Volume III Issue 4
April 2007 |
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 April
is Mathematics Awareness Month!
 The
theme for Mathematics Awareness Month 2007 is "Math and the Brain." Did
you know that mathematical scientists are helping to unlock the
mysteries of the brain? They have modeled electrical activity of
neurons; designed methods for transforming MRI and other signals into
clear images; modeled dynamics of neurological networks, such as those
related to epilepsy and Parkinson's disease, learning, memory, and
schizophrenia; and developed algorithms for imaging the brain for
diagnosis of tumors, disease, and psychological states.
 Throughout
April, many college and university departments, institutional public
information offices, student groups, and others are sponsoring events
and developing resources to help explore the impact of mathematics on
the world around us. More details are
online.
The Sloan Career Cornerstone Center provides extensive resources about
careers in mathematics, statistics, and actuarial science.
Click here to find out more.
NASA's
Great Moonbuggy Race
 This
month, NASA is searching for the next generation of space explorers to
meet the challenge of designing and building their own version of NASA's
lunar rover or "moonbuggy" by competing in the Great Moonbuggy Race.
College and high school students from across the country will put their
knowledge to work in a real-world environment as they discover practical
uses for science, technology, engineering, and math in the unique
competitive atmosphere of the race. Student teams are challenged to meet
design criteria set by scientists and engineers at NASA's Marshall Space
Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, where the original lunar rover was
designed and tested before it was driven by astronauts on the moon
during the last three Apollo missions in the 1970s. The first Great
Moonbuggy Race was run in 1994 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of
the Apollo 11 lunar landing. Teams will compete for the best time around
a half-mile, simulated lunar course. Find out more at
http://moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov.
Find out more about careers
in Aerospace Engineering...
Fighting
Cancer with Nanotechnology
 Nanotechnology
is the development and engineering of devices so small that they are
measured on a molecular scale. Nanoscale devices are somewhere from one
hundred to ten thousand times smaller than human cells. They are similar
in size to large biological molecules ("biomolecules") such as enzymes
and receptors. As an example, hemoglobin, the molecule that carries
oxygen in red blood cells, is approximately 5 nanometers in diameter.
Nanoscale devices smaller than 50 nanometers can easily enter most
cells, while those smaller than 20 nanometers can move out of blood
vessels as they circulate through the body.
In the fight against
cancer, nanotechnology introduces unique approaches to diagnosis and
treatment that could not even be imagined with conventional technology.
New tools engineered at sizes much smaller than a human cell will enable
researchers and clinicians to detect cancer earlier, treat it with much
greater precision and fewer side effects, and possibly stop the disease
long before it can do any damage. Imagine a nanoparticle that can be
used to light up a tumor in an MRI, destroy cancer cells by converting
magnetic fields into heat, and allow the physician to visually track the
progress of treatment. To help meet the goal of eliminating suffering
and death due to cancer, the National Cancer Institute, part of the
National Institutes of Health, is engaged in efforts to harness the
power of nanotechnology to radically change the way we diagnose, treat,
and prevent cancer.
Find out more at http://nano.cancer.gov.
Degree
Profile: Manufacturing Engineering
 Manufacturing
engineers are involved with the process of manufacturing from planning
to packaging of the finished product. They work with tools such as
robots, programmable and numerical controllers, and vision system to
fine tune assembly, packaging, and shipping facilities. They examine
flow and the process of manufacturing, looking for ways to streamline
production, improve turnaround, and reduce costs. Often, a manufacturing
engineer will work with a prototype, usually created electronically with
computers, to plan the final manufacturing process. In a globally
competitive marketplace, it is the job of the manufacturing engineer to
figure out methods and systems to produce a product in an efficient,
cost-effective way to provide a marketing edge for the final product.
 Manufacturing
engineering graduates may work in any field that produces goods -- from
automobiles and boats and airplanes, to electronic products to
educational toys, to food and clothing. They must have strong analytical
stills and be detail oriented. They must also work well in team
situations as they are often called upon to work in a group setting with
other engineers and others outside of engineering.
Find out more about careers in
manufacturing engineering.
Melts
in Your Body, Not in Your Hand
 Leaded
crystal and common glass may look similar, but the crystal is made of a
rigid scaffolding of atoms, while the glass is a disordered, atomic
slurry. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have
developed a method for crafting some of the most stable glasses ever
formed -- materials that are strong and durable like crystal and yet
free of the confining properties of an ordered atomic skeleton. They
hope the new method will enable drug manufacturers to take advantage of
chemicals that had been too insoluble as crystals and too unstable as
glasses.
The findings, appearing in Science, announce a method to deposit glass
materials layer by layer as a vapor onto a surface with an ideal
temperature for yielding stable glasses, an advancement over earlier
vapor deposition efforts and different from the practice of quenching
molten material.
Chemist Mark Ediger and his colleagues at the university collaborated
with researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology
to craft and study stable glasses. One such glass, formed from the
anti-inflammatory drug indomethacin, is a test for how pharmaceuticals
could benefit from the new technique. The latest wonder drugs work only
if they arrive in the body where they are needed and at the right
concentration at the right time. Some potential pharmaceuticals are
hindered by being too crystalline -- not dissolving quickly enough, or
at all, in the body -- or too glassy, breaking down too quickly or in
uncontrollable ways. Though the new glasses do not reach the precision
of crystals, they are denser and far stronger than traditional glass.
"We were just astonished," says Ediger. "These materials were so
unusual, it took a whole year to understand what was going on." Ediger
estimates that the more stable glass would take at least 10,000 years to
make using conventional technology, because the liquid glass would have
to be cooled extremely slowly. With the new vapor deposition method, it
takes about an hour.
What
High School Transcripts Tell Us
 Just
how prepared for college are Americans? A
recent report by the U.S.
Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
offers information about the level of academic preparation of the high
school graduating class of 2004. The report provides an examination of
the course selection patterns of graduates, with a particular focus on
participation in math, science, and Advanced Placement and International
Baccalaureate. Also, the report links these patterns with test
achievement in math, grade point averages, and expectations for future
educational attainment. Among the notable findings:
- The Class of 2004
earned an average of 4.3 English credits, 3.6 math credits, 3.3
science credits, 3.9 social studies credits, 2.0 fine arts credits,
and 2.0 credits in non-English language courses.
- About 30% of the
Class of 2004 earned credit in AP or IB courses.
In math, 5% of graduates got no further than basic math or
pre-algebra; 45% completed at least Algebra I or II; 36% completed
at least trigonometry, statistics, or pre-calculus coursework; and
14% completed calculus. (Seniors who got no further than basic math
or pre-algebra had an overall GPA of 2.3; seniors who completed
calculus had an GPA of 3.5.)
- Class of 2004
students expecting to get a graduate or professional degree earned
21 academic credits, while students expecting to have some college
experience (but not get a degree) earned 17 credits.
The Sloan Career Cornerstone Center suggests that precollege students
interested in studying toward degrees in science, mathematics,
computing, engineering, technology, or medicine take as many math and
science courses as possible -- both in school and after school programs.
Find out more about college
preparation...
Tiny
Worm Exhibits Nicotine Dependence
 The
unassuming C. elegans nematode worm, a 1-millimeter workhorse of the
genetics lab, is quite similar to human beings in its genetic
susceptibility to nicotine dependence, according to University of
Michigan researchers. This finding should allow researchers to better
understand how nicotine dependence works, and perhaps devise new ways to
block the craving that keeps humans smoking cigarettes. Nicotine is the
addictive substance in tobacco. Dependence on nicotine drives many of
the most preventable causes of death in the U.S. A team led by X.Z.
Shawn Xu, assistant research professor at the Life Sciences Institute
and assistant professor of physiology at U-M Medical School, has
completed a series of experiments which establish that C. elegans can
get hooked on nicotine. Like humans, the nicotine-sensitive worms showed
acute responses to nicotine exposure, as well as tolerance,
sensitization and withdrawal. Xu and his team found that the genes known
to underlie nicotine dependence in mammals are also present in the
worms.
Having established worms as a model, the Xu team then tried to identify
new genes important for nicotine dependence. They found for the first
time that TRP channel genes which enable cells to respond to various
external stimuli are a part of the nicotine response. In fact, when they
knocked the TRP gene out of worms, the animals no longer responded to
nicotine exposures. But when a new generation of worms had that missing
gene replaced by a human version of the TRP gene, the worms returned to
being nicotine-sensitive. "This demonstrates that human TRP genes have
the capacity to mediate nicotine dependence, suggesting that human TRP
genes are important for nicotine dependence in humans," Xu said. It also
makes TRP genes a potential target for the development of drugs to treat
tobacco addiction, and the worms can help in that research.
Find out more...
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Sloan Career Cornerstone Center. Click here
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