education and science as a social priority

Mankind has always been driven by contradictory drives. The relentless curiosity that pushes us forward and is directly responsible for our progress from caves to cities. The fear of change that tells us "hang on, these caves/cities are really nice, we don't want to risk losing them." There isn't any greater potential threat to the status quo than the discovery of extraterrestrial life, which is why some people would prefer we didn't try.

There has been some outrage recently over attempts to contact intelligent aliens, where instead of hiding in the corner and listening real hard some astronomers beamed intense directional messages up up and away. Critics decried these actions as dangerous, though their fears reveal more about us than any eventual ETs. They assume that they would be similar to humanity, so their first response to finding a more primitive culture would be to exploit the hell out of it. While such a fate might be pleasingly ironic (for anyone who isn't human, at least), others contend that any species that can make the journey here has advanced to a point where their goals are rather higher-minded than "Shoot us".

...

Most of the objections to contacting aliens are weak under close examination. We can't suddenly decide to hide after fifty years of pumping electromagnetic radiation into space without rhyme or reason - in fact, we'd better hope that an advanced civilization doesn't catch an episode of "American Idol" and just vaporize us outright. Suddenly keeping quiet would be like a drunk boyfriend carefully taking off his shoes after knocking over a bookshelf on his way to the bedroom.

President Obama has lifted the ban on embryonic stem cell research enacted by Bush, but I'm left feeling that this intervention came many years too late.

As someone who works with stem cells I find this largely an empty, symbolic act, but one that needed to be done anyway. The reality is the damage was done by Bush already, and we're fortunate that it was only a temporary delay in some of the most important research humans have developed to date.

The full text of the memorandum is here. Let's look at some of the details.

...

You'll notice that there's no mention here of political party, which is a serious step in the right direction. I am hopeful that the credentials and experience of candidates will be well scrutinized for potential conflicts of interest (like industry ties, or ties to "think tanks" that have better track-records of message control than of attending to scientific data and good explanations for those data).

Governor David A. Paterson today announced an agreement to allocate low-cost electricity for Brookhaven National Laboratory ( BNL ) that will support the construction of a high-intensity light beam project known as the National Synchrotron Light Source II ( NSLS-II ). Project construction will take place this year, and result in up to 1,000 jobs over the next few years and several hundred new permanent positions at the scientific research center -- one of Long Island's largest employers and energy users. In constructing the new NSLC-II facility, BNL will invest $900 million, which will help retain thousands of jobs on Long Island.

"As New York faces the worst economic recession in more than a generation, it is critical that we do everything we can to maintain the healthy and valued drivers of our economy. Brookhaven National Laboratory is fundamental to Long Island and to New York State's overall economy. Its world-class facilities attract thousands of visiting scientists each year, who conduct pioneering work in materials and life sciences and other fields while contributing to the local and State economies," said Governor Paterson. "The research conducted at Brookhaven -- which includes advancements in energy -- is critical to New York's position as a national leader in renewable energy initiatives."

The New York Power Authority ( NYPA ) is expecting for the first time to provide BNL with 15 megawatts ( MW ) of hydropower, along with other market supplies, to meet BNL's full electricity requirements over a 15-year period. Last month, the NYPA Board of Trustees authorized contract negotiations for the distribution of hydropower to BNL, which is operated by Brookhaven Science Associates for the U.S. Department of Energy ( DOE ). In addition to serving BNL's overall operations, the supplies of low-cost power will underpin the atomic-scale work in which the NSLS-II facility will be engaged for ultramicroscopic medical, energy and materials research.

...

Last month, the DOE authorized the construction of NSLS-II to begin this year, which will be the largest capital project under construction of any of the ten national laboratories in the United States that are owned by DOE's Office of Science. Brookhaven is the only national lab in the Northeast.

The new NSLS-II facility will direct bright beams of x-rays exceeding that of any other light source currently existing or under construction to peer at particles a billionth of a meter long. The beams will be 10,000 times brighter than the current NSLS at Brookhaven, which was commissioned in 1982. The NSLS facility has reached the practical limits of machine performance and will be replaced by the new light source project.

Access to world-class capabilities provided by synchrotron light sources is crucial to many scientists at the State's universities and research institutions, including the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, Cornell University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Other organizations using the existing BNL light source facility include Corning, General Electric Global Research Center in Niskayuna, and IBM Research Division in Yorktown Heights.

The stimulus bill calls for the funds to be spent in two years, though in some areas it may take longer. In terms of dollars per year, it is arguably the most cash that has ever been pumped into scientific research. Even the Apollo programme and the Manhattan project - which cost over $200 billion and $35 billion at today's value - were spread over 11 and five years, respectively. It seems Obama is delivering on his promise to restore science to its rightful place. "He is committed to putting his money where his mouth is - or putting our money where his mouth is," says Lesley Stone of the lobby group Scientists and Engineers for America.

President-elect Barack Obama pledges to put a lot of emphasis not only on reinvigorating science, but on making decisions that are grounded in science. As promised, I'm going to seek answers from his environmental and science team to the questions that received the most reader recommendations. Here are the top 10 (actually, 11 because of a multiple tie):

Physicists seldom allow students in their courses to escape without understanding and being able to perform calculations pertaining to energy. Outside of science circles, however, "energy" generally refers not to an overall conserved quantity but rather to the large-scale conversion of stored energy into electricity, locomotion, or manufacture. Physicists have much less contact with the conversion aspect of energy, though it is tremendously important to society.

Two hundred years ago, the ability to harness energy helped stimulate an industrial revolution that was accompanied by an explosion of agricultural productivity, human population, and economic growth. But human society has never before experienced energy availability at today's scales--each year some 4×1020J is converted for human activity. About 85% of that energy derives from the use of fossil fuels. At some point in the near future, humankind must necessarily see a declining annual availability of fossil-fuel resources, given their finite nature and geological limitations to the rate of their extraction. That decline will be most sharply felt for petroleum, but it is also relevant for natural gas, less so for coal. The disappearance of global resources that are so important to our way of life is unprecedented. We have little choice but to adapt by reducing demand, migrating to alternative energy resources, or, very likely, employing a combination of both strategies.

It was with those concerns in mind that I decided to explore the practical side of photovoltaic energy: In 2007 I built a PV system to power my living room. Though reasonably well informed on the semiconductor physics of PV junctions, I felt unsuitably prepared to evaluate the practical realities of owning and operating a personal solar PV system. Because I believe physicists can play a role in our energy future that extends beyond the confines of advanced research, I want to share my experiences in the hope that others might develop home PV projects. What better way to motivate innovation in the alternative-energy sector than to get a talented pool of physicists engaged on a personal level?

President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who heads the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, to be the next energy secretary, and he has picked veteran regulators from diverse backgrounds to fill three other key jobs on his environmental and climate-change team, Democratic sources said yesterday.

Obama plans to name Carol M. Browner, Environmental Protection Agency administrator for eight years under President Bill Clinton, to fill a new White House post overseeing energy, environmental and climate policies, the sources said. Browner, a member of Obama's transition team, is a principal at the Albright Group.

Obama has also settled on Lisa P. Jackson, recently appointed chief of staff to New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine (D) and former head of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, to head the EPA. Nancy Sutley, a deputy mayor of Los Angeles for energy and environment, will chair the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

I think students who can't calculate their own grades should fail the course.

I'm not talking about a small flaw in addition here, but a complete inability to comprehend the way the grades add up, leading to a full-scale email war.

Corollary: Professors who don't put out a syllabus from which grades can be calculated so you know how you're doing lose tenure.

"Like they're reading a science article written by a journalism major"