Tag Archives: Science

BlackBerry targets the best and brightest women in the UK for BlackBerry Scholars program

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aliciakeysBlackBerry Scholars Program – a multi-level strategy to engage young women across the globe in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

BlackBerry is reaching out to women in the UK to urge them to apply for the new BlackBerry Scholars Program, an initiative designed to inspire women globally to enter and develop careers in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Led by BlackBerry Global Creative Director, Alicia Keys the BlackBerry Scholars program will offer ten full, four year university scholarships to outstanding female candidates. The BlackBerry Scholars Program is available to women across the UK and will provide scholarships to outstanding applicants who are seeking degrees at accredited local colleges and universities in the areas of STEM across the UK.

“Women are underrepresented in fields of science and technology, and we feel strongly that it’s time to drive a change,” said BlackBerry Global Creative Director, Alicia Keys. “It’s important to connect the dots for young women in school and college, and show them that careers in science and technology are within their reach. And when women do land these jobs, it’s vital they receive the mentoring and support they need to advance in their careers. I’m proud BlackBerry is demonstrating leadership in women’s education, both in school and in the workplace, and giving back to its most loyal users in such a profound way.”

Applications are now open to candidates in the UK, who are interested in the scholarship, and will close on June 26 2013. The scholars will be selected by a panel of inspirational and accomplished women, led by Alicia Keys, who will recruit candidates based on their academic merit and passion for entering the mobile computing industry.

This scholarship program is the first step in BlackBerry’s long-term commitment and multi-tiered strategy to engage young women at every step of their education from school to college, and as they rise through their careers. As more than 55% of BlackBerry customers are women, BlackBerry aims to champion this generation of female leaders as they strive to achieve their ambitions in this highly-competitive industry.

For those interested application is now open and will close on June 26, 2013. For more information about the program, eligibility requirements, and how to apply, please visit www.blackberry.com/scholars.  Please spread the word on Twitter by using #BBScholars.

Economics of crowd-sourcing under spotlight

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A team headed by an economist at the University of Portsmouth has won £750,000 to establish why people give up their time to help scientists better understand some of the biggest mysteries, from searching for the cure for cancer to trying to understand the galaxies that fill our Universe.

Dr Joe Cox, of the Portsmouth Business School, will lead a team from Oxford, Manchester and Leeds Universities and colleagues from Portsmouth’s world-leading Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, to find out more about the people who volunteer to help online science projects.

The grant for the three-year project was awarded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) as part of the Research Councils UK digital economy theme.

Dr Cox said: “Hundreds of thousands of people all over the world are giving their time to help find a cure for cancer, or to better understand the nature of the Universe, or patterns of global warming, but we don’t yet have a detailed understanding of the processes that drive these initiatives, which are more complex than they may first appear.

“The growth of the digital economy has dramatically affected the ways people interact with each other and engage in different activities, but little is known about the changing nature of volunteering and crowd-sourcing in this context.

“This grant will allow us to formulate new economic models to explain the choices, motivations and behaviours of digital volunteers.”

The project will also investigate ways in which volunteering can be optimised and sustained through strategic interactions and interventions on the part of the managers of these resources.

Dr Cox will be working with Dr Karen Masters of the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at Portsmouth to study the Zooniverse (www.zooniverse.org), a highly successful and diverse cluster of online citizen science and crowd-sourcing projects inspired by the success of Galaxy Zoo and now includes more than 20 projects including  Cell Slider  and Seafloor Explorer. Volunteers on these initiatives give up their time to interpret and classify data of scientific interest, ranging from images of distant galaxies to weather patterns and cancer cells.

Dr Masters is project scientist for Galaxy Zoo.

She said: “We hope this grant win will help us to understand how to improve the volunteer experience on Zooniverse projects so that people can feel confident they are contributing to real science when they spend time on our sites, and also gain the maximum enjoyment from the experience.”

Dr Cox said: “Technology has made it possible for the average person on the street to make a real contribution towards our understanding of the universe, the modelling of climate change and the development of a cure for cancer.

“Our research will show how these initiatives can encourage more people to volunteer, as well as enhancing the depth of their engagement, which will help to push the boundaries of scientific knowledge and create significant social value.”

The findings will be of “considerable interest” to web communities and the broader voluntary sector, he said, and is likely to also have significant implications for commercial projects that make use of crowd-sourcing, such as Amazon’s Mechanical Turk.

The research partners include Dr Chris Lintott, Oxford University, Dr Anita Greenhill, University of Manchester, and Dr Gary Graham, University of Leeds.

Is time travel possible? How big is the universe? Science Questions Answered

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Frost Magazine loves everything science so we are very excited about The Times and The Sunday Times launching a month-long campaign that will see both newspapers publish a series of inspirational guides, pullout posters and supplements designed to help readers and their families get smarter.

The ‘Instant Wisdom’ campaign kicks-off this weekend (09/09) in The Sunday Times with the first part of ‘100 Answers Every Grown Up Needs To Know’, a free supplement that gives parents all the tools necessary to answer those tricky questions children ask. The second part will be in The Sunday Times the following weekend.

The Times will also run an eight-part ‘How to Be Smarter’ series which includes grammar training for grown ups; brain trainers; guidance on how to do a cryptic crossword; puzzles and a summary of the best bits of Shakespeare. The Sunday Times will consolidate the series with a double-sided activity poster featuring 75 facts and skills every child needs to know.

The campaign will culminate with The Sunday Times University Guide, the definitive university rankings providing prospective students with all the information they need to make the next step after school or college.

Paul Croughton, Commissioning Editor at The Sunday Times Magazine and Editor of the 100 Answers Every Grown Up Needs To Know supplement, said: “The Times and The Sunday Times are renowned for both authoritative and entertaining education and learning content. We publish the definitive universities and schools guides and our quizzes, crosswords and brainteasers are hugely popular with readers. The Instant Wisdom campaign will amalgamate and develop some of this great content over the course of four weeks to give families up and down the country a reason to come together, learn something new and help each other get smarter.”

The campaign is supported by UK-wide digital outdoor advertising, a radio promotional campaign and an interactive Instant Wisdom quiz free on The Sunday Times website.

Get smarter with these five questions and answers from 100 Answers Every Grown Up Needs To Know – published free inside The Sunday Times this weekend:

1. Is time travel possible? Amazingly, the known laws of physics don’t rule it out. According to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, it is theoretically possible to create a “wormhole” in the fabric of spacetime, allowing us to tunnel through to other eras. Obviously, nobody knows how to do it yet, and the results would be a bit mind-boggling. Suppose you jumped into a time machine, travelled back to when your grandfather was young… and accidentally landed on him before he’d met your grandmother. Then your parents could not exist, and neither could you — yet there you are, having flattened grandad. Many scientists think this “grandfather paradox” rules out time travel. Another bit of evidence is that we have yet to meet anyone from the future who has successfully travelled back in time — unless, of course, they’re here, but don’t like to talk about it. There is a way anyone can see into the past, though: look up. Gazing at Polaris, the north star, is to see it as it was back when Elizabeth I ruled England.

2. How big is the universe? Bigger than you can possibly imagine. In fact, the ancient Greeks came up with an argument for why the universe must be infinitely big. If it were only finite, it would have an edge, but that would mark the boundary with something else — which would then be part of the universe, and so on forever. Yet astronomers now know that, although the true universe may be infinite, we can see only a part of it. That’s because, ever since it was created in the Big Bang, 14 billion years ago, it has been expanding, with distant galaxies racing away from each other at an ever-faster rate. That means there’s a distance at which these galaxies seem to be receding from us at the speed of light — and so remain forever invisible. This marks the edge of the visible universe, and it’s about 46 billion light years away.

3. Is the Bermuda triangle real? Sure: it’s a triangular expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, spanning about 400,000 sq miles between Miami, Puerto Rico and Bermuda. But the idea that “bad things happen” to those who enter the triangle is another story. It began in the 1950s, with reports that five torpedo bombers and their 14 crew had vanished off the Florida coast in 1945. Soon people began looking into it, and that case, Flight 19, was joined by other odd events dating back to the mysterious loss in 1918 of the American supply ship Cyclops, with all 306 on board, near Bermuda. By the 1970s, a catalogue of strange disappearances had been linked to the triangle — along with a host of theories, ranging from rogue waves to alien abductions. The most likely, although not very exciting, explanation is simple probability: if you draw a huge triangle over one of the busiest shipping and flight zones in the world, chances are it’ll have seen a few odd events over the course of a century or so.

4. How do planes fly? When the Wright brothers made their first powered flight, in 1903, they had little understanding of the science that kept their ramshackle craft aloft. Yet amazingly, even today, many explanations of how planes fly are just plain wrong. Most talk about how the air passing over the curved top of a wing gets squeezed, and so moves faster than that passing underneath — creating a pressure difference that generates lift. But, while this sounds plausible, it’s based on laws of physics that just don’t apply in the case of air. The real answer to why aircraft fly is buried in something called the Navier-Stokes equations on fluid mechanics — formulas so complicated, nobody has ever completely solved them. This is a real problem for wing designers, who have been forced to rely on various mathematical tricks, scale models and computer simulations to design efficient wings. While they succeed in keeping planes aloft, the fact remains that there’s no simple way to explain how. Weird, no?

5. Is anything wetter than water? Weirdly, yes. To a scientist, the wetness of a liquid depends on its surface tension — that is, the tendency of its molecules to stick together, rather than spread over and into a surface. (The lower the surface tension, the wetter the liquid.) Oddly enough, water isn’t especially wet as liquids go: many others, including alcohol and acetic acid (vinegar), are much wetter. Water itself can be made wetter, though — by using “surfactants” such as soap, which reduce surface tension.

Win! The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists Special Screening, Workshop

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Frost Magazine has teamed up with Sony Pictures to give some lucky readers and their children (or niece or nephew) a chance to go to a special screening of Pirates! and then attend a special workshop.

Event: The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists Special Screening and Workshop
Date: Tuesday 4th September (Exact times TBC)
Venue: The Pirate Castle in Camden, London
Schedule
– Arrivals and pirate-themed food and refreshments
– Aardman Animation workshop – learning how to make the Polly Dodo character from the film out of clay (1 hour)
– Screening of The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists (1.5 hours)
– Finish

To win just follow @Frostmag on Twitter and tweet “I want to go to Pirate screening with @Frostmag” or subscribe to our newsletter.

Featuring the Voices of Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, David Tenant, Imelda Staunton and Brendan Gleeson

The Pirates! IN AN ADVENTURE WITH SCIENTISTS

On Blu-ray™ 3D, Blu-ray™, DVD and Digital Download on September 10

Special Features Include Games, Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes and More! Blu-ray™ and DVD Include UltraViolet™

It’s going to feel like a ‘plunderful life’ when Sony Pictures Home Entertainment debuts THE PIRATES! IN AN ADVENTURE WITH SCIENTISTS on Blu-ray 3D™, Blu-ray™, DVD and Digital Download on September 10. From the Academy Award®-winning Aardman (Chicken Run) and Sony Pictures Animation (The Smurfs), comes the all-new, swashbuckling stop-motion animated film that’s sure to entertain families from beginning to end. This critically acclaimed action-packed comedy adventure follows the luxuriantly bearded Pirate Captain, voiced by Hugh Grant (About A Boy), and his band of misfits (Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, Russell Tovey and Ashley Jensen) as they frolic on the high seas in a madcap quest to win the coveted “Pirate of the Year” award. Along the way they battle a diabolical queen (Imelda Staunton) and team up with a haplessly smitten young scientist (David Tennant), but never lose sight of what a pirate loves best: adventure! The film also stars Brian Blessed (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) as The Pirate King, Salma Hayek (Puss In Boots) as Cutlass Liz and Jeremy Piven (TV’s “Entourage”) as Black Bellamy.

THE PIRATES! IN AN ADVENTURE WITH SCIENTISTS, Aardman’s most ambitious stop-motion film to date, is directed by Peter Lord, a founding partner of Aardman, director of Chicken Run (with Nick Park), and a two-time Academy Award® nominee for his short films made with the company. The film is co-directed by Jeff Newitt. The screenplay is by Gideon Defoe, based upon his books. Production Designer is Norman Garwood. Producers are Peter Lord, David Sproxton, and Julie Lockhart. Executive Producer is Carla Shelley.

The Blu-ray and DVD boast hours of kid-friendly extras, including Filmmakers’ Commentary and two behind-the-scenes featurettes: “From Stop to Motion,” taking fans on a journey through the making of the film, and “Creating the Bath Chase Sequence,” a look at the various stages involved with shooting the bath tub scene. Exclusive to the Blu-ray is the “Pirate Disguise Dress-Up” game, in which fans can help our swashbuckling pals get past Queen Victoria by disguising them in various silly get-ups. Additionally, two short films with optional commentary from Director Peter Lord are exclusive to the Blu-ray.

Owners of the Blu-ray and DVD will be able to add THE PIRATES! IN AN ADVENTURE WITH SCIENTISTS to their free cloud-based UltraViolet account, enabling them to access their film through any UltraViolet-compatible service or device – from PCs and tablets to TVs and smart phones.

SCIENCE’S GREATEST UNANSWERED QUESTIONS REVEALED

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– Alien life forms, medical cures and the existence of God top list of most popular questions –

– Quirky questions include whether the fridge light really goes out, why unhealthy food tastes so good and which came first, chicken or egg?

Does God exist? Will we ever find a cure for cancer? And are we alone in the Universe? These are the three unanswered scientific questions that Brits would most like to see resolved according to new research released today.

The survey of 2,000 British adults was commissioned to mark the launch of Science Month on TV channel Eden, which begins this Sunday. Respondents were asked about the scientific conundrums they would most like to see answered.

Questions on the existence of alien life forms top the poll, with over half of respondents (54%) choosing this as one of the unanswered questions that intrigue them most. This was closely followed by the perennial problem of when there will be a cure for cancer (46%), while the top three is completed by a desire to prove if God exists by scientific means (39%).

It’s a case of to infinity and beyond for many; as questions relating to the size of space concern a third of respondents (33%). Over a quarter (27%) wondered if we will ever colonise space and 24% want to know how the universe will end. 27% are curious about how we will replace oil, and a fifth would like to find out how long human lifespans could be extended (20%).

The top ten scientific conundrums according to the British public:

1. Are we alone in the universe? – 54%

Scientists say the universe is likely to contain many planetary systems where the conditions are ripe for intelligent life to evolve. However, we may not ever develop the technological wherewithal to reach out millions of light-years to make contact

2. Will there ever be a cure for cancer? – 46%

Survival rates for different forms of cancer are improving all the time with many new treatments in the research pipeline. While it is unlikely that there will be a magic, overnight cure in the near future, patients will live for longer and longer periods.

3. Does God exist? – 39%

There is no empirical, measurable scientific evidence for the existence of God.

4. How big is space? 33%

Some astronomers believe there is no limit to the size of the universe. Others say that since the Big Bang it has expanded to around 150 billion light years across.

5. How and where did life start on earth? – 30%

There have been numerous theories, from various bacteria entering into symbiotic relationships to convection currents passing through the Earth’s crust.

6. Is time travel possible? – 29%

The fabric of space time contains shortcuts called wormholes which make time travel theoretically possible. However, wormholes are unstable and to prop one open would require repulsive gravity, the existence of which has yet to be confirmed.

7. Will we ever colonise space? – 27%

Maybe. Some say we should take a serious look at creating colonies elsewhere in our solar system in case conditions on Earth become inhospitable. NASA has already held meetings on terraforming – the deliberate modification of the conditions on other planets or moons to make them similar to those on Earth.

8. What will replace oil and when? – 27%

Alternative energy sources are available but need to be made more cost efficient and reach demands in order to replace oil. There are however advances in nanotechnology that may be the answer.

9. How will the universe end? – 24%

Theories include that the universe will stop expanding and then collapse in on itself, that it will get colder as it expands until it is at absolute zero, and that dark energy, will eventually overcome gravity.

10. How long can the human lifespan be extended? – 20%

Life-span extension experiments in mice have convinced some scientists that humans may soon routinely live way beyond their hundredth birthdays.

Just missing out on the top ten were questions relating to the possibility of an effective HIV vaccine (19%), what would happen if the sun died (19%) and whether machines and robots could ever be conscious and have feelings (17%).

On a lighter note, the research also revealed some of the quirky questions that Brits wish could be answered by science. A quarter (23%) cited the classic chicken or egg conundrum as their top quirky question, with why do we rarely see dead birds? (18%) and why does healthy food taste worse that unhealthy food (16%) completing the top three. Given our poor summer so far it is perhaps not surprising that 14% of Brits want to know why it always rains in England, while 11% wonder whether the fridge light really goes off when you close the door.

The survey found that three quarters of British adults (75%) profess an interest in science, with a similar percentage (73%) stating that they wish they were better informed about scientific research and new discoveries.

Regional results

When it comes to scientific knowledge respondents across the country were divided. Brits in the south of England seemed to be most concerned with matters of life and death, with 48% putting the question of extending lifespan at the top of their list, swiftly followed up by ‘Will there ever be a cure for cancer’ (40%), and ‘Do human’s face mass extinction?’ (32%).

Conversely, Northerners appeared to be pre-occupied with matters of the universe, infinity, and aliens. Respondents from Liverpool were most likely to ask whether we are alone in the universe (62%), which may well be attributed to recent UFO sightings over the mouth of the river Mersey earlier this year. Newcastle respondents were most interested in questions around the death of the sun, with 59% clearly paranoid about our future on this planet.

The recent number one blockbuster hit Prometheus appeared to play a part in influencing the interests of the Welsh, with 54% wondering whether we would ever colonise space and 33% placing questions around Artificial Intelligence and robots possessing feelings or a conscience second. Michael Fassbender’s portrayal of the advanced robot David has clearly made quite an impression!

The next ten years

In terms of the questions that the general public expect to be answered within the next 10 years, ‘Will there ever be a cure for cancer?’ and ‘Is an effective HIV vaccine available?’ top the list, at 30% and 29% respectively. Respondents rated questions relating to human quality of life as the most pertinent (47%), relegating answers that explain our existence (15%) or would further our technology to the bottom of the list (11%).

Adrian Wills, UKTV’s General Manager of Eden, says, “’It’s been more than 500 years since the majority of people believed that the earth was flat, so its important to note that our understanding of science moves at an astonishing speed. This survey shows that most of us still query our place in the universe and many of the bigger unsolved questions of science. Eden’s Science Month attempts to answer some of these questions, though clearly there’s still much for us to learn.”

Collider #6 webisode

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After the Higgs boson discovery at the Hadron Collider this webisode has become more relevant than ever. Frost Magazine has the webisode exclusively before anyone else. Enjoy.

Collider #5 webisode.

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At Frost Magazine we have become quite obsessed with the new sci-fi multi-platform Collider. We have the webisode exclusively before anyone else. Check out webisode 5 below and let us know your thoughts.

Zaggora Hotpants Review: Do They Work?

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I have heard of leggings and tight with special technology that makes people slimmer or improves cellulite, but I have never heard of a product which claims it can do it that has such a following. Zaggora have over 250,000 likes on Facebookand have sold over 420,000 pairs of their ‘HotPants’

The Hotpants have Celu‐Lite™ technology which increases core body temperature while being active leading to increase in calorific expenditure during and after working out as well as short-term weight loss immediately following working out. The Celu-lite technology has specifically designed lining which insulates and increases heat generation during working out to deliver better results in the short and long-term.

So, that is the science over, but do they work?

I have been exercising to lose the last bit of extra weight I still had from Christmas (ahem) and there was just this bit from my stomach that would not budge. I tried everything; working out 6 days a week, not eating dessert, spanx, but it would not budge. Until the hotpant. I decided to do the two-week challenge, but to be honest, I did not need the other week.

All I did was exercising in them three times that week for one hour and wore them (underneath my clothes) for another day. I lost about 2 inches from my waist and an inch and a half from my hips. My legs are also slimmer. The little bit of annoying weight in my stomach has gone. The hotpants would also be amazing in winter: brilliant thermals!

I recommend these. I don’t know if you could just wear them and sit around the house, but as long as you exert yourself in them they definitely work. You can even wear them doing housework. They at least double the benefits of your workout.

Zaggoro Hotpants: Frost loves.

[Disclaimer: I received a free pair of hotpants to review]