How to Study Abroad in Europe Without Breaking The Bank by Robert Montenegro Studying abroad is awesome. Anyone who has the opportunity to do so yet opts not to is really missing out. I personally believe immersing yourself in another culture makes you a better, more empathetic person. Across the pond in the UK, the British Council supports its exchange students in Europe through the Erasmus+ program. My program in Germany was designed so that independent travel around the continent was encouraged. Another thing that should almost go without saying is that your travel accommodations should always be low budget hostels. Take a look at Lacey's full article (linked below) and let us know your thoughts. Read more at The Guardian Photo credit: Andreas Zerndl / Shutterstock
Creative Peak Stunning, psychedelic images where art and science collide In his TEDGlobal 2013 talk, Fabian Oefner shares breathtaking images at the nexus of art and science, which beautifully capture unique moments of physical and chemical drama. Formally trained in art and design, Oefner says that he has always been interested in science. Though he can’t pinpoint the exact moment when he became interested in pairing his two loves, he views both pursuits as inextricably linked by a crucial bond: “The most important quality of science or art is curiosity,” Oefner tells TED. “That’s what keeps me going and always finding something new.” On the TED stage, Oefner demonstrates the science at work behind three of his photographs. For an imagination-friendly, explanation-free viewing of Oefner’s work, watch the first 45 seconds of his talk. Morton Bast is TED’s Community Mentor and Editorial Assistant.
Screen Shot 2015 03 20 at 1 59 26 PM Scientists Build A Supercomputer From PlayStations To Study Black Holes Government funding for research is becoming increasingly difficult to come by due to ongoing global economic instability, which is why many scientists are forced to look elsewhere to keep their research projects alive. Some are turning to crowdfunding, which is now allowing the UK to explore the moon, whereas others are practicing being thrifty. Dr. Gaurav Khanna is a perfect example of the latter, as he has managed to make an extremely cheap supercomputer using PlayStation 3 (PS3) games consoles. And he has even successfully used his ingenious invention to publish several scientific papers. Khanna, a black hole physicist at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, began his budget supercomputer endeavor back in 2007. Gravitational waves decrease in strength as they move away from the source, meaning that by the time they reach Earth they are extremely weak, which is why scientists have struggled to detect them. [Via NYT]
Screen Shot 2015 03 20 at 1 50 42 PM Look-ahead 2015: Fly into the future and other predictions 2 January 2015Last updated at 10:12 ET By Fiona Graham Technology of business reporter, BBC News This is a not uncommon reaction to reading the Technology of business predictions for the coming year The tree might still be up, but I wouldn't advocate finishing off the last of the turkey unless you're keen to have a good reason to call in sick on Monday. Never fear! Things to be cheerful about include the annual Technology of business lookahead. In the first part, our experts are predicting cyber attacks, ubiquitous drones, spooky smartphones and the continuing rise of wearable technology. Although possibly not all in one day. One of the trends to watch out for in 2015 is that your smartphone will get smarter - possibly so smart that it's almost spooky, in fact. Already, phones are getting better at predicting what information you might need, or what actions you might want it to perform. Tom Standage: Your phone is getting spookily good at predicting what you want to do What do I mean by that?
Shake it off Something surprising happens to your body when you freedive Featured image: Photo of freediver Hanli Prinsloo by Annelie Pompe. In 1949, a stocky Italian air force lieutenant named Raimondo Bucher decided to try a potentially deadly stunt off the coast of Capri, Italy. Bucher would sail out to the center of the lake, take a breath and hold it, and free-dive down one hundred feet to the bottom. Waiting there would be a man in a diving suit. Bucher would hand the diver a package, then kick back up to the surface. Scientists warned Bucher that, according to Boyle’s law, the dive would kill him. Boyle’s law, which science had taken as gospel for three centuries, appeared to fall apart underwater. Bucher’s dive resonated with a long line of experiments — most of them very cruel and even monstrous by modern standards — that seemed to indicate that water might have life-lengthening effect on humans and other animals. The human body in its natural form (without weights or wetsuits) is the perfect buoyancy for deep-water diving.
Getting Creative What the best education systems are doing right In South Korea and Finland, it’s not about finding the “right” school. Fifty years ago, both South Korea and Finland had terrible education systems. Finland was at risk of becoming the economic stepchild of Europe. South Korea was ravaged by civil war. Yet over the past half century, both South Korea and Finland have turned their schools around — and now both countries are hailed internationally for their extremely high educational outcomes. The Korean model: Grit and hard, hard, hard work. For millennia, in some parts of Asia, the only way to climb the socioeconomic ladder and find secure work was to take an examination — in which the proctor was a proxy for the emperor, says Marc Tucker, president and CEO of the National Center on Education and the Economy. The Koreans have achieved a remarkable feat: the country is 100 percent literate. Among these countries, South Korea stands apart as the most extreme, and arguably, most successful. “A key to that is education. Indeed.
Question: Take college and university courses online completely free In recent years massive open online courses (MOOCs) have become a trend in online education. The term was coined in 2008 by David Cormier, manager of web communications and innovations at the University of Prince Edward Island. The first MOOC was created the previous year, at Utah State University. Today, there are hundreds of thousands of courses available online at no cost. You can study anything from business to zoology in your own home at no cost. MOOCs are designed like college courses but are available to anyone anywhere in the world, at no cost. Coursera is perhaps the most well-known of the online education facilitators. EdX is another non-profit course site created by founding partners Harvard and MIT and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has their own open courseware, where most of the materials used in the teaching of almost all of MIT's subjects are available on the Web, free of charge. European institutions are also getting in on the act.