STEM

Private suborbital space flight to launch from Kennedy

By Paul Katula •
A company that develops spacecrafts that can achieve a suborbital altitude of about 100 km will be able to launch the private space flights from the Shuttle Landing Facility at Cape Canaveral.

We’re learning more about currents in the oceans

By Paul Katula •
Ocean currents, the driving force behind storms like Isaac, which may soon be upgraded to a hurricane, are better understood, thanks to the work of a team of scientists at Florida State and MIT.

Is sleep-learning via sensory input possible?

By Paul Katula •
Sleep-learning studies are difficult for a variety of reasons, but a group in Israel thinks they have shown that sleep-learning is possible—not through speaking to people while they're sleeping, but through getting them to tie the sense of smell to the sense of hearing.

Florida schools grapple with Common Core standards

By Paul Katula •
Teachers in Florida and in 45 states are struggling to revise lesson plans as the new Common Core State Standards go into effect. In some states, like Florida, the transition is gradual, while other states drop their old standards cold turkey.

Biochemist, former Miss Massachusetts, has a TV show

By Paul Katula •
In a push to get kids excited about STEM learning (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math), a biochemist started an organization, which is now producing TV segments for Comcast in Boston. Fun to watch! GREAT science!

Butterflies move north in warming climate

By Paul Katula •
Data from an amateur group of naturalists enabled a study about butterfly populations in a warming Massachusetts climate. Amateur data is becoming increasingly valuable to scientists as the need for data often surpasses its availability.

Quantum computer figures out that 15 = 3 × 5

By Press Release •
Prime factorization of large numbers makes online purchases with a credit card more secure. But physicists at the University of California, Santa Barbara, might have found a way to beat it. The issue now is time.

NSF awards $19 mil in environmental ed grants

By Paul Katula •
The National Science Foundation awarded six organizations some very big grants in order to make education about climate change more effective in our schools. One grant recipient from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science noted that the subject was controversial, and he's right.

Environmental literacy summit in Allegany County

By Paul Katula •
A summit at a beautiful site in Allegany County, Md., brought more than 160 educators together to share ideas about teaching environmental literacy from every school system in Maryland. A time to learn and love the outdoors.