It is both conventional wisdom and a statistical reality that gender representation is not equal in all STEM (science, technology, engineering & mathematics) disciplines. When I enrolled at Carnegie Mellon, a school known for its STEM programs, nearly twenty (!) years ago, the student body was well aware of the distributions. Variations on "There's a guy for every girl... and then another guy for that guy" or (ladies speaking about men) "The odds are good, but the goods are odd" circulated widely lest we forget. … [Read more...] about Science Corner: All the Brilliant Ladies
Interview
Science Corner: It’s in the Cards
The game of heads-up limit Texas Hold 'em poker has effectively been solved. As I understand it, solving a game means identifying the best move to make in any given situation. Other games, like tic-tac-toe and checkers, have been solved in the past, but this result is significant because it is the first solved game where the player does not know everything about the current game situation--mainly, what cards their opponent is holding. The lessons learned have applications to a wide range of real-life situations where … [Read more...] about Science Corner: It’s in the Cards
Science In Review — Christmas Craft
At a neighborhood Christmas party, I had a lively and stimulating conversation about some of the technical elements of filmmaking--editing, cinematography, action choreography, and the like. Neither my neighbor nor I work in the field, and we don't have serious aspirations of movie careers. We just find that our appreciation of the movies we enjoy is enhanced by understanding the processes involved. … [Read more...] about Science In Review — Christmas Craft
Science Corner — Let There Be Peace Between Man and Virus
"I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here," Agent Smith tells Morpheus in The Matrix. "It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. ... You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus." It's a memorable speech, but it turns out not to … [Read more...] about Science Corner — Let There Be Peace Between Man and Virus
Science Corner: Which bird gets the LEGO worm?
The tiny worm Caenorhabditis elegans has been a boon to science. Adult worms have a consistent number of cells, and we have been able to work out where each one comes from during the developmental process. They also have a consistent set of neurons, and the way that they connect to each other has been mapped out as well. So, naturally, someone reproduced those connections in a software simulation and got that running on a LEGO Mindstorm robot kit. The robot sensors were set up to correspond to certain sensory inputs on … [Read more...] about Science Corner: Which bird gets the LEGO worm?