Dept of Transportation in Science.gov - so much more than you might expect!

Thanks to Tim Byrne, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, who sent this information:

The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) has joined Science.gov. This means that when you launch a search at the Science.gov gateway, your single query can find science information from 14 government agencies, including the DOT National Transportation Library (NTL) Integrated Search and more than 30 DOT websites. Major subject areas of highway and transportation engineering, statistics, planning,policies, and research are included in the Science.gov basic search.

The DOT Web site includes links to a number of specialized libraries, such as coast guard, pipeline safety, and transportation law collections.
Try a search on pipeline safety in Science.gov, then refine the results with the additional keyword alaska, for an example of finding DOT results within a broader search.

Global Warming by the Numbers: 13 Facts for Friday the 13th

From the Environmental Defense Fund:

Friday the 13th just got a little scarier. Here are 13 facts about the realities of global warming. The numbers speak for themselves -- we must make 2009 the showdown year for global warming action. There is no time to lose.

Read the Facts. Take Action.

Support Science Funding in the Economic Stimulus Bill

The American Institute of Physics FYI: Bulletin of Science Policy News for February 12 presents a succinct summary of science and technology funding in the economic stimulus bill. If you support funding for research, recognizing the importance of science and technology advancement for job creation and the economic health of the country, urge your legislators to vote for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act when in comes before the House and Senate today and tomorrow.

The following is from the AIP site:
The first details about this $790 billion bill, which provides significant funding increases for science and technology programs, appear in a document from the Office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Direct quotations from this document appear below. FYI will report on the details of this agreement as they are released.

The Speaker’s “Fact Sheet,” characterized as a “Preliminary Overview,” explains that the conference agreement will “Restore science and innovation as the keys to new American-made technology, preventing and treating disease, and tackling urgent national challenges like climate change and dependence on foreign oil.” [Read more]

Darwin and Lincoln: men of vision and reason

Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were both born 200 years ago today. Consider the remarkable impact each man made on humanity, and celebrate science and reason by reading some of their own words.

Peruse the Darwin Correspondence Project online, or browse through the 16 printed volumes in our collection: Correspondence of Charles Darwin. The Darwin Day Celebration web site offers a wide range of resources, including audio files.

Robert Krulwich (Class of '69) presented a fascinating look at Darwin's life on NPR's Morning Edition this morning, considering the possibility that love for his wife and the tragedy of the death of a beloved daughter, directly influenced the timing of publication of On the Origin of Species. Listen to the story.

The library owns many editions and reproductions of Darwin's work [search OBIS by title], or you can read a reproduction online.

Lincoln's Bicentennial is being celebrated across the country. The Kentucky Abraham Bicentennial Commission web site is a good place to explore some of the events, documents, photos and links to other sites.

Don't let the day slip away without giving some thought to the enduring legacy of Lincoln and Darwin!

Stimulus Package Compromise Announced -- Scientists Hope for Jolt to Research

National Public Radio posted this breaking news this afternoon: Congressional Leaders Announce Stimulus Deal and Scientists Hope Stimulus Will Give Jolt to Research. Richard Harris, in his report on science research funding, noted that the stimulus package includes billions in funding for the National Institutes of Health. Raynard Kington, the NIH's acting director, says that NIH currently has 14,000 peer-reviewed applicants, worthy of funding, waiting for support. "Give the NIH the money, he says, and in just a few weeks the money can flow out the door and into a thousand labs or more." Read more or listen online.

Help for Off-Campus Access to the EJC

Getting access through the OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center to publishers' web sites is a little more complicated if you are off-campus. Follow these steps:

1. login to the proxy server or the VPN client on your computer [download it here]
2. find the journal you need in the OhioLINK EJC
3. link to the publisher's web site from the EJC
4. if you do not have immediate access, look for this option: "Oberlin College - OhioLINK Trial, Oerlin College", rather than "Oberlin College, Oberlin College_IP," which is for our local subscriptions.

You will have access only to those journals purchased by OhioLINK, which does not include the pre-1995 archives of all publishers.

These procedures will be necessary only until the OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center is completely restored.

Update on OhioLINK EJC

OhioLINK staff are working diligently to restore access to the Electronic Journal Center, as explained in this message from Director Tom Sanville. Updates will be posted in OhioLINK's What's New.
-------
Important Message to the OhioLINK community of students, faculty, and staff:

Beginning Wednesday afternoon, February 4, the OhioLINK computer disk storage system suffered a widespread, and supposedly not possible, multiple component failure affecting all major services with the exception of the OhioLINK Library Catalog. We have restored all services except the Electronic Journal Center (EJC). Restoration of the EJC remains under vigorous analysis, but unfortunately we know that any solution will not be immediate. In light of this, we are taking immediate steps to provide alternative access to the resources of the EJC through the various Web sites of the EJC journal publishers.

As noted on [EJC welcome page], we have immediate access to many EJC publisher sites and are working to expand access to the rest as quickly as possible. While the EJC is down, we will continue to improve this site to direct you to the proper publishers. We will also work to adjust our systems that link article citations to full text in the EJC by redirecting links to the publisher sites. We are examining every possibility to keep you connected to resources you need and to improve that connectivity as quickly as possible, while the EJC is not available.

The OhioLINK staff is sincerely sorry for this significant disruption in services. We remain committed, as we have since 1992, to providing high quality information resources on a consistent and reliable basis to the Ohio higher education community.

Sincerely,

Tom Sanville, Executive Director, tom@ohiolink.edu tom@ohiolink.edu>

Drastic Reductions Proposed for Science Funding in Senate bill

From Science Debate 2008, 9 am this morning:

"I am writing to alert you to efforts underway this morning to zero out a large portion of the science funding from the Senate American Reinvestment and Recovery Act as a part of a $77.9B reduction effort led by Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Susan Collins (R-ME).

"As you know better than most, science and technology are responsible for half of the economic development of the United States since WWII and yet, if current trends hold, some, such as the Business Roundtable, have predicted that 90% of all scientists and engineers will live in Asia within 5 years.

"The United States simply MUST renew our investment in the single greatest economic engine this country has ever known. Small federal investments in scientific research have helped produce things like the internet and the transistor that have consistently delivered multi-trillion dollar economies.

"The United States is at a critical juncture, and if this concerns you we suggest now would be a time to contact your Senators and urge them to support science funding. Here is what is being proposed to be cut from the bill, according to TPM:

NASA exploration $750,000,000 = 50%
NSF $1,402,000,000 = 100%
NOAA $427,000,000 = 34.94%
NIST $218,000,000 = 37.91%
DOE energy efficiency & renewable energy $1,000,000,000 = 38%
DOE office of science $100,000,000 = 100%"

Larry Squire '63 on NPR: Memory, the Hippocampus and Alzheimer's

Oberlin alumnus Larry R. Squire, class of 1963, and Principal Investigator of the Memory Research Laboratory (University of California, San Diego and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Diego) explained recent findings on NPR's Morning Edition today. Dr. Squire's study, co-published with Christine N. Smith, is published in the newest issue of Journal of Neuroscience:

• Medial Temporal Lobe Activity during Retrieval of Semantic Memory Is Related to the Age of the Memory. Christine N. Smith and Larry R. Squire. The Journal of Neuroscience, January 28, 2009, 29(4):930-938; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4545-08.2009
  

From the Morning Edition story:

"What we found was that the hippocampus was most active when subjects were recalling memories about new events that occurred just a year or two earlier," Squire says. "The hippocampus became less active as subjects recalled memories that were five years or 10 years old."

As people tried to remember older events, the scientists saw more and more activity on the surface of the brain.

The results suggest that the hippocampus is necessary to form new memories and to retrieve recent memories, says Russell Poldrack, a brain scientist at UCLA. But it plays little or no role once memories are a few years old.

"This is the clearest demonstration yet of what happens as memories get older," Poldrack says. "It's pretty compelling evidence." [more]

Related reading in the library:
The library is grateful to Dr. Squire for his many contributions to the collection, including his most recent monograph co-authored with Eric R. Kandel, Memory: from mind to molecules.

See other books in OBIS authored by Larry Squire.

Eat Right, Save the Planet: Bittman on NPR

Hear NPR's interview with Mark Bittman, author of Food matters: a guide to conscious eating. Mark Bittman is a food columnist for The New York Times and an advocate for '"conscious eating." Bittman's book is an obvious choice after reading Michael Pollan's The omnivore's dilemma and In defense of food.

All copies of Mark Bittman's book in OhioLINK are currently checked out, and Oberlin's copy already has two holds. Read an excerpt at NPR, and place a hold on Oberlin's copy if desired.

From the synopsis @ Barnes & Noble: "The simple truth, as he points out, is that as long as you eat more vegetables and whole grains, the result will be better health for you and for the world in which we live."

What You Need to Know About Energy, from Natl Acad Press

The National Academies Press invites you to download and read, for free, more than 4,000 books! One of their newest offerings is What You Need to Know About Energy.

Listen also to the podcast America's Energy Future and link to related resources from the NAP web site. Browse books by topic or search specific keywords. Free PDF books will have a "sign in" link in the "purchase options" box. Click on the link, complete a short survey, and you will be able to download the book.

2009 is the Year of Science! Celebrating How We Know What We Know

Year of Science 2009 Kicks Off this Week Across the Nation [COPUS Press Release]

The Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS) kicked off Year of Science 2009 (YoS2009) -- a national, yearlong, grassroots celebration--this week in Boston at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. COPUS, which represents more than 500 organizations, is celebrating how science works, who scientists are, and why science matters. Ira Flatow, host of Science Friday, broadcast every week on National Public Radio, launched the week’s events.

One of the themes for January 2009 is Communicating Science. The library is over-flowing with wonderful books that do just that - engaging and enlightening, books by scientists and science writers for the general public are regularly featured on our new books shelf.

Start with the annual series "Best American Science and Nature Writing" for a sample of excellent articles. The 2008 volume is now on the new book shelf.

Think you're smart? Plenty of other animals are also adept at complex thinking.

Scientific American Mind features the intelligence of animals in a Dec. 2008 article by Paul Patton:

One World, Many Minds: Intelligence in the Animal Kingdom

From the introduction: "complex brains and sophisticated cognition have arisen multiple times in independent lineages of animals during the earth’s evolutionary history. So-called lower animals, such as fish, reptiles and birds, display a startling array of cognitive capabilities. Goldfish, for instance, have shown they can negotiate watery mazes similar to the way rats do in intelligence tests in the lab."

Read the whole story at Scientific American Mind. While you're there, check out some of the latest stories, including "Did a Comet Hit Earth 12,000 Years Ago?", posted Jan. 2.

Looking Ahead: Pres-Elect Obama's Science Advisory Team

As we prepare to leave campus for winter break, pause a moment to consider the new year and new possibilities after President-Elect Obama is inaugurated. The recently announced appointments for the science advisory team indicate that peer-reviewed scientific consensus will guide the administration's actions in science, health, technology and environmental issues.

This is expressed most clearly in Mr. Obama's own words:
"...the truth is that promoting science isn’t just about providing resources—it’s about protecting free and open inquiry. It’s about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology. It’s about listening to what our scientists have to say, even when it’s inconvenient—especially when it’s inconvenient. Because the highest purpose of science is the search for knowledge, truth and a greater understanding of the world around us."

From the Science Team Rollout Radio Address
Listen to the NPR Story.

And to that I say, Amen.

Wind-Powered Radio in War Weary Southern Sudan

Living on Earth [Dec. 5] brings a remarkable story of community radio from the Sudan: energy technology innovation, human resilience, moving materials with people power, and community effort to bring journalism with integrity to hundreds of people in remote areas.

LOE's Bruce Gellerman interviews John Mussa, a reporter with Internews in southern Sudan. Read the transcript or download the MP3 version, and you'll no longer take your local radio station for granted!

After War, Wind-Powered Radio

"Twenty-two years of civil war destroyed Sudan’s electrical infrastructure, so locals have turned to wind and solar energy to power their new radio station."

'Tis the Gift Giving Season - Go Green & Support Social Justice

My inbox is overflowing with messages encouraging me to reduce waste, carbon emissions, and unnecessary spending on products that contribute to over-consumption and our non-sustainable culture. The holiday season is a wonderful opportunity to give gifts that Do Good, and these messages show the seemingly countless ways to do so! Here are just a few of the Green Gift and Alternative Gift guides that have come my way. In addition to shopping locally and supporting Oberlin merchants (and artisans, whose works are sold in The Ginko Gallery and at Uncommon Objects of the FAVA Gallery) you might consider spending your gift dollars in support of environmental sustainability and social/economic justice, while honoring the people you love at the same time.

• GreenGiftGuide.com.
• Heifer International.
• NRDC Great Green Gift Guide.
• Oxfam America Unwrapped.
• Ten Thousand Villages. (some products are carried locally at Ben Franklin!)
• TreeHugger Holiday Gift Guide.
• World of Good from eBay.
• Yahoo Green Gift Guide.

Shop also at the Alternative Gift Fair, to be held Monday-Friday, Dec. 8-12, from 11:30-1:30 each day, in the Bent Corridor of the Science Center. If you'd like a catalog of items offered at that gift fair, please contact me.

If you know of other great sources for sustainable, fair trade, and/or locally produced gifts, don't hesitate to add your comments. Thanks!

Faculty Publication: Dan Styer on Entropy and Evolution

Daniel F. Styer, John and Marianne Schiffer Professor of Physics and Astronomy, has published an article that brings together biology, thermodynamics and physics teaching.

Entropy and evolution. American Journal of Physics, Volume 76, issue 11 (November 2008), p. 1031-1033

Author's abstract: Quantitative estimates of the entropy involved in biological evolution demonstrate that there is no conflict between evolution and the second law of thermodynamics. The calculations are elementary and could be used to enliven the thermodynamics portion of a high school or introductory college physics course.

The article is accessible to all OhioLINK affiliates at the OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center.

Interested in seeing current articles from other Oberlin science faculty? ISI Web of Science (also known as Science Citation Index) provides a quick way to search across all science disiciplines. Search "Oberlin Coll" as an address phrase, limit to 2008, and you'll find 40 papers in seconds.

Happy Founders Day! 175 Years of Classes at OC

Oberlin College opened its doors for classes on December 3, 1833. 175 years today! Frederick Scovill, the College’s first teacher, wrote in a letter to a friend dated December 13, 1833, “The grand object of this Institution is to educate those who shall be prepared physically, as well as intellectually and morally, to illuminate the world with the light of science and civilization.”

Learn more about science education at Oberlin at the College Archives, beginning with the very worthy Dr. James Dascomb, village and college physician, chemistry, botany and physiology professor, and, briefly, college librarian. Dr. Dascomb also taught sacred music, rhetoric, mathematics and civil law, among other courses, according to the 1836 Catalogue. This photo, courtesy of the Oberlin College Archives, was taken in the 1850s. The Archives department is a wonderful place to research our past.

The Oberlin Alumni Magazine for December 1961 includes a nice history of science education at Oberlin. It's available in the Archives or in the periodical stacks on the 2nd floor of the Main Library.

Dance Your Ph.D.! Contest Winners Announced

If you start learning basic dance moves now, you may be ready to choreograph your own interpretive dance sequence, should the AAAS sponsor another "Dance Your Ph.D." contest. The 2009 contest winners depicted positron emission tomography, the role of vitamin D in beta cell function, and isoelectric focusing of asymmetric mutant hybrids (Indeed. A bit different from inspiration of the Fall Forward dancers, I assume). They will be honored guests at the 2009 AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago. The dances are enormously creative -- take a look!

Take the BioScience Challenge

Action Bioscience, a Web-based educational resource of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, offers dozens of peer-reviewed articles on timely, critical issues, written for the non-specialist. Biodiversity, environment, genomics, biotechnology, and evolution are five of the major categories of bioscience "challenges" that impact our lives on a daily basis. Each category on the Web site includes excellent review articles by experts, with references for more reading. Sign up for ActionBioscience e-updates, and you'll be alerted when new articles are posted.

One of the highlighted articles considers polar bears and climate change, a very timely topic given the Defenders of Wildlife new report on the urgent need to act now to protect wildlife from global warming.

Read your way through the Web site and you'll be wonderfully informed on the most pressing issues in bioscience today - and better prepared to appreciate the Year of Science, to be celebrated in 2009.