The “reference kilogram” is a lump of metal in France — the kilo being the only metric measurement not based on some objective standard. A project is underway to replace the kilo with something independently reproducible: perfectly spherical balls of based onCarbon-12. Incidentally, these new kilos would also be “the roundest objects in the world.”
Continue reading… “Fixing The Official Kilogram”
Hyperlinks on paper.
Maria Fischer’s “Traumgedanken” book is a collection of “literary, philosophical, psychological and scientifical texts” about dreams. The book uses threads pierced through the pages and affixed to other pages to make physical hyperlinks between ideas.
Critical thinking skills not a guarantee.
A post-secondary education won’t necessarily guarantee students the critical thinking skills employers have come to expect from university grads, says a recent study.
Continue reading… “Post-Secondary Education Does Not Guarantee Critical Thinking Skills”
One quarter of students defaulted within 3 years of starting repayment on their college loans.
About one-quarter of students who took out federal loans to attend for-profit colleges defaulted within three years of starting repayment, according to a new federal analysis.
The economy has added to the stress, not just because of financial pressures
on their parents but also because the students are worried
about their own college debt and job prospects.
The emotional health of college freshmen — who feel buffeted by the recession and stressed by the pressures of high school — has declined to the lowest level since an annual survey of incoming students started collecting data 25 years ago.
Continue reading… “Emotional Health of College Freshman Has Declined to Record Low”
Less than 50% of U.S. students are proficient in science.
One national “report card” on test scores, released Tuesday morning, paints a dismal picture of how well the country’s students have mastered science. Just 34 percent of fourth-graders, 30 percent of eighth-graders, and 21 percent of 12th-graders are performing at or above “proficient” in the most recent snapshot from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which gives science scores from 2009.
Continue reading… “Most Students in U.S. Are Not Proficient in Science”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM7CcUrUD2g&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Understanding the way light falls on a subject and what it means for the final product is critical to taking good photos. This clever teaching technique uses an egg to help you hone your eye for good lighting.
Photographer Joe Edelman thinks you need to get back to basics to learn good photography lighting. How back to basics? Prepare to hit up your fridge for an egg and grab a flashlight.
Check out the video above to see how you can studying lighting using nothing more than an egg (or other small egg-like object) and a simple light source. For more photography tips check out the full article about beauty photography and technique at the link after the jump…
Continue reading… “Take Better Photographs by Studying an Egg”
Taking a test helps you learn.
Test taking is not just a passive mechanism for assessing how much people know, according to new research. It actually helps people learn, and it works better than a number of other studying techniques.
Continue reading… “Quit Studying and Take a Test if You Want to Learn”
Academics are not a priority during a students first two years of college.
Nearly half of the nation’s undergraduates show almost no gains in learning in their first two years of college, in large part because colleges don’t make academics a priority, a new report shows.
Continue reading… “Undergraduates Show Small Gains in First Two Years of College”
Dozens of starlings in the Karacabey district of Turkey’s Bursa province were among the victims of a recent spate of mass animal deaths around the world that initially provoked much international alarm. But though scientists have emphasized such incidents are not a sign of broader dangers, plenty of real threats face many of the hundreds of bird species in Turkey…
Continue reading… “Time Running Out For Many Bird Species in Turkey”
Design a credit card, and some idiot will sign up for it. Here are the Worst Credit Cards of 2010.
Continue reading… “The Worst Credit Cards of 2010”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.
