A New Clothing That Could Help People Reduce Body Heat

A new type of fabric could keep people cool in hot climates and reduce the need for expensive and energy-consuming air conditioning, a new study finds.

A team of researchers has developed a low-cost, plastic-based textile that allows the body to release heat in a new way. Just as sweating is one way the body cools off, the new clothing could help people reduce body heat. This cooling clothing could allow for air-conditioning to be set to a lower output than usual while still ensuring people stay cool, the researchers noted.

Heating and cooling spaces contribute to 12.3 percent of total energy consumption in the U.S., according to the researchers. Efforts to reduce energy use have focused on improving building insulation and enabling "smart" temperature control. However, engineers studying "personal thermal management" found that providing heating or cooling only to one person — rather than the power needed to cool an entire building — would result in far higher energy efficiency.

 "If you can cool the person rather than the building where they work or live, that will save energy," Yi Cui, one of the study authors and an associate professor of materials science and engineering, and of photon science at Stanford University, said in a statement.

As with ordinary fabrics, the new material allows perspiration to evaporate. However, its other, new cooling mechanism works by allowing the heat the body emits as infrared radiation to pass through the textile, the researchers explained.

"Forty to 60 percent of our body heat is dissipated as infrared radiation when we are sitting in an office," said study co-author Shanhui Fan, a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University who specializes in photonics, the study of visible and invisible light. "But until now, there has been little or no research on designing the thermal radiation characteristics of textiles."

The researchers used a commercially available plastic material — nanoporous polyethylene (nanoPE), which has interconnected pores 50 to 1,000 nanometers in diameter and is used in batteries as a separator to prevent electrical shorting. NanoPE's pores allow for infrared waves to be released. In lab tests, the researchers found that nanoPE allowed 96 percent of the infrared radiation to pass through. By contrast, cotton permitted only 1.5 percent of the infrared radiation to pass through.

If woven into clothing, the nanoPE material could make the wearer feel nearly 4 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than if they were wearing cotton clothing, the researchers said.

As the scientists continue their research, they are adding more colors, textures and other characteristics to the nanoPE material to make it more cloth-like.

The findings were published online Sept. 1 in the journal Science.

Source: http://www.livescience.com/56620-plastic-based-textile-keeps-you-cool.html

Time Relaunches Life in Virtual Reality

Time Inc., the publisher of the iconic Life magazine that closed in 1972, is relaunching the title — in virtual reality.

The new Life VR features immersive storytelling, the company said in its announcement last week, and is available as a free download in the Life VR app for iOS and Android mobile-based virtual reality headset users.

Three virtual reality experiences — Defying the Nazis , Fast Ride and Lumen — are already available in the application.

More virtual experiences will be coming soon.

“We have an aggressive editorial road map and live experiences planned for Life VR, which will represent the best traditions of this iconic brand,” said Mia Tramz, managing editor for Life VR, in the announcement.

Source: http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/author/nuela-ada/

'Cards Against Humanity' STEM scholarship for women

Last year, the wildly popular potty-mouthed card game Cards Against Humanity channeled the profits from its $10 Science Pack into a full-ride college scholarship for women studying science, technology, engineering or math. With Science Pack sales still going strong, and gender equality in STEM fields still sorely lacking, Cards is ready to accept another round of applications for the scholarship's second year. 

Like last year, the scholarship offers full, four-year tuition to any woman seeking an undergraduate degree in any STEM field and applications will be reviewed by a board of over 60 women working in places like NASA JPL, Harvard Medical School and the National Science Foundation. Ideal candidates will be "an ambassador for their field" and are asked to submit a three-minute video lecture on a science topic they are passionate about. Applicants must be enrolled or planning to attend college in United States during the 2017 academic year, but any STEM field is fair game. (Sorry, no graduate students, however.) The deadline for submissions is December 11th at midnight and ten finalists will be asked to submit additional materials.

To date, the scholarship has raised over $975,000 on the profits of that aforementioned Science Pack. More details about the application process can be found at the Science Ambassador Scholarship website, and for prospective applicants who need a little inspiration.

Source: https://www.engadget.com

Ada Lovelace: First Computer Programmer

Ada Lovelace (nee Bryon) has been called the world's first computer programmer. What she did was write the world’s first machine algorithm for an early computing machine that existed only on paper. Of course, someone had to be the first, but Lovelace was a woman, and this was in the 1840s. Lovelace was a brilliant mathematician, thanks in part to opportunities that were denied most women of the time.

Ada Byron was a teenager when she met Cambridge mathematics professor Charles Babbage, who had invented the Difference Engine, a mechanical computer designed to produce mathematical tables automatically and error-free. Babbage never built the actual machine due to personal setbacks and financing difficulty. By 1834 he had moved on to design his Analytical Engine, the first general purpose computer, which used punch cards for input and output. This machine also lacked financing and was never built. (Babbage's Difference Engine was finally constructed in 1985–2002, and it worked.)

Babbage was impressed with the brilliant young woman, and they corresponded for years, discussing math and computing as he developed the Analytical Engine. In 1842, Babbage gave a lecture on the engine at the University of Turin. Luigi Menabrea, a mathematician (and future Italian prime minister), transcribed the lecture in French. Ada, now in her late 20s and known as Countess of Lovelace, was commissioned to translate the transcript into English. Lovelace added her own notes to the lecture, which ended up being three times as long as the actual transcript. It was published in 1843. 

Lovelace's notes made it clear that she understood the Analytical Engine as well as Babbage himself, and furthermore, she understood how to make it do the things computers do. She suggested the data input that would program the machine to calculate Bernoulli numbers, which is now considered the first computer program. But more than that, Lovelace was a visionary: she understood that numbers could be used to represent more than just quantities, and a machine that could manipulate numbers could be made to manipulate any data represented by numbers. She predicted that machines like the Analytical Engine could be used to compose music, produce graphics, and be useful to science. Of course, all that came true—in another 100 years. 

Babbage was so impressed with Lovelace's contributions, he dubbed her "The Enchantress of Numbers."

How did a young woman get the opportunity to show the world her talents in the 19th century? Mathematical intelligence was not the only thing Ada Lovelace had going for her. Her potential for intelligence probably came genetically, as she was the daughter of the poet Lord Byron and his first wife Anne Isabella Noel Byron. Both were privileged members of the aristocracy, and both were gifted and well educated. The marriage broke up shortly after Ada was born.

Lady Byron, who studied literature, science, philosophy, and, most unusual for a woman, mathematics, was determined that Ada not follow in her father's footsteps. Instead of art and literature, Ada was tutored in mathematics and science. Ada excelled in all her studies, and her interests were wide ranging. Ada became a baroness in 1835 when she married William King, 8th Baron King; the two had three children. In 1838, she became Countess of Lovelace when her husband was elevated to Earl of Lovelace. Her pedigree and peerage alone would have landed Lovelace in the history books, but her accomplishments in mathematics made her a pioneer of not only computing, but of women in science.

Lovelace died of cancer in 1852, when she was only 36. More than 150 years later, we remember her contributions to science and engineering in the celebration of Ada Lovelace Day on October 13. First celebrated in 2009 (in March), it is a day set aside to learn about women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 

Source: mentalfloss

Top Programming Languages

Source: http://spectrum.ieee.org

16-year-old South African invents wonder material to fight drought

Johannesburg schoolgirl Kiara Nirghin, 16, recently won the Google Science Fair's Community Impact Award for the Middle East and Africa with her submission "No More Thirsty Crops."

Using orange peel and avocado skins, the precocious student created a super absorbent polymer (SAP) capable of storing reserves of water hundreds of times its own weight, forming reservoirs that would allow farmers to maintain their crops at minimal cost. The polymer has the added benefit of sustainability as it uses recycled and biodegradable waste products.

"Kiara found an ideal material that won't hurt the budget in simple orange peel, and through her research, she created a way to turn it into soil-ready water storage with help from the avocado," said Andrea Cohan, program leader of the Google Science Fair.

The inventor says she wanted to tackle the most urgent aspect of the national crisis.

"I wanted to minimize the effect that drought has on the community and the main thing it affects is the crops," says Nirghin, of St. Martin's School. "That was the springboard for the idea."

She describes the process as "trial and error," with a lot of experimentation before alighting on the perfect formula.

"I started researching what an SAP was, and what they all had in common was a chain molecule polysaccharide," Nirghin recalls. "I found that orange peel has 64% polysaccharide and also the gelling agent pectin, so I saw it as a good (option). I used avocado skin due to the oil."

The teenager combined the skin and peel and left the mixture in the sun, where they reacted together to form the powerfully absorbent polymer.

As a regional winner, Nirghin has been assigned a mentor from Google to work with her on developing the polymer, and hopes it could be tested in the field. She will soon discover if she is one of the tech giant's sixteen global finalists.

"If the idea was commercialized and applied to real farms and real crops I definitely think the impact that drought has on crops would be reduced," she says.

"I think it works," says Dr. Jinwen Zhang, a professor of materials engineering at Washington State University, who is developing absorbent hydrogels to address drought. "Using waste products for low-cost feedstock for large volume is definitely worth further investigation."

The teenager, whose hero is the Indian agricultural scientist M. S. Swaminathan, has many more ideas, including a proposal to dye the skins of endangered animals to discourage poaching.

"I might look into health sciences or engineering," she says of her future plans. "Something so I can improve the world."

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/09/africa/orange-drought-kiara-nirghin

The Math Problem Diverting Women Out Of STEM Careers

Low mathematical confidence + a bleak future of discrimination = women exiting the field

The pipeline that funnels women into careers in math and science is leaky all the way along along, but if one particular leak could be plugged, it might make a dramatic difference. Researchers have identified one change that would increase the number of women in so-called STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math) by 75 percent.

A new study finds that women are 1.5 times more likely to leave their STEM studies after their first college course in calculus, a crucial stepping stone for those pursuing a career in the field. Despite having above-average mathematical abilities and preparedness, women are more likely to both start and end the course with lower mathematical confidence than men. They report that they don’t understand the course material, meaning they leave that educational track and are diverted from STEM fields.

Women and men begin their formal educations with a relatively equal interest in science, but the divide tends to widen with time. The most notable shift can be observed in freshman attending a four-year college or university.

And before some self-described ‘men’s rights activist’ comes up with the brilliant analysis that these women lack confidence because they lack the skills (the study didn’t examine students’ grades or abilities) past research has found that women actually tend to outperform men in Calculus I, so those arguments simply don’t add up.

One factor in why calculus affects women’s decisions to pursue a new field of study in college so profoundly is the fact their mathematical confidence is shaken early on.“If female students are entering college excited to be challenged, supported, and surrounded by like-minded STEM people and they have a negative initial experience with a STEM course, it makes sense that this could be the final experience to encourage them to pursue a different (and non-STEM) field,” Jessica Ellis, a co-author of the report and professor of mathematics at Colorado State University, told Vocativ in an e-mail. Calculus is notoriously difficult, known for separating the wheat from the chaff at the collegiate level, which is something Stacy S. Klein-Gardner, director of the Center for STEM Education for Girls may be part of the problem.“Some professors aren’t changing how they teach or what they teach,” she said, noting that they often employ “an attitude where you’re doing great if you got a 60 on a test.” She notes that this type of negative reinforcement may affect women differently.

Men also choose to end their STEM studies at this juncture, but for different reasons. While men and women are nearly as likely to say they’ve dropped out due to having too many other courses, not doing well enough in Calculus I, or switching majors, women are more than twice as likely to say that they “do not believe [they] understand the ideas of Calculus I well enough to take Calculus II.” It’s the same basic rationale that means women don’t apply for jobs unless they’re 100 percent qualified, while men apply at 60 percent qualified.

This gender gap in confidence starts early—according to a recent study from Google and Gallup, more female students in high school or younger believe that boys will outperform them in computer science, and are less confident in their own abilities to succeed. The study also found that TV representation of girls and parents’ sentiments reinforce the notion—age-old cultural stereotypes, basically. Sure, there’s been a massive flood of STEM-toys for girls recently, including Mattel’s new Game Developer Barbie, but there are still a lot of cultural stereotypes to unravel here. (Remember the infamous “Math class is tough”-whining Teen Talk Barbie released in 1992?)

“Within any one woman’s life, [the confidence gap] likely stems back to her early childhood,” said Klein-Gardner. “Girls are equally as good or better at mathematics than boys, but word hasn’t gotten out yet to the average girl that it’s the case.”

The harsh reality for those who survive the long swim upstream to a career in STEM is that they’ll face racial and gender gaps there, which have persisted for a long time, with men statistically twice as likely to be hired for a mathematical task than women are. Widespread sexism in Silicon Valley has been found present in all aspects of the work culture, from the interview process to networking opportunities to sexual harassment.

“Our study indicates that the women who persist through the calculus sequence have higher mathematical confidence than those who don’t,” said Ellis. “If we imagine this trend continuing through up to women in academic STEM positions or leadership positions in tech companies, these are the women who may have the strongest mathematical confidence (and abilities). Yet, almost daily now it seems like there is another study published that highlights the ways in which these highly confident and capable women in STEM experience their careers with obstacles that men do not face.”

Source: vocativ.com