E. Yonath of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel was one of the three scientists sharing the the 2009 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She, along with Venkatraman Ramakrishnan of the M.R.C. Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England and Thomas A. Steitz of Yale University, received the prize for their work in mapping out the ribosomes.

Another trio took home the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics: Charles K. Kao, Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith. They were rewarded for their work in light and optics. Dr. Kao, while working in England in the 1960s, made a discovery related to the distances light can travel, while Doctors Boyle and Smith invented the semiconductor sensor known as a charge-coupled device, or CCD. The discoveries are used to help with the flow of information. Dr. Kao’s discovery led to the development of the fiber optic cables that are integral in modern telephony as well as the fiber optic cables that make high speed broadbandInternet possible.

Science for Food Source

For years scientists and the government have been trying to lower carbon emissions to help the environment. Many of the projects trying to do this are aimed at the automotive industry. The emissions from trucks, planes and cars are being debated and discussed. But there is a source of emissions that creates more that all of them together, nearly 1/5 of the human population’s emissions according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.

That source is meat consumption.

Now before the carnivores and omnivores in the audience get incensed, this article is not to promote vegetarianism. And vegetarians, it is not to discuss the suggestion of a PETA funded scientist who suggested that Australians could help with the issue by eating kangaroos.

Instead, there has been some movement for a scientific alternative: lab grown meat. Last month SEED Magazine interviewed Jason Matheny of New Harvest, a non-profit aimed at discovering and funding lab grown, or in-vitro, meat.

This meat is made with cells, either stem or myoblast (precursor to muscle). These are placed in a medium of a nutritious mix that is the biochemical equivalent of blood. These cells are then fused using energy, either mechanical or electricity. This process takes a few weeks, and produces the equivalent of a ground meat.

This process may seem unnatural, and students may think of this as science fiction. But everyday foods like cheese or yogurt are bio-tech products. Students can learn about food science for themselves using our Cheese Making Kit. Or you can discuss this generally in terms of the power of science, and the things scientists can accomplish.

Right now this idea, while being accomplished in small quantities in labs, is not yet commercially viable. But that may change, and science educators may now be teaching the young scientist who could develop it.

Integrating Science Education with Music

Making sure students are engaged in the subject is an important aspect of science education. One way to grab students interest is to link the lessons to something they are passionate about, for example music.

One example of mixing music and science was presented in INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE REVIEWS, Vol. 34 No. 2–3, 2009. Entitled Modeling Folksong Melodies, it discusses the Onder de Greoene Linde collection at the Meertens Institute in Amsterdam. This is a collection of more than 7,000 field recordings of Dutch ballads.

This is interesting for more than just social scientists due to the research being done with that collection. They are developing a way of searching through the database not only using metadata, but by the musical content itself, a musical search engine. Not only do they aim to be able to search by musical signatures, but to scientifically analyze musical similarity.

This collaboration of musicology and computer science utilizes the best of both fields. In the same way, but linking music and science in the minds of students, science teachers can bring out the best in them. One simple example of this is using tuning forks, physics teachers can demonstrate the nature of frequency and sound waves.

Sally Ride Speaks

Sally Ride, who was the first woman to go into space, wrote an article on the state of science education for the October 2009 edition of American School Board Journal. In it she emphasized the growing demand for scientists, as well as the gender disparity in the field.

She offers a good suggestion for how to engage students’ interest in science by incorporating stories of modern scientists into lessons. This gives them both role models and helps break down stereotypes of scientists. Students will be able to picture themselves as scientists, encouraging them to pursue that avenue.

Discoveries in Dark Matter

Most of the universe is dark. Dark matter that is. This mostly unknown matter can only be seen through its effects, as it is non-visible.

The July 18 edition of the Economist discusses two recent discoveries related to dark matter by Michael Kuhlen of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ and Dr. Pierre Colin of the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich, Germany.

Dr. Kuhlen and his colleagues simulated the presence and movement of the dark matter throughout the milky way since 50 million years after the Big Bang. This computer model shows that dark matter should be annihilating more quickly than had been previously thought.

Dr. Colin and colleagues have discovered a potential new way to study the mysterious matter utilizing the shadow of the moon.

The moon blocks not only light, but particles like electrons and positrons as well. However, the particles are still there, and interacting with the Earth’s magnetic field. Using this peculiarity, Dr. Colin will be able to use the shadow to see if the number of positrons matches current theory, shedding light on the issue of dark matter.

Why You Should Be Teaching Green Technologies

In this tough economic climate, graduating students are taking a hard look at a dwindling job market. There is one sector, however, which is poised to grow. Last month BusinessWeek published the article Now Hiring: Green-Collar Workers, which discusses the growing demand for people working in the alternative energy field. As cited by that article, green jobs grew by 9.1% from 1998 to 2007, nearly two and a half times faster than the overall job market.

In the higher education system, enrollment in green collar fields is growing. Kansas College’s Wind Energy Program can’t keep up with the demand. In fact, many of the students in the program have jobs lined up even before they graduate. And it is just one of the many eco-friendly programs available. According to USA Today (08/03/2009), there are a number of new programs available to help train green collar workers, including Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability.

What this means for science educators: Students should be exposed to alternative energy technology in order to acclimate them to this burgeoning market. It can be as simple as explaining the reasoning behind alternative fuels, or as complex as having them assemble a Mini Windlab kit to further their understanding.