Science blog

The National Science Foundation is an independent government agency in the United States. The National Science Foundation is responsible for providing support to basic science research, which is primarily accomplished through research funding. The National Science Foundation mostly provides research funding in the form of grants. These grants are most often given in the form of individual grants to graduate students and professors. In fact, with an annual budget of approximately $5.5 billion, the National Science Foundation provides about 20% of federally supported funding for basic research to America’s universities and colleges. Under the leadership of its director, Dr. Arden L. Bement, Jr., the National Science Board meets six times per year to determine the policies of the National Science Foundation. The National Science Board consists of 24 members, all of which are appointed by the President of the United States to 6 year terms. History of the National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation was originally established as the result of the 1950 National Science Foundation Act. The mission of the National Science Foundation, as stated within this act, was “To promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense.” The National Science Foundation has competed with defense research agencies, such as the Office of Naval Research, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, for funding. This battle for funding has led many science historians to claim that the National Science Foundation is an “inept compromise” between visions within the federal government in regards to the scope and purpose of the foundation. Programs of the National Science Foundation Fields within the National Science Foundation include: astronomy, physics, behavioral science, biology, chemistry, and computer science. Economic science, social sciences, science education, engineering, environmental science and education, polar research, geoscience, mathematics, and statistics are also fields covered by the National Science Foundation. In addition to working within its regular fields, the National Science Foundation promotes a variety of special programs. These programs are sometimes put into place in order to increase the participation of under-represented minorities in the sciences. The Research Experience for Undergraduates program, for example, targets minorities and women. This program provides grants to institutions in order to assist them in providing opportunities for summer research to undergraduate students. In addition, the GK-12 Crosscutting Program was established by the National Science Foundation to provide universities with money to encourage graduate students to interact with k-12 students. The goal of this program is to increase science retention in children at an early age. The National Science Foundation also funds projects on a national scale. One such project is the National Science Digital Library. Also, the National Science Foundation helps pay for the establishment of the Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers that are located in some research universities. Space exploration and the National Science Foundation At times, there is conflict between the National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This is because both agencies strive to increase knowledge regarding the universe, space, and the human body. Neither, however, wants to pay more than its fair share for this research. Furthermore, clear guidelines concerning which agency is responsible for which aspects of the fields have not been established. Currently, the two agencies have developed a truce of sorts. Under the unofficially structured guidelines, NASA is responsible for paying form space based operations. These include projects such as Chandra, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Spitzer Space Telescope. The National Science Foundation, on the other hand, funds ground based operations. These include the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, and Kitt Peak.

Heralding a new age in the cosmos, Norwegian Kristian Birkeland predicted that the universe likely consisted of an exotic component that would later be called dark matter. His comments about this subject matter appeared in a description of the Norwegian Aurora Polaris Expedition (1902-1903). Birkeland's ideas about the Expedition were published in the fateful year of 1913 which would see the rise of the socialist Federal Reserve System and the Income Tax in the United States of America, two key components of the communist manifesto. Evolutionary processes were in motion throughout all fields of endeavor. Economics, politics, science and the hearts and minds of men and women were in the balance whilst relativism not truth held sway over the modern imagination. Cosmology would suffer from the same 'evolutionary' mindset and Birkeland wrote as much: "We have assumed that each stellar system in evolutions throws off electric corpuscles into space. It does not seem unreasonable therefore to think that the greater part of the material masses in the universe is found, not in the solar systems or nebulae, but in "empty" space." In this fashion, Birkeland predicted that because of the 'evolutions' present within the cosmos most of the matter in the universe must be found in 'empty' space rather than that which is observable in stellar objects. It is currently believed that only four percent of the universe is of this ordinary visible stellar type. Further, about a quarter of the universe is made up of the ubiquitous dark matter with the rest of the cosmos being filled with the even more bizarre dark energy. It was Fritz Zwicky, a swiss astrophysicist working for Caltech, who would further the concept of dark matter through the aegis of the Virial Theorem. This mathematical relation is a formula which bounds the energy of a set of particles. In another dark year in the steady evolution to slavery since 1933 saw the removal of gold from the accounts of american citizenry, Zwicky used the Virial Theorem in an attempt to ascertain the validity of the dark matter hypothesis. He focussed his attention on the Coma galactic cluster and his analysis provided prima facie confirmation for the existence of dark matter. By evaluating the amount of movement of those galaxies at the periphery of the cluster he was able to approximately surmise the aggregate of all the matter therein. He was astonished to learn that this sum total of mass is different from a separately computed estimate. This other value was obtained by analyzing the sum total of galaxies and the brightness of the Coma cluster. Juxtaposing this value with the periphery computation he observed that there was a discrepancy of at a minimum four hundredfold. Since the galaxies were insufficiently massive to cause the computed orbital velocities there must be some other mechanism to explain this phenomena. This conundrum became in the scientific lexicon the missing mass problem. Zwicky had established the need for the existence of an invisible source of mass hitherto unknown which must provide the necessary gravitational effect for the cluster. Thus, it is a fact of the current state of cosmology that the greatest set of evidence for dark matter comes from this galactic gravitational data. Scientists have even made galactic curves describing the rotational properties of stars versus the distance from the galactic center. When the gravitational data is plotted it can be shown that only a small portion of the observed speeds are explicable by classical computations. In other words, there is a scarcity of visible mass in the observed galaxies to attribute the sum total of gravitational effects to visibly observable stars planets and galaxies. Thus, the simplest way to explain this galactic mystery of insufficient mass is to hypothesize a non-detectable type of mass known as dark matter which can be the cause for the gravitational effects. As more and more data is collected on these and other aspects of the universe, formulae and cosmological postulates are generated describing the results so obtained. Fulfilling the requirements of the aforementioned aspects leads some scientists to propose several different types of dark matter. The four main types of dark matter are called 1- baryonic dark matter; 2- warm dark matter; 3- cold dark matter and 4- hot dark matter. Dark matter ranges from the known to the predicted, from black holes to brown dwarfs to the massive compact halo objects (MACHOs), the neutrino, axions, WIMPS or weakly interacting massive particles and the esoteric neutralino. However, there is an alternative explanation for the gravitational effects which originally created the dark matter concept. If an incomplete understanding of gravitation is factored into the picture, then it can be asserted that the dark matter interpretation is incorrect because some other cause is generating these phenomena. Several different contending theories have been developed to describe the observed galactic data. In particular, one of the main competing explanations is given by scalar tensor theories which try to combine the teachings of quantum mechanics with gravity. Amplifying these ideas leads to a variety of exotic ideas which challenge our most fundamental notions of physics and astronomy. Other concepts go even further and have been the subject of interest for astronomers like Dr. Riccardo Scarpa since these allow for a cosmology without the inclusion of the enigmatic dark matter. Dr. Scarpa works at the European Southern Observatory in Santiago Chile using the Very Large Telescope Array at Paranal. With all of his experience in this field, it is interesting to note some of his most recent comments on the superfluous dark matter: "Dark matter is the craziest idea we've ever had in astronomy. It can appear when you need it, it can do what you like, be distributed in any way you like. It is the fairy tale of astronomy." In view of these comments one should ask if another scientific idea might be on the verge of collapsing. Indeed, astronomers are routinely using these other theoretical principles on a daily basis in infrared observatories around the world. Thus, it is very likely that we are simply wrong about all of this dark matter. It is within all probability that the only dark matter that we will ever find is that ignorant dark matter between our ears.

Steorn have made claims that have upset some people in the scientific world, in this short article I will discuss there claims and progress so far, hoping to come to some sort of conclusion, are they for real? The first time most people heard of Steorn was when they published an advertisement in the Economist late last year (2006). The main idea of this was to attract the attention of qualified experimental scientists to prove off there technology by means of testing. It worked! More than 5000 people applied to become involved in this jury validation process, from which Steorn duly picked 22 qualified academic scientists / engineers. From the Q1 2007 Steorn update it was suggested that these 22 people are high ranking academia and will be recognized and accepted by the public and peer groups alike. Orbo is the brand name of Steorn’s free energy technology Current scientific laws The principle of conservation of energy in Physics (COE) The main crux of this law is that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form of energy to another A simple example of this is when electrical energy is changed into heat energy Steorn’s main claim Orbo produces free, clean and constant energy I remember getting taught the COE at school, it is also a fundamental part of scientific / engineering further education. COE has also played a major historic role in the development of thermodynamics. Thermodynamics is a fundamental strand in the history of physics, the history of chemistry and the history of science in general So this one law (COE) is a biggie So on the face of it Steorn’s claim directly contradicts one of the most fundamental scientific laws that has ever existed. Not a good start! This is why most scientists got upset or will get upset, imagine if you have spent 40 years of your life experimenting, testing, creating new ideas and technologies all based around fundamental laws, these laws are shown to be correct through your own testing and the scientific worlds testing. Then some bright spark comes along and says hold on a minute that’s all boll*cks. Most scientists will then undoubtedly call Steorn a hoax or a scam and at best tell them to politely stop wasting our time. Having worked in the engineering industry for over 10 years, I know a little about next generation testing and development. One thing I can say is that I respect the 40 year+ experienced scientists and engineers, they are usually right unfortunately, but sometimes they are wrong. Also when testing and developing new ideas or products I have found that the best creations or new ideas have come by means of accident or alternative results / surprises when developing something else. Someone usually comes along later to steal the glory of there, new idea. I think what I am trying to say is that law’s are just law’s they CAN be broken and are anyhow always developing and changing. Also respected peers can be wrong and there unbending views can restrict development and progress. So orbo energy, fact or fiction well I do not know, but one thing I do is that it may be one of those magical moments that changes the world and rewrites science and history. Steorn and orbo energy are an addictive unfolding saga and I wish them well and success in the future.

Have you ever wondered about your ethnic origin? Do you know for sure where all your ancestors were from and which countries' histories were a direct influence on the people who made you who you are?

I've always known I'm Canadian, but not until recently did I wonder: am I part Finnish?

It was just last week when I was broadcasting to the world on MSN that I was "60% Finnished" a personal project when I became truly intrigued about my heritage. What I was trying to tell the world was that I was 60% finished a large-scale car engine endeavor; however one of my friends that HAS to be right about everything pointed out that I wasn't spelling correctly. Was I just a bad speller or could it be that I was sending out an underlying message about my own self? I facetiously pointed out to Ms. Always-right that it was conceivable I was a descendant of Finland, and that perhaps she was wrong for once. But was it really true? I've always loved Finland's flashy flag; I can't seem to get enough of the Finnish rhubarb stew; and on top of it all, I keep christening custom toboggans in the name of Finland. How could I find out if I really am Finnish?

A good friend showed me that there is hope! Ethnicity testing is available to me and anyone else with similar curiosities (not necessarily a Finnish fetish, of course). There are also applications that extend beyond personal curiosity, but for the most part, everything the test tells you is more-than-fascinating.

Ethnicity testing starts with the widely held assumption that all human DNA originates in Africa and the goes on a 150-thousand-year journey. The test is the first of its kind ever developed. It reports proportional European, Western sub-Saharan African (African) and East Asian ancestry. For example, one person may obtain a result of 80% European 20% East Asian, while another may type as 33% African, 22% East Asian and 22% European. The DNA test is accurate to from 4-8% and sensitive enough to detect, for many customers, a single (100%) African or European great-great-grandparent or a single (100%) East Asian great grandparent.

As far as I know, the only Scandinavian blood in me is due to a package of Swedish Fish; however, with ethnicity testing, I can make my own claim to the honorable Finland.