The Council of Canadian Academies recently released a report entitled, The State of Science and Technology in Canada, 2012. It reveals the 6 research fields in which Canada is among the best. These are:
For more information, read the report or watch the video below:
Carrie Derick, Canada’s first female full professor
If you’re coming to McGill for Homecoming next weekend, you might want to check out the Women in Science, Engineering and Medicine Symposium (WISEMS) 2012, on Friday, October 12 and Saturday, October 13 in the Redpath Museum Auditorium.
“As part of McGill Homecoming 2012, this first Women in Science, Engineering and Medicine Symposium (WISEMS) marks the centenary of the university’s first geneticist, Carrie Derick, being appointed as Canada’s first female professor.”
Have a look at the full schedule for this free symposium, which will look at the history, current status and future of women in STM fields.
Previously: We’ve come a long way baby, right?
This is one of my favourite TED Talks from Arianna Huffington: How to succeed? Get more sleep. It was recorded live at TEDWomen in December, 2010. She knows something about the value of sleep, having fainted from exhaustion and broken her cheekbone on her desk. If you feel exhaustion creeping up, this short pep talk may be just the thing.
Schulich Library will be closed this Thanksgiving Monday so I plan on taking her advice and getting the most out of the long weekend with a few good sleeps.
Sweet dreams!
Wired.com has a story about the winners of the AFRON “10 Dollar Robot” Design Challenge, run by the African Robotics Network (AFRON). The object of the contest was to see what sorts of design ideas would arise, in the hope of creating really affordable robots for educational use in Africa (and elsewhere), similar to what Raspberry Pi aims to do for computing.
“The contest had a few simple restrictions, including the loose $10 target; entrants from around the world had to build a prototype, offer instructions on a website, and make the whole plan open-source, software included. The winners were little, an inch or two in size and up, never more than a foot long. They were sourced from cardboard, old cell phones, and circuit boards. They performed simple tasks: navigating, following lines, even communicating with each other.”
Kilobot from Harvard University, introduced in the video below, was the winner in the Traditional (Roaming) Category.
This event will take place on Thursday, Oct. 4, in the lobby of the Arts Building. It is a great opportunity for everyone to see the outstanding research work done by some of the Science undergraduate students and get inspired by the creative ideas behind each poster. Viewing of student posters starts at 10 am. Please arrive before 4 pm for the prize ceremony and a keynote address by NSERC President Dr. Suzanne Fortier. Please click here to learn more about this event and its schedule. You may also read this article published in McGill Reporter for further information.
The paper, “
A Physically Transient Form of Silicon Electronics,” which was published in last week’s issue of Science generated a lot of coverage in the news media. It reports on silicon-based materials that dissolve after a period of time and their potential future application for implantable medical devices.
For more information, read the article or listen to the Science podcast.
Image from Microsoft Office Clipart
Are you looking for a way to stay on top of new research in your field or on a particular topic? Consider setting up an email alert in one or more research databases that you search regularly. Email alerts are messages sent after every weekly database update that contain any new records matching a saved query. To create alerts, most databases require that you register or set up a personal account. Registration in research databases is free and it’s a good idea to set up an account anyway, as you may want to take advantage of other features available to you when you are signed in.
It’s as simple as signing in, plugging in your search and then on the results page, clicking on “Create Alert” (or some variation on that, depending on the database). You will now receive an email each time new content matching your search is added to the database. Compendex, the premier research database for engineers, has a “Create Alert” option and this is what the button looks like:
Once you click on it, the alert is created, and if you want to remove it, you click on “Remove Alert”. If you need help, click on the “help” button at the top of the page (most, if not all, databases have a help button). These help pages are very well organized and within the table of contents, look for the topic about creating and working with email alerts.
The latest Wired magazine arrived at my door today and on the cover: a MakerBot three-dimensional printer, slated to change the world. There are actually two new machines available for under three thousand dollars that can create objects in bioplastic from CAD files. A 3D printer in 4-6 weeks? Crazy, right?
The Wired article brought to mind Cory Doctorow’s story, Printcrime, originally published in 2006 in Nature. It is a short story and a good one so I won’t give away the ending here but it is about a man who goes to prison for building and operating a 3D printer.
I admit that I have been day dreaming about 3D printers ever since I noticed that there is the possibility of a live demonstration on October 20 at the Access 2012 library technology conference, from folks at Dalhousie Libraries. I’ll be there with camera in hand and I’ll check back in with you afterwards!
Image from Makerbot Industries
“Prof. Heather Munroe-Blum, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University, has been named to the prestigious President’s Council of the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS). She will join 27 Nobel laureates and other prominent leaders of academia and industry from around the world on this advisory board. The mission of the Academy is to promote the resolution of society’s global challenges through science-based solutions, to support scientific literacy and to advance scientific research and knowledge.”
For more information, see McGill Principal appointed to NYAS President’s Council
Image by Associated Fabrication
Endeavour on its tour of California
I really liked these photos at Wired and these photos from NASA of the retirement journey of Space Shuttle Endeavour to California last week. Endeavour was the fifth Space Shuttle commissioned and had its first flight to space over 20 years ago on May 7, 1992. In my mind’s eye, the Space Shuttles would have eclipsed a Boeing 747 in size, but apparently not so!
From NASA’s Space Shuttle mission news: “Endeavour was NASA’s fifth and final space shuttle to be built. Construction began on Sept. 28, 1987 and it rolled out of the assembly plant in Palmdale, Calif. in April 1991. It was named after a ship chartered to traverse the South Pacific in 1768 and captained by 18th century explorer James Cook. Endeavour flew 25 times, traveling more than 122,000 miles and accumulating 299 days in space. Like shuttles Discovery, Enterprise and Atlantis, Endeavour is embarking on its next mission – to inspire the next generation of explorers and engineers at the California Science Center.”
If you’re looking for info, articles or books about space flight, Schulich Library has a subject guide devoted to Aerospace Engineering. There you can find recommended databases, materials for finding background information and links to other relevant sites.
Image: NASA / Jim Ross
