January 31, 2005
What does philosophy have to do with evolution?VICTOR TAYLOR Intelligent design, science and philosophy have a great deal in common. Thales of Miletus (624-547 B.C.) is widely regarded as the "first" philosopher for his insights into the workings of nature. While people of his time understood the natural world through mythology, Thales invested in a critical style of thinking. Through mathematical calculation, he accurately predicted a solar eclipse that occurred in 585 B.C. His famous statement that "everything is water" was one of the earliest attempts to account for the physical aspects of a changing world. By today's standards "everything is water" seems too simplistic, but in his time it represented an important step away from mythological constructions of reality. In the ancient world of Thales, one can count a number of philosophers who were equally significant to the development of science. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) not only wrote on ethics, rhetoric and poetics, he also composed studies of biology and physics. His concept of "causality" attempted to introduce a material understanding of reality into the philosophical conversations of his generation and generations that were to follow. After the ancients and philosophers of late antiquity, we can turn to medieval philosophy for additional instances of the relationship between science and philosophy. St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 A.D.) was deeply interested in the nature of reality and its theological implications. His logical proofs for the existence of God share a great deal with the concept of "intelligent design," especially the idea of teleology. The French philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650), the father of modern philosophy, was a "natural scientist" and mathematician who made great advances in "analytical geometry." Like other modern philosophers from the 17th century onward, Descartes' interests included physics and physiology. During the 18th century, for instance, what we understand as "science" today was pre-figured as "natural philosophy" and leading Enlightenment philosophers, including Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), taught courses on natural phenomena. Not exactly science by our standards, these courses rested largely on ideas from metaphysics and ordinary observation. With the birth of modern science and the availability of better technology, "natural philosophy" underwent a series of continued transformations — many initiated by Sir Isaac Newton's "The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy," published in 1729. The philosophers of the Enlightenment were influenced by this work and viewed it as an opportunity to redefine philosophy's purpose. In fact, Immanuel Kant accepted Newton's laws, but came to view our understanding of those laws as predicated on subjective experience. Today, "the philosophy of science" is a thriving field. Many important philosophers over the centuries have made valuable contributions to the development of science. In many ways, science has important connections to "natural philosophy." This history that I have sketched leads inevitably to the status of ID as a scientific theory and the largely philosophical claims of ID as it pertains to the origin of life. Since biologists seem to have rejected ID on scientific grounds, perhaps the conversation about the origin of life should take place within the wider spaces of religion, philosophy or natural philosophy. How does life as we know it begin? Isn't this the question that gives rise to the "alternative perspective" underpinning ID? Philosophers have asked this question, too. What does philosophy have to do with the issue? Everything, it seems, if one wishes to challenge or validate claims in a logical way. If evolution cannot, as ID claims, account for the genesis of life, then what other ways of thinking critically do we have? Evolutionary biology states that an answer has not yet been found. ID asserts that evolutionary biology has reached an impasse on the question of the beginning of life. In this debate, ID seems to point beyond the scientific paradigm for a "scientific" answer. In claiming that small complex organisms are irreducible to less complex smaller organisms, ID invites two possibilities. The first is that none have been found yet, which is science's response. The second is that none are possible "in nature" and therefore they (simple-complex organisms) must have been fabricated by something outside the natural order. The latter poses an interesting metaphysical problem that Aristotle identified as the "uncaused cause." Or, how do you go from nothing to something? In philosophy and religion there are numerous examples that ask the question of origins. Myths from African and Native American cultures tell of "maker" gods that fashion clay or mud into living things. The Judeo-Christian-Islamic account portrays God not as a maker but as a creator; that is, God brings creation forward from nothing (ex nihilo), which resonates with ID. In all these accounts something outside the natural order designs life, which is contrary to science that holds that all phenomena will have a natural cause — not an "uncaused cause." While an overwhelming number of scientists conclude that ID fails the science test, the question of origins may still have a place in discussions of philosophy, religion and myth. Furthermore, thousands of years of human questioning and pursuit of the origins of life do not rise or fall on the merits of ID. Philosophy, religion and myth may not provide scientifically sound accounts of creation, but no one says they need to, either. There may be other meanings to take from these nonscientific perspectives of humankind's origin — things that science cannot tell us that relate to how we understand ourselves and how we understand our moral obligations to each other. In this respect, the story of creation may not only be about our biological beginning. It also may be about a "human" beginning, a topic clearly for philosophy and religion. Victor Taylor is an associate professor of comparative literature, philosophy and religion at York College. What does philosophy have to do with evolution? |
January 29, 2005
Google's search for meaningDuncan Graham-Rowe COMPUTERS can learn the meaning of words simply by plugging into Google. The finding could bring forward the day that true artificial intelligence is developed. Trying to get a computer to work out what words mean - distinguish between "rider" and "horse" say, and work out how they relate to each other - is a long-standing problem in artificial intelligence research. One of the difficulties has been working out how to represent knowledge in ways that allow computers to use it. But suddenly that is not a problem any more, thanks to the massive body of text that is available, ready indexed, on search engines like Google (which has more than 8 billion pages indexed). The meaning of a word can usually be gleaned from the words used around it. Take the word "rider". Its meaning can be deduced from the fact that it is often found close to words like "horse" and "saddle". Rival attempts to deduce meaning by relating hundreds of thousands of words to each other require the creation of vast, elaborate databases that are taking an enormous amount of work to construct. But Paul Vitanyi and Rudi Cilibrasi of the National Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, realised that a Google search can be used to measure how closely two words relate to each other. For instance, imagine a computer needs to understand what a hat is. To do this, it needs to build a word tree - a database of how words relate to each other. It might start off with any two words to see how they relate to each other. For example, if it googles "hat" and "head" together it gets nearly 9 million hits, compared to, say, fewer than half a million hits for "hat" and "banana". Clearly "hat" and "head" are more closely related than "hat" and "banana". To gauge just how closely, Vitanyi and Cilibrasi have developed a statistical indicator based on these hit counts that gives a measure of a logical distance separating a pair of words. They call this the normalised Google distance, or NGD. The lower the NGD, the more closely the words are related. By repeating this process for lots of pairs of words, it is possible to build a map of their distances, indicating how closely related the meanings of the words are. From this a computer can infer meaning, says Vitanyi. "This is automatic meaning extraction. It could well be the way to make a computer understand things and act semi-intelligently," he says. The technique has managed to distinguish between colours, numbers, different religions and Dutch painters based on the number of hits they return, the researchers report in an online preprint (www.arxiv.org/abs/cs.CL/0412098). The pair's results do not surprise Michael Witbrock of the Cyc project in Austin, Texas, a 20-year effort to create an encyclopaedic knowledge base for use by a future artificial intelligence. Cyc represents a vast quantity of fundamental human knowledge, including word meanings, facts and rules of thumb. Witbrock believes the web will ultimately make it possible for computers to acquire a very detailed knowledge base. Indeed, Cyc has already started to draw upon the web for its knowledge. "The web might make all the difference in whether we make an artificial intelligence or not," says Witbrock. Google's search for meaning |
January 29, 2005
Sizing Up Complex Webs: Close or far, many networks look the sameErica Klarreich Researchers have discovered that a remarkable diversity of complex networks, including the World Wide Web and patterns in cellular biochemistry, have a common architecture with snowflakes and trees. These networks all display similar patterns, whether viewed from up close or far away. "It's a fundamental advance," says Albert-László Barabási, a physicist who studies networks at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. The question of whether complex networks can show such a fractal pattern, also known as self-similarity, "has been bugging us for a while," he says. In recent years, researchers have found that a surprising range of networks has a common structure: a few major hubs with many connections and many minor nodes with only a few connections. In the World Wide Web, for instance, tens of thousands of sites link to a few popular Web sites, such as Google and Yahoo, while there are often just a few links to an individual's home page. Now, in a surprising finding, researchers have identified self-similarity in four types of complex networks: the World Wide Web, a network of actors who have been in films together, networks of proteins with links between those that can bind to each other, and networks of other cellular molecules with links between molecules involved in the same biochemical reactions. The researchers note that they discovered this wide-ranging characteristic by figuring out how to "zoom out" and look at networks from farther and farther away. They started by using computer analysis to cover each network with non-overlapping boxes, each of which contained a cluster of nodes separated by less than a specified number of links. Next, the investigators essentially blurred their vision, paying attention to how the boxes—rather than the individual nodes—were connected. By repeating this procedure many times, the researchers could observe the structure of a network on many levels. In the Jan. 27 Nature, Hernán Makse of the City College of New York and his coworkers report that all the blurred networks have connectivity patterns similar to those of the original network. Ordinarily, Barabási says, objects with fractal structures fit into a finite-dimensional space, such as a flat plane or a three-dimensional space. By contrast, mathematicians have modeled complex networks such as the World Wide Web as infinite dimensional because there's no realistic way to fit such a network, with hubs having so many links, into a finite-dimensional space. This property led Barabási and many other researchers to assume that complex networks cannot be self-similar. "If you had asked me yesterday, I would have said they are surely not self-similar," Barabási says. Understanding the architecture of complex networks is important, for example, for protecting the World Wide Web from hacker attacks and for designing drugs with few side effects, Barabási says. However, the contribution of the new finding to those advances isn't yet clear, he says. "They've found something new here, but we don't know yet whether it is a Rosetta stone that will let us translate the mysteries of networks into something we understand," says Steven Strogatz, a mathematician at Cornell University.
References: Albert-László Barabási Department of Physics University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN, 46556 Hernán Makse Levich Institute and Physics Department City College of New York New York, NY 10031 Steven Strogatz Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853Sizing Up Complex Webs: Close or far, many networks look the same |
January 27, 2005
Secret of Venus flytrap's snap revealedLONDON - High-speed video and mathematical models have helped to unravel how a Venus flytrap is able to ensnare its victims. Charles Darwin called the plant puzzle "one of the most wonderful in the world." Since his time, scientists have pondered how the flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) is able to accomplish the feat without benefit of the nerves and muscles of swift animals. Now researchers have found tensile strength is behind the plant's speedy clampdown on a hapless insect. Once trigger hairs are tripped by the prey, the plant bends its rubbery leaves into a convex shape, like a tennis ball or soft contact lens that has been flipped inside-out. The leaves instantly turn to a concave, as if the tennis ball is popped back to normal. The edges come together, trapping the insect inside. Applied mathematics Prof. Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan of Harvard University and his team were able to follow the leaf action by painting dozens of fluorescent ultraviolet dots on the leaves. They then filmed the leaves using a high-speed camera sensitive to UV to watch the leaves change shape during a snap. How the plant seems to actively control the change in curvature within its leaves remains a mystery, but the study shows elastic strain plays a role in the process. "In essence, a leaf stretches until reaching a point of instability where it can no longer maintain the strain," Mahadevan said in a release. A mathematical model filled in the details of when the plant snaps, how long it takes once stimulated and the timing of the steps. Engineers hope to someday mimic the flytrap's ability in order to move tiny artificial devices that depend on minute movements of liquids or gases. Moving valves, hydraulic sensors or time-released drug systems are some of the possiblities. The study appears in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. Secret of Venus flytrap's snap revealed |
January 27, 2005
Mathematical Centre to Award Post Graduate, Doctorate DegreesProf. Sam Ale, Director-General of the National Mathematical Centre (NMC), Abuja recently spoke to Education Correspondents, including Juliana Taiwo, on the standard of Mathematics, translation of Mathematics textbooks into local languages, negative perception of mathematics, endowment fund for the centre, the God Almighty Grand Unified Theorem (GAGUT), among others. Sir, what have been the achievements of the National Mathematical Centre (NMC) since inception? Thank you very much for that question. I am glad to let you know that the centre has achieved a lot. The innovative programmes being carried out by the centre have led to it been recognised internationally as a centre of excellence in the field of mathematical sciences, which, hopefully will soon make Nigeria technologically great. The centre's programmes are being executed from the grassroots. For example, we sent out over 20 staff of the centre to 10 states of the country to distribute mathematics books to primary school teachers and pupils. We went to 228 schools in the 10 states. We are starting from the primary school or rather grassroots so as to allay the fears of people in mathematics. We want to promote the programme of demystifying mathematics and through the assistance of the World Bank and the Universal Basic Education (UBE), we were able to get funds to buy the about 27, 360 books valued at over N8 million which was distributed to ensure that mathematics becomes easier and interesting to learn. In the past weeks we have organised two seminars in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). We have some activities planned for this year and by the grace of God, we shall partner with about six universities for our Joint Higher Degree Programme. The National Universities Commission (NUC) is cooperating with us in this area and some other organisations are trying to finance this lofty and important programme that will enable us to offer Post-Graduate, Doctorate and other degrees in the discipline of mathematics that are currently available in our universities. How far have you gone with the N2.3billion endowment fund for the centre? We must first be grateful to the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero who spearheaded the whole idea and the great support he has given us. When you set out to do a launching, you aim very high and I must say we have been able to do quite a lot from the launching. We have got the cooperation of some organisations. For instance, the Nigeria Maritime Authority (NMA) gave us N10 million towards the "Joint Higher Degree Programme". The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory has promised to sink a borehole and do water-regulation, as well as build a clinic and a road in the centre. The Raw Material Research and Development Council (RMRDC) have just given us some N5 million for research in collaboration with them. Others are also fulfilling their pledges. We have started building our Computer Centre, even the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), gave us N25 million to organise Mathematics Incentives scheme, aimed at encouraging the young ones in mathematics and mathematical sciences. This is going to be an annual event. The Education Trust Fund (ETF) has also contributed to our mathematics library. I will like to say that the endowment is not all about money, we have 13 projects and I am glad to say that something is happening to each one of them. For example the books that we have distributed to the 228 primary schools was part of the 13 projects. We were able to get the UBE and the World Bank to give us a little support because part of the project was to complete these textbooks and distribute them to schools. For the 'Mathematics by Television' project, a committee has been set up to strategise how people can learn mathematics through the television. How many personnel has the centre trained so far? I cannot say the particular number, but from 1989 to 2002 we have 87 foundation post -graduate courses, 17 research oriented courses and five national mathematics summit. We have trained over 1000 Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education lecturers for their post-graduate works. We have awarded post structural research grants in various areas of mathematical sciences and we are going to the stage where we will be awarding Ph.Ds in mathematics and other mathematical sciences instead of going abroad. What is your comment on the recent world ranking of 200 institutions without any African university making the list? Yes, the NUC published the list of 200 universities said to be the best in the world. I saw it and felt very bad but I am glad to let you know that in the world, there are 13 Centres of Excellence in mathematics and mathematical sciences and I can tell you that the National Mathematical Centre is one of the centres of excellence in mathematical sciences. At least, if we are not able to make one of the best 200 universities in the world, we are among the best 13 Centres in mathematical sciences in the world. As I am saying, it is only brilliant Professors that will be allowed to teach in the center's programmes and we have listed 57 Professors that will come from other parts of the world to train our students. We must look beyond the ranking. One of the problems we are having is the lecturers in our universities. How many mathematics professors do we have in each university? Maybe the highest you will be five compared to our Centres that have enlisted 57 Professors of mathematics! Why will such a centre not be a centre of excellence? By the grace of God, by the time we are able to get some Noble Prize Winners maybe we shall be on the list. If you take note of the university that came first in the ranking, that is Harvard University, it has produced about 40 Nobel Prize winners and 44 Pulitzer Prize winners while we may say that Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife has produced one in the person of Prof. Wole Soyinka. We are proud of that but by the grace of God in the coming years, we are going to produce more Nobel Prize winners then our ranking may come up. What is your opinion about the level of performance of students in mathematics in the country? It will take some years to be able to measure that because we have operated mostly at the high level in the past. Now we are coming down and for the first time, the NMC through the Mathematics/Science Education Programme went to distribute books to primary schools. This is to see that from the foundation, we encourage the students to like mathematics. If we can continue to do this, the measure will come up. Our aim is to see that there is continued improvement and good performance in mathematics at NECO, WASCE, and JAMB etc. We have not been able to visit any school to measure this and I cannot say whether tperformances have improved or not. What should be the recommended standard of mathematics in the country? I will want to say that all over the world there is this fear of low performance in mathematics. Even if you go to America or Europe some people there are still afraid of mathematics. It is seen as a terrible subject all over the world and mathematics teachers have not been able to break the jinx attached to the subject. I am happy that the government has set up the Centre with the mandate that mathematics must be demystified not only at the top level but also from the grassroots. So our usual top-to-top approach to mathematics teaching is being changed to bottom to top. We have created more departments, we have enlarged our centre and I believe that in a short time the impact will be felt and the perception of Nigerian towards mathematics will change. We are trying to train teachers, we are trying to improve and teach ICT; and I want to tell you that the NMC will improve the standard of mathematics in Nigeria.There is no going back on that. In what way will the NMC demystify the subject? We are poised to change the abstract nature of mathematics. We already have what we call 'mathematical games' with it you can be playing games and learning mathematics. If you come to the centre you will see the gadgets that we have devised to make mathematics interesting and allay the fears that trail it but we need the media to help us defuse the notion that mathematics is difficult which is the bane of the development of mathematical sciences for technological development of the country. For example, when I went for a programme at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru, Jos, a friend of mine, after two-weeks came to tell me that he has been observing me for the period because he believed that all 'mathematicians are mad people', but that after observing that I am sane, he has erased that perception from his mind. The centre is doing all things possible to portray mathematics as an interesting subject, it is not only mathematics, we are also going to go into Physics because it is part of the mathematical sciences and the ICT. As I have said, this year, you will see the centre running many workshops; the Minister has approved the establishment of our Consultancy Unit. Through it, we will be doing a lot of courses in different parts of the country through which we will encourage people to love mathematics How far has the centre gone about the mandate to translate mathematics textbooks into Nigerian languages? So far we have not done anything yet but we will start by translating our teaching modules and workbooks, especially the workbooks into the Nigerian languages because we have produced them from primary one to six. With the policy to teach children in the local languages, we are going to translate for those in primary one to three with the assistance of the World Bank and the Universal Basic Education (UBE). When will work commence on Musa Yar'Adua Computer village? The Musa Yar'Adua Computer Village is still on. So far we have collected about N10 million from those who promised to endow the village. We wanted to create a computer village that will gulp about N400 million, because it will have a computer laboratory, it was planned to have everything that is needed in such a place; it was to be an ICT village! We are however grateful to the Vice President because even the N10 million we got, about N9 million came from him and his associates as was promised during the endowment. We are still expecting more and immediately we get enough money we will start building the village. What is the centre doing to encourage more women to study mathematics? Many years ago I was familiar with Prof. Grace Alele-Williams, and as at that time when a study was carried out on women in mathematics, we found out that women were really few in the field, but today we have about three Professors of mathematics who are women! It was erroneously regarded that mathematics was a masculine subject not suitable for women, that was a wrong notion, even in my school days it was same but I thank God that is changing because even in last mathematics incentive scheme competition, the person who came third in the secondary school category was a lady from Ondo. If a woman can come third in that competition then the notion that mathematics is a masculine subject should be changed. When will the centre start awarding the degrees as approved by the last National Council on Education in Minna? I will like to answer that question as way of pointing out how Nigerian universities can come to be ranked among the 200 best universities in the world. With this new innovation of collaborating with universities to award degrees, I can assure you that we are on our way. What we are doing now is to collaborate with six other universities to start these degree programmes, but of course we want to the National Council on Education (NCE) to be well prepared. We had prepared our curriculum, we have already met with the professors that will teach these courses but as is required for any degree course, the National Universities Commission (NUC) must give approval for it to start running. The moment this is done, we hope to start the programme. We are just trying to follow the due process as you may say. The NUC has assured us that before March this year, all the due process required would have been completed, so by then the Masters and Ph.Ds programmes would have started. We however, hope to have become independent before the next three years because right now we will be running it in conjunction with six universities. For instance we will run the Financial Mathematics with the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA), Mathematics in Biomedicine with the University of Jos (UNIJOS), Mathematical Ecology with Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATB), Mathematical Education and ICT with the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Mathematics in Maritime Technology with Federal University of Technology(FUTO) while Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) will handle Information Theory and Communication Technology. What is your view on the GAGUT Theory by Prof. Oyibo? We are very glad for the GAGUT Theory of Prof. Gabriel Oyibo and the way he went round the country to propagate the Theory and I am glad also that the Nigerian Academy of Science has set up an expert group to investigate the claim. Before Prof. Oyibo came to Nigeria, we wrote him to come to NMC; the centre of excellence in mathematical sciences and defend his theory as well as give talks on some of his other theories. Our desire was to gather the Professors of mathematics and physics of this country together so that they can critically look at the work but the NUC; of course had money and brought him in. I remember that during the university fair event in Abuja, the Minister of Education, Prof. Fabian Osuji directed the NUC that Prof. Oyibo should visit the Centre, where he would have faced the mathematicians of the country. When you have a Theory, once you have a finding, you must be able to defend it before experts. Unfortunately it was not possible but we are still waiting for him to come and defend the theory before the mathematical community and the physicists of the country because we invited him to come even while he was still in the US. This is because it is before your colleagues that you will be able to defend your work more, we hope that even if it is not now, we will continue to press for it and I know he will also want to come forward and defend it. At the just concluded universities fair, the centre won the prize for inter-university center, what will you do with the N1million prize? It is not surprising because the Centre is truly the best in the country. If you know the history of the Centre, then you cannot compare us with any other centre in the country. However, we are yet to collect the money but I can assure you that once the money is released, you will know because we will use it to encourage people to learn mathematics. As you know, there are lot of things we are doing at the centre that will make N1million be like a drop of water in the ocean but that notwithstanding, we will make good use of it when it comes. Mathematical Centre to Award Post Graduate, Doctorate Degrees |
January 27, 2005
Purdue engineering graduate now studies at Stanford at age 17By Julie Glaser At the age of one, Chris McNett asked if he could read a bedtime story to his father. "He took the book from us and he read it without any mistakes," said John McNett. "They call it spontaneous reading." This moment was when John realized his son was different. "That was a clue," he joked. He could not imagine, however, the astounding academic achievements his son would accomplish before the age of 18. In December 2003, Chris became Purdue's youngest engineering graduate at the age of 16, graduating with a 3.97 in computer engineering. Now 17, he is a master's student in computer science at Stanford University. The decision for Chris to come to Purdue at the age of 13 was entirely his own, as was his decision to attend Stanford. After he completed eighth grade at the Sycamore School in Indianapolis, a school for academically gifted students, there was nothing in a high school curriculum that he hadn't already done. Chris, who is from Indianapolis, decided to look at Purdue as his next option because he thought the material would be more challenging. Purdue also offered him a full ride for his top-10 placement in a statewide math competition. Chris said he doesn't know if he missed out by skipping high school. "A lot of people tell me I missed the high school social scene. Given that's what everybody tells me I missed, it makes me think that high school would have been a bit of a waste." John said his son has always wanted to stay challenged and make it through his education as quickly as possible in order to move on to bigger things. That's why, at the age of 12, Chris spent a two-week spring break studying a chemistry textbook so he could test out of first-semester chemistry at Purdue. He did so easily and without ever having had a high school chemistry course. "Some of the things he can do are just breathtaking," said John. Like the time a Purdue professor told him about his freshman engineering project. Chris asked the professor if any other students had tried to do the project by using Fourier analysis, a mathematical strategy created by a French mathematician. Surprised, his professor responded no. The other freshman engineering students had not studied that yet, the professor said. But yes, that would be the best way to complete the project. "I don't know where he learned about Fourier analysis," said John. Just like he doesn't know how McNett learned to speak, read or write code. When other kids his age were learning the alphabet, Chris was fixing a computer that belonged to a friend's parent by writing new code for a critical Microsoft system file. "He's been able to write advanced code since the age of 6," said John. Computers have always been Chris's primary interest. "Most of what I do for fun involves computers or amateur radio or those kinds of things. I'm very fortunate that what I do for fun is also what I do for work," Chris said. He has already taken his computer knowledge from school and into the working world. When he was 13, he met with representatives from Microsoft at a Purdue job fair. They were impressed and offered to fly Chris and a parent to Redmond, Wash., to talk about an internship opportunity. This led Chris to a four-summer-long software development engineering internship with the company during which he worked on various projects, such as writing software for Windows XP. Last summer, when Chris was 17, he drove himself out to Washington. He was driving out and living on his own for the first time in an apartment with roommates he met through Microsoft. He drove for about 30 hours and stopped in Billings, Mont., to get a motel room for the night. He then realized that motels do not rent rooms to people less than 18 years old. "It was sort of an interesting wrinkle," said John. "Here he is in Billings, Mont., he's been driving for 30 hours and his mother had to call around Billings to find a hotel that would take him based on her say so." Forty minutes later, Chris's mother, Susan McNett, found a Holiday Inn where he could stay. Chris is now living on his own at Stanford in an apartment that is part of the school's graduate student housing. Chris hasn't met any other students at Stanford his age. He said his age usually isn't an issue with other students, though. At Purdue, he spent a good amount of time helping senior electrical engineering students with their senior design projects even though he wasn't enrolled in the course. Barrett Robinson, a senior research engineer for computer and electrical engineering at Purdue, said all the students wanted Chris on their team. "He usually challenged them," said Robinson. "Some he had to virtually re-educate. He tried to get them to the point they could do their own design." When Chris graduates from the master's program at Stanford in 2006, he isn't yet sure what he is going to do, but he knows it will involve computers. He is considering getting his PhD if he finds research that interests him. If not, he might look for a job he likes or start his own business. When asked how he can describe the pride he and his wife feel toward their son's academic giftedness, John is quick to say it isn't really pride. "Any parent is as proud of their child for graduation no more so and no less so than we are," he said. "Any parent would be proud of their son for graduating with a 3.97 GPA. We're proud of his accomplishments. It's totally irrelevant that he did it at a particular age. If you take age out of the equation, it's the merit of what he's done that matters. It doesn't matter that he graduated early; what matters is that he makes good contributions to society." His parents have been careful to guard him from too much media exposure to help his teen years be as uncomplicated as possible. They once even turned down an interview with Dan Rather. As much as Chris's diploma from Purdue at 16 and his acceptance to Stanford, John remembers and is proud of each spelling bee, science fair and concert — he plays the marimba — that his son has ever participated in. "You get in trouble if you try to reward doing things at a young age. It is sort of a hollow thing that goes away when you get older, but if you are proud of accomplishments for their own merit, that sticks with you. "Whether you get a perfect SAT score in math at the age of 12 or 18 doesn't matter. What matters is that he had a remarkable score." Purdue engineering graduate now studies at Stanford at age 17 |
January 25, 2005
We're not alone in the universe of free willby Simon Collins A fascination with children's games has led mathematician John Conway to a mathematical proof of the existence of free will. Dr Conway, a British-born professor at America's Princeton University, became famous in the maths world in 1970 when he invented a whole new theory of numbers based on simple games. Six months ago he and a colleague, Simon Kochen, made another breakthrough with a mathematical proof that, if even a single human being can decide freely whether or not to drop a pen on the ground, then every particle in the universe must be able to exercise similar free will. "This has changed my view of the universe," Dr Conway said yesterday in Auckland, where he will give a public lecture on his new theory tomorrow night. Touching a desk, he said: "Inside this table are zillions of independent particles. They are taking independent decisions on whether to 'drop the pen'." Dr Conway, 67, has written books on how to win popular games such as "dots and boxes", where two players take turns to connect the dots and the winner is the one who completes the most full squares. In a public lecture in Napier this month, he challenged a young man in the audience to play 10 games of dots and boxes with him and told him that if he won a single game he would be the winner. "He didn't win any. I am the world's great expert on children's games and how to play them properly. "I take some tiny thing which is very marginal and insist on understanding it with an intensity you won't believe, such as dots and boxes - I wanted to understand it no matter how unimportant it was." He astonished even himself, 35 years ago, when he began to express the outcomes of games in numbers. The British champion of the ancient Chinese game of Go happened to be in the maths department at Cambridge, where Dr Conway was then teaching. Dr Conway watched him playing for hours and observed that the final stages of a game resembled the sum of earlier stages. He gave values of +1 to a position in the game where you could make one move and your opponent could make no moves, -1 to a position where your opponent could make one move but you were trapped with no feasible moves, and so on. He realised that this created a set not just of "real numbers" such as 0.5 or 5000, but what came to be called "surreal numbers" such as infinity plus 1, which were logically possible but paradoxical because they implied you could have numbers bigger than "infinity" and smaller than the smallest possible fraction. "So there are infinitely many infinite numbers." Games also inspired him to create the "Game of Life", an experiment in what happens when you let "cells" multiply or die based on three simple rules: a living cell with two or three neighbouring living cells stays alive; a cell with fewer than two or more than three living neighbours dies of "loneliness" or "overcrowding"; but a dead cell with exactly three neighbours becomes a living cell again. But 35 years later, he now believes that our real lives are not, as in the Game of Life, totally predetermined by a few simple rules. He believes that he is free to decide whether or not to drop his pen on the ground. He and Dr Kochen have taken three basic axioms about the universe, such as the constant speed of light, and concluded mathematically that, if even one person has free will, then all particles must have it too. In essence, they have proved that there is no possible set of "spins" of the three particles that is consistent with all three axioms, so the only way the universe can exist as we observe it is if the spins of the particles are not predetermined. On a large scale, the universe is still predictable. A crowd may move in a certain direction, overall. The movements of big objects such as the planets can still be predicted hundreds of years into the future. "It's only a limited amount of free will these particles have. Nonetheless, that's where my free will comes from. I am made of particles. Somehow, their ability to take these decisions is amplified in my behaviour. So I believe the universe is a wilful place, full of free will." * John Conway on the free-will theorem, 4pm tomorrow, MLT1, Maths & Physics Building, University of Auckland. Free-will theorem * The smallest particles inside an atom have a certain tendency to keep rotating, or "spin". * Scientists have found that the spin of some particles may be determined by the spin of other particles which have been "entangled" with them. * However, information about the spin of a particle cannot be communicated faster than the speed of light. * On this basis, and if a human experimenter can make decisions independently of past events, then the spin of a particle also cannot be predetermined. We're not alone in the universe of free will |
January 25, 2005
A Different Kind of CubismJeff CLayton Just think to yourself for a moment, why you decided to come to this institution in Norwich. We, as University students, will all reflect upon our graduation, that the proverbial journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. It will be an accomplishment of which we will all be forever proud. One man from nearby Gorleston-on-Sea is on his way to realising that dream, but a different tale of inspiration, ambition and dedication began two and a half years ago. Dan Harris, 19, is a second year student reading Meteorology & Oceanography. His interests primarily revolve around sport, including pool and snooker, swimming, dance machines and – perhaps most notably for him – cycling. Notable because a biking accident in April 2002 resulted in a badly broken jaw and it was during his stay in hospital that Dan found a Rubik's Cube nestling in the bedside drawer. "I had a go, trying for ages to solve it though really thought nothing of it." But once Dan was fit and well again, he toyed with a computer search engine to find out more about the Cube. Points of interest included the Rubik's Cube actually having been invented in the 1970s by Erno Rubik, a Hungarian obsessed with 3D geometry, who started visualising his 3D cube in late 1974. Interestingly, it was a mathematician who brought the cube its first significant public attention outside of Hungary. David Singmaster found the mathematics of the cube engrossing. This led to an article and front cover picture of Rubik's cube appearing in Scientific American in 1979. Dan discovered that an American 'Speedcuber' named Chris Hardwick once solved the 3×3×3 puzzle in 17.83 seconds. Initially unbelievable and surely untrue, Dan realised with some more research that it might just be possible. "I found a solution, learnt it, solved a Cube, and it's worked ever since." He goes on to explain that "most people are quite happy to stop at knowing how to solve the Cube at a leisurely pace, but I want to work on my performance and improve my technique, because my aim is to be the best in the world." Dan does devote considerable time and effort to this cause -most recently he attended the 2004 European Rubik's Games Championships in Amsterdam, held at the Nemo Science Centre in early August. The event, to which competitors from nations far and wide flocked, was organised by Ron van Bruchem, a Dutch speedcuber whom Dan has come to know through online networking. Despite Dan's University course involving a lot of mathematics, he maintains that grasping the concept of speedcubing isn't as difficult as it sounds. "You don't have to be good at maths to be able to solve a Cube; you just need a good memory. For instance if you can learn how to play an instrument, then you can probably learn how to solve a Cube too." Nonetheless, Dan proved in Amsterdam that his understanding of logic and patterns comes in useful, as his application of the most efficient methods in solving a Rubik's Cube earned him no fewer than six British national records. These include the first recorded instance of a 3×3×3 Cube being solved by a Brit in less than 20 seconds since its invention almost a quarter of a century ago. Dan completed that puzzle in 18.7 seconds. He came away from the Netherlands ranked number 1 in the United Kingdom, 8th in Europe, and 13th in the world. An undoubtedly impressive feat and one that anyone might happily walk away from knowing that some phenomenally fast times have been set. Until, that is they hear of Shotaro Makisumi – a young Japanese man who at an international tournament held in the spring this year, set the fastest 3×3×3 time in the world, at 12.11seconds, a whole 6.59 seconds faster than Dan's British national record. The UEA student has a new challenge on his hands. Although a competitive character, Dan is keen to continually promote the sport and also extend the Speedcubing community. He is eager to share tips and advice for solving these puzzles with new people, just as those already involved in the game have with him. "It's mostly thanks to the internet that I've progressed to where I am now, though I feel that Speedcubing has room to be an even greater success in the future." Features on local and national media further help Dan's cause, including an appearance on the BBC's Blue Peter on Monday 19th October – the show's 46th birthday. He has created his own website dedicated to his many ventures and conquests in Cubing. On a visit to www.cubestation.co.uk, the viewer is greeted with a plethora of manoeuvres, challenges, profiles and videos. The site itself looks like a Rubik's Cube, and is a veritable pictorial and written diary of one young person's ever increasing accomplishments in the field of mathematics, logic and puzzles. If you are interested in finding out more about the sport, you can get in touch with Dan by e-mail: dan@cubestation.co.uk. He promises not to go into too much detail too quickly! A Different Kind of Cubism |
January 25, 2005
Chess: Not All About Logic?Jason Williams Chess is not necessarily a game reserved for people with IQ scores on par with Einstein. In fact, chess strategy may rely more heavily on spatial processing than on logic and computational skills. Researchers at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis used functional magnetic resonance imaging to scan the brains of novice players during a match and found a flurry of activity in the parietal and occipital lobes, areas not associated with general intelligence. "It's not what we were expecting," says Sheng He, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology. The findings, published in Cognitive Brain Research, have implications beyond castling and checkmate. The activity observed in the parietal lobe suggests that this area may be capable of handling complex spatial functions, such as the interaction of memory and incoming spatial information. "The parietal lobe may have more functions than we previously suspected," says He. And inactivity in another area--the left lateral frontal lobe--raises questions about the role of general intelligence in high-level cognition and problem solving. Chess: Not All About Logic? |
January 23, 2005
Flu shots advocated for kids, not eldersBy Esther Landhuis As anyone who has gotten a sloppy kiss from a 2-year-old knows, children are indiscriminate dispensers of affection. Unfortunately, these same qualities make them excellent spreaders of flu infection. While the government recommends targeting flu shots to seniors and others at high risk of flu complications, some scientists say vaccinating kids could actually do more to ease our nation's seasonal sniffles, headaches and death toll from influenza. Because their immune systems have been exposed to fewer bugs, children are more vulnerable to a host of illnesses, including the flu. "We've known for a long time that kids have a much higher attack rate," said Dr. Steve Black, codirector of the Vaccine Study Group at Kaiser Permanente Northern California. "They're basically sitting ducks waiting for flu virus to show up." Furthermore, infected youngsters pamper parents and friends with hugs and kisses, inadvertently speeding the flu bug's circulation. "Kids slobber all over everybody," Black said. "Not only do they get the virus, but they're very interactive." A growing body of research suggests that immunizing children for the flu would slow the spread of the virus and reduce flu-related illness across all age groups. In an average year, influenza in the United States kills more than 36,000 people and hospitalizes about 200,000. Years ago, it occurred to Reed College mathematician Richard Crandall that disease transmission could be modeled much like a fire that rips through a forest, destroying some trees and leaving others unharmed. The standing trees, "survivor sets" in mathematical-speak, form predictable patterns that Crandall applied to create USA-Flu, a computer program that simulates the spread of influenza across the nation. Crandall's program graphically plays out flu outbreaks during each week of a typical season on a colored population-density map of the United States. Users can adjust various parameters -- for example, the percentage of kids under 5 who get vaccinated -- and see how far the numbers of flu infections and deaths deviate from the norm. Disease model His model predicts that if 50 percent of children 18 and under got flu shots, the number of people dying from the flu nationwide would drop to one-fourth of "typical" figures. Only about 5 percent of U.S. children now receive flu shots. "It's really important to have a place where you can put together a lot of theory and compare it to what happens in the real world," said Amy Sullivan, an Oregon epidemiologist working with Crandall on USA-Flu and other disease models. "That approach is invaluable." Funded by a federal grant and available on the Web to Mac users, the model could help policy makers develop strategies to distribute limited vaccine supplies, Sullivan said. A study to appear in next week's issue of the journal Vaccine describes a different mathematical model for analyzing disease dynamics and costs. Created by Emory University biostatisticians Ira Longini and M. Elizabeth Halloran, the computer simulation uses census data to populate sample communities with households, workplaces, schools and other social mixing groups. "We insert infected people into the subpopulation, and we let it run its course," Longini said of the model, which uses statistics from flu epidemics over the past 30 years. Vaccinating just 20 percent of children under 18 would decrease the total number of flu cases in the United States by 46 percent, he said. Eighty percent coverage would lower the number of infections by 91 percent. Clinical studies dating back to the late 1960s support the idea that immunizing children for the flu has population-wide benefits. So why hasn't national policy shifted accordingly? Logistics and economics complicate this sort of large-scale decision-making, said Dr. Ben Schwartz, senior science adviser to the National Vaccine Program Office at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. When the government widened flu shot recommendations last year to include children 6 to 23 months old, "the impact was substantial in terms of additional office visits and additional time required," he said. "If the recommendations were expanded to include all children, the impact would be many-fold greater." Supply questions And this would assume the government can guarantee adequate vaccine supplies, a concern magnified by this chaotic flu season. It's hard to get people to comply with a guideline that targets vaccine to those who need it least urgently. Though they're more susceptible to the flu, kids are very unlikely to die from it. "If the rationale for vaccinating children is to protect others in society, but the benefit to the children is minimal, the acceptance may be low," Schwartz said. But as evidence rolls in, the idea of immunizing kids is catching on in the medical community. "By vaccinating the children, you not only protect them but you protect their parents and their grandparents," said Kaiser's Black Flu shots advocated for kids, not elders |
January 23, 2005
The path to integrated mathNEWS TRIBUNE Sure, high school algebra conjures up painful memories for many, but that wasn't the impetus for changing how students learn mathematics in Duluth and nationwide. Among the concerns driving math education is how U.S. students compare to their international counterparts. In 1995, the results of an international study showed that U.S. students struggled against their peers elsewhere. It showed fourth-graders ranked 11th out of 25 nations in math. Eighth-graders scored 28th out of 41 nations. In 2003, the performance of U.S. fourth-graders was about the same as the first time around -- 12th out of 25 nations on the international math test. U.S. students were outperformed by Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, China, Belgium, The Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, England and Hungary. Eighth-graders ranked 15th out of 45 countries. In a 2000 report by the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching, commission chairman John Glenn wrote: "The commission is convinced that the future well-being of our nation and people depends not just on how well we educate our children generally, but on how well we educate them in mathematics and science specifically." "From mathematics and the sciences will come the products, services, standard of living and economic and military security that will sustain us at home and around the world," he continued. "From them will come the technological creativity American companies need to compete effectively in the global marketplace." In Duluth, the international study is very much on school officials' minds when they talk about the changes in math curricula. The study showed that "it wasn't enough anymore, in this world that was changing, to just know what we consider basic facts and basic operations," said Jo Ann Luhtala, district math curriculum specialist. "We had to get our kids further than that... We don't have enough mathematics backgrounds in the general public." The path to integrated math |
January 23, 2005
Exercise your mathsBY K.S. USHA DEVI MATHEMATICS can be an intimidating subject. A new method, however, aims to change students' attitude. Called Mathnasium, it claims to significantly increase a child's mathematical skills and understanding of related concepts. Its creator Larry Martinek, who was in Malaysia recently, says that while a gymnasium develops the body, mathnasium develops the mind. A teacher and mathematician, Martinek's interest was sparked more than 30 years ago after he discovered that one of the biggest challenges faced by children at school was learning maths. "Since I was interested in numbers at high school, other students were always asking my help to solve their maths problems,'' he shares, adding that he knew he wanted to become a maths teacher when he was in ninth grade. After teaching students from both inner city and established schools, Martinek realised that a better solution was needed to teaching mathematics. "Most parents whose children are weak in mathematics opt for private tuition. However, says this is an instant remedy and only solves the problem temporarily." When his son was nine-years-old Martinek used to go through the subject's syllabus and discovered that it contained mathematical words that did not make sense to children.When the sentence was rephrased simply, children were able to comprehend the concepts clearly and learnt quickly. "Soon both of us were collaboratingto make mathematics understandable to children. I wanted to take that knowledge and transfer it to other children because I believed this made mathematics more accessible to them. "There are things that children can do at a very early age that even educators are not aware of. When the students can do interesting and challenging things it makes for a lifelong love of mathematics,'' he says, adding that this usually happens between the ages of five and 12. To make Mathnasium more relevant locally, Martinek aligns the local mathematics curriculum with the principles of Mathnasium which features a combination of mental, verbal, visual, tactile and written techniques. Students enrolled in Mathnasium are usually between the ages of seven to 15. However, Martinek says the programme is also being extended to accommodate students of other ages. Upon enrolment, a diagnostic test is done to gauge students' strengths and weaknesses in maths. Then students would engage in a general discussion about maths with their instructors to help the centre devise an individualised programme. Students are expected to attend classes twice a week. A tailor-made learning plan addresses a child's weaknesses and builds on his strengths. Periodic assessments are also undertaken to ensure students are on track. At Mathnasium, students are not given any homework. "Students leave with knowledge from the centre, not homework because everything is done in the classroom,'' Martinek explains. The ultimate goal of Mathnasium is to give all children a sense of numbers that they can use in real life,'' he says. Students who are ready will be exposed to advanced work including topics outside the classroom curriculum while intensive remedial classes will be provided, if required. Each child will be placed in a class with 20 to 30 other students for a session that lasts an hour. The monthly fees are between RM140 and RM160. In Malaysia, a Mathnasium learning centre has been started by Tony Lau in Subang Jaya. A former accountant, Lau set up Mathnasium as he believes the method is effective and encourages children to develop a love for mathematics. "Our mission is to help children excel in mathematics. "The child will do highly prescriptive worksheets under direct supervision and work on computers too, says Lau. Exercise your maths |
January 23, 2005
BRLT takes on acclaimed ProofBy ANNE PRICE "This is a beautiful story. It's about a young woman who's struggling with her own place in the world, with the gift of mathematics and genius from her father, and fear of genius being near to madness," said Keith Dixon, managing director of Baton Rouge Little Theater. Dixon was describing BRLT's production of Proof, the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning drama that opens at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 28, and runs through Feb. 13 at the BRLT main stage, 7155 Florida Blvd. Producing Proof is a triumph for BRLT, Dixon said he believes. "When a play like this that is so critically acclaimed goes on stage, it says a lot about BRLT," he said. "You don't often see plays like this run in community theater. "It's a play about adults for adults, and a play about love -- love between father and daughter, between siblings and romantic love." Walter Brody, who plays the pivotal role of the father, Robert, said the play at first seemed a straightforward family drama, but on the second reading emerged as a dominating drama. "It's so rich. The language is almost Shakespearean, not verse, but in word choice and images. It's a wonderful play. "The character of the father is difficult. He loves his daughter, but the way they communicate is through mathematics, through their intellectual side. Situations of ordinary family life are approached in a very different way," Brody said. "In many ways it's an everyday story told by a group of people who are extraordinary," agreed Dixon. "This is a group of geniuses wrestling with life in a very different context. It's how they handle the world." Katie Leahy, an LSU senior in theater, plays Catherine, the daughter with Sharon Landry as her older sister. Travis Williams portrays a young man, also a gifted mathematician, who wants to see the father's papers, and is also romantically interested in Catherine. "The cast is great," said the director. "As a group they get this play." Leahy, who worked with Dixon in the BRLT production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and with Brody in other productions, met Williams for the first time in this show. "I've never worked with Travis before, and he's cool," she laughed. "My role is a handful, but I like the idea of taking on a role with so many levels. There are so many aspects to her character." Williams, known for his roles in ballet and for filmmaking, said the play is "going fantastic," and is actually ahead the rehearsal schedule. This is a different style of theater for him. "My character is ambitious, but he does actually care for the daughter. He's a bumbling young man who doesn't quite know how to express himself. "Often in ballet I play over-the-top characters. This time I'm not a bad guy or a wizard or a girl. I'm just kind of a normal guy, just too smart to know how to proceed." He said he was introduced to Proof by a close friend whose father is a mathematics professor at LSU. "Her family is always talking about math, and that wasn't my best subject in school," laughed Williams. "She talked me into trying out for this part." "He and Katie are really good together," said Dixon. "Sharon (Landry) played Nurse Ratchett for me in Cuckoo's Nest, and she's great. The sister has come back home for her father's funeral, and Katie has taken care of her father for four years, put everything on hold to care for this man who's a shell of what he was." Nurse Ratchett was the chillingly calm character in One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest who kept all the mentally handicapped people in line with a frozen stare and a fanatic devotion to the rules. "I'm still not completely nice, but this character is a little less extreme than Nurse Ratchett," laughed Landry. "She's a little more normal, and just a little more human. "I'm enjoying the play very much, and the small cast is extremely good. We have a lot of diverse talent in this show. "Proof is a good human drama, with a lot of unusual family dynamics. It's all very subtle. You know still waters run deep." Dixon gestured toward the set, which depicts the back of a house and yard in southside Chicago. Technical director Danny Harrington was putting finishing touches on the handsome, realistic construction. "The set is going to be gorgeous," the director said. "It was designed by a Baton Rouge architect, Kelly Stuart Connolly, and is made to look like a real residence." Brody is particularly delighted with the set. "I'm from Chicago," he said, "and it's just like visiting friends down the street. It's like being there." The David Auburn drama is contemporary, and costumes by Elizabeth Libbers feature 21st century styling. Flashbacks tell the story of previous family relationships, and the slow progress of the mathematician's disease, but they go back only about four years, the director said. Other technical staff members include Robert Wilson, assistant director; Emery Lancaster, stage manager; and Carol Cross and Kathy Dubin, props. The director said the play contains mature themes and strong language, as well as romance, humor and the intense drama of family ties. The production of Proof opens at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 28, and continues at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 29 and Thursday-Saturday through Feb. 12. Matinees will be presented at 2 p.m. Sunday through Feb. 13. BRLT takes on acclaimed Proof |
January 21, 2005
Despite plot twist, `Numb3rs' may soon be upBy Sid Smith, Tribune arts critic Another quick-paced, steely crime procedural, "Numb3rs"(premiering at approximately 9 p.m. Sunday on WBBM-Ch. 2, after the AFC championship game) is also a series with a twist, substituting math for the lab element of the "CSI" juggernaut. FBI agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) has a brother, Charlie (David Krumholtz), a math professor who's itching to play a role in his sibling's more glamorous, crime-fighting life. Charlie gets his chance with the case of a serial killer by suggesting creation of a mathematical equation that might approximate the murderer's home base. Charlie gets the idea watching the spray of an ordinary garden hose: If he can mathematically reverse the various scenes of the crimes, as if reversing the droplets of the water, he can map in reverse where the killer lives. The feds are highly confused by the very proposal and understandably skeptical. Reluctant brother Don, who has doubts of his own, falls into the unenviable position of making his brother's case while uncertain of it himself. As you might guess, Charlie's approach has its ups and downs, its false starts and mistakes, but ultimately he solves the crime. When Don warns his brother that math won't help with all criminal investigations, Charlie gets to deliver the series mantra: "Everything," he says, "is numbers." Surreal illustrations of mathematical images and equations provide quick, visual inserts on this series the way microscopic scientific details fuel so many TV crime procedurals. The human drama, meanwhile, will clearly be the tug-of-war between Don's brawn and Charlie's brain, providing the ongoing object lesson that success in life takes both, as well as examples aplenty of the now-patented stubborn determination shared by the multitude of police investigators populating network TV. That familiarity is a big problem. If this were the first crime procedural, hooray. Ironically, the title unintentionally raises the question of how many of these we'll have to endure before the crime lab cash cow runs dry. In addition, "Numb3rs" (whose regular time slot will be 9 p.m. Fridays) has its own dramatic problems. The pilot doesn't do a very good job of making Charlie's case. Not only confusing, the solution is somewhat contradictory, at least to us math novices out there. And the tricky mix of investigative detail and smidgen of human drama typical in these shows is not very well balanced here. The friction between brothers is almost too slight, and the family scenes (the boys' menschlike father is played by Judd Hirsch) are strangely and awkwardly staged, as well as half-baked. Hirsch, something of a TV icon, is largely wasted. The series also, of course, is an important return for Morrow, such a compelling, quirky center on that ultra-eccentric TV classic "Northern Exposure." Alas, clearly in an effort to break his nerdy, quarrelsome image, here Morrow plays a macho, pithy Cro-Magnon, a brooding bully, a character constructed through an almost methodlike acting style. Meanwhile, the rest of the cast, including Krumholtz, engage in everyday realism. At times, Morrow seems not in the same family with Krumholtz and Hirsch, and at others not even in the same TV series. He's in a world of his own. Things may well improve after the pilot -- the premise has promise, to be sure. The challenge for "Numb3rs" will be to keep viewers returning long enough for it to matter. Despite plot twist, `Numb3rs' may soon be up |
January 21, 2005
Mathematician to deliver public lecture in AuckPress Release: Auckland University Prolific mathematician to deliver public lecture in Auckland The man who created the "Game of Life", one of the most popular games in existence, will deliver a public lecture at The University of Auckland next week. Hosted by the Faculty of Science, Professor John Conway, Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University, will talk about "The Free Will Theorem" at the University at 4pm on Thursday January 27. By studying the rules of existence – simple birth, death and survival rules, Professor Conway created a game, which illustrates at a simplified level the kinds of evolutionary forces at work in the Universe. The "Game of Life" is a two-dimensional cellular automaton. Each cell can take on two states: alive or dead. With this cellular automaton, complex systems can easily be modelled and studied. The name comes from the fact that it first emulated a predator-prey system. Ever since its invention, Professor Conway's "Game of Life" has attracted much interest because of the surprising ways in which the patterns can evolve. Life is an example of emergence and self-organisation. In Conway's Game, every counter with two or three neighbouring counters survives for the next generation. Each counter with four or more neighbours dies from overpopulation and is removed. Every counter with one neighbour or none dies from isolation and each empty cell adjacent to exactly three neighbours - no more, no fewer - is a birth cell. A counter is placed on it at the next move. The "Game of Life" is used by scientists, mathematicians and economists to observe the way that complex patterns emerge from implementing simple rules. The Game has the potential to help understand complex systems. It can, for example, be used to explain how the petals on a rose or the stripes on a zebra can arise from a tissue of living cells growing together. It can even help understand the diversity of life that has evolved on earth. While the "Game of Life" is perhaps his more well-known creation, Professor Conway is credited with many mathematical discoveries. His Doomsday algorithm is used to calculate the day of the week. He has also invented a number of mathematical puzzles and games. Professor Conway is also responsible for profound research contributions to diverse areas of mathematics. For example, he is the discoverer of various finite simple groups, which are fundamental building blocks for mathematical objects. He has written and co-authored several books including: the "Atlas of Finite Groups", "The Sensual (Quadratic) Form", "On Numbers and Games", "Winning Ways for your Mathematical Plays" and "The Book of Numbers". Public lecture details Topic: The Free Will Theorem Date: 4pm, 27 January 2005 Venue: MLT1, Ground Floor, Building 303, The University of Auckland, 38 Princes St About Professor Conway John Horton Conway was born in Liverpool, England. He was educated at the University of Cambridge and taught at Cambridge as a mathematical logician upon graduation. He joined Princeton University in 1986 and is currently John von Neumann Distinguished Professor of Mathematics. Professor Conway is a Fellow of the Royal Society, a Member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and recipient of the Berwick Prize of the London Mathematical Society (1971), Pólya Prize of the London Mathematical Society (1987), Frederic Esser Nemmers Prize (1999), Leroy P. Steele Prize of the American Mathematical Society (2000), and Joseph Priestley Award (2001). Mathematician to deliver public lecture in Auck |
Januart 21, 2005
Stolen or Lost?By Steven F. Freeman, AlterNet. Russ Baker's critique of my work analyzing the exit poll discrepancy ("Election 2004: Stolen or Lost") – and, by implication, of the courageous stand taken by John Conyers and a small number of his Congressional colleagues – is flawed from the first line. No one has said, "Exit poll results were more accurate than actual ballots." The question is whether the official count is an accurate reflection of ballots cast. In a system where campaign managers serve as election supervisors, where voting machines provide no assurance that votes are counted as cast, and where counts and "recounts" are conducted in secret, we must rely, unfortunately, on indirect evidence, such as exit polls, to ascertain the veracity of this official count as a measure of actual ballots cast. Baker's critique begins with a sloppy attempt to shoot the messenger, questioning my credentials. For the record, since obtaining my Ph.D. in organization studies from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1998, I have served for three years as an accredited member of the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania – originally at Wharton and now in the School of Arts and Sciences; and the remainder of that time at equivalently demanding institutions in Latin America, including an international MBA program established by Harvard University. Baker discards my findings because I am "not an expert in polling," but I teach research methods and survey design (a domain that includes polling) at the University of Pennsylvania. A study of election integrity also requires an understanding of election practices and voting systems, and, most importantly, an ability and willingness to investigate a complex subject in which the data and the accompanying official pronouncements are themselves suspect. I hold degrees in both political science and systems science, and have received four national awards for best research paper of the year – on four different topics in three different fields. The position I hold this year as visiting scholar in the University of Pennsylvania's School of Arts and Sciences, provided on the basis of these research accomplishments, affords me freedom to conduct interdisciplinary research of broad significance and obliges me to teach research methodology and help develop applied research capabilities at the University's Center for Organizational Dynamics and the school. Baker dismisses my work based on an unnamed source (why does he not name his source here?) who told him "that it is 'all wrong.'" But the single shortcoming identified – that my analysis is based on "'screen shots' of raw numbers provided by CNN" – betrays a complete ignorance of my analysis, of basic survey research, and of the issues at hand. I did not use "raw numbers," but rather the exit poll projections provided by the National Election Pool (NEP) to its media clients so that they could prepare their coverage and write their articles. I used these data, which were publicly available on election night, to document the obvious fact of an unexplained discrepancy between the exit poll projections and the official count – a discrepancy still unexplained more than two months later. I collected screen shots because the National Election Pool (NEP) "corrected" its numbers later on election night to conform to the official count, leaving no public record of the original projections. Baker dismisses the validity of exit polls, but prominent survey researchers (e.g., Asner 1999, Cantril 1991:142), political scientists (e.g., Edwards & Wayne 1999:84), and journalists (e.g., Jurkowitz 2000) concur that they are highly reliable. As far back as 1987, political columnist David Broder wrote that exit polls "are the most useful analytic tool developed in my working life" (1987:253). Edwards & Wayne (1999:84) caution only that, "... the problem with exit polls lies in their accuracy (rather than inaccuracy). They give the press access to predict the outcome before the elections have been concluded." An exit pollster himself for over 20 years, Saint Louis University professor of political science Ken Warren (2003) has never had an error greater than 2 percent, except one time – in a 1982 St. Louis primary. In that election, massive voter fraud was subsequently uncovered. Temple University professor of mathematics John Allen Paulos wrote in a column in the Philadelphia Inquirer that "huge differences between the final tallies and the exit poll percentages occurred in 10 of the 11 battleground states, all of them in Bush's favor. If the people sampled in the exit polls were a random sample of voters, Freeman's standard statistical techniques show that these large discrepancies are way, way beyond the margins of error." (In regard to Mr. Baker's charge of unimpressive credentials, I note that Paulos, a prominent mathematician and author, was the winner of the 2003 American Association for the Advancement of Science award for the promotion of public understanding of science). Because of their reliability, exit polls are used to verify elections around the world. When exit polls deviated from the official count in Serbia and the former Soviet Republics of Belarus, Georgia and the Ukraine; the world – led by the U.S. – accepted exit poll numbers over the official count, and in three of these nations, the election results were successfully overturned. What might explain the U.S. exit poll/official count discrepancy? Alas, irregularities comparable to those documented in Georgia, and the Ukraine have likewise been documented in the U.S. November election: Vote suppression charges (e.g., voting lines up to 10 hours long). Baker dismisses these because a nominal Democrat serves on the Ohio County Board of Elections. I point out that Teresa La Pore was a "Democrat" when she twice cost Al Gore victory in Florida in 2000 (first by approving the infamous butterfly ballot, and then by failing to submit the Palm County recount before the deadline). So is Brenda Snipes, election supervisor of Florida's heavily Democratic Broward County; Snipes "lost" 58,000 absentee ballots and rejected countless more allegedly because signatures didn't match. (Snipes was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush as a replacement for a democratically-elected Democrat that Bush had removed from office for "incompetence."). Cuyahoga County's impossibly high third party counts. Baker ineptly dismisses these as "mysteries." A highly plausible explanation, widely known to anyone who takes the time to investigate, is that these counts are the result of vote switching at co-located precincts in which ballot ordered varied, a process that may have resulted in substantial net-loss of Democratic votes, not only to third parties but to Republicans as well. Based on his limited ability to find conclusive evidence for a handful of the thousands of allegations, Baker speciously precludes the possibility of fraud. Among the Conyers' commission findings that he ignores: Unmailed and lost absentee ballots Obstacles to registration (although Secretary of State Ken Blackwell's "80 lb. text weight" requirement was eventually struck down, it did result in many rejected registrations, and this was but one of many procedural tactics openly designed to make obstruct voting registrations) Democratic precincts where 25 percent of voters reportedly did not vote for president Several southwestern Ohio counties where Kerry mysteriously ran far behind both Gore 2000 and unfunded Democratic candidates for lower offices Extraordinarily high voter registration and turnout inconsistent with precinct records in Appalachian Ohio Secret counts, notably Warren County's lockout of observers because of a terrorist threat attributed to the FBI, which the FBI has denied Recounts conducted in the absence of observers and in pre-selected precincts, in violation of state law Beyond these and other conventional transgressions that have been widely documented in many states across the country, the United States has introduced a new system of potentially undetectable mass-vote manipulation: electronic voting machines that produce no confirmation that votes are recorded as cast. Stanford University computer scientist David Dill draws the analogy of telling a man behind a curtain whom you want to vote for and trusting that he has recorded it faithfully. Voters using electronic voting machines likewise blindly trust that the programmer has written code that can and will record their votes as cast. It's absurd that we should ever have to trust such a system, but consider, moreover, that the men behind the curtain of our voting machines included executives highly involved in the president's re-election campaign and a senior programmer convicted of 23 counts of felony theft involving software systems. Recently, a programmer has filed an affidavit that he designed and built a "vote rigging" software program at the behest of a Florida congressman. Lack of election transparency, alas, also plagues our exit polls. Baker's unnamed source comments, "To say you want the raw data is ludicrous ... ," but elsewhere in the world, exit poll data are released as soon as voting ends. Here in the U.S., the media consortium's exit poll data were promptly corrected to conform to the count, leaving no public record of the original projections. Two and a half months after the election, despite all the questions surrounding its integrity – and the integrity of NEP – we're still waiting for these data. In his parting shot, Baker writes, "Half-baked conspiracy theories are damaging to the public confidence in democracy." One can understand why incumbent politicians would try to dismiss threatening thought as "conspiracy theory," but a serious journalist would not use pejorative labels so as to avoid engaging in the merits of a discussion. Scrutiny of an election with many unanswered questions does not damage public confidence in the democracy; absence of scrutiny does. Mr. Baker proudly claims to be an "old fashioned investigative reporter," which makes this article all the more disappointing. Investigative reporting is exactly what the country needs; but time and money for it are scarce and precious. Spending them to relate the misbegotten and misleading critiques of an unnamed source who is, "familiar with the thinking of Warren Mitofsky," is a betrayal of readers and publishers, of millions of Americans who invested time and money in what they believed was an honest election, and, most of all, of voters whose ballots may have been discarded or altered. References: Asher Herbert (1999) Polling and the Public: What Every Citizen Should Know, 4th ed. (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press) Broder, David (1987) Behind the Front Page: a Candid Look at How the News is Made (New York: Simon & Schuster) Cantril, Albert H. (1991) The Opinion Connection: Polling, Politics, and the Press (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press) Dill, David L. (2004) "The battle for accountable voting systems," Presentation at Rice University, February 25, 2004 Edwards III, George C., and Stephen J. Wayne (1999) Presidential Leadership: Politics and Policy Making, 5th ed. (New York: St. Martin's Press) Jurkowitz, Mark (2000) "The media: fox-trotting around taboo of exit polls," Boston Globe, March 9, 2000, Page F1 Warren, Ken (2003) In Defense of Public Opinion Polling (Cambridge, Mass: Westview Press) Steve Freeman's research on the 2004 election will be published in a book – co-written with Joel Bleifuss – by Seven Stories Press this spring. Stolen or Lost? |
January 19, 2005
William Thurston wins the AMS Book Prize for influential theoryBy Susan S. Lang William P. Thurston, professor of mathematics at Cornell and a world-renowned mathematician in the area of topology, has won the 2005 American Mathematical Society (AMS) Book Prize. The award, which is given every three years, recognizes "an outstanding research book that makes a seminal contribution to the research literature, reflects the highest standards of research exposition, and promises to have a deep and long-term impact in its area." The prize was awarded Jan. 6 in Atlanta, Ga. The prize honors Thurston's book Three-dimensional Geometry and Topology, edited by Silvio Levy. The book describes Thurston's "geometrization program," a major event in modern mathematics that has the celebrated Poincaré Conjecture as a corollary. "This is exciting and vital mathematics," the prize citation says. "Thurston's book is nearly unique in the intuitive grasp of subtle geometric ideas that it provides. It has been enormously influential, both for graduate students and seasoned researchers alike. Certainly the army of people who are working on the geometrization program regard this book as 'the touchstone' for their work. A book that has played such an important and dynamic role in modern mathematics is eminently deserving of the AMS Book Prize." Thurston, who joined the Cornell faculty in 2003 from the University of California-Davis, was the recipient, in 1982, of the Fields Medal, one of the highest honors a mathematician can receive, for his work on manifolds, a generalization of surfaces. Thurston's Geometrization Conjecture has revolutionized manifold theory, in the process reviving hyperbolic geometry. Before Thurston, scientists thought that hyperbolic manifolds were extremely unusual; he showed that a very large class of hyperbolic manifolds has natural perfect shapes. Being "perfect" means the shape has constant curvature. Thurston's work has linked many apparently disparate fields to manifolds. Thurston received his bachelor's degree in 1967 at New College in Sarasota, Fla., and his doctorate in 1972 at the University of California-Berkeley. He has taught at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, U.C.-Berkeley and U.C.-Davis. William Thurston wins the AMS Book Prize for influential theory |
January 19, 2005
American, Russians to receive Wolf Prizes for 2005JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH A Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientist will receive the $100,000 Wolf Prize in Physics for 2005, Education Minister Limor Livnat, who chairs the Wolf Foundation Council, announced Tuesday. The Mathematics Prize will be shared by two Russians, who reside in Moscow and the US, respectively. The prizes will be awarded in the Knesset in May. Prof. Daniel Kleppner of MIT will receive the physics prize "for ground-breaking work in the atomic physics of hydrogenic systems, including research on the hydrogen maser, Rydberg atoms and Bose-Einstein condensation." A member of the US National Academy of Sciences, Kleppner, 72, "has, over the last 45 years, made fundamental contributions to atomic physics and quantum optics, primarily using hydrogen and hydrogen-like atoms. He built new devices, performed spectroscopic tests of extreme precision and investigated novel quantum phenomena," the Wolf Prize jury stated. Kleppner received his PhD from Harvard University in 1959. He has been associated with MIT since 1966. The prize in mathematics will be shared by Prof. Gregory Margulis of Yale University "for his monumental contributions to algebra, in particular to the theory of lattices in semi-simple Lie groups, and striking applications of this to ergodic theory, representation theory, number theory, combinatorics, and measure theory"; and Prof. Sergei Novikov of the University of Maryland and the L.D. Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics in Moscow "for his fundamental and pioneering contributions to algebraic and differential topology, and to mathematical physics, notably the introduction of algebraic-geometric methods." Born in Russia, the 58-year-old Margulis received his PhD from Moscow State University. Since 1991, he has been at Yale. "His work is characterized by extraordinary depth, technical power, creative synthesis of ideas and methods from different areas of mathematics, and grand architectural unity of its final form. Though his work addresses deep unsolved problems, his solutions are framed in new conceptual and methodological terms, of broad and enduring application. He is one of the mathematical giants of the last half-century," stated the jury. Born in Russia in 1936, Novikov graduated from Moscow State University and received his PhD in physics and mathematics from the Steklov Institute of Mathematics in Moscow. Novikov is awarded the Wolf Prize "for his fundamental and pioneering contributions to topology and to mathematical physics. He made a fundamental and striking contribution to two separate fields in mathematics, and he is one of those rare mathematicians who bring deep and central mathematical ideas to bear on difficult key problems of physics, in ways that are stunning and compelling to both mathematicians and physicists," the jury declared. Since 1971, Novikov has been head of the mathematical division at the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics. The Wolf Prizes will be presented by President Moshe Katsav at a special ceremony at the Knesset on May 22. The Israel-based Wolf Foundation was established by the late German-born inventor, diplomat and philanthropist, Dr. Ricardo Wolf. To date, a total of 224 scientists and artists from 21 countries have been honored. American, Russians to receive Wolf Prizes for 2005 |
January 19, 2005
Where mathematics meets industryTop mathematicians will turn to problem solving for a cross section of industry next week. Massey's Albany campus is hosting the annual Mathematics in Industry Study Group where mathematicians will sit down with industry to find solutions to a number of problems and issues. They'll be looking for answers to a wide range of questions. The range of calculations will include working on spray drift, electricity pricing, environmental forecasting and figuring out the perfect water temperature mix in the domestic washing machine. The week long brainstorm will provide significant benefits to the participating commercial concerns and promote the problem solving power of mathematics. It is the initiative of the Centre for Mathematics in Industry, organised by the Centre's Professor Graeme Wake who is widely known for his success in applied mathematics. The event has been highly successful previously in both New Zealand and Australia, and has helped companies make significant progress in research and development, says Professor Wake. Technology NewZealand, the government research and development investment agency, is supporting MISG 2005. Investment manager for Technology NZ, Hamish Campbell says brining the mathematical academic community together with the commercial world offers significant potential for technological breakthroughs. "There is big scope for partnerships to be formed between individual mathematicians and smart companies, who see the potential for high level mathematical thinking to deliver them some competitive advantage." The study group will work together at Albany campus from January 24 to January 28. Seven issues will be presented for intensive collaboration. MISG 2005 will be attended by mathematicians from national and international universities. For details on the issues they will work on see http://misg2005.massey.ac.nz.. Where mathematics meets industry |
January 19, 2005
Art and science reunited in 'Escher's Wonderland'Julian Satterthwaite Art and science are poles apart. From university age onward, or even before, people are divided into artists and scientists, never the twain to meet. At least that's the way it sometimes seems. But the divide is an artificial one, and has been tested down the years by artistic scientists and scientific artists. One such was Dutch visionary M. C. Escher, whose works are the subject of the current exhibition Escher's Wonderland at the Sogo Museum of Art in Yokohama. Born in 1898, Escher went on to gain fame for his pictures featuring impossible perspectives, startling transformations and representations of infinity. An intense, introverted man, he was a prolific artist driven by the need to record his ideas: "He said that he had so many ideas in his head that he would have to live for 1,000 years to get rid of them," said M. C. Escher Foundation Chairman Willem Veldhuysen, in a telephone interview. Today, Escher is best known for the three works he produced featuring optical illusions, two of which are on display here. In Ascending and Descending, lines of characters seem to simultaneously climb and descend an endless staircase. The eponymous building in Belvedere is constructed with an impossible architecture, its upper story at once parallel with and at right angles to the lower level. Also well known are his intricate planes of interlocked symmetrical shapes, the patterns shrinking toward the center in a way that, mathematically at least, could be repeated ad infinitum. That the pictures use optical illusions, or depict the impossible, makes them an immediate source of fascination for children and adults alike, artistically inclined or not. But the use of illusion does not mean the works can be dismissed as intriguing tricks or artistic sleight of hand. Impressive for their artistry, Escher's works have also been the source of study in fields as diverse as crystallography and cognitive science. If Escher was to gain a heavyweight reputation in the scientific world, there was little sign of it in his youth. At high school, the young man won poor marks for everything except drawing. His parents' attempts to push him into a career in architecture--the field that most readily combines art and science--were doomed to failure. But a chance meeting with Spanish artist Jessurun de Mesquita in 1919 inspired Escher to begin full-time study of the graphic and decorative arts, and set him on the road to a success that must have surprised his teachers. His trademark fascination with the impossible did not emerge immediately, however. Indeed, one of the interesting aspects of the Yokohama exhibition is to see just how traditional an artist the young Escher was. Working most frequently with woodcuts, he produced numerous beautiful landscapes and portraits. Notable examples at the exhibition include a drawing of his wife, Jetta, and lithograph prints of Italian landscapes. The style for which Escher is famous today was not to emerge until later in the interwar years and is traced by most art historians to two specific influences. One was his 1936 visit to the 14th-century Alhambra palace in Spain. Escher was inspired by the Moorish majolica tilings he saw there to begin work on his planes of infinitely repeating motifs. Fully developed over decades of painstaking research, such works developed theories of symmetry first set out by mathematicians. "He could talk to (mathematicians), they understood...when the museum directors did not understand what he was making and what he was aiming to do," Veldhuysen says. This mathematical influence was more than just vague inspiration, Escher's work systematically exploring the visual consequences of applying the theories of symmetry. "(Mathematicians) have opened the gate leading to an extensive domain, but they have not entered this domain by themselves. By their very nature they are more interested in the way in which the gate is opened than in the garden lying behind it," Escher wrote. The other main influence on the artist's work was his 1937 departure from Italy, where he had lived since his marriage to Jetta in 1924. Settling in Brussels, Escher found he was no longer so inspired by the world around him, his work turning instead to depictions of imaginary realms. From this flowed his increasing use of paradoxical perspectives, and ultimately his famous pictures of impossibly convoluted buildings. Here too, Escher's work owes much to theoretical science--in particular the impossible triangles invented by British mathematician Roger Penrose. Pictures like Belvedere and Waterfall depend upon--and then subvert--the brain's ability to construct three-dimensional images from a two-dimensional representation. That has made them a favorite tool of cognitive scientists, who aim to understand how the brain processes perception of the world, and confounded generations of viewers determined to establish up from down. All this is undoubtedly impressive, but is likely to strike some viewers as coldly intellectual. If you believe that art should be the product of instinct, or of sudden bursts of inspiration, then Escher won't be your thing. But for those who accept that method and reason can also be the wellspring of wonderful art, the lesson of Escher's impossible world is clear: Art and science aren't so far apart after all. "Escher's Wonderland" runs until Jan. 30 at the Sogo Museum of Art in Yokohama, a three-minute walk from JR Yokohama Station. Open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. daily. Admission: 900 yen for adults, 700 yen for university and high school students, 500 yen for middle and primary school students. For more information see www.sogo-gogo.com/museum/ or call (045) 465-5515. Art and science reunited in 'Escher's Wonderland' |
January 19, 2005
New Patents Ensure Travelers Will RideOnTimeRideOnTime.com, has successfully filed three patents for mathematical algorithms that accurately calculate the cost of ground transportation and corporate courier services. These provisional patents are on file with the United States Commissioner of Patents for courier, taxi and limousine related algorithms that are used to generate graphic maps and associated fare prices for travelers seeking ground transportation on the Internet. "These patents are valuable because they protect RideOnTime's business interest in technology and can be used to generate income if the patents are leased to other companies," says Nicholas Chavez, CEO and Founder of RideOnTime.com. Users enter their origination and destination addresses at RideOnTime.com. In a matter of seconds these complex algorithms produce a fare including applicable taxes and gratuities. The result is an educated traveler, who knows where they are going, what it will cost, when they will be picked up and how long the trip will take in minutes. The fare can then be reported to employees' corporate headquarters for expense report reconciliation. "Corporate expense fraud is a practice that costs American businesses millions of dollars a year," says Nicholas Chavez, "Corporations regularly repay their employees ground transportation expenses, whether it be courier, livery or taxi services, with no way to verify the cost of the journey or even if it took place." New Patents Ensure Travelers Will RideOnTime |
January 17, 2005
Teen maths whiz gets immersed in liquid animationA University of Wollongong student has returned home to Gerringong after being the only Australian selected for an animation workshop with Pixar Animation Studios in the United States. Aged just 17 and going into his fourth year of an advanced mathematics degree, Paul-James White was one of 28 candidates chosen to partake in a nine-week program. Mr White says the main task given was to find a mathematical algorithm that allowed an improvement in the animation of liquids. He says the program provided an opportunity to put his skills to the test and he would like to consider a career in the industry. "I think I'd quite like further study, it would be something I wouldn't mind doing again," Mr White said. "It's kind of nice, it's neat and interesting and you get to do funky things." Teen maths whiz gets immersed in liquid animation |
January 17, 2005
Earth Simulator will allow British experts to predict climate changeBy Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor The Greeks went to the oracle at Delphi. The Romans looked into the entrails of slaughtered chickens. But our society has a different way of foretelling the future: the climate model. For the past 20 years, scientists around the world have been using huge mathematical models of Earth's climate system, run on computers, to predict the coming course of one of the gravest threats the planet has known: global warming. Now British researchers have built the biggest such model. It is so ambitious it may be able to warn of "surprises" - sudden, potentially disastrous leaps in climate change which have not so far been predicted but which could overwhelm any defensive preparations for global warming. It will almost certainly make the most accurate predictions yet about how the atmosphere will heat up during the coming century, and how the climate may change, with more extreme weather events such as hurricanes and violent rain. But it is so big it cannot be run on any computer in Britain; it can be operated only on a giant supercomputer in Yokohama called the Earth Simulator. Everything about the Earth Simulator, the biggest super-computer in the world when it was built two years ago, and still the fastest machine of its type anywhere, is awesome.It needs a floor area the size of four tennis courts to house its 5,120 processors, and it has a speed of 36 teraflops, or 36 trillion - yes, that is 36,000,000,000,000 - floating-point operations (or calculations) per second. In Tokyo on Wednesday, Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, will launch a five-year UK-Japanese collaboration on climate change science, that will enable the Earth Simulator to run the new climate model (supervised by a team of six UK scientists who will move to Japan) and put Britain at the cutting edge of foretelling the future the modern way. Climate models are behind all the dire scientific predictions about global warming of the past 15 years. Around 30 of them have been built in scientific institutions, and they calculate the rate at which the planet will warm because of the continuing increase in emissions of industrial waste gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), which retain the sun's heat in the atmosphere as a greenhouse would do. They are a development of mathematical models of the weather, which have been the basis of weather forecasting for decades. (Weather is what happens today; climate is what happens over your lifetime.) Such models divide the world into a grid, and plot observations of weather data such as wind speed, temperature, and humidity in each grid box. They calculate - using Newton's laws of physics - how all these forces will continuously act on each other into the future. They can foretell the weather with more or less consistent accuracy for about six days ahead. Climate models, using just the same technique, aim to foretell the evolution of climatic patterns over periods of up to a century. They cannot possibly have the same accuracy as weather models over such extended periods, but there is remarkable similarity in their basic conclusions, notably, that increasing in CO2 in the atmosphere will cause the world to heat up dangerously. Britain's principal climate model is run by the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, part of the Meteorological Office in Exeter. The present version, called HADCM3 and regarded as one of the most advanced in the world, is the one being developed into the world leader. Two groups of scientists - one at the Hadley Centre, the other at the Centre for Global Atmospheric Modelling (CGAM) in Reading, part of the Natural Environment Research Council - have devised ways of making it both more comprehensive and more accurate. The first version of the model, to be called HADGEM and developed by the Hadley team, accurately represents for the first time the effects of plants, marine life and other biological processes on the evolution of climate. The second version, called HiGEM and developed by the team from CGAM (sorry about the initials) vastly increases the number of grid boxes in the model, making the focus of its predictions much sharper. Next year the two will be combined in the ultimate model, tentatively christened NUGEM, which only the Earth Simulator can run. New dangers are what it is most likely to warn against. The Hadley Centre's Dr Vicky Pope says: "We're trying to see if there are any nasty or unpleasant surprises out there, caused by the way all the different aspects of the climate system interact with each other, surprises that we haven't picked up yet." The CGAM director, Professor Julia Slingo, said: "We hope to be able to assess with more confidence the likely changes in hazardous weather events, enabling governments and policy makers to plan and set in place contingency measures." NUGEM cannot provide perfect predictions of events many years hence. But it may give warnings that will be crucial in the world's response to global warming, the biggest challenge the planet has faced. And it is a lot better than chicken entrails. Or even the Delphic oracle. Earth Simulator will allow British experts to predict climate change |
January 17, 2005
Science: The Infinite Book by John BarrowREVIEWED BY JOHN CORNWELL THE INFINITE BOOK: A Short Guide to the Boundless, Timeless and Endless by John Barrow Cape Ł17.99 pp328 "What kind of physical world do we live in?" asks John Barrow. "Will we always be able to find ever smaller, more elementary particles inside any that we have, like a never-ending sequence of Russian dolls? Or is there a limit, a smallest thing, a smallest size, or a shortest time, where division comes to a full stop?" And does any of it matter? Barrow, who definitely believes it does, is a mathematical and literary phenomenon. Not only is he the author of 15 highly readable books on cosmology and mathematical physics but he has also been feted in Italy for his weird and hugely popular play Infinities. The production ran in Milan in 2002 to packed audiences, then transferred to Valencia before returning to Milan last year. Among other things, the production (a coat-trailing exercise for this book) brought dramatically to life, with the aid of ingenious sets on five stages, a theory known as "the infinite replication paradox". This argues that in a universe of infinite size (a proposition some academics find perfectly feasible) anything that has a probability of occurring must occur infinitely often. "Thus," as Barrow explains, "at any instant of time — for example the present moment — there must be an infinite number of identical copies of each of us doing precisely what each of us is now doing." He adds, as if to demonstrate that nothing is ever as simple as all that: "There are also infinite numbers of identical copies of each one of us doing something other than what we are doing at this moment." Those who saw Martin Rees expounding on television before Christmas the theory of the multiverse (the idea of an infinite series of universes) may well feel that the concept of infinity is having its moment and that Barrow's book is bang on time. Infinity, Barrow is at pains to tell us, is by no means a new topic: it has been debated by philosophers for millennia, and the citations come tumbling out, from Aristotle to Aquinas, from Friedrich Nietzsche to Bernard Williams. Mathematicians have also wrestled with the notion of infinity down the centuries, turning their normally serene discipline into a kind of gangland warfare over the issue. In the first half of the 20th century, mathematicians were routinely dismissed from their posts and ostracised for their attempts to ban infinities from their calculations. Infinity is very much a live issue today among physicists, although the appearance of infinities in their mathematics, Barrow tells us, "can be a warning that you have entered a blind alley on the road to the truth". Within the realms of cosmology, scientists are contentiously absorbed by the question: is the universe finite or infinite — in size and in time? Moreover, researchers on the borderlands of philosophy, mathematics and artificial intelligence agonise over whether it is possible to create a computer that can perform an infinite number of tasks in a finite period of time — an apparently impossible paradox. Nor does Barrow neglect questions that intrigue non-specialists who like to ponder the far-fetched implications of future science. For example, if it were possible to overcome human mortality, would we really welcome the idea of living forever? In his Milan play, Barrow presented dramatically a proposition he argues more closely in his book. A black stage set depicted immortal actors lazily passing their time reading or sitting perpetually under hairdriers, some of them engaged in stunningly boring monologues. Since infinity involves infinite replication and the collapse of diversity, to live forever would mean a hell of monotony. Then there are the implications of time travel, through worm holes, for example, and other such extravagances dreamt up by the cosmologists. Again there are intransigent philosophical dilemmas, principally the one known as the grandma paradox that points out the impossibility of going back in time if it means you can shoot your grandmother. No book on infinity would be complete without a discussion of the infinite as God, and Barrow rehearses, accessibly and critically, the so-called "ontological" proofs for God's existence — from Anselm's famous conundrum in the 11th century (God being above that of which no greater can be conceived) to Kurt Gödel's proof in the 20th (published for the first time, it appears, in Barrow's book). The "proofs" don't work for us today, Barrow insists, as they depend on the notion of existence being a property, rather than "just a precondition for something". He has good reasons for saying this, but there are some smart theologians who would argue that he has failed to make a distinction between contingent existence (the created) and necessary existence (God). But that debate is for another occasion and another venue. Science: The Infinite Book by John Barrow |
January 15, 2005
Huygens' pictures are worth long waitBy SHELBY G. SPIRES Chemistry, physics and astronomy are important, but patience may be the best lesson for some space scientists. Team members who work with the international $4.5 billion Cassini-Huygens probe understand what it means to wait. For the few hours of data and pictures the Huygens probe transmitted Friday from Saturn's moon Titan, European and American scientists have waited 15 years. "It takes a long time for these missions to come to completion. The study of the outer planets is not an overnight" event, said Dr. Mian Abbas, a NASA scientist who works with the National Space Science and Technology Center in Huntsville. The lengthy wait can be frustrating, Abbas said, but to space scientists it is just part of their job. "Of course, this is not all we do. We don't just wait for 15 years. There is other work." Huygens caught a ride on the Cassini orbiter, which is to study Saturn for the next four years, "maybe longer if the mission is extended," Abbas said. Beyond putting a probe on Saturn's moon, Europe's Huygens lander will allow NASA's Cassini team to check their orbiter's instruments. "It will give us precise readings of the moon right at that point on" Titan's surface, Abbas said at his Huntsville office Friday. "We can then use that information to make sure our readings on Cassini are precise. That's a valuable resource to have a (probe) on Titan's surface to compare data with." Cassini will make 40 orbits of Saturn over four years, taking readings, measurements and photographs of the planet and its atmosphere, rings and moons. "It's all designed to discover the origin of Saturn and why it formed the way it did," Abbas said. "By using a combination of teams, instruments and analysis work, we hope to come closer to understanding why it formed." Abbas spends half his time working on Cassini and the other half studying cosmic dust and how stars, planets and moons are formed. "The work on Saturn study goes with the cosmic dust work," Abbas said. "Planets and stars begin life as dust, come together, cool off, then form and then end their life as dust ?there's a circle." Cassini-Huygens is a joint mission of the European Space Agency, the Italian Space Agency and NASA. The American space agency's orbiter carried the European probe to the ringed planet of Saturn. The Huygens lander separated from the Cassini orbiter on Dec. 24 and has spent the past three weeks completing its voyage to Titan. It landed on Saturn's moon Friday and has been transmitting pictures and science data through the Cassini orbiter. The Huygens probe is named for Christiaan Huygens, the 17th-century Dutch mathematician and astronomer who discovered the nature of Saturn's rings. NASA's orbiter is named for Italian-French astronomer Giovanni Cassini, a 17th-century astronomer who discovered four of Saturn's moons. The Cassini-Huygens project will map cloud, weather and radiation patterns on Saturn, study its rings and take measurements of its moons. Planetary scientists hope that by studying atmosphere and radiation emissions they will unlock secrets of Titan's and Saturn's formation through the Cassini-Huygens probe, Abbas said. Abbas' work on the project goes back to 1988, when he was part of a feasibility study team that helped design Cassini's mission. The Cassini probe was approved in 1990 and launched in October 1997. It slid into Saturn's orbit in June. A bit of Huntsville made it on that 1997 launch. The highly polished optics and mirrors on the Cassini's Composite Infrared Sensor, or CIRS, were designed and built here. The instrument - one of 12 aboard Cassini - is designed to take infrared readings of Saturn, its rings and moons. Abbas works with the CIRS team, but had few dealings with the Huygens team. "They attended the same conferences, and we had talks, but I didn't have any direct work on" Huygens, Abbas said. "I'm happy for their accomplishment, however." The last NASA probe to come close to Saturn was Voyager 2, which zipped by the planet in August 1981, snapping photographs and sending them back to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. But the Cassini probe is a major leap ahead of the Voyager mission, Abbas said. "It's much more advanced than the Voyager, and, most importantly, it will stay in orbit. The Voyager missions flew by the planet giving us a fantastic snapshot to follow up on" with Cassini, he said. Huygens' pictures are worth long wait |
January 15, 2005
NYU researchers simulate molecular biological clockResearchers at New York University have developed a model of the intra-cellular mammalian biological clock that reveals how rapid interaction of molecules with DNA is necessary for producing reliable 24-hour rhythms. They also found that without the inherent randomness of molecular interactions within a cell, biological rhythms may dampen over time. These findings appeared in the most recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Daniel Forger, an NYU biologist and mathematician, and Charles Peskin, a professor at NYU's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Center for Neural Science, developed a mathematical model of the biological clock that replicates the hundreds of clock-related molecular reactions that occur within each mammalian cell. Biological circadian clocks time daily events with remarkable accuracy--often within a minute each day. However, understanding how circadian clocks function has proven challenging to researchers. This is partly because the 24-hour rhythm is an emergent property of a complex network of many molecular interactions within a cell. Another complication is that molecular interactions are inherently random, which raises the question how a clock with such imprecise components can keep time so precisely. One way to combat molecular noise is to have large numbers of molecular interactions, but this is limited by the small numbers of molecules of some molecular species within the cell (for instance, there are only two copies of DNA). To simulate the random nature of the biochemical interactions of the mammalian intra-cellular circadian clock, Forger and Peskin used the existing Gillespie method. The method tracks the changes in the integer numbers of each type of molecule of the system as these biochemical reactions occur. Modeling each type of molecule separately helped avoid mathematical assumptions in their model that may not be valid in real-life cells. Their model was validated with a large library of data on the concentrations of the molecular species within the mouse molecular clock at different times of the day and data on the behavior of mice with circadian clock mutations. The results of their computer simulations showed that reliable 24-hour timekeeping can only be achieved if the regulatory molecules that influence gene expression bind and unbind to DNA quickly--typically, within a minute. In this way, the large number of bindings and unbindings helps to compensate for the small numbers of molecules involved. The researchers also found that having more molecules in the cell does not necessarily lead to more accurate timekeeping. Removing all the CRY1 molecules (CRY1 mutant) or removing all the CRY2 molecules (CRY2 mutant), while keeping all other molecular species unchanged, leads to more accurate timekeeping. While simulating the PER2 mutation, they found that circadian oscillations could only be sustained in the presence of molecular noise. This may help explain some of the conflicting experimental reports about the PER2 mutant. "Without the rapidity of molecular interactions within these cells, the precision of the biological clock would be lost," explained Forger. "It is remarkable that a process occurring on the time scale of minutes can have such a profound effect on one that occurs over 24 hours." NYU researchers simulate molecular biological clock |
January 15, 2005
Drawing The Line [The New Scientist]By Ian Campbell Reading an article in the New Scientist recently made me take a few moments to think about humanity's exponential growth in the various technology fields during the past 50 years. I remember chatting to my grandmother some 20 years ago (quite a feat that turned out to be: she was half deaf but very alert) and it shocked me to find out that she had never heard of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon. I do recall that the next time I saw her looking up at the moon, there was a different expression on her face somehow, as if she suddenly knew something no-one else did! Today as I scan the teckie briefs I receive daily, my head spins. We are on the verge of commercial nano engineering. Just imagine having miniture repair factories being injected into your bloodstream to unblock a vein or build a new heart valve or gobble up those big blobs of excess fat. I still remember when scientists, government officials and religious leaders stated unequivically that they would never allow cloning of human beings. Well, that event passed us by almost unnoticed a few years back! Ten years ago, computer engineering advanced another level every 12 months. Today, we are scrambling up to new levels of speed, storage capacity and memory chips every few months. I bought a personal computer in February 2002. By January 2003, it was obsolete! Soon the first memory hybrid of organic and inorganic materials will be released. We seem to have found a way to grow human brain cells outside the brain and use them to build a revelutionary new computer brain. Last month the first commercial ion engine for deep space exploration passed its specification trials. In the near future huge loads will be hauled up by reusable space vehicles to geo- stationary space stations, where the they will be loaded into massive deep space vehicles powered by ion motors. These have no real load-lift ability, but they can propel any spacecraft to speeds up to 20 times those we see now. That means speeds approaching 300 000 kph! Let's not mention digital storage media, self- healing minefields, military exoskeletons, holographic projection, the Moller skycar, axial- gravity spheres etc. The list is almost endless! Yet one question I would like to ask is this: whenever a new technology was postulated, critics from all sides reminded us the public that we had nothing to fear as they would never allow these technologies to become reality. Looking at genetically modified foods, human cloning, artificial intelligence etc, I can only wonder. Reminds me of the story I heard many years ago about a small man facing off against a bully. He drew a line in the sand and challenged the bully to cross it, which he duly did. The man hesitated a bit and then stepped back and drew another line in the sand! ------------ About the author: Ian Campbell is the author of the novel "The Fifth Cylinder." Ian tells us: "I love writing about issues that we as people wrestle with, both the big and small issues that can affect our lives. Looming just over the horizon are technologies that will utterly transform our communities and our lives. I love writing about how we as a society will live, love and war in that timeframe." Ian lives in Kuala Lumpur with his wife Kaz and is busy working on his second novel. Drawing The Line [The New Scientist] |
January 15, 2005
Pamela Clute named Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Outreach and Educational PartnershipsPamela Clute, a mathematics and science motivator who has received widespread recognition for her work with K-12 students and their teachers, has been named Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Outreach and Educational Partnerships at the University of California, Riverside. In this new position, Clute will coordinate and support campus-wide outreach activities, manage specific outreach initiatives, serve as a point of contact for both external organizations and the Office of the President, and provide leadership to UCR's efforts to secure external funds to support campus outreach and related initiatives. Her efforts will span K-12 schools, community college transfers and graduate outreach initiatives. The position reports to Vice Provost for Academic Personnel Bill Jury. Clute will also continue in her current role as the executive director for the ALPHA Center, (Academy of Learning through Partnerships for Higher Achievement). The ALPHA Center works with local school districts on programs designed to improve mathematics and science skills and to get more students into college. "Dr. Clute has a long commitment to providing outreach efforts designed to help young students excel in mathematics and the sciences," said Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Ellen Wartella, "We are fortunate to have someone of her remarkable ability and vision to serve in this important new role." Clute said she is excited about being able to expand her outreach work. "I feel like I have been working toward this opportunity since I arrived on this campus as a student in 1967," said Clute. "We have an obligation to contribute to efforts focused on improving the academic infrastructure and capacity o the state's lowest performing schools and eliminating the achievement gaps which separate economically and educationally disadvantaged students from their peers." Clute conducts workshops and in-service programs at local K-12 public schools, serves on many professional and community boards and is a frequent keynote speaker at state and national conferences on mathematics, science and education. She is the principal investigator for the California Mathematics and Science Teaching Initiative and the Mathematics Academy for Teaching Excellence (MATE). She also serves as co- principal investigator for the NSF project Mathematical ACTS. The National Science Foundation recently recognized her with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. Additionally, she has been honored with numerous awards including being named a Leader in Distinction in 2002 by the Business Press, and receiving the 2002 UCR Alumni Community Service Award, the 2001 Black Voice Foundation Woman of Achievement award, the 2001 Women's Resource Center's Women Who Make a Difference Award and the Athena Award for women's leadership. Clute received her bachelor's degree in Mathematics in 1972, her master's degree in Education in 1978; and her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction in 1982; all from the UC Riverside. bla Pamela Clute named Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Outreach and Educational Partnerships |
January 13, 2005
Faherty: Stories can bring math to lifeBy Rich Faherty It's quite common for parents to talk about all the wonderful opportunities they have to read to their children. Some have a nightly ritual of reading to their child each night at bedtime; some parents and children relish the time spent reading while curled up on the sofa with hot chocolate. Some prefer reading on the hammock with their child on a warm spring afternoon. Opportunities for reading with our children seem to be all around us. While parents can usually find time to read a story to their children, thereby instilling a love for literature, they are often at a loss as to how to instill a love and appreciation for mathematics. Reading to children is a treasured activity in many homes. What better way to integrate mathematics into the lives of children than to read them stories that bring mathematical ideas to life. When students have difficulty with math, parents often have difficulty tutoring them. Like reading, mathematics is a subject that is a key component for success. More than that, mathematics is a subject that should be more enjoyable than it sometimes is. Your home is full of possibilities to explore math with your child and build his or her self-confidence and understanding of mathematical ideas. This is a chance for you and your child to "talk math" - communicate about math while discovering mathematical relationships. When cooking, talk about what you are measuring - cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, etc. Cut out grocery store coupons and tell how much money is saved with coins. For example, if you save 20 cents on detergent, say two dimes. Ask your child what could be purchased using the savings from the coupon. Help your child look for numbers 1 to 100 in the newspaper. Cut the numbers out and glue them in numerical order onto a large piece of paper. Have your child say the numbers to you and practice counting up to that number. While the paper is out, have your child search for advertisements in the newspaper for an item they have been wanting, such as a piece of clothing or tennis shoes, in order to find the lowest price for the item. After your child finds the best buy, have him or her compare the best buy to the rest of the advertised prices. The grocery store is one of the best examples of a place where math is real. It's a great place for practicing measurement, estimation, and quantity. There are several resources to provide parents with games and activities that engage children in mathematical thinking and problem solving and, at the same time, build their self-confidence and appreciation for mathematics. The U.S. Department of Education publishes the book "Helping Your Child Learn Math." The book contains 26 activities for children aged 5 to 13. The activities illustrate the mathematics that children can experience at home, at the grocery store, and while traveling. Some meaningful activities on a long car trip can alleviate the boredom that so often results in children asking repeatedly, "Are we there yet?" "You Can Help Your Young Child Learn Mathematics," helps parents communicate the importance of mathematics to their children and become more involved in their children's mathematical education. It presents activities through which families can make mathematics a part of their daily lives as they travel, cook, garden, and play games. These two resources, plus many others are available for parents on the U.S Department of Education Web site www.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/math/index. Besides the mathematics learning that takes place at the parent's initiative, there are many opportunities for parents and teachers to work cooperatively in enriching children's experience with mathematics. These situations are likely to be the most profitable for two reasons. First, children generally want to please both their parents and their teachers. If they see that mathematics is important to both their parents and their teacher, they will consider it important for themselves too. Second, extending mathematical concepts from the classroom to home will establish the idea that mathematics is not just a school subject, but an everyday subject that makes life more interesting and understandable. Faherty: Stories can bring math to life |
January 13, 2005
What's your market value: Zero or infinite?Yukichi Fukuzawa (1835-1901), a prominent educator and writer of the Meiji Era (1868-1912), saw the Earth as nothing more than a tiny pinhead in the universe. He likened humans to dust and creatures like mosquitoes' larvae, maggots, ants and grasshoppers. ``Tread on a worm and it will turn,'' goes an old adage. The worm metaphor is often applied to humans. Likewise, the evanescence of human existence is often compared with dew. A line from a Noh play lists fleeting things: ``How truly ephemeral is human life, as are a flash of lightning, morning dew and a spark from a firestone ... .'' A recent online poll, conducted by Seiko Corp., asked 20-year-olds (and those who are reaching adulthood this year): ``What is your market value?'' The largest portion of these young people replied ``zero,'' although the reasons given varied within the group. Interestingly, quite a few answered ``infinite.'' Let me continue with metaphors. An old, popular song for boatmen goes, ``I am a wilted reed on a riverbank ... .'' The song's melancholic message of detached resignation appeals to the Japanese sentiment. But even with the same metaphor of a cluster of reeds, French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) gives it a twist: ``Man is but a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed.'' In ``Fukuo Hyakuwa,'' a collection of essays on miscellaneous subjects, Fukuzawa lists humans as unrecognizable ``maggots'' for their ignorance and powerlessness. This, however, was his way of advising against taking anything overly seriously. Such understanding prevents one from torturing oneself and going to extremes, Fukuzawa claims, and he urges his readers to live sincerely with the full awareness that life is a joke. And this, he concludes, is what makes each person human. Fukuzawa's thinking is close to Pascal's, in my opinion. To use the Seiko poll results, one might define a human as ``equal to zero and infinite at the same time.'' What's your market value: Zero or infinite? |
January 11, 2005
Robot makers say World Cup will be theirs by 2050JULIAN RYALL Key points • Japanese robotics experts claim robots will beat humans at football by 2050 • Keio University of Tokyo recent winners of robot world cup in Lisbon • New robot, VisiON, stands 38cm tall and operates independently of humans Key quote "By 2050, our aim is to beat the winners of football's World Cup and we are very confident that we will be able to do that" - Shu Ishiguro, head of Robot Laboratory in Osaka Story in full THE footballers of tomorrow will have the midfield guile of Zinedine Zidane, the finishing ability of Andriy Shevchenko and the staying power of Roy Keane. A Japanese consortium of robotics experts has thrown down the gauntlet to future players of the beautiful game by claiming their engineered humans will play mankind off the park within 45 years. "By 2050, our aim is to beat the winners of football's World Cup and we are very confident that we will be able to do that," said Shu Ishiguro, who heads Robot Laboratory in Osaka. "When we have accomplished that, we will have a society in which humans and artificial intelligence are completely in harmony." Mr Ishiguro and his team are placing their faith in the offspring of VisiON. Standing a mere 38cm tall and weighing just 2.4kg, VisiON would not be expected to trouble the defences of most professional football teams, but it has taken some vast strides in recent years. Equipped with thighs that Steven Gerrard would be proud of, VisiON operates completely independently of human input, making its own decisions based on information that it perceives, and is able to recognise the football, approach it and deliver a hefty kick. It is also able to identify an opponent and shield the ball in much the same way as a human player does. It might not be the fastest thing on two legs, but it does already have one very major advantage over human players. "On top of VisiON's head is a 360-degree vision sensor, meaning that it does not have to turn its head to see in any direction," said Mr Ishiguro. Having eyes in the back of its head will deprive the crowds of the future of that standard warning "Man on!" Widely regarded as the world's leaders in robotics, Japanese experts have been working on bipedal machines capable of a broad range of tasks for several years. The decision to push ahead with a soccer-playing version was in part the result of robot world cup tournaments, the most recent of which was held in Lisbon, with the team from Tokyo's Keio University winning the middle-size robot league and Osaka-based Systec Akazawa winning the humanoid league. A remarkable 346 teams from 37 countries took part in the championships, and the next tournament, RoboCup 2005, is scheduled for July in Osaka. While much of their energy is focused on football, robotics experts in Osaka are also busy developing more functional aides. Security robots come in the shape of dinosaurs and are programmed to stomp around offices; ankle-high vacuum cleaning robots are on the market already and Hospi is designed to make life easier for hospital staff by providing medical charts and taking X-rays. At the 2005 World Expo, which opens in Nagoya in March, humanoid robots that can recognise faces and remember names will be on hand to give directions to visitors and help out in child-care facilities. One area that researchers are not keen on tackling, however, is robot armies. "Down through human history, the weapon that has caused the most deaths has been the knife, so all technology has a risk, but what we do with this technology is up to human beings," Mr Ishiguro said. "I don't think the idea of robot armies is a good one, but that's not my decision." He also dodges the question of a robot insurrection, a possibility that will not have escaped anyone in the industry after the release of the Will Smith film I, Robot. "All these advanced technologies have an element of risk and we can warn of the dangerous aspects of robots in human society," Mr Ishiguro shrugs, "but cars, for example, successfully collaborate with humans and have been safely integrated into society. "Everyone who saw the RoboCup could see the advantages of technology and, as long as its development is kept open to the public, there is going to be no danger. But developments in the future we must discuss at that time, as a society." Mr Ishiguro is confident a player of steel and wire will one day lift the most prestigious trophy in football. "The important thing to remember is what you see here is just the beginning," says Mr Ishiguro. VisiON has already perfected the victory pose. Reminiscent of Eric Cantona in his pomp, it leans slightly to one side, hands on hips and with the ball - and the world - at its feet. Robot makers say World Cup will be theirs by 2050 |
January 11, 2005
DNA maps show similarities of humans to other creaturesBy Bruce Lieberman Pavel Pevzner likes to talk about human evolution in terms of the view you can get from a tall building. Consider Los Angeles. You're walking downtown. People are crowding the streets and the buildings form canyon walls rising on either side of you. But you can't see the broad sweep of architecture that makes up the whole of the city. For that, you need a higher view. That's what sequencing the DNA of a chicken, announced in the Dec. 9 issue of Nature, has given scientists worldwide. The huge project, involving more than 100 researchers, was not to benefit the chicken. It provided scientists a more lofty perspective of human evolution -- one dating back 310 million years. That's when humans and chickens last shared a common ancestor. They may look different today, but a comparison of their genomes has revealed how much the two have in common, and how connected humans are to other creatures on Earth. "Sometimes it's better to take ... the point of view of an eagle, to get far away and look from far away," said Pevzner, a computer scientist who worked on the project with fellow researcher Glenn Tesler at the University of California, San Diego. "The chicken is exactly this. It allows us to look at the human genome, and our diseases, from a perspective that mice and rats don't give us," Pevzner said. Sequencing the chicken's DNA follows genome mapping of people, mice, rats and other creatures in recent years. Comparing those genomes -- a field called comparative genomics -- is an exercise in mathematics. The field has opened new windows into evolutionary biology. It allows scientists to examine how genes in an organism's DNA have been rearranged over eons to give the creature its modern look and function. Pevzner and Tesler have combined their talents to explore that history. Pevzner, 48, is a Moscow-trained mathematician. In the mid-1990s, he switched to computational biology when he saw the potential of applying math to the vast amount of data that make up human DNA. Tesler, 36, was a childhood math prodigy -- he took calculus in eighth grade -- who moved on to the California and Massachusetts institutes of technology before coming to UCSD. Pevzner has made fundamental contributions to the study of evolutionary biology. One is the finding that by charting the rearrangements of genes in an organism's genome, scientists can map how that organism evolved. Pevzner calls these rearrangements "evolutionary earthquakes," profound changes that yield a newly evolved creature. Researchers identify these rearrangements by comparing the genomes of animals. However, examining the genomes of humans with those of rodents can tell scientists only so much. The two mammals shared a common ancestor 80 million years ago -- a perspective that, in Pevzner's analogy, gives scientists a street-level view of human evolution. The chicken offers them a bird's eye view. In studying the chicken, Pevzner and Tesler were surprised that only about 200 rearrangements of genes separate the birds from humans -- about the same number that separates mice from humans. "You would expect humans and mice to be very much closer" because in evolutionary history, they diverged more recently than humans and chickens, Pevzner said. One explanation he gives is that rodents experienced "a tremendous acceleration in evolution" after they and humans last shared a common ancestor. Despite all the contrasts between creatures -- in shape, in size, in intelligence -- comparing their genomes tells quite a different story. "It's amazing to me how you can find so much similarity," Tesler said. This sentiment brings life and significance to the flood of data that inundates genome science. Researchers in the field, so consumed by the mathematical challenges of their work, see genomes as texts. They never work with the creature they're studying. That separation between the wet, fuzzy and squishy realm of traditional biology and the dry, calculated realm of comparative genomics isn't lost on Tesler. "I'm dealing with the creature on a level of the text," he said. "It's just a bunch of data on a computer, so there's this disconnect between that and the real creature." As the genomes of other animals are mapped, scientists will draw a more complete picture of what makes us human and what makes us connected to other life, Pevzner and Tesler said. The duo plan to analyze the cat, dog, cow and chimpanzee, among other creatures. Pevzner said he will relish the day when he can place the genomes of humans and chimpanzees side by side. The two species shared a common ancestor 5 million to 7 million years ago, and 98 percent to 99 percent of their genes are the same. "When you have such a close genome as the chimpanzee, you almost feel like you are present at the rearrangement," Pevzner said. "It's almost like seeing how a document ... was edited, how it evolved." By looking at biology through the lens of genomes, the history of life becomes a history of documents, Pevzner said. And in that respect, the differences that separate humans from the rest of the animal world are small. DNA maps show similarities of humans to other creatures |
January 09, 2005
The art of numbersBy The Entertainer CORVALLIS — Paintings by mathematician and artist Michael Schultheis are featured Jan. 10 through Feb. 2 at Fairbanks Gallery, Fairbanks Hall on the Oregon State University campus. In his exhibit, "Selections from Harmonic Oscillations," Schultheis attempts to show viewers, on canvas, what math looks like to him. Schultheis says that, "Musicians often describe the sensation of reading sheet music and "hearing" the notes play in their heads. Similarly, reading through a math equation can register a euphoric visual sensation. This is where I find my inspiration, in the visualization of mathematics." Schultheis began his education in Italy at the Scuola Per Stranieri where he studied history and Italian. He later received his undergraduate degree in economics from Washington State University, and his Masters in labor economics from Cornell University. "The Harmonic Oscillations paintings developed from my love of three-dimensional geometric shapes, and the story that can be told about their graceful movement through space," says Schultheis. "This story, using the notations and illustrations of curvilinear coordinates and non-linear dynamics, describes their form and motion in contemporary abstract paintings." "By allowing the paintings to operate like a chalkboard in my studio, gradually filling up with notations and illustrations, I translate the intricate world of numbers into something everyone can see. Translating scientific ideas into artistic work has existed since Leonardo da Vinci made the rules of mechanics into beautiful drawings that maintained their scientific accuracy. I see a similar world to explore in mathematics and invite the viewer to consider the visual component of analytical ideas." Schultheis' work has been exhibited in the Bellevue Art Museum and the Portland Art Museum, and in numerous Northwest galleries. He is represented by the Froelick Gallery in Portland. A public reception for Schultheis has been set for 4:30 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12. The artist will give a brief gallery talk during that time. The Fairbanks Gallery is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more Information, call Douglas Russell, 737-5009 or drussell@orst.edu. The art of numbers |
January 09, 2005
UCI professor honored for mathematics researchLeslie Bruce, Special to the Daily Pilot UC Irvine mathematics professor Svetlana Jitomirskaya received the 2005 American Mathematical Society Ruth Lyttle Satter Award on Thursday for her contribution to mathematics research. Jitomirskaya, a professor at UC Irvine for the past 14 years, received the Satter Award and $5,000 at an American Mathematical Society ceremony in Providence, R.I. Jitomirskaya was recognized for her research of disorderly models and elements to try to find patterns of order. "I was very honored and pleasantly surprised," Jitomirskaya said. "I didn't even know I was being considered." The Ukrainian-born Jitomirskaya left her country in order to attend Moscow State University in Russia, where she earned her bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees in mathematics. She came to the U.S. in 1991 after a stint at the International Institute of Earthquake Prediction Theory and Mathematical Geophysics. She then joined the Mathematics Department at UC Irvine as a visiting assistant professor. "She works on the mathematical side of questions that come from physics," said Abel Klein, mathematics professor at UCI. "The practical application of it is up to the engineering department." Klein, a study subject for Jitomirskaya's doctorate work, offered her an open-ended invitation to teach at UC Irvine after completing her doctorate, according to the UC Irvine Senate website. Her research papers, published in both the Annals of Mathematics and Inventiones Mathematicae, earned her much recognition in the field, said Mike Breen, a spokesman for the American Mathematical Society. The Satter Award, presented every two years, was established in 1990 by Joan S. Birman to honor the memory of her sister, Ruth Lyttle Satter. Birman requested that the award recognize her sister's contribution to mathematical research and that it encourage women in science. UCI professor honored for mathematics research |
January 09, 2005
Hebrew University professor profiled by 'Nature'By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH A 34-year-old, US-born scientist at the Hebrew University has been profiled by the new issue of the prestigious British journal Nature to mark one century since Albert Einstein's publication of three of his landmark theories at the age of 26. Dorit Aharonov of the HU's Benin School of Engineering and Computer Science is working on a new computational model based on the law of quantum physics that has caused a revolution in the theory of computer science. The three other young theorists profiled in Nature are from Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Germany's Max Planck Institute. Quantum computers, if ever built, will be able to solve certain computational problems dramatically faster than any standard computer. Many labs around the world are racing to create large-scale quantum computers. Aharonov is trying to overcome the main problem with quantum computers: Large-scale quantum systems are very sensitive to errors whose effect might ruin the computation process. In her doctoral project, Aharonov – with adviser Prof. Michael Ben-Or – showed how to protect the quantum computer from errors by theoretical means. She hopes to develop new techniques for solving difficult computational problems through the laws of quantum physics. "I was very happy about being chosen by Nature," said Aharonov, who was born in Washington, DC, and earned her academic degrees at HU. She has done post-graduate work at the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton University (where Einstein was a faculty member) and at the University of California at Berkeley. "This shows the great importance that the world scientific community attributes to quantum computation. The field brings together ideas from physics and mathematics to investigate fundamental questions, such as: What is the computational power of nature and how does the transition between classical and quantum physics occur?" Her studies have revealed some connections between the fault tolerance of quantum computation and a long-standing, open question in physics: Why are most phenomena that we see around us classical, while the underlying physics is quantum? Hebrew University professor profiled by 'Nature' |
January 09, 2005
Kids turn walking calculators with abacusHYDERABAD: Over 500 children in bright yellow shirts added and subtracted, divided and multiplied at lightening speed on Saturday morning. These young mathematicians in the age group of 4 to 12 years were the participants of Abacus and Mental Arithmetic contest held in the city on Saturday. The state-level contest had participants from across all districts of Andhra Pradesh. The contestants were distributed sheets with mathematical problems and they solved it using the calculating device 'abacus'. The children seemed adept at handling the age-old abacus device as they went click-click pushing the beads with their pointed pencils. "Using this method improves not only the speed of children in solving mathematical problems but also the accuracy. With training, they reach a stage where they do not need the device but can mentally calculate sums," said A V Sekhar, one of the organisers. The children who participated in the contest had taken training in Abacus for a few months. Vamshi Chandra, 11, from Warangal district for instance, has been going to an abacus training centre since last year. "I do see a difference in his ability to solve mathematical problems," said G Jitender Reddy, Vamshi's father. In fact, children using abacus may never need to use the calculator, said Sekhar, adding that the device helps even in solving advanced mathematical problems and finding cube roots and square roots. "My child was not slow in solving problems. There is a remarkable speed now," said another parent U Vijayanand, whose seven-year-old child was participating in the contest. "He is also more confident now," the parent said. A national level contest was held last year where 11,000 children had participated, the organisers said. Kids turn walking calculators with abacus |
January 09, 2005
PBS.org Drops Science Film on Intelligent Design From Website, says Think TankPBS has pulled from its website a science film examining the theory of intelligent design, after selling the film for two years on its website, and airing it on dozens of PBS stations across the country. "It's chilling that suddenly in the midst of a national debate over intelligent design PBS, funded by taxpayer dollars, decides to suppress an educational film that provides a scientific examination of the theory," said Rob Crowther, director of communications for Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. "At a time when many in the public are wondering what intelligent design theory is, here comes PBS deciding what the public will learn about intelligent design and what it won't." "This really begins to smack of message suppression, when you realize how much PBS invests in promoting Darwinian evolutionary theory," said Crowther. "With all the millions and millions of dollars PBS has spent during the past few years producing and airing the Evolution series, and training teachers how to use it the classroom, you have to wonder why they are discriminating against a science film that has a different view of the evidence." According to Crowther, the film was available for purchase on the PBS.org website as recently as Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2005. Earlier this week, New Mexico PBS affiliate KNME cancelled "Unlocking the Mystery of Life," which was originally scheduled to air Friday, Jan. 7 at 9pm. The decision resulted in the station coming under fire in the media for censoring science. Calls on Friday to PBS's media relations office and to public relations vice president Lea Sloan were not returned. "In response to KNME's decision to ban Unlocking I pointed out that the film was available on PBS's national website and had aired in almost all of the top media markets across the country such as New York, Los Angeles, Miami and elsewhere," said Crowther. KNME is now claiming that Crowther was intentionally spreading misinformation, which Crowther denies, pointing out that Discovery Institute has posted images that prove his statement on its blog at www.evolutionnews.org. "With all the pressure KNME has been under for such blatant censorship I suspected that the station would eventually get desperate enough to start making claims like this," Crowther said. He added that station manager Chad Davis was unavailable to discuss the situation when contacted. "Unlocking the Mystery of Life" is a 58-minute program exploring what DNA reveals about the origin of life and documents how some scientists are skeptical about naturalistic explanations for the origin of genetic information and looking to theories of design instead. Employing state of the art computer animation and other visuals, the documentary follows the development of intelligent design theory through interviews with key design scientists such as biochemistry professor Michael Behe of Lehigh University, biologist Dean Kenyon of San Francisco State University, mathematician William Dembski of Baylor University, microbiologist Scott Minnich of the University of Idaho, and Cambridge-trained philosopher of science Stephen Meyer. For more information on Unlocking the Mystery of Life please visit Discovery Institute's website at www.discovery.org/csc/. tPBS.org Drops Science Film on Intelligent Design From Website, says Think Tank |
January 09, 2005
Ghana Flunks at Math and Science: AnalysisIn the 2003 TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) mathematics test for grade eight, it was reported that out of the 45 countries that participated Ghana finished 44th. Ghanaian students scored 276 compared to the international average of 466. Some Ghanaians are quick to use Ghana's dismal test score as a barometer of the crisis state of mathematics education in the country and the need for the government to take an immediate action to improve mathematics education. Yet others may reason that generally Ghanaians have never been good at mathematics; hence, that appalling performance is a reflection of our inherent weakness in mathematics. Many others may also argue that while the test partially reflects Ghanaian students' mathematics knowledge at that level, it is not indicative of the students' mathematics aptitude. We belong to this latter category of Ghanaian observers. However, we caution against any hasty conclusions on Ghana's performance without a painstaking analysis or research. This paper is a two-part analysis of the TIMSS grade eighth mathematics and science tests. The first part analysis focuses on mathematics teaching and learning in Ghana in relation to the nature of the TIMSS mathematics test for grade eight students. The second part analysis will deal with the TIMSS science test for grade eight. That part of our analysis will concentrate on the teaching of science in Ghanaian schools and the current trends in science education. We will argue that in most public primary schools in Ghana science is not taught and this often justified on the grounds of lack of scientific learning resources. Even where science is supposedly taught, it is presented as an exoteric subject whose comprehension requires the brain of an elephant, so to speak. TIMSS officials acknowledge that a country's performance at the test cannot be used as an absolute indicator of how that country is doing in terms of mathematics learning. They cited two major factors for this assertion. One factor has to do with the differences in pedagogical orientation of each participating country. Thus, a country whose national mathematics pedagogy is compatible with the one undergirding the test is more likely to do well than a country with different mathematics pedagogy. In Ghana, mathematics teaching at the eighth grade is characterized by the transmission and the command models. Teachers merely transmit mathematical facts, principles and algorithms, and students are commanded to learn them in a passive and fearful manner. Students are not encouraged to pose questions or engage in problem-solving activities in order to attain both conceptual and procedural understanding of what they are being taught. Students simply memorize the algorithms and regurgitate them during tests or examinations. Consequently, Ghanaian eighth graders are less likely to answer correctly, for example, the following algebraic question that appeared on the TIMSS test: The cost, C, of printing greeting cards consists of fixed charge of 100 cents and a charge of 6cents for each card printed. Which of these equations can be used to determine the cost of printing n cards? A. C= (100 + 6n) cents B. C= (106 + n) cents C. C= (106n) cents D. C= (600n)cents The above question does not require solving a linear equation. Instead, it requires students to set-up an equation using the given information. This suggests that the skill to solve an equation is as important as the skill to set-up an equation. However, students can not learn the skill of setting up an equation unless they are provided appropriate opportunities to learn problem-solving and problem-posing. As the great mathematics educator, von Glasersfeld, rightly pointed out," The child cannot conceive of tasks, the way to solve them and the solutions in terms other than those that are available at the particular moment in his or her conceptual development. The child must make meaning of the task and try to construct a solution by using materials she already has. That material cannot be anything but the conceptual building blocks and operations that the child has assembled in his or her own prior experience". The point we want to stress is that given an open-class room environment, a student who has a thorough understanding of linear equations (i.e. in the form ax + b = c, where a, b and c are constants or fixed numbers except that a can not be zero) is more likely to pose many linear equation questions from his or her environment. This helps students to develop a strong conceptual understanding of what they are taught and to draw on it when needed. The other factor TIMSS officials cited is the mathematics topics to which students have been exposed. Let us assume for this discussion that JSS 2 is equivalent to grade eight. It is unrealistic to expect students at that level to have some exposure to the mathematical concept of functions. Hence, these students are most unlikely to answer correctly the following question on the test: The table below represents a relation between x and y. What is the missing number in the table? X y 2 5 3 7 4 ? 7 15 A. 9 B. 10 C. 11 D.12 E. 13 Nonetheless, students who have had an exposure to patterns in a more conceptual way are more likely to answer this question by inspection without any formal understanding of functions. Though TIMSS officials do not make any references to cultural differences between participating countries, these are an important factor that complicates a comparative analysis of the test scores. Culture in this context implies people's interaction with their physical environment. From our professional experience, students are more likely to solve mathematical problems if they can relate to the cultural context of the problem. This is because the student's familiarity with the cultural context, which includes both the signifier/signified and the special vocabulary used, makes it easer for him/her to translate the information into mathematical symbols. In fact, Ghanaian students' cultural experiences with "parking lot" are almost non-existent. Parking lots in Ghana are not nicely divided into rows and columns as they are in other countries. Thus, the following math question which was one of the test questions is likely to cause some confusion to Ghanaian students at that level: There are 68 rows of cars in a parking lot. Each row has 92 cars. Which of these would give the closest estimate of the total number of cars in the parking lot? A. 60 x 90 =5400 B. 60 x 100 = 6000 C. 70 x 90 = 6300 D. 70 x 100 =7000 From our professional perspective, a Ghanaian student at that level is unlikely to experience any cognitive confusion with this alternative question: There are 98 buses in a lorry park. Each bus has a maximum seat of 68 passengers. Calculate the total maximum number of passengers the buses will carry if each bus goes one trip. Consequently, the TIMSS test as quoted above may not be fair to most Ghanaian students; in particular those from small towns or rural areas where there are practically no parking lots in the conventional sense of the word. Apart from the cultural aspect of that test item, there is also a pedagogical dimension. JSS mathematics teachers may drill their students in mental mathematics, but they always require exact answers rather than estimated or approximated answers. In fact, in a practical quantitative situation without access to a calculator, most people would do some sort of quick estimates in order to make sense of the situation. Therefore, the primary goal of mental math is to help students to develop or master the skill of estimating. On the contrary, in Ghana mental mathematics at both the primary school and JSS levels is designed for precision answers and speed with which the answers can be produced. These twin objectives of mental mathematics, precision and speed, are pursued regardless of the contexts of application of mathematical concepts, while valuable skill of estimating or approximating is completely ignored! The language of instruction used in each of the participating country should also be taken into consideration in any comparative analysis of the test scores. Since Ghanaian students took the test in English (the so-called official language of Ghana), those whose first language is non-English are at great disadvantage. We are not surprised that countries that top-performed in the mathematics test--- Taiwan, Malaysia, Latvia, Russia- used their own language to teach and learn mathematics. The following test question, though a simple proportion, involves what Neil Postman, the late US educator, would call a fair amount of "languaging". If there are 300 calories in 100g of certain food, how many calories are there in a 30g portion of this food? A. 90 B. 100 C. 900 D. 1000 E. 9000 Our argument is that a Ghanaian student who is proficient in his or her mother or native language is most likely to answer that question correctly if the question were translated into that native language of the student. We are very much aware that the language of instruction in Ghanaian schools is a contentious issue. Some Ghanaians theorize that a person becomes increasingly proficient in a foreign language after using it over and over for a long time. Applying this line of reasoning to the case under discussion, as our grade eight students go through the grade-ladder they would eventually attain English proficiency needed for mathematical problem-solving. Nevertheless, the unfortunate thing is that most of these students would psychologically drop out of mathematics before they attain English proficiency! As well, some of the students may drop out of school before graduating from JSS 3. Some Ghanaians also argue that using English for instruction makes it possible for Ghanaians to "transport" their education to any of the English-speaking countries. But as we have argued in one of our articles on mathematics education, when Ghanaian students at the secondary level enroll in schools in Canada they are confronted with two main tasks. They have to find the meaning of mathematical concepts and also the words to communicate the meaning of those concepts. Asian students, on the other hand, have to find the words to express their understanding of mathematical concepts. This is because they have already learnt the meanings of mathematics concepts in their own language. So whose education is more portable? Further, the issue of sampling is extremely important in a comparative test score analysis. According to the report published in both Ghanaweb and Ghana Review International on December 15, 2004, a hundred and fifty Ghanaian schools took part in the test. Who selected the schools? What procedure was used in the selection of the schools? What were the justifiable criteria for inclusion or exclusion of schools from the sample? To what extent can we say that the sample is typically representative of Ghanaian schools? If another 150 schools in Ghana were selected to participate in the same test, what is the probability that the same score would be obtained? If, for example, the schools were selected from urban cities such as Accra, Kumasi, Tamale, or Cape Coast, then the sample is unrepresentative of Ghanaian schools. Moreover, if the tests were administered to another sample of 150 Ghanaian schools and different results were obtained the test would be unreliable. Information on the sampling method is crucially important because it would indicate the degree of reliability we can place on the test scores. Furthermore, the mathematics educational background of teachers who teach grade eight mathematics is equally an important factor for any comparative analysis of the test scores. In some of the participating countries grade eight teachers have university education in mathematics, even some at the post- graduate level; while in others the teachers have an equivalent of two years university education in mathematics. In Ghana, a grade eight mathematics teachers may not have such a background in mathematics. Mathematics training or education of grade eight teachers is most important for effective teaching than mere graduation from teacher training colleges or universities. Our main contention is that the differing teacher mathematics background is a factor that affects the test scores of participating countries. Though we take the TIMSS math scores as a partial measure of mathematics education up to grade eight in the participating countries, they can not be used as a measure of mathematics aptitude of students due to the factors we have discussed above. As well, for Ghana in particular our test score teaches us a couple of lessons. First, it teaches us that our mathematics methodology and pedagogy must change to allow students opportunities for problem-solving, problem-posing, and active participation in mathematics learning in the classroom. The mathematics classroom should be organized as a community of critical learners. So that when students pose mathematics questions they are not necessarily directed at the teacher but to the community. The community members, the students and the teacher, are free to discuss mathematical ideas, question assumptions, ask questions for clarification, and make mistakes without any fear or intimidations from either the teacher or the other community members. In a community of critical mathematics learners, the teacher does not do all the talking while the students passively listen or take notes. Moreover, in such a community the teacher provides rationales, justifications, logic or cultural reasons for mathematical rules, principles, or algorithms; nothing is taken for granted. Besides, in that community the teacher is not necessarily the final arbiter of mathematical disagreements or disputes; bargaining, negotiating, dialogue and research may be used to resolve differences. The teacher also uses local referents and inputs from the students' cultural environment in teaching mathematical concepts. The urgent need for pedagogical and methodological change in Ghanaian schools was, unfortunately, not addressed by the Presidential Committee on Education Review. The committee was rather preoccupied with structural matters such as new curriculum, apprenticeship program, the length of senior secondary schooling, and professional development training for teachers. The professional development of teachers, we presume, is not about a shift in pedagogical orientation; on the contrary, it is about increasing teachers' subject-content knowledge. The government white paper also lent credence to the committee's belief that about 60 percent of JSS students who usually drop out of school before completing JSS or, fail to enrol in SSS program do so because of the lack of apprenticeship program or too many subjects for to learn. The ways teachers teach in primary school, JSS and SSS have never been interrogated or examined. Why? In fact, we reject outright the simplistic notion that has been peddled around for a long time that Ghanaian teachers are better than their counterparts in other countries. Any country that fails to engage in a program of continuous improvement of its teachers' way of teaching is destined to the dustbin of history. It should also be noted that constructing a new curriculum, increasing the length of senior secondary schooling and establishing apprenticeship programs are unlikely to improve schooling outcomes for Ghanaian youth without a corresponding change in teaching methodology and pedagogy. We have enough empirical evidence to show that some students drop out of school because of the manner in which teachers teach. Students who repeatedly complain in private that they can not make sense of what is being taught have a high probability of dropping out of school. Y. Fredua-Kwarteng is mathematics educator and Francis Ahia is assistant professor of mathematics education. Ghana Flunks at Math and Science: Analysis |
January 09, 2005
The House of Today, TomorrowBy Nancy Rommelmann Designing domestic utopias is tempting. Some of the best minds of the 20th century did it, some more than once. Inventor-philosopher-mathematician R. Buckminster Fuller, grappling with the housing shortage in America after World War II, updated his earlier design for a Dymaxion House, a transportable, environmentally efficient aluminum dwelling that could be built for $6,500. A decade later, he pushed for the mass production of the geodesic dome, a "modern igloo" with a light yet strong tetrahedron skeleton. In 1956, Frank Lloyd Wright planned a mile-high skyscraper, potentially solving two of the era's problems: A growing population could live perpendicularly on less real estate. The Monsanto House of the Future, which debuted at Disneyland in 1957, was made almost entirely of plastic and drew more than 5,000 visitors a day. "Imagine any other house having more than 20 million guests," went the audio part of the tour, "and still being able to boast the showroom freshness and sparkle you see here." And before his death in 1966, Walt Disney himself unveiled plans for EPCOT, an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow where 20,000 souls would ride monorails and hit golf balls in the Florida sunshine. Sci-fi in appearance, rendered in mind-bending shapes and man-made materials, these early "smart houses" promised to make the average American's life more organized, economical and fun. They also told us something about ourselves: We were ready to embrace the future! Except that most of us were not willing to move into an igloo. The problem with selling utopia was getting people to buy. While the geodesic dome has enjoyed marginal success, no one ever lived in a completed Dymaxion House. (A sole prototype survives at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich.) Wright's tower was never built, the Monsanto House was razed in 1967 and EPCOT devolved into another Disney theme park. Great minds are still designing dream houses. Karim Rashid's 2002 Ideal House, with its rubber baths and bio-engineered pink trees, has the look of an Atomic Age bachelor pad. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology puts volunteers in its PlaceLab, a home/laboratory wired with hundreds of "sensing components" to monitor how people interact with the environment, with the aim of developing interfaces that improve one's health and well-being. The Microsoft Home in Redmond, Wash., a showcase for the corporation's ever-evolving technologies, is updated every two years. These visions of the future are still telling us something about ourselves. A tour of the Microsoft Home, for example, suggests that we want the lives we have today, with a lot less effort, starting when we walk in the front door. "The first Microsoft Home was built in 1994—that's been torn down," says Jonathan Cluts, who runs the home's Consumer Prototyping and Strategy Team. Cluts and his group of 10—designers, physicists, engineers (audio, video and theoretical), writers and one former semipro soccer player—are less concerned with ones and zeros than with "thinking broadly about the future in the consumer space." "But we're only looking five to 10 years in the future. There are no replicators here—it's not 'Star Trek,' " says Pam Heath, the team's lead program manager. She and Cluts walk through the Microsoft Executive Briefing Center, past a group of black-suited Japanese businessmen and a delegation from Australia, both of which will later tour what Heath simply calls "the Home" to see what's on the technological horizon. Stopping before a set of standard white metal office doors, Cluts says, "There's going to be way more technology [in here] than probably any single person would have in any single home. We like to give the broadest range for people to experience to ferret out those things that work for them." Sort of like a buffet? Cluts nods. "To see what things they put on their salad," he says. "Or even if they eat salad," adds Heath. "If it's not easy, if it's not convenient, if it doesn't solve a real problem for you or make the stuff a lot more fun or help you stay close to people, you're not gonna have it in your life." For instance, keys. Forget fumbling for them—there aren't even keyholes in the Home's front door. There is a square of opaque glass, against which you press your hand. "The size of one's hand and the length and connections between all the fingers is more unique than a single fingerprint," Cluts says. Since the Home recognizes his hand, the door opens with a soft click. With its high ceilings and furnishings several tics above Pottery Barn, the Home is not the Jetsons' pad. But see that dimmer switch? Go ahead, talk to it. "Grace," named for Grace Hopper, an early computer programmer, will answer. Like the Ur mainframe—mom—Grace knows what you might want to know when you get home: the security alarm status, where the kids are. She also knows that you like a little cocktail music at the end of the day. Say, "Grace, set scene, welcome home," and the shades in the living room rise and Charlie Parker's "Now's the Time" starts to play. All this without inputting, or no more than you already do. Because the technologies in the Home communicate wirelessly, you don't need to program "I like Charlie Parker when I get home," but simply subscribe, say, to MSN Music, which knows you like jazz. This adds an Escherean dimension to the Home: You choose the technologies, which in turn choose for you. And if you don't want some woman talking the minute you walk in? Simply tap the wall above the dimmer, and warm orange text containing pertinent information glows through the paint, a technology called Organic Light-Emitting Diodes. Such invisible, or "zero-footprint," technologies were a mandate for this latest version of the Home, which was unveiled in September 2004, and the computing is so small as to be phantom. Except when it's not: In the living room, set before an oversized couch, is an oversized TV screen and myriad ways to interact with it—tablets, mice, touch-pads, keyboar+ds and, no doubt a relief to millions of men, a remote. Click it and images cascade across the screen, from media choices to games to a reminder to pay bills. This is so dazzling, there is so much to do, one imagines a future where children's fingers have the dexterity of spiders, but their eyes cannot tolerate sunlight. Chips—in the appliances, the counters, the refrigerator—take the haphazardness out of the kitchen. A smart microwave reads bar codes and automatically sets cooking times. The pantry knows what you're out of and puts it on the shopping list. The refrigerator keeps track of how long that carton of sour cream has been sitting there. Not sure what to cook? Placing, say, a mixer and a bag of flour on the counter sets Grace riffling through her recipe box for dishes you've made before with these items. Onion bread? Sugar cookies? How about focaccia? Whereupon the recipe is projected on the counter—and, if you choose, a video of a famous chef preparing it can be viewed on a display screen. Will this technology lure us to the kitchen? Who knows? Is it fun to have Mario Batali show us how to roll out the dough? Sure. More helpful is the bulletin board covered in "smart fabric." Clip on an invitation, and the embedded Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) transfers information to your calendar and to-do lists, such as a reminder to hire a baby sitter for Saturday night, which prompts photos of local baby sitters to pop up on the kitchen monitor, along with their schedules, which are synced with yours. And therein lies one of the paradoxes of our relationship with technologies: We want them in our lives, but how far? Who hasn't sent an e-mail that he wished he hadn't? Who hasn't spent five hours on the phone with tech support, only to have them help erase the hard drive? Imagine your entire home wired thusly. In the Microsoft Home, a child's Web tablet connects across the oceans to a video-feed of a student in Argentina, who talks with the child about their school report on Mars in instantly translated Spanish, which the entire family can watch in the dining room as a model of the solar system and triangulated star patterns beam onto the walls. The mirror in the teen's bedroom, which has gesture recognition, and the shirt she holds up, which contains RFID, swap information as to where the shirt was purchased, at what store, laundering instructions, what goes with it and what is at the dry cleaner. This might have the unintentional effect of turning screams of, "Mom, you don't know anything!" to "Mom, the mirror is so stupid!" Which, according to the Microsoft script, would be OK, another of the mandates for the latest Home being to bring the family closer. Nowhere is this idea more evident than in the Home's last room, the entertainment room, with its massive monitor and online games you can play with your family, the neighbors and the similarly hooked-up from Dubuque to Dubai. You can just see a crush of teenage boys blasting on-screen aliens. But then the light shifts, from pink to sea foam to lilac. These are LED lights, set into ceiling panels (like Lite Brites) and synced with sound, so that the first strains of a lullaby cause the lights to go indigo. Images from the children's book "Goodnight Moon" appear on the screen, the text read aloud, presumably, by mother's prerecorded voice, and the raucous entertainment room morphs into a gently interactive bedroom. Though this is supposed to strike a sweet note—and this technology has, in fact, survived since an early version of the Home—the unavoidable impression is that it allows the parent to be absent from the picture altogether. If so, he or she is available across the room, atop a pedestal, on a plastic monitor curled into the shape of a wizard's hat. This is a "memory sculpture." When approached, it glows ultraviolet. Move closer, and images appear—a photograph of relatives who lived 100 years ago, a child running across a beach, a birthday party. Touch the image of a girl in a headdress in Istanbul, and there's the girl again, and a map of Turkey, and the girl as a woman, and as an old woman. The Home is randomly choosing these images from the digital ephemera stored on the home's network devices. The experience is not at all like looking through a family photo album—it's like looking through a photo album you've never seen and will never see in exactly the same way again. And while this may be the antithesis of how we want our lives ordered in the future, it is the only thing in the Microsoft Home that seems like magic. You cede control to the machine, and you are given back something like real life. The House of Today, Tomorrow |
January 07, 2005
The inner sanctity of a beautiful mindDONNA WRIGHT Nobel Laureate John Forbes Nash Jr. spent nearly three decades of his life wandering through a world of delusions. The mathematical genius, who invented a theory of rational behavior in his early career, spiraled down into schizophrenia at age 30. His recovery, brought about through the support of his wife, Alicia, and his academic colleagues at Princeton, was immortalized in Sylvia Nasar's award-winning biography "A Beautiful Mind" and the Oscar-winning movie of the same title. The story of John and Alicia Nash is a testament of encouraging renewal, a life-affirming message of hope to many families struggling with mental illness. On Friday, the Nashes will be honored with the 2005 Luminary Award for their advocacy for the mentally ill at the eighth annual Sunshine to Darkness Symposium, sponsored by the Sarasota Chapter of the National Association for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. In an exclusive interview from their home in Princeton Junction, N.J., the Nashes shared some of their experiences dealing with a mental disease that affects an estimated 2.2 million American adults each year, including their son, John Charles Martin, 45. "Our lives today are not so simple," said John, 76, when asked how his life has changed since the release of "A Beautiful Mind." "My life," he said, "is largely my current work. I am back in scientific research and it gives me a lot of satisfaction." But the delusions, he added, continue, primarily in his dreams. Over the years he has learned to recognize and renounce his delusions for what they are, allowing the pursuit of rational thinking that has propelled him back into ground-breaking research. In the movie, the mathematician is portrayed as having hallucinations. But John said his delusions never manifested themselves visually. It was more of an auditory dreamscape, he said. The voices that spoke to him, he realized later in his recovery, were not entities apart from himself, but fragments of his own mind, battling for control. John's descent into madness came at the crest of his success in 1958, when he was about to be made a full professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mathematicians were held in high regard in those early days of the Cold War. Nasar writes that Nash was at the top, recognized by Fortune magazine as a star in his field. Nasar quotes mathematician Paul Halmos: "Mathematicians are of two kinds; the ones who are just like all of us, but very much more so, and the ones who, apparently, have an extra human spark." "Nash's genius," writes Nasar, "was of that mysterious variety more often associated with music and art than with the oldest of all sciences. It wasn't that his mind worked faster, that his memory was more retentive, or that his power of concentration was greater. The flashes of intuition were non-rational . . . Nash saw the vision first, constructing the laborious proofs long after." John admitted during the interview that his forays into visionary thinking carry high risk. "I am afraid it is a dangerous area," he said, drawing a parallel between visions and delusions. "Mental normality," John says, "is conformity. A person who thinks like everybody else is not going to contribute anything interesting in science and art." One who ventures outside of the box, he said, sees patterns and relationships not visible to those who stay within the confines of conformity. Sometimes those patterns take the visionary into realms not based in rational thinking. Alicia first noticed something was wrong with her husband just before their son was born in 1959. "John had preoccupation with things that were not right," she said. Plagued by a paranoia that everyone from President Eisenhower to the pope was against him, the renown mathematician feared those around him. Nasar's book tells how he gave up his professorship at MIT in a quest to renounce his citizenship. "I went through a time when I thought that if I could communicate with an angel who was really concerned about me, I could recover," said John. "I thought humans were like politicians, corrupt and untrustworthy. I thought an angel might be concerned with my interests and help me." Did Alicia prove to be that angel, as in the movie portrayal of their lives? "I would like to think that," she said. "But there is reality, you have to go to work, there are so many things to take care of, I don't know . . ." "I was sheltered by two loving women," John said, "my mother until she died, and by Alicia. I had interludes, periods of temporary normal and rationalized thinking. I was sort of being forced to be normal, but not quite adjusted to it. It was like as if I accepted the idea of suppressing the delusions I could return to rational thinking." John was hospitalized twice during his illness. He endured insulin-induced comas, electroshock therapy and heavy medication. The strain of mental illness put pressure on the marriage. In 1962, his wife, exhausted by three years of turmoil and convinced that his condition was more or less hopeless, began divorce proceedings. The divorce is mentioned in Nasar's biography but was left out of the movie, which portrays Alicia as never giving up hope, even though she did leave him for a period of time. In the movie, Alicia was also striving for something extraordinary to happen to return their lives to normal. Alicia, in real life, continued to support the man she loved, despite her doubts and the divorce, by sheltering her husband. His colleagues at Princeton allowed him to be part of their community. That supportive community, John said, was the key to his recovery. In time, he learned how to renounce his delusions and return to a productive life. At the same time his previous work on a revolutionary game theory was gaining attention as a strategy for effective bargaining and economic theory. This earlier work is what earned John the Nobel prize in 1994. While the real version of their life varies from the Hollywood version, the Nashes say their love for each other held them together. They remarried in 2001. "My definition of love has not changed over the years," said Alicia. "It is a loyalty to the person you love. You want to be in the same place." Today, they share their home with their son, John Charles, who is 45. They are also his caregivers, for John Charles has also been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Does the shared diagnosis provide a bridge to understanding or an obstacle between father and son? "You would think it was helpful," said John, "but I find it difficult. He was disturbed while I was disturbed so his behavior is a little like copycat. He saw that a person could live for a long time without a regular job, so now he is doing the same thing." Like his father, John Charles is a mathematician. "He has talent," said John. "But you have to work at it. He has stopped working." His father hopes for the day John Charles begins again. Alicia copes by trying to maintain a normal environment. "I try to take it in my stride," said Alicia. "I try to make things as normal as possible for the person who is upset." One lesson she has learned is to not rush to hospitalize someone who is having problems. John sees the current emphasis on drug therapy to treat mental illness as a simplistic approach. "In Europe there is more of a balance with psychotherapy as a part of drug therapy," he said. But there are economic concerns, he admitted – providing mentally ill patients with a supportive environment is more expensive than treating them with drugs. "People can get on these drugs and they just go along," said John. "A lower standard is accepted if people can become manageable and not difficult." But while drugs can make the insane manageable, John said, it can make them listless and unproductive. Society and family priorities, he added, dictate access to treatment. "Mental health care derives from society and family concerns," said John. "I don't know what is best. The people who want to know what is best are society and the families. The people who are insane don't want to ask that question. They don't want to be corrected." Recovery came with a price, as John explains in an autobiography written after he won the Nobel prize. The autobiography which can be found on the Nobel Web site at nobelprize.org. "So at the present time I seem to be thinking rationally again in the style that is characteristic of scientists," John writes. "However this is not entirely a matter of joy as if someone returned from physical disability to good physical health. One aspect of this is that rationality of thought imposes a limit on a person's concept of his relation to the cosmos." But despite that limitation, his return to rational thinking is what allowed him to begin work again. The inner sanctity of a beautiful mind |
January 7, 2005
Handicraft explains academic theoryIf you have ever wondered what chaos looks like - this is it. Dr Hinke Osinga and Professor Bernd Krauskopf, who both work in Bristol University's department of engineering mathematics, created a crochet pattern from equations that describe the nature of chaotic systems, such as the weather or a turbulent river. The couple, who now have the model hanging in their home as a Christmas decoration, created the shape while working on the famous Lorenz equations. Dr Osinga explained the complex mathematical-based chaos theory as follows: "Imagine a leaf floating in a turbulent river and consider how it passes either to the left or to the right around a rock somewhere downstream. "Those leaves that end up clinging to the rock must have followed a very unique path in the water. Each stitch in the crochet pattern represents a single point (a leaf) that ends up at the rock." Together all the stitches define a complicated surface, according to the Lorenz equations. Dr Osinga and Professor Krauskopf have developed a method to describe such surfaces using a computer. After months of staring at animations on a screen, they suddenly realised that their computations had naturally generated crochet instructions. Dr Osinga learned to crochet when she was seven and decided to follow the instructions. She said: "The computer-generated crochet instructions were remarkable. Simply by looking at the real-life surface I would never have designed it the way the computer did. After all those months of trying to create it on screen, it was fascinating to see the surface grow under my own hands." Professor Krauskopf said: "It was truly amazing to see a floppy object fall into its desired shape when it was mounted with steel wire." The final result consisted of 25,511 crochet stitches and took Dr Osinga about 85 hours to complete. But it was not just made for fun. Dr Osinga and Professor Krauskopf's say their work gives an insight into how chaos arises and is organised in systems as diverse as chemical reactions and kitchen mixers. Their crocheted model, called the Lorenz manifold, is a helpful tool for understanding and explaining the dynamics of the Lorenz system. The pattern can be found in the current issue of Mathematical Intelligencer. If you would like to crochet your own Lorenz manifold, the pattern and mounting instructions are available online. (See also Math News Archive, December 16, 2004) Handicraft explains academic theory |
January 07, 2005
Supply and demand economist Debreu diesGerard Debreu, a former University of California-Berkeley economist who won a Nobel Prize for breakthroughs in the study of supply and demand, has died, his family said. He was 83. Debreu died on December 31 in Paris, said his son-in-law, Richard De Soto. Debreu had suffered a series of strokes and had been in an assisted living centre in the French capital. Debreu won the 1983 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his theoretical work on how prices operate to balance supply and demand. "He really was the most important contributor to the development of formal math models within economics," said Berkeley Professor Robert Anderson, in a statement from the university. "He brought to economics a mathematical rigor that had not been seen before." (See also Economics Nobelist remembered fondly Berkeley professor calculated proof of supply-demand ) Supply and demand economist Debreu dies |
January 05, 2005
EARTHQUAKE FORECASTINGThe location of the Dec. 26 earthquake that unleashed a devastating tsunami across the Indian Ocean was identified in a 10-year forecast of likely earthquake sites worldwide made recently by researchers at the UC Davis Center for Computational Science and Engineering. John Rundle, director of the center, and Donald Turcotte, professor of geology can talk about how computer models and records of past earthquakes were used to produce a worldwide map that shows "hotspots," where earthquakes of magnitude 7 or greater could occur between 2000 and 2010. The team has produced similar maps for California and Japan as part of the Quakesim project, a collaboration with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Contacts: John Rundle, Computational Science and Engineering Center, (530) 752-6416, jbrundle@ucdavis.edu; Donald Turcotte, Geology, (530) 752-6808, turcotte@geology.ucdavis.edu. EARTHQUAKE FORECASTING |
January 05, 2005
UCSC geophysicist creates computer simulation of Indian Ocean tsunamiBy Tim Stephens Soon after hearing news reports of the tsunami that devastated coastal regions throughout the Indian Ocean, research geophysicist Steven Ward, an expert on tsunami hazards, went to work on his computer. Using sophisticated computational techniques to simulate the tsunami, Ward created an animated movie showing the tsunami waves spreading out through the Indian Ocean from the site of the powerful earthquake that triggered them. The simulation, based on the physics of earthquakes and tsunamis, is preliminary because geologists have not yet fully characterized the earthquake, Ward said. "The tsunami model depends on earthquake parameters, so as we learn more about the earthquake I will be able to refine it. But the essence of the phenomenon is captured in the animation," he said. A magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the most powerful earthquake recorded in more than 40 years, struck underwater off the Indonesian island of Sumatra on December 26. The resulting tsunami caused devastation throughout South Asia, with the death toll now estimated at 150,000. According to Ward, the speed of a tsunami depends on the depth of the water, with waves traveling as fast as 400 miles per hour in the deep ocean. When they come ashore, they are typically moving at about 30 miles per hour, he said, adding that tsunami waves are very different from the waves one usually sees at the beach. "It's like the ocean turns into a river and starts to flow onto the land. It's not a big crashing wave like in the Hollywood movies," Ward said. Tsunamis can be generated not only by earthquakes, but also by undersea landslides and asteroid impacts. Ward has used computer simulations to study all of these potential hazards. In 2003, for example, he and asteroid expert Erik Asphaug, an associate professor of Earth sciences, published a paper describing the tsunami that could result from an asteroid that is on course for a close encounter with Earth in the year 2880 (see Currents story.) In the aftermath of the disaster in South Asia, he has been contacted by numerous media outlets, including the Washington Post, New York Daily News, Newsweek magazine, and local KION TV. UCSC geophysicist creates computer simulation of Indian Ocean tsunami |
January 05, 2005
Science must play greater role in addressing emergencies: PMAHMEDABAD: Asserting that scientists cannot remain "silent witnesses" to natural disasters like tsunami, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said science and technology must play a greater role in the country's strategy to address the problems of mitigation and management of impact of natural disasters. "We must enhance our predictive capability and preparedness for meeting emergencies arising from floods, cyclones, earthquakes, droughts, landslides and avalanches," he said addressing the 92nd session of Indian Science Congress here. Emphasising the need for a better understanding of natural phenomenon that lead to such disasters and the human activities that aggravate them, Singh said "Our pre-disaster preparedness is as important as our ability to integrate and manage the post- disaster situation." "Confronted by the colossal human tragedies wrecked on thousands of people in our part of the world by the tsunami waves triggered by an earthquake in Andaman sea, the question has been asked if we could have made better use of modern science and technology to alleviate, if not prevent, human suffering," he said. "Our heart goes out to those who have suffered from the consequences of a natural disaster," the Prime Minister said, adding "But our scientists cannot remain silent witnesses to such natural disasters." "Science and technology must play a greater role in our strategy to address problems of mitigation and management of the impact of natural disasters," Singh said. While the government is prepared to fund the needed research and investment in required technologies, "we cannot re-invent the wheel nor be oblivious of the fact that there are contending claims on our limited resources," he said. The Prime Minister said if there were technologies already available, this must be used and if there were systems already in place, then it (technologies) must link with them. "Where we would need investment is in promoting better utilisation of existing knowledge and disseminating this knowledge as widely as possible," he said. Voicing concern that the best minds were not turning to science, the Prime Minister regretted that even those who did, did not remain in science. The Prime Minister said that there was need to improve the quality of teaching and increase the enrolement of students in science and mathematics at the school level. He asked the science community to take greater interest in science and mathematics teaching and syllabi at that level. Doing some plain speaking, Singh also referred to "the tyranny of bureaucracy" and quality of output in many of the science research establishments in the country. "Are we creating the required environment for innovation, for experimentation, for risk and creativity in our institution , be they universities or national laboratories?" he asked. Or have we allowed bureaucracy systems and patron-client relationships to stifle creativity, he asked. Apart from keeping international commitments and important objectives of the UPA government, the effort was to bring in a balanced intellectual property regime. This will on the one hand, give a full expression to the creative ability of India's intellectual prowess and on the other hand protect the interest of society at large. The Prime Minister said an ideal regime of intellectual property rights has to strike a balance between the private incentives for innovators and the public interest of maximising access to the fruits of innovation. Observing that the new patent regime would have a special significance for the drugs and pharmaceutical industry, Singh said this sector would have to move from "mere imitation to innovation now". He said this industry would have to get into new drug discovery research. Stressing that agriculture and energy were two areas of great importance to economic development, where the nation could benefit from more research and innovation, the Prime Minister said the government has emphasised the need for a second Green Revolution. The benefits of new research in biotechnology, electronics and communication technology as also infrastructure-related technologies "must translate into high incomes for farmers and result in strengthening of the farm economy". Underpinning the requirement for a new technology revolution in the energy sector aimed at meeting the growing demand for energy in a more economical and sustainable manner, the Prime Minister said "we have to budget for increased demands on our resources while at the same time ensuring that we protect our environment". He said the government was presently formulating programmes to launch a National Rural Healthcare Mission and urged the scientists to come forward with practical ideas that addresses the needs of the people in an effective, efficient and humane manner. The Prime Minister said Indian science "needs a new boost, a new lease of life, a push into the future. Our government will ensure that the most supportive pironment is in place. We will commit the resources necessary". "Our heart goes out to those who have suffered from the consequences of a natural disaster," the Prime Minister said, adding "But our scientists cannot remain silent witnesses to such natural disasters." "Science and technology must play a greater role in our strategy to address problems of mitigation and management of the impact of natural disasters," Singh said. While the government is prepared to fund the needed research and investment in required technologies, "we cannot re-invent the wheel nor be oblivious of the fact that there are contending claims on our limited resources," he said. The Prime Minister said if there were technologies already available, this must be used and if there were systems already in place, then it (technologies) must link with them. "Where we would need investment is in promoting better utilisation of existing knowledge and disseminating this knowledge as widely as possible," he said. Voicing concern that the best minds were not turning to science, the Prime Minister regretted that even those who did, did not remain in science. The Prime Minister said that there was need to improve the quality of teaching and increase the enrolement of students in science and mathematics at the school level. He asked the science community to take greater interest in science and mathematics teaching and syllabi at that level. Doing some plain speaking, Singh also referred to "the tyranny of bureaucracy" and quality of output in many of the science research establishments in the country. Science must play greater role in addressing emergencies: PM |
January 05, 2005
Human complexity and diversity spring from a surprisingly few (relatively speaking) genesThe rice genome is larger, but we make the most of what we've got In April 2003, scientists completed the massive Human Genome Project, recording for the first time in history the location and sequence of every gene in the human body. One result of the international project came as a bit of a shock. Scientists discovered that the body has only 30,000 genes, far fewer than the 50,000 to 140,000 they had expected to find. Moreover, scientists learned that some less complex, less diverse organisms had more, or proportionally more genes than human beings. The rice genome contains 50,000 genes and the fly 14,000, to cite two examples. The lack of correlation between genome size and an organism's complexity raised a question - how do complexity and diversity arise in higher life forms? The unexpected finding, says Stefan Maas, necessitates a clearer understanding of the role played in protein diversity by processes that take place after DNA is transcribed to RNA and after RNA is translated to proteins. Maas, an assistant professor of biological sciences, studies RNA editing, a phenomenon discovered in ion channels of the brain a decade ago at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, where Maas earned his Ph.D. RNA editing involves the process by which cells use their genetic code to manufacture proteins. More specifically, says Maas, RNA editing "describes the posttranscriptional alteration of gene sequences by mechanisms including the deletion, insertion and modification of nucleotides." Nucleotides are compounds that form the basic constituents of DNA and RNA. Often working in tandem with another RNA modification mechanism called alternative splicing, RNA editing, says Maas, can "increase exponentially the number of gene products generated from a single gene." A greater understanding of RNA editing, scientists believe, might potentially shed light on evolutionary processes and might lead to new strategies for combatting some diseases. In fact, says Maas, scientists have learned that a type of RNA editing called A-to-I editing, which leads to changes in protein structure and function and in gene regulation, regulates crucial functions of neurotransmitter receptors in the brains of mammals. Disturbances in A-to-I RNA editing have been implicated in several human diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's Disease), epilepsy and depression. Maas's group has analyzed brain tumor tissues and tissues from a healthy brain. "RNA editing, because of its effect on the ion channel, is very important for normal brain function," says Maas. "We have found an impairment to RNA editing in malignant brain-tumor tissue. This suggests that epileptic seizures in patients with brain tumors could be caused by an editing deficiency with regard to the channel molecule." Maas's research group recently discovered that A-to-I editing, in which adenosine is converted to inosine, is widespread among human genes and occurs frequently in a common genetic sequence known as the Alu repeat. In December, an article written by Maas and his collaborator, Alekos Athanasiadis of M.I.T., titled "Widespread A-to-I RNA Editing of Alu-Containing mRNAs in the Human Transcriptome," was published by the journal PloS Biology (plosbiology.org). The article culminated two years of study, which began while Maas was at M.I.T., where he worked as a research scientist before joining the Lehigh faculty in 2003. Maas's group began their study by looking systematically on the genomic scale for genes that might be subject to A-to-I editing. "One of the major puzzles in the field of RNA editing at that time," he says, "was that only a few genes affected by RNA editing, perhaps two dozen, had been found, all in the brain. Most of them were discovered by serendipity. There was strong evidence that there should be many more affected genes, as many as several thousand, or about 10 percent of all human genes." To find genes affected by RNA editing, Maas and his colleagues used experimental analysis and computational methods, poring through the databases where sequences of new genes had been deposited. "We used computational sequence analysis to look for the smoking gun of A-to-I editing in these sequences," says Maas. "We looked for any sign that the sequences might be subject to editing. "The sequence and frequency of the Alu element in the human genome are a major factor in why genes undergo RNA editing," says Maas. "If you look at any gene sequence, you find more than one Alu element in the gene, and usually about a dozen." Scientists estimate that of 100,000 types of RNA molecules so far analyzed computationally, 1,400 are strong candidates for RNA editing. Maas's group has validated about 50 of these in molecular biological experiments and has concluded that most are indeed affected by RNA editing. The group has also characterized why certain Alu elements are edited and where on the gene sequence the editing is occurring. For the future, says Maas, "We hope to refine the computational search to be able to identify additional candidate sequences for editing with high certainty. We want to make more precise predictions regarding how a sequence subject to editing should look. "In addition, we want to find out what the consequences of this massive editing are for gene function." Maas will present his research at the Gordon Research Conference on RNA editing in January in Ventura, Calif. Human complexity and diversity spring from a surprisingly few (relatively speaking) genes |
January 03, 2005
Math does make difference in lifeBy ARTHUR MICHELSON Special to the Los Angeles Times American middle school students don't much care that they're worse at math than their counterparts in Hong Kong and Finland. "I don't need it," my students say. "I'm gonna be a basketball star." Or a beautician, or a car mechanic, or a singer. It's also hard to get much of a rise out of adults over the fact, released earlier this year, that the United States ranked 28th out of 41 countries whose middle school students' math skills were tested by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. So what if we're tied with Latvia, while nations such as Japan and South Korea leave us in the dust? After all, when was the last time you used algebra? But math is not just about computing quadratic equations, knowing geometric proofs or balancing a checkbook. And it's not just about training scientists. It has implicit value. It is about discipline, precision, thoroughness and meticulous analysis. It helps you see patterns, develops your logic skills, teaches you to concentrate and to separate truth from falsehood. Math helps you make wise financial decisions, but also informs you so you can avoid false claims from advertisers, politicians and others. It helps you determine risk. Some examples: If a fair coin is tossed and eight heads come up in a row, most adults would gamble that the next toss would come up tails. But a coin has no memory. There is always a 50-50 chance. See you at the casino? If you have no sense of big numbers, you can't evaluate the consequences of how government spends your money. Why should we worry? Let our kids deal with it. ... Many people will reject sound scientific studies on drugs or nutrition if the results don't fit their preconceived notions, yet they might leap to action after reading news stories on the results of small, inconclusive or poorly run studies. After an airplane crash, studies show that people are more likely to drive than take a plane in spite of the fact that they are much more likely to be killed or injured while driving. Planes are not like copycat criminals. A plane is not more likely to crash just because another recently did. The precision of math, like poetry, gets to the heart of things. It can increase our awareness. Consider the Fibonacci series, in which each number is the sum of the preceding two, (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13...). Comparing each successive pair yields a relationship known as the Golden Ratio, which often shows up in nature and art. It's the mathematical underpinning of what we consider beautiful. You'll find it in the design of the Parthenon and the Mona Lisa, as well as in human proportion; for instance, in the size of the hand compared with the forearm and the forearm to the entire arm. Stephen Hawking's editor warned him that for every mathematical formula he wrote in a book, he would lose much of his audience. Yet more than a little is lost by dumbing things down. A rainbow is even more beautiful and amazing when we understand it. So is a lightning bolt, an ant or ourselves. Math gives us a powerful tool to understand our universe. I don't wish to overstate: Poetry, music, literature and the fine and performing arts are also gateways to beauty. Nothing we study is a waste. But the precision of math helps refine how we think in a very special way. How do we revitalize the learning of math? I don't have the big answer. I teach middle school and try to find an answer one child at a time. When I can get one to say, "Wow, that's tight," I feel the joy of a small victory. Arthur Michelson teaches at Beechwood School in Menlo Park, Calif. Math does make difference in life |
January 03, 2005
The Sam Loyd Cyclopedia of PuzzlesEd Pegg Jr. I've put Sam Loyd's Cyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles, Tricks, and Conundrums, sometimes called the Cyclopedia of Puzzles, entirely online. You can view individual pages, or download a zipped file of the entire book. I could perhaps close the column there, due to fame of the Cyclopedia, heretofore unavailable online. How famous? Based on the Cyclopedia, Martin Gardner titled one column "Sam Loyd: America's Greatest Puzzlist," and put together the 1959 recompilations for Dover, Mathematical Puzzles and More Mathematical Puzzles. Don Knuth has made a careful index of the Cyclopedia's contents. Loyd is mentioned in the MacTutor History of Mathematics. Will Shortz has the following to say: "Despite all its flaws, Loyd's Cyclopedia is still probably the most important and exciting puzzle book ever published." The Sam Loyd Cyclopedia of Puzzles |
January 03, 2005
Last doubts removed about the proof of the Four Color TheoremDevlin's Angle At a scientific meeting in France last December, Dr. Georges Gonthier, a mathematician who works at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, England, described how he had used a new computer technology called a mathematical assistant to verify a proof of the famous Four Color Theorem, hopefully putting to rest any doubts about the result that had remained since the first proof of the theorem was announced in 1976. The story of the Four Color Problem begins in October 1852, when Francis Guthrie, a young mathematics graduate from University College London, was coloring in a map showing the counties of England. As he did so it occurred to him that the maximum number of colors required to color any map seemed likely to be four. The coloring has to meet the obvious requirement that no two regions (countries, counties, or whatever) sharing a length of common boundary should be given the same color. Guthrie's question became known as the Four Color Problem, and it grew to be the second most famous unsolved problem in mathematics after Fermat's last theorem. In 1976, two mathematicians at the University of Illinois, Kenneth Appel and Wolfgang Haken, announced that they had solved the problem. But there was a twist. Much of their proof was carried out on a computer, and was far too long for humans to check. Although many mathematicians were initially unhappy that much of the proof was a brute force computation that could not be examined by hand, most accepted the result. But some were less sure. What if the computer program had a hidden flaw that meant it did not behave in exactly the way its developers said it did? Mathematicians grew more confident in the result when, in 1994, another team produced a different computer proof. Still, there always remained some doubts. With Gonthier's work, which uses a mathematical assistant to check the 1994 proof, those doubts should finally be put to rest. Getting one computer to check the work of another in this way amounts to fighting fire with fire. A mathematical assistant is a new kind of computer program that a human mathematician uses in an interactive fashion, with the human providing ideas and proof steps and the computer carrying out the computations and verification. Such systems have been under development over the last thirty years. Other applications include checking the correctness of computer hardware and software. The Four Color Problem What makes the four color problem so hard is that it refers to all maps - not just all the maps in all the atlases around the world, but all conceivable maps, maps with millions (and more) of countries of all shapes and sizes. Knowing that you can color some particular map using four colors does not help you at all. You need to produce an argument that will work in all cases. Since the sizes and shapes of the map regions do not matter, only the way they join together, the Four Color Problem is a question in topology. As we shall see momentarily, it is easily reformulated as a problem about networks (or graphs in the sense that term is used in discrete mathematics), and in fact the network formulation is the one used in most attempts at a solution by professionals, including the eventual successful ones. After being posed by Guthrie, the four color problem floated around London for over twenty years, being regarded more as a curious brainteaser than a major problem of mathematics. But then, on 13 June 1878, the English mathematician Arthur Cayley asked the assembled members of the London Mathematical Society if they knew of a proof of the conjecture. With this act the real hunt was about to begin. A year later, one of the members of the London Mathematical Society, a barrister called Alfred Bray Kempe, published a paper in which he claimed to prove the conjecture. But he was mistaken, and eleven years later Percy John Heawood pointed out a significant error in the argument. Heawood was however able to salvage enough to prove that you can color any map with five colors. Over the years, many professional mathematicians, and an even greater number of Sunday afternoon amateurs, tried to solve the problem, but without success. Like Fermat's last theorem, there are some "obvious" ways to solve the problem that seem, on the face of it, to work, but have subtle errors, and professional mathematicians grew used to receiving claimed proofs from amateurs who would often remain convinced their solution was correct even after the error was pointed out to them. Here is how to reformulate the Four Color Problem as a question about networks. Within each region of the given map, you place a single point, known as a node of the network. (You can think of these points as the capital cities of the countries, if you wish.) You then join up the nodes to form a network, in much the same way that you might link cities by a rail network. The rule is that two nodes are joined together if, and only if, their respective map regions share a common boundary, in which case the line joining them has to lie entirely within the two regions, crossing over the common boundary. (In terms of a rail link this would mean that the line cannot cross the territory of any third country.) The network this gives shows at a glance the topological structure of the map it represents. Indeed, the problem of coloring the map (in the sense of Guthrie's problem) can be reformulated in terms of coloring the network: color the nodes of the network in such a way that any two nodes which are connected together must have different colors. If all networks can be so colored using four colors, so can all maps, and vice versa. To prove the (network version of the) Four Color Theorem, you start out by assuming that there is a network that cannot be colored with four colors, and work to deduce a contradiction. If there is such a network, there will be (at least) one that has the fewest number of nodes. That's the one to look at. The idea then is to show that you can find a particular node that can be removed without altering the number of colors needed to color the network. Since that new network has one fewer nodes than the one you started with, and that initial network was chosen to be the smallest that could not be colored with four colors, the new network can be colored with four colors. But then, because of the way you chose the node to remove, that means the original map can be colored with four colors. And there's the contradiction. So the crux of the proof is to describe the individual processes which are used to reduce a given network to one with fewer nodes without reducing the number of colors necessary to color the network, and to show that any minimal counterexample to the Four Color Conjecture must of necessity contain at least one node that can be so removed. This is the part that turned out to require computer help. Appel and Haken had to identify and examine around 1500 different ways that a node could be appropriately removed and show that any minimal counterexample network must contain at least one node of one of those 1500 kinds. Appel and Haken started their computer-assisted investigation in 1972 and four years later they had their answer. It took 1200 hours of computer time, during which the computer had to carry out billions of calculations. The two mathematicians themselves had to analyze by hand some 10,000 portions of networks. With the Appel-Haken result, something had happened that mathematicians had wondered about since computers had first appeared in the 1950s: machines had finally taken over some of the task of proving theorems. With the recent work of Gonthier, it seems that computers have also become indispensable for checking their own proofs! Mathematics will never be the same again. A final thought to leave you with as we start a new year. To this day it is not known if there can be a short proof of the Four Color Theorem that a human could follow. Most mathematicians think there is not. But who knows? Last doubts removed about the proof of the Four Color Theorem |
January 03, 2005
Speakout: Cloud seeding has scientific basisBy Arlin B. Super The recent News editorial, "Denver's faith- based rain initiative," was interesting and amusing. However, the statement that "A growing number of drought-stricken cities and states are throwing taxpayer money away on cloud seeding, despite the fact that there is no scientific basis for believing it actually works" is simply incorrect in claiming a lack of scientific basis. Considerable evidence exists in the scientific literature to be at least cautiously optimistic that a viable technology is emerging for seeding winter mountain-induced (orographic) clouds for snowfall increase - if the seeding program is properly designed and conducted. The editorial quotes the 2003 National Academy of Sciences report regarding evaluation, but fails to make clear those concerns were directed at operational, not research, programs. There are serious problems with attempting to evaluate operational programs, like the Denver Water Board project, well recognized by atmospheric scientists and statisticians for several decades. But the same NAS report recommends a coordinated research effort including "a randomized program that includes strong modeling and observational components, employing advanced computational and observational tools \[that] could substantially enhance our understanding of seeding effects and winter orographic precipitation." The prestigious NAS would hardly make such a recommendation if there were "no scientific basis." The NAS report points out that research support has been declining for more than two decades. Obviously, that is a major reason that progress has been limited. Scientists have the knowledge and tools to advance the field of winter orographic cloud seeding for the benefit of water users in the Western states and elsewhere, but not the research funds to fully verify the technology. The most recent policy statement on weather modification by the American Meteorological Society (1998) states that, "There is statistical evidence that precipitation from supercooled orographic clouds has been seasonally increased by about 10 percent. The physical cause-and-effect relationships, however, have not been fully documented. Nevertheless, the potential for such increases is supported by field measurements and numerical model simulations." Again, this is a far cry from having "no scientific basis." Arlin B. Super is a retired government and university scientist who holds a doctorate in meteorology and has had decades of experience in winter orographic cloud-seeding research. He is a resident of St. Cloud, Minn. Speakout: Cloud seeding has scientific basis |
January 01, 2005
'Star Trek,' Math Inspire Calendar ReformsBy Jennifer Viegas Two scientists who believe the current Gregorian calendar is outdated have each created proposals for calendars that they believe improve upon the current system. Both of the new plans involve acceptance of universal time worldwide. Both also would place specific dates of the month on certain weekdays that never would change. For example, if January 1 were to fall on a Sunday in 2006, New Year's Day would occur on a Sunday every year thereafter. The creators of the new systems say their plans would save individuals and businesses substantial money, time and effort, which now go into scheduling and restructuring the current calendar. According to a recent Johns Hopkins University press release, the first system is called the "Calendar-and-Time Plan." Richard Conn Henry, a professor in the university's Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy, invented the plan by crunching numbers into math equations utilizing a Fortran computer program. Under Henry's plan, each month would have either 30 or 31 days. In place of leap years, which keep the calendar in sync with seasonal changes, a one-week "mini month" would be inserted between the months of June and July every five or six years. Dubbed "Newton Week" after the British scientist Sir Isaac Newton, the seven-day period could, Henry says, be a paid vacation for everyone to do physics or other activities of their own choosing. Henry began his calendar reform project after years of feeling annoyed at having to rework his schedule. "I discovered that the pain of rescheduling chapter assignments in my course each year was totally unnecessary," Henry told Discovery News. "That made me mad and I'm still mad." He added, "Once I started, I realized I could help the U.S. economy by fixing the two wasted weeks at the end of each year and I did so. I really think the economic benefits will be large, but I can't prove it." The two "wasted weeks" refer to the scheduling changes that most employees and businesses experience each year around Christmas and New Year's. Under Henry's plan, both holidays would always fall on a Sunday. The current calendar has been in place since 1582. During that year, Pope Gregory modified a calendar instituted by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. The modifications involved removing 11 days from the year 1582, which meant that October 4 was immediately followed by October 15. The challenge then was the same as it is today. Calendar creators must produce a balanced system with the uneven figure 365.2422, which is the number of days it takes for the earth to orbit around the sun. Irv Bromberg, assistant professor of clinical biochemistry in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto, agrees that the Gregorian calendar needs an overhaul. "A permanently fixed calendar would simplify everybody's lives," Bromberg told Discovery News. "(It would allow for) permanent scheduling, fixed holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, memorial days, etc., and it would save a lot of resources and money that are wasted each year rescheduling to adjust to the varying Gregorian calendar/weekday relationship, or whatever traditional non-perpetual calendar you wish to compare it with." Bromberg has devised his own plan, called the Symmetry 454 Calendar, which, unlike Henry's system, places the extra leap week at the end of the year and begins weeks with Monday instead of Sunday. One key to Bromberg's calculations is the "Orbital Date," which he likens to the "Star Date" from the "Star Trek" television series, although he admits the writers for the show devised no particular calendar system. "The Orbital Date represents the unique moment in the Mean Orbital Year, which I have defined as 360 degrees divided by the long-term mean daily change in solar longitude," Bromberg explained. Both scientists are hopeful that the current calendar will be reformed soon. Henry has established a movement on the Web called the International Association for 2006, with a target date of Jan. 1, 2006 for implementation of his new system. "It needs government support," Henry said. "U. S. government, but China and everyone else. If the economic benefit is great, I think it might happen." 'Star Trek,' Math Inspire Calendar Reforms |
January 01, 2005
Snowflakes made easyMark Peplow A mathematician has been making indoor snowflakes that are surprisingly similar to nature's fractal beauties. The snowflakes are simulations produced by Cliff Reiter, of Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, and have the classic 'dendrite' snowflake form, in which six central stems divide and taper to increasingly fine fronds. There are a handful of mathematical models of snowflake growth, says Reiter, but most involve fiendishly complicated differential equations. He felt there had to be a simpler way of describing them. "I hadn't seen any models that were aesthetically pleasing," he says. So Reiter tried to make snowflakes using mathematical processes called cellular automata. These are sets of simple rules that can generate extremely complex forms when applied to a system over and over again. Unlike a differential equation, which tries to describe the whole snowflake, a cellular automaton just looks at a tiny part of the whole structure, and describes it in relation to areas that have already been built. Stephen Wolfram, a British mathematician, reignited interest in cellular automata 20 years ago1 (see "Stephen Wolfram: What kind of science is this?"). But Reiter says that his snowflake automata are an improvement on Wolfram's attempts, because they are able to generate realistic snowflakes from just two parameters. His research is published in a forthcoming edition of the journal Chaos, Solitons and Fractals2. Let it snow Reiter is unsure whether his model helps to explain how real snowflakes grow, but is trying to invent new cellular automata that can generate three-dimensional snowflakes. The mathematics could also find uses in other areas. "I'd like to see similar models developed for fluid dynamics," he says. Physicists currently describe how fluids move using the complicated Navier-Stokes equations. But Reiter hopes that a cellular model could describe the motion just as effectively yet much more simply. Until then... it seems that the snow shows no sign of stopping, so buy some corn for popping, and click on the videos to let it snow on your screen. Snowflakes made easy |
January 01, 2005
Unraveling the mystery of light and colorBy John Day On the next clear night, take a moment to reflect on the fact that each pinpoint of light comes from a star or nebula. Each star is a fiery furnace of sorts, generating tremendous amounts of energy in its interior depths through the transmutation of mass to energy by the process of nuclear fusion (E=mcxc) and shedding this energy from its surface out to space by electromagnetic radiation. Thousands and millions of light years distant from the surfaces, tiny bits of radiation pass through your eyeballs and excite your neural receptors and you say "I see stars!" This happens with our Sun, a star of average size and hotness, located 93,000,000 miles away. Generic light consists of energy in a vast array of wavelengths ranging from very long to very short. Sandwiched in the midrange is a particular sliver of wavelengths to which our optical systems are attuned, and which enable us to see. Isaac Newton, using sunlight and a glass prism in the 1600s, was able to demonstrate convincingly that what we call white sunlight was in fact a bundle of colors ranging from deep violet to deep red, the familiar spectrum of colors we see displayed as the rainbow. A useful metaphor could be that of an electrical cable of a dozen wires, each of which is capable of carrying a specific color of light; the cable itself carrying white light. The metaphor is useful as we explain the color of light that comes from the sky. To understand this we need to understand the phenomenon of light scattering. The atmosphere itself is composed of a variety of gases, the principal of which are nitrogen, oxygen, carbon-dioxide and various oxides. These atoms and molecules are exposed to incoming solar radiation. They absorb energy from the solar beam and then shed this radiation by reradiating it. It took another English physicist, Lord Rayleigh, in the l800s, to unlock the mystery of the sky color. He showed mathematically that the intensity of scattered light was inversely proportional to the fourth power of the color of the scattered light. Thus, since the wave length of red light, 0.7 microns, was about twice the wave length of violet light , 0.35 microns, the intensity of the violet scattered light was 2 x 2 x 2 x 2, or l6 times that of the red. The conclusion is that the intensity of blue light entering our receptors simply overwhelmed the intensity of the red light and we proclaim "the sky is blue!" The atmosphere is full of larger scatterers: dusts of various kinds and water droplets of various sizes. Dust scatters blue light preferentially from the "light cable." Thus when sunlight travels through a dusty or smoky atmosphere, the observer sees a reddish sky. A cloud is but a very large array of very tiny water droplets. If sunlight hits, say, a tall cumulus tower a large part of the beam will be reflected and the observer will proclaim that the cloud surface is white. The same observer will proclaim the back side of the cloud dark gray, because much of the solar energy penetrating it has been scattered and absorbed by the cloud droplets. Clouds at sunset or sunrise take on coloration because of scattering that removes varying colors from the solar beam/cable. Clouds are complex entities: large or small droplet size, thick or thin, high or low, water droplets or ice crystals, precipitating or dry, position with respect to sunrise or sunset. The resultant scattering from a particular solar beam may produce a variety of subtle colors depending on which color waves in the "cable" reach the observer's eyes from the clouds in question. Unraveling the mystery of light and color |
January 01, 2005
Roboshark to hunt touristsBy Julianna Kettlewell The star of last year's BBC documentary, Smart Sharks, will retire to a watery heaven - complete with robotic tuna to feast on. Roboshark's inventor, Andrew Sneath, has designed a giant aquarium, which will house an impressive panoply of robotic fish in a seven metre deep tank. Visitors will be invited to explore the aquatic world of robots from the safety of little submarine pods. Indeed, tourists will be very glad of their bite-proof pods, because Roboshark is programmed to enjoy a spot of human hunting. The purpose-built complex, which will be situated near Birmingham, is expected to open in 2006. "The tank is really a stage," Andrew Sneath told the BBC News website. "There will be all sorts of special effects with lights and bubbles. It should look amazing." Shark intelligence In its original role, Roboshark swam with wild sharks while carrying a movie camera on its head, so it could film them behaving in a natural way. Its handiwork was screened in a BBC documentary about shark intelligence, narrated by David Attenborough. During filming, Roboshark swam with whale sharks, the largest fish on the planet, and navigated its way through murky mangrove swamps to rub fins with fearsome bull sharks. After the programme had been completed, Andrew Sneath loaned Roboshark to the National Aquarium in Plymouth, where it attracted 4,000 visitors a day. Now the electronic beast's ability to draw the crowds will be put to good use in the 3,600 square metre "Hydrodome". The innovative leisure centre will contain a 40m diameter aquarium, which the designers hope will encourage interest in robotics, artificial intelligence and marine technologies. "There is an education side to this," explained Mr Sneath. "In the Hydrodome we are going to have robot labs for kids and adults to learn about building and programming a robot." Roboshark's companions will include a shoal of robotic tuna - dubbed Tintuna - and a collection of robotic sting rays. Andrew Sneath will programme all the fish to behave in as natural a way as possible. "The Tintuna school like real fish," Mr Sneath said. "They have cameras in their eyes, and will group together when they see the shark as a protective measure." Roboshark will also be programmed to chase the tuna, but only if it catches one on its own. "If a tuna leaves the group, the shark will chase it," said Mr Sneath. "And if it catches one it will stun it. The fish will go all catatonic and float to the surface for a while. "And our stingrays won't like light - if a diver shines a touch on them they will shoot for cover." Diver training As well as tourists, who will buzz about under the water in their mini submarines, the Hydrodome will also welcome trainee scuba divers. Bob Tattrie, President of the Bromsgrove Diving Club, has already had a sneak preview of Tintuna and Roboshark in action. "We swam with the tuna and it was really good," he said. "It swims like a real fish even if it didn't quite look like one." Mr Tattrie also believes the facility will be useful for training novice divers. He said: "I think the Hydrodome project is very exciting and we would like to use the facilities. "Having robotic fish swimming about will give new divers familiarity because trainees are not used to having fish around them." Roboshark to hunt tourists |