News articles
Apr. 28th, 2008 08:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dracodraconisCanada has fewer Ph.D.s than US - A recent survey reveals that people with doctorates account for 0.4 percent of the Canadian population, while 0.7 percent of the US population has doctoral degrees. That said, the enrollment in doctoral programs between 2000 and 2004 has increased so, with an average time-to-completion of 5.75 years, many are still in school so would show up on the survey. The average age of doctoral graduates is 36 with 59 percent of them debt-free upon graduation. Found on Rick Mercer's blog.
Microwaves focused to area smaller than their wavelength - University of Michigan researchers have succeeded in focusing 30-cm microwaves to a point approximately 1.5 cm in size, smaller than the wavelength of the radiation. They propose that if the approach can be adapted to optical wavelengths it could be used to greatly improve lithography and data storage. Found on Warren Ellis's blog.
Ontario legislature may offer streaming video of debates - Imagine the heart-pounding excitement! In fact, it's not a bad idea to increase the openness of what goes on the legislature in a manner that is accessible to Generation-I (I for Internet, that is).
A better source of biofuels may be hardy plants - Some members of the biofuel industry argue that an alternative to using food crops to generate biofuels is to raise "crops" of hardy plants on land that cannot support food crops. Jatropha is a hardy plant that is drought-tolerant, yet produces a seed that is 40 percent oil that can easily be converted into biodiesel.
Lizards demonstrate evolution in action - Formerly insect-eating Pod Mrcaru lizards introduced to an island off Croatia evolved a completely new gut structure to handle a vegetarian diet in only 30 years, providing wonderful example of evolution in action.
Microwaves focused to area smaller than their wavelength - University of Michigan researchers have succeeded in focusing 30-cm microwaves to a point approximately 1.5 cm in size, smaller than the wavelength of the radiation. They propose that if the approach can be adapted to optical wavelengths it could be used to greatly improve lithography and data storage. Found on Warren Ellis's blog.
Ontario legislature may offer streaming video of debates - Imagine the heart-pounding excitement! In fact, it's not a bad idea to increase the openness of what goes on the legislature in a manner that is accessible to Generation-I (I for Internet, that is).
A better source of biofuels may be hardy plants - Some members of the biofuel industry argue that an alternative to using food crops to generate biofuels is to raise "crops" of hardy plants on land that cannot support food crops. Jatropha is a hardy plant that is drought-tolerant, yet produces a seed that is 40 percent oil that can easily be converted into biodiesel.
Lizards demonstrate evolution in action - Formerly insect-eating Pod Mrcaru lizards introduced to an island off Croatia evolved a completely new gut structure to handle a vegetarian diet in only 30 years, providing wonderful example of evolution in action.