Opposition to a “new national grid” is emerging. Instead of new high-voltage transmission lines spanning the country, many are in favor of the development of a “smart grid” along with technology to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Recent issues related to transmission lines for wind power have slowed the growth of renewable energy sources. Steven Specker, IA A ’67, president and CEO of the Electric Power Research Institute, says the lack of such transmission is the biggest obstacle to growth (of renewable energy sources).
Read article entitled, A Costly and Unnecessary New Electricity Grid.
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Microsoft Research announced a new data-management tool that will be available to college and universities for free.
“Project Trident: A Scientific Workflow Workbench is designed to help scientists in data-intensive fields such as medical research, astronomy, environmental science, and oceanography make sense of data more quickly in real time, using a better visual interface.”
Read more from the article in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
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In a recent article, Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum discuss another angle of the debate over how the USA is behind in producing scientists and engineers for future generations.
Using examples from present day drama, movies and science fiction novels, the authors argue that politics and pop culture is just as much to blame for the intellectual shortage.
Read the article, and see if you agree with image that has been created by “Hollywood depictions” and story tellers of our time.
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