Ada Lovelace Day is an international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering, math, and all related STEM fields.
The celebration is named in honor of English mathematician Augusta Ada King (1815-1852), Countess of Lovelace, known colloquially as Ada Lovelace. Lovelace, the daughter of Lord Byron, is sometimes considered the world’s first computer programmer for the algorithm she wrote for Charles Babbage’s analytical engine, one of the world’s first mechanical computers. Over the years there have been historical disagreements over the extent of Lovelace’s knowledge of the subject and the originality of the work she published in her article, “Sketch of the Analytical Engine, with Notes from the Translator,“ but Babbage himself seemed to dismiss such future claims in his memoir.
Check out the collection Science NetLinks put together for Women’s History Month for related resources to help all students understand the role women historically have played in the history of STEM development and those they play in current STEM fields.
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Image Credit: Alfred Edward Chalon [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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The Nobel prize in medicine has been awarded to a Japanese cell biologist for discoveries on how cells break down and recycle their own components.
Yoshinori Ohsumi, 71, will receive the prestigious 8m Swedish krona (£718,000) award for uncovering “mechanisms for autophagy”, a fundamental process in cells that scientists believe can be harnessed to fight cancer and dementia.
Autophagy is the body’s internal recycling programme - scrap cell components are captured and the useful parts are stripped out to generate energy or build new cells. The process is crucial for preventing cancerous growths, warding off infection and, by maintaining a healthy metabolism, it helps protect against conditions like diabetes.
Dysfunctional autophagy has been linked to Parkinson’s disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer and a host of age-related disorders. Intense research is underway to develop drugs that can target autophagy to treat various diseases.
Speaking to reporters in Tokyo on Monday, Ohsumi said: “As a boy, the Nobel Prize was a dream, but after starting my research, it was out of my picture.”
He said he chose to focus on the cell’s waste disposal system, an unfashionable subject at the time, because he wanted to work on something different.
“I don’t feel comfortable competing with many people, and instead I find it more enjoyable doing something nobody else is doing,” he added. “In a way, that’s what science is all about, and the joy of finding something inspires me.”
Ohsumi, who was in his lab when he received the phone call from Thomas Perlmann, secretary of the Nobel Committee, admitted to being in a “slight state of shock” about the news.
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Alternate realities, parallel dimensions, and multiple universes. Whatever you call it, the notion of other versions of existence is one of the most popular tropes in science fiction. In some other universe, you’re not reading this sentence but skydiving. In another, you’re nothing but a cockroach. In yet another, not only is life impossible, but atoms don’t even exist.
In recent years, though, such seemingly crazy ideas have shifted from fantasy and speculation toward bona fide science. Even among physicists, the multiverse has gone mainstream.
Theoretically, infinite universes might stretch beyond our own, like endless bubbles in a sea of boiling water. Each bubble has its own laws of physics, and although we may never visit or even see another bubble, some physicists say growing evidence is making the multiverse increasingly plausible—and even probable. Learn more here.
Feeling a little small? Well in the context of the cosmos, we are small. We may just be little guys living on a speck of dust, afloat in a staggering immensity…
…but we dont think small.
A mighty membrane that twists and turns through the gut is starting the new year with a new classification: the structure, called the mesentery, has been upgraded to an organ.
Scientists have known about the structure, which connects a person’s small and large intestines to the abdominal wall and anchors them in place, according to the Mayo Clinic. However, until now, it was thought of as a number of distinct membranes by most scientists. Interestingly, in one of its earliest descriptions, none other than Leonardo da Vinci identified the membranes as a single structure, according to a recent review.
The Blue Lava of Kawah Ijen Volcano. The ‘blue lavas’ are a rare phenomenon, only visible on the Kawah Ijen Volcano, in Indonesia. It may look like the volcano is spewing blue lava, but in fact, the shocking blue fire occurs when the volcanic sulphuric gases combust. Emerging from cracks in the volcano’s side, these gases ignite when coming into contact with air. It’s not actual blue lava, but blue flames. (video)
Archbishop Ussher’s chronology was taken as gospel in the Western world. Until we turned to another book to find the age of the earth, the one that was written in the rocks themselves.
Steve Gentleman, a neuropathologist, demonstrates the process of brain dissection and preservation for research.
We see color because of specialized light-sensing cells in our eyes called cones. One type, L-cones, sees the reds of strawberries and fire trucks; M-cones detect green leaves, and S-cones let us know the sky is blue. But vision scientists have now discovered that not all cones sense color (see video). The finding was made possible because, for the first time, scientists were able to look at individual photo-sensing cells.
A pharmacist and a little science sideblog. "Knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world." - Louis Pasteur
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