'Space-time cloak' to conceal events revealed in new study The study, by researchers from Imperial College London, involves a new class of materials called metamaterials, which can be artificially engineered to distort light or sound waves. With conventional materials, light typically travels along a straight line, but with metamaterials, scientists can exploit a wealth of additional flexibility to create undetectable blind spots. By deflecting certain parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, an image can be altered or made to look like it has disappeared. Previously, a team led by Professor Sir John Pendry at Imperial College London showed that metamaterials could be used to make an optical invisibility cloak. "Light normally slows down as it enters a material, but it is theoretically possible to manipulate the light rays so that some parts speed up and others slow down," says McCall, from the Department of Physics at Imperial College London. If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator, or Reddit, or StumbleUpon.
The Power of Educational Technology Lisa Nielsen: 10 Reasons Students Say They Prefer Learning Online The New York Times recently published an article that had some parents and students up in arms. When the students came to class, they found there were no teachers and a classroom full of computers. You see, in this Florida school, they made the choice for the students to use online learning as the method of instruction. Parents and students who have not had much experience with learning this way might wonder if online learning is the right choice. At iNacol's recent online learning symposium, a panel of students explained how they felt about learning online. 1. * Adolescents need more sleep. * Adolescents often function best late at night and do not function well early in the morning. * The jobs today's adolescents will have quite likely will not fit the traditional 9-to-5 mold. It makes sense that students enjoy the opportunity to learn when they are well-rested and most alert. 3. 4. 6. 8. 10.
Microthreads Help Grow New Muscles Researchers have repaired large muscle wounds in mice by growing and implanting “microthreads” coated with human muscle cells. The microthreads—made out of the same material that triggers the formation of blood clots—seem to help the cells grow in the proper orientation, which is vital for rebuilding working muscle tissue. “We hypothesize that cells migrate along these scaffolds, which act like a conduit,” says George Pins, associate professor of bioengineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Pins developed the microthread technology. The implanted cells quickly integrate into the existing muscle and reduce formation of scar tissue. “The cells grow into the space where muscle used to be, but they grow in a guided way.” Currently, there’s not much doctors can do when someone suffers massive injury to a muscle, such as in a car crash or an explosion. “Muscle alignment is very important,” says Kevin “Kit” Parker, a bioengineer at Harvard University who wasn’t involved in the research.
The 21st Century Principal 21st century toys: technology in the modern classroomOnline Learning Software The ubiquity of the internet across society has helped develop technology awareness and skills in people of all ages. Those born at the dawn of the internet age may be IT-experts before they reach their tenth birthday, whilst those old enough to remember black and white television are encouraged to ‘go online’ at every opportunity, be it for internet banking or to book a holiday. This change in mindset towards interactive technology means that many teachers – old and young – will feel just that little more confident about adopting new digital tools in the classroom, which is good news for youngsters brought up on a feast of computer games, multimedia players and the World Wide Web. From a technology perspective, the internet should be the core underpinning feature of any modern classroom. An extension of this should be wireless connectivity. Web and wireless technology aside, what other digital tools could classrooms be using to their advantage? Article from articlesbase.com
Robert Lanza, M.D.: Why Are You Here? A New Theory May Hold the Missing Piece Why do you happen to be alive on this lush little planet with its warm sun and coconut trees? And at just the right time in the history of the universe? The surface of the molten earth has cooled, but it's not too cold. And it's not too hot; the sun hasn't expanded enough to melt the Earth's surface with its searing gas yet. Even setting aside the issue of being here and now, the probability of random physical laws and events leading to this point is less than 1 out of 100,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, equivalent to winning every lottery there ever was. Biocentrism, a new theory of everything, provides the missing piece. Cosmologists propose that the universe was until recently a lifeless collection of particles bouncing against each other. How did inert, random bits of carbon ever morph into that Japanese guy who always wins the hot-dog-eating contest? But our luck didn't stop with the laws, forces, and constants of the universe.
2¢ Worth Listen A few weeks ago I worked and attended North Carolina's ISTE affiliate conference. I opened the NCTIES conference with a breakfast keynote address and Marc Prensky closed it with a luncheon keynote the next day. I would first offer some constructive criticism to NCTIES , and to all such ed-tech conferences across the nation and around the world. The only idea I can think of is to have one or two session rooms devoted to unconference topics. Now to the surprises It was in the student showcase, a part of most ed-tech conferences that I often miss, using it as an opportunity to visit the exhibitors or dash up to my room for something or other. She then began telling me what they were doing, describing some of the communication skills they were learning as well as social studies and character. “No software. After my hesitation, she continued, “..the game master.” “Today we do not need content specialists in our classrooms as much as we need context specialists.” And then, Is this true?
Bill Gates Promotes Professor’s Online Course at TED - Wired Campus Long Beach, Calif. — Bill Gates apparently listens to lecture podcasts while on the treadmill. That’s what David Christian, then a history professor at San Diego State University, learned one day when Mr. Gates called him in his university office, explaining that he had heard his recorded lecture and wanted to meet. That meeting led Mr. Gates, a founder of Microsoft, to support a free online syllabus of Mr. Christian’s unusual course, called “Big History,” that gives a sweeping multidisciplinary overview of world history from the Big Bang to the Industrial Revolution. In an interview, Mr. The free online syllabus for the course is intended for high-school students, and Mr. Another educator chosen by Mr. “I think you just got a glimpse of the future of education,” said Mr. Return to Top
Neural stem cells injected into the brain of a stroke patient in world first | Science Doctors have injected neural stem cells into a man's brain as part of the world's first clinical trial of this type of stem cell in stroke patients. The former truck driver, who is in his 60s, was severely disabled by a stroke 18 months ago and requires continuous care from his wife. Doctors injected around two million neural stem cells into a healthy region of his brain called the putamen, close to where neurons were damaged by the stroke. They hope the injected cells will release chemicals that stimulate new brain cells and blood vessels to grow, while healing scar tissue and reducing inflammation. The team, led by Professor Keith Muir at the University of Glasgow's Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, expect to treat 11 more male patients aged between 60 and 85 in the trial, using progressively higher doses of five million, 10m and 20m cells. Animal studies suggest the cells are safe and effective at healing brain injuries. • This article was amended on 30 November 2010.
Social Studies Flipped Class Community First, thank you to everyone who has contributed to the SS Flipclass Community form! At the time of writing this, we have about 40 educators who have entered contact & website info in the last week alone. Here is the link: Social Studies Flipped Class Community A couple of quick things:1.
Ed Resources Online - Home of the free Ed Resource Toolbar Orbiting 3-D Printers Could Print Out New Space Stations Now that we've begun 3D printing anything and everything here on Earth, it's time to move to the final frontier: printing space stations in orbit. It was only a matter of time. Now new company Made in Space is seeking investors and beginning tests to make space printing a reality, according to Space.com. It just makes more logical and economical sense to print parts for spacecraft and space stations in space, says the company's founder. When we eventually make it to Mars, we could take the printers with us to create dwellings out of Mars dirt, or to print out robot components. [Space]
The Complete Guide to The Use of Skype in Education Educational Technology and Mobile Learning has been diligently engaged over the last couple of weeks in writing a series of simple and easy to use guides to help teachers and educators better leverage the use of technology in education and empower them with the necessary tools to better carry out this task. What started as a simple guide on the use of social networking, expanded to be a series of similar guides covering blogging, personal learning networks, Evenote, Facebook and iPad in education. Our purpose is to give hand to both novice and experienced teachers in integrating technology within their classrooms. We are still working on several other guides which will be posted here intermittently and there will be a comprehesive ebook that will contain all these guides, so stay tuned. Today's guide is about Skype and here is the outline : What is Skype ? What is Skype ? What do I need to use Skype To use Skype you need to : Skype's Importance in Education Skype Tips for Teachers Webliography