New gender benchmarking study finds women greatly under-represented in South Korean STI

Public release date: 7-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Ylann Schemm
y.schemm@elsevier.com
31-204-852-025
Elsevier

Numbers of women in engineering, physics and computer science are on the decline in Korea

Seoul, March 7, 2013 In the first gender benchmarking study of its kind, researchers have found that numbers of women in the science, technology and innovation fields are alarmingly low in the world's leading economies, and are actually on the decline in others, including the United States. South Korea's low ranking in the study results reflects a substantial underrepresentation of females in public and economic life.

South Korean ranks last of the countries in the study in female economic status, access to resources, supportive policy, and participation in the knowledge and STI sectors. While it shows strong participation of women in education at all levels, the country is failing to adequately support women to participate in its growing economic success. A low level of female participation in the knowledge society overall demonstrates a clear lack of correlation between a country's GDP and gender equality.

The full gender benchmarking study maps the opportunities and obstacles faced by women in science in Brazil, South Africa, India, the Republic of Korea, Indonesia, the US, the EU. The study was conducted by experts in international gender, science and technology issues from Women in Global Science & Technology (WISAT) and the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD), and funded by the Elsevier Foundation. The research was led by Dr. Sophia Huyer, Executive Director of WISAT and Dr. Nancy Hafkin, Senior Associate of WISAT.

Despite efforts by many of the countries in this study to give women greater access to science and technology education, research shows negative results in the areas of engineering, physics and computer science. In South Korea:

• Women remain severely under-represented in degree programs for these fields less than 30% in most countries and less than 15% in South Korea.
• Overall science and engineering enrollments (including bio and health sciences) are under 21%. In addition, the numbers of women actually working in these fields are declining across the board, dropping to 11% in South Korea.
• Even in countries where the numbers of women studying science and technology have increased, it has not translated into more women in the workplace.
• In Korea, the share of women in professional fields remains substantially lower than men, and at less than 50%, is well below the average for member countries of the OECD.
• Women make up less than 18% of IT workers.
• In the private sector progress has also been slow, with women making up less than 1% of corporate board directors, and the percentage of women-run businesses with more than one employee at 21%.

"These economies are operating under the existing paradigm that if we give girls and women greater access to education they will eventually gain parity with men in these fields," states Sophia Huyer, the lead researcher and founding executive director of Women in Global Science & Technology. "This has dictated our approach to the problem for over a decade and we are still only seeing incremental changes. The report indicates that access to education is not a solution in and of itself. It's only one part of what should be a multi-dimensional policymaking approach. There is no simple solution."

The data show that women's parity in the science, technology and innovation fields is tied to multiple empowerment factors, with the most influential being participation in the labour force, larger roles in government and politics, access to economic, productive and technological resources, quality healthcare and financial resources. Findings also show that women have greater parity in countries with government policies that support childcare, equal pay, and gender mainstreaming. One of the main findings is that few countries collect consistent and reliable sex-disaggregated data in all of these areas, which inhibits their ability to implement effective supporting policies and programs.

"We found that the absence of any one of these elements creates a situation of vulnerability for economies that want to be competitively positioned in the knowledge economy," Huyer says. "No one country or region is ticking off all the boxes, and some are falling dismally short. This is a tremendous waste of resources. We are wasting resources educating women without following through, and we are missing out on the enormous potential that women represent."

"This broad and ambitious assessment is a critical starting point for measuring the participation of women and girls in science, technology and innovation in emerging and developing worlds," said David Ruth, Executive Director of the Elsevier Foundation, "This study identifies key areas of national strength and weakness, and we hope it will help form the basis of evidence-based policy making and aid going forward."

The report, funded by The Elsevier Foundation, which provides grant programs targeting women scientists in the early stages of their careers, was also supported by futureInnovate.net, a non-profit that supports initiatives that strengthen innovation systems in Canada and around the world.

###

Notes to Editors

The project summary and Key Findings, the Gender Equality and the Knowledge Society Scorecard, as well as graphical scorecards for each country studied, can be found at http://www.wisat.org Please contact Ylann Schemm (y.schemm@elsevier.com) for more information or to arrange an interview with lead researchers Sophia Huyer and Nancy Hafkin.

About the Researchers

As founding executive director of Women in Global Science & Technology, Sophia Huyer has published and spoken widely on international gender, science and technology policy, including Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and social development. She is also research director of the Gender Advisory Board of the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development and Senior Advisor to the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World. She was a major contributor to the UNCTAD report Applying a Gender Lens to Science, Technology and Innovation (2011) and the UNESCO International Report on Science, Technology and Gender (2007).

Recently inducted into the Internet Society's Internet Hall of Fame, Nancy Hafkin played a key role in developing Africa's ICT infrastructure through her work with the UN Economic Commission for Africa. She also worked with the Association for Progressive Communications to provide email connectivity to more than 10 countries there. In 2006 she co-edited "Cinderella or Cyberella: Empowering Women in the Knowledge Society," with Sophia Huyer and in 2012 she authored a chapter on gender issues for "Accelerating Development Using the Web: Empowering Poor and Marginalized Populations," edited by George Sadowsky.

About OWSD

The Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) is an international sister organization of TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world. OWSD is headed by eminent women scientists from the south, consisting of more than 4,000 members. Created in 1989, OWSD's overall goal is to work towards bridging the gender gap in science and technology. The central role is to promote women's access to science and technology, enhancing their greater involvement in decision-making for the development of their countries and in the international scientific community. OWSD promotes leadership, exchanges and networking for women scientists to assist in the development of national capabilities to evolve, explore and improve strategies for increasing female participation in science. http://www.owsdw.org

About WISAT

Women in Global Science and Technology is a international non profit which promotes innovation, science and technology strategies that enable women, especially those living in developing countries, to actively participate in technology and innovation for development. Women should be able to benefit from access to technologies and full participation in innovation systems. http://www.wisat.org

About The Elsevier Foundation

The Elsevier Foundation is a corporate charity funded by Elsevier, a global provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The Elsevier Foundation provides grants to knowledge centered institutions around the world, with a focus on developing world libraries, nurse faculty and scholars in the early stages of their careers. Since its inception, the Foundation has awarded more than 60 grants worth millions of dollars to non-profit organizations working in these fields. Through gift-matching, the Foundation also supports the efforts of Elsevier employees to play a positive role in their local and global communities. http://www.elsevierfoundation.org

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 7-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Ylann Schemm
y.schemm@elsevier.com
31-204-852-025
Elsevier

Numbers of women in engineering, physics and computer science are on the decline in Korea

Seoul, March 7, 2013 In the first gender benchmarking study of its kind, researchers have found that numbers of women in the science, technology and innovation fields are alarmingly low in the world's leading economies, and are actually on the decline in others, including the United States. South Korea's low ranking in the study results reflects a substantial underrepresentation of females in public and economic life.

South Korean ranks last of the countries in the study in female economic status, access to resources, supportive policy, and participation in the knowledge and STI sectors. While it shows strong participation of women in education at all levels, the country is failing to adequately support women to participate in its growing economic success. A low level of female participation in the knowledge society overall demonstrates a clear lack of correlation between a country's GDP and gender equality.

The full gender benchmarking study maps the opportunities and obstacles faced by women in science in Brazil, South Africa, India, the Republic of Korea, Indonesia, the US, the EU. The study was conducted by experts in international gender, science and technology issues from Women in Global Science & Technology (WISAT) and the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD), and funded by the Elsevier Foundation. The research was led by Dr. Sophia Huyer, Executive Director of WISAT and Dr. Nancy Hafkin, Senior Associate of WISAT.

Despite efforts by many of the countries in this study to give women greater access to science and technology education, research shows negative results in the areas of engineering, physics and computer science. In South Korea:

• Women remain severely under-represented in degree programs for these fields less than 30% in most countries and less than 15% in South Korea.
• Overall science and engineering enrollments (including bio and health sciences) are under 21%. In addition, the numbers of women actually working in these fields are declining across the board, dropping to 11% in South Korea.
• Even in countries where the numbers of women studying science and technology have increased, it has not translated into more women in the workplace.
• In Korea, the share of women in professional fields remains substantially lower than men, and at less than 50%, is well below the average for member countries of the OECD.
• Women make up less than 18% of IT workers.
• In the private sector progress has also been slow, with women making up less than 1% of corporate board directors, and the percentage of women-run businesses with more than one employee at 21%.

"These economies are operating under the existing paradigm that if we give girls and women greater access to education they will eventually gain parity with men in these fields," states Sophia Huyer, the lead researcher and founding executive director of Women in Global Science & Technology. "This has dictated our approach to the problem for over a decade and we are still only seeing incremental changes. The report indicates that access to education is not a solution in and of itself. It's only one part of what should be a multi-dimensional policymaking approach. There is no simple solution."

The data show that women's parity in the science, technology and innovation fields is tied to multiple empowerment factors, with the most influential being participation in the labour force, larger roles in government and politics, access to economic, productive and technological resources, quality healthcare and financial resources. Findings also show that women have greater parity in countries with government policies that support childcare, equal pay, and gender mainstreaming. One of the main findings is that few countries collect consistent and reliable sex-disaggregated data in all of these areas, which inhibits their ability to implement effective supporting policies and programs.

"We found that the absence of any one of these elements creates a situation of vulnerability for economies that want to be competitively positioned in the knowledge economy," Huyer says. "No one country or region is ticking off all the boxes, and some are falling dismally short. This is a tremendous waste of resources. We are wasting resources educating women without following through, and we are missing out on the enormous potential that women represent."

"This broad and ambitious assessment is a critical starting point for measuring the participation of women and girls in science, technology and innovation in emerging and developing worlds," said David Ruth, Executive Director of the Elsevier Foundation, "This study identifies key areas of national strength and weakness, and we hope it will help form the basis of evidence-based policy making and aid going forward."

The report, funded by The Elsevier Foundation, which provides grant programs targeting women scientists in the early stages of their careers, was also supported by futureInnovate.net, a non-profit that supports initiatives that strengthen innovation systems in Canada and around the world.

###

Notes to Editors

The project summary and Key Findings, the Gender Equality and the Knowledge Society Scorecard, as well as graphical scorecards for each country studied, can be found at http://www.wisat.org Please contact Ylann Schemm (y.schemm@elsevier.com) for more information or to arrange an interview with lead researchers Sophia Huyer and Nancy Hafkin.

About the Researchers

As founding executive director of Women in Global Science & Technology, Sophia Huyer has published and spoken widely on international gender, science and technology policy, including Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and social development. She is also research director of the Gender Advisory Board of the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development and Senior Advisor to the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World. She was a major contributor to the UNCTAD report Applying a Gender Lens to Science, Technology and Innovation (2011) and the UNESCO International Report on Science, Technology and Gender (2007).

Recently inducted into the Internet Society's Internet Hall of Fame, Nancy Hafkin played a key role in developing Africa's ICT infrastructure through her work with the UN Economic Commission for Africa. She also worked with the Association for Progressive Communications to provide email connectivity to more than 10 countries there. In 2006 she co-edited "Cinderella or Cyberella: Empowering Women in the Knowledge Society," with Sophia Huyer and in 2012 she authored a chapter on gender issues for "Accelerating Development Using the Web: Empowering Poor and Marginalized Populations," edited by George Sadowsky.

About OWSD

The Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) is an international sister organization of TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world. OWSD is headed by eminent women scientists from the south, consisting of more than 4,000 members. Created in 1989, OWSD's overall goal is to work towards bridging the gender gap in science and technology. The central role is to promote women's access to science and technology, enhancing their greater involvement in decision-making for the development of their countries and in the international scientific community. OWSD promotes leadership, exchanges and networking for women scientists to assist in the development of national capabilities to evolve, explore and improve strategies for increasing female participation in science. http://www.owsdw.org

About WISAT

Women in Global Science and Technology is a international non profit which promotes innovation, science and technology strategies that enable women, especially those living in developing countries, to actively participate in technology and innovation for development. Women should be able to benefit from access to technologies and full participation in innovation systems. http://www.wisat.org

About The Elsevier Foundation

The Elsevier Foundation is a corporate charity funded by Elsevier, a global provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The Elsevier Foundation provides grants to knowledge centered institutions around the world, with a focus on developing world libraries, nurse faculty and scholars in the early stages of their careers. Since its inception, the Foundation has awarded more than 60 grants worth millions of dollars to non-profit organizations working in these fields. Through gift-matching, the Foundation also supports the efforts of Elsevier employees to play a positive role in their local and global communities. http://www.elsevierfoundation.org

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/e-ngb_3030713.php

mauritania obama open mic jefferson county colorado extenze tenacious d steve smith zou bisou bisou

Arkansas adopts US's most restrictive abortion law

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) ? Arkansas lawmakers overrode a veto Wednesday and gave the state the most restrictive abortion law in the country ? a near-ban on the procedure from the 12th week of pregnancy onward that is certain to end up in court.

A day after the Republican-led state Senate voted to override Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe's veto, the GOP-controlled House voted 56-33 to do the same. Only a simple majority was needed in each chamber.

The vote comes less than a week after the Legislature overrode a veto of a separate bill banning most abortions starting in the 20th week of pregnancy. That bill took effect immediately after the final override vote, whereas the 12-week ban wouldn't take effect until this summer.

Abortion rights proponents have already said they'll sue to block the 12-week ban from taking effect. Beebe warned lawmakers that both measures are likely to fail in court and that the state would end up wasting money defending them if they became law.

The measures' supporters, who expected court challenges, were undaunted.

"Not the governor, nor anyone else other than the courts, can determine if something is constitutional or unconstitutional," Rep. Bruce Westerman, a Republican from Hot Springs, said in urging his colleagues to override Beebe.

Bill sponsor Sen. Jason Rapert, a Republican from Conway, watched the vote from the House gallery and said a number of law firms have offered to help the state defend the laws in court, if it comes to that.

"I'm just grateful that this body has continued to stand up for the bills that have passed. The eyes of the entire nation were on the Arkansas House of Representatives today," he said.

Beebe rejected both measures for the same reasons, saying they were unconstitutional and contradicted the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion until a fetus could viably survive outside the womb. A fetus is generally considered viable at 22 to 24 weeks.

"The Arkansas Legislature has once again disregarded women's health care and passed the most extreme anti-women's health bill in the country," said Jill June, the CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland. "With this bill, the Arkansas Legislature will force many women to seek unsafe care."

The 12-week ban would prohibit abortions from the point when a fetus' heartbeat can typically be detected using an abdominal ultrasound. It includes exemptions for rape, incest, the life of the mother and highly lethal fetal disorders. The 20-week prohibition, which is based on the disputed claim that a fetus can feel pain by the 20th week and therefore deserves protection from abortion, includes all of the same exemptions except for fetal disorders.

Six Democrats joined with Republicans in voting to override the veto of the 12-week ban. Last week, only two Democrats voted to override the veto of the 20-week ban.

"I think a lot of people felt some pressure after the last vote," said House Minority Leader Greg Leding, a Democrat from Fayetteville.

The measure is among several abortion restrictions lawmakers have backed since Republicans won control of the House and Senate in the November election. Republicans hold 21 of the 35 Senate seats, and 51 of the 100 seats in the House. It takes a simple majority in both chambers to override.

Beebe has signed into law one of those measures, a prohibition on most abortion coverage by insurers participating in the exchange created under the health care law.

Rep. Ann Clemmer, a Republican of Benton serving her third term in the House, asked her colleagues to support the override attempt, saying her votes on anti-abortion bills this year were the first time she could fully express a pro-life stand at the Capitol. When Democrats held control, such bills never made it this far.

"If I say that I'm pro-life, at some point I have to do something about what I say I believe," said Clemmer, the bill's sponsor in the House.

Unlike the 20-week ban, which took effect immediately, the 12-week restriction won't take effect until 90 days after the House and Senate adjourn. Lawmakers aren't expected to wrap up this year's session until later this month or April.

In vetoing both measures, Beebe has cited the costs to the state if it has to defend either ban in court. The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas has vowed to sue if the state enacts the 12-week ban and the group said it was considering legal action over the 20-week restriction as well.

"I think today, for whatever reason, the Arkansas House turned its back on the women of Arkansas and said we don't think you're capable of making your own decisions," said Rita Sklar, ACLU of Arkansas' executive director. Sklar said the group planned to file suit in federal court in the next couple weeks.

Beebe noted that the state paid nearly $148,000 to attorneys for plaintiffs who successfully challenged a 1997 late-term abortion ban.

The original version of Rapert's bill would have banned abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, but he changed the measure after facing resistance from some lawmakers worried that it would require the use of a vaginal probe.

Women who have abortions would not face prosecution under Rapert's bill, but doctors who perform abortions in violation of the 12-week ban could have their medical licenses revoked.

___

Follow Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-03-06-Arkansas%20Legislature-Abortion/id-a1c4f94803d04075a94fef49dd59210b

pilar sanders andrew young real life barbie zipper armenian genocide asteroid mining memorial day

Why Rand Paul Won't Stop Talking

Rand Paul took to the Senate floor on Wednesday to (so far successfully) filibuster President Obama?s nomination of John Brennan for CIA director. Why? He wants the White House to rule out killing Americans on U.S. soil without first providing them the due process promised by the Constitution.

Odd. Right?

The U.S. government has killed four Americans that we know about under its sometimes-covert targeted killing program. (One of those four was the actual intended target, officials say.) All of those killings happened outside of the United States and, according to the administration?s legal reasoning, were allowed under the same war authorization Congress provided after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Sure, U.S.-born America-haters who volunteer with al-Qaida and become operational terrorist leaders are fair game, most folks would agree.

But common sense might lead some of those same people to think the White House would easily concede it does not have the right to kill an American in the United States. After all, under its own criteria for adding U.S. citizens to the kill list, the administration says capture of said bad guy must first be deemed infeasible.?

Still, no dice.

For weeks, Paul demanded answers from the Obama administration on whether it believes its targeted-killing program could apply within this country before the senator would allow a vote on Brennan?s nomination. Attorney General Eric Holder--a man who previously has said due process does not equal judicial process--replied with a letter that said simply the U.S. government has not carried out drone strikes in this country and has no intention of doing so.

Oh, and, the administration is reserving the right to kill an American inside the country in an "extraordinary" circumstance, Holder noted. Something on the order of Pearl Harbor or Sept. 11.

The vote on Brennan was supposed to have happened Wednesday, but Paul?s filibuster has at least delayed it.

It?s an irritant to Obama, but many on the Hill think it?s a short-term problem.

While Paul?s not the only one to wonder why the administration won?t say it does not have the right to kill Americans in America--many in Congress have posed the same question--he is one of the very few who seem unwilling to take a long-winded "no comment" for an answer.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/why-rand-paul-wont-stop-talking-180640277--politics.html

bath salts heart shaped box lucid 2012 ncaa tournament bracket matterhorn chris harrison girl scouts

Historian and Social Commentator William Jelani Cobb Joins ...

William Jelani Cobb, associate professor of history and director of the Institute for African American Studies, comes to UConn from Rutgers. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

William Jelani Cobb brings an unrepentant curiosity about how the past influences the present to his role as a teacher and social commentator.

Cobb came to UConn from Rutgers University in January, as an associate professor of history and director of the Institute for African American Studies (IAAS). His appointment is part of UConn?s expansive hiring initiative designed to attract up to 500 professors in four years.

This semester, his first on campus, he is teaching a course in African American History to 1865. Yet Cobb?s inclination to ?say what needs to be said? about contemporary issues is never very far from the surface, and he is as much at home in front of the media as he is in the classroom or in his office in Wood Hall.

?A lot of times, people see a contradiction in the fact that I teach history, yet I write and speak about contemporary issues. But I don?t see it that way,? he says. ?To me, those two things are conjoined. The present is always rushing into the past, and an understanding of the past allows us to see how we got to where we are now. The past and the present reinforce each other.?

Cobb is a native of Queens, N.Y., where he first developed his interest in history. ?One of the most important things to me as a young person was that history helped the world make sense to me,? he says. ?It literally contextualized my surroundings. It allowed me to see the world around me in entirely different ways.

?I could see the community where I grew up in Queens ? which was made up of black migrants from the south and Caribbean immigrants ? and I could see how the community came to be populated by those people ? why people had come from the Caribbean ? why my parents had come from the Deep South ? why they had settled where they did. All of a sudden it clicked and it began to make sense. And that is the kind of experience I hope my students get when they study history.?

Before earning his Ph.D. in history from Rutgers University in New Jersey, Cobb studied English as an undergraduate at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He also worked as a journalist while in school, putting in time at the Washington City Paper and at various community and alternative newspapers. In addition to learning to meet deadlines as part of his job, he says, ?my dissertation advisor at Rutgers was David Levering Lewis and he gave us an absurd amount of writing to do. I learned to write fast because I had to!?

Raising UConn?s profile

Jeffrey Ogbar, vice provost for diversity and former director of the IAAS, was chairman of the search committee that selected Cobb. He says, ?We decided to reach out to people who weren?t necessarily looking for jobs. I knew Jelani had been a department head when he was at Spelman College in Atlanta, so he already had great administrative experience. He is also a public intellectual who has had a lot of visibility. I thought he would be a good colleague, so I asked him if he would consider applying. Once he did, his name quickly rose to the top of [the hiring committee?s] list and we made an offer. Fortunately, he accepted.?

Cobb was well established as a teacher of history and Africana Studies at his doctoral alma mater, so what made him consider a change of scenery?

?When I found out about the position here, there was an immediate sense that this would be an exciting time to be at UConn,? he says. ?When I talked to people, I kept asking, ?Where?s the problem? Where are the bodies buried?? but I really couldn?t unearth any deep dark secrets. What I found was an institution that was really committed to growing and developing and trying new things. It was something I wanted to be part of.?

Both Ogbar and Cobb say the various centers and institutes on campus play an important role in defining the University?s profile.

?The Institute [for African American Studies] and the other academic and cultural organizations such as El Instituto, or the Center for Judaic Studies, or the Rainbow Center all exist because they help us understand the human condition in a particular context,? says Ogbar, who is also a professor of history. ?That?s why they remain relevant to our understanding of the political and socio-economic landscape of the United States, and that?s why they are important to UConn.?

For his part, Cobb says he?s intent on developing the strengths of the IAAS with an eye towards making it more visible, on campus and off. ?I would like to see us putting on biannual conferences, being more visible nationally, and getting more recognition for what we do here, along with attracting more students to the African American studies major.?

Speaking out

During his career, Cobb has written many books including, In Our Lifetimes: Barack Obama and the New Black America; a monograph titled Antidote to Revolution: African American Anticommunism and the Struggle for Civil Rights, 1931-1957; and To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic. He has another book, dealing with the Cold War and the American Civil Rights Movement, which is scheduled for publication later this year.

But among his most visible and widely-read works are his blogs for The New Yorker magazine. He has dissected some of the country?s most compelling and contentious subjects as he has written about the murder of Trayvon Martin; Newark mayor Cory Booker and the dilemma of the new black politician; the lessons learned from Quentin Tarantino?s movie ?Django Unchained;? and the Obama presidency. A frequent commentator on National Public Radio, he also appears on CNN, Al-Jazeera, CBS news, and other national broadcast outlets.

Says Ogbar, ?It?s really exciting to have Jelani come to UConn, and it?s a reflection of the progress we have made as a University in bringing the best and the brightest to campus. When I see him on CNBC or CNN and he?s identified as being from the University of Connecticut, I get excited. I?m glad he?s bringing that sort of recognition to us.?

Source: http://today.uconn.edu/blog/2013/03/historian-and-social-commentator-william-jelani-cobb-joins-uconn-faculty/

time change rpi dst friends with kids pacific standard time northern mariana islands summer time

Paul Rudd reveals his 'Anchorman' mustache

By Kurt Schlosser, TODAY

Bust out the Sex Panther: Paul Rudd and his "Anchorman" mustache were in fine form on TODAY Monday morning.

The actor was on to promote his new film "Admission," in which he stars alongside?Tina Fey for the first time, and talked about a "steamy" shower scene with the actress.

"We shot it at about 2 in the morning in a barn. It was freezing cold," Rudd said. Matt Lauer quipped that the actor is naked for about half the movie and Savannah Guthrie chimed in that Rudd must "feel naked without his mustache."

"I'm really just getting a look at it now," Rudd said of the facial hair he's growing for his role as Brian Fantana in the "Anchorman" sequel.?"I look like Yanni."

"Admission" opens in theaters March 22.

Related video:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/03/04/17180085-paul-rudd-reveals-his-anchorman-mustache?lite

tournament brackets 2012 ncaa basketball tournament walt what time is it current time a thousand words my sisters keeper

Telescope may 'see' alien life on white dwarfs

David A. Aguilar (CfA)

A new study finds that we could detect oxygen in the atmosphere of a habitable planet orbiting a white dwarf (as shown in this artist's illustration) much more easily than for an Earth-like planet orbiting a sun-like star.

By Amanda Doyle
Space.com

A white dwarf is a dead star that slowly cools down until it fades into oblivion. Yet it has been predicted that habitable planets can orbit a white dwarf. If we can somehow detect these planets, would we also be able to spot signs of life?

Scientists have created an artificial spectrum showing that the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope?(JWST) will be capable of detecting oxygen and water on an Earth-like planet orbiting a white dwarf.

A white dwarf is the end stage of evolution of a low mass star, and it is tiny compared to its former self. The habitable zone around a white dwarf would therefore have once been located deep within the region of space the star once inhabited, requiring planets to migrate inward to experience temperatures that are just right for surface liquid water. Infrared observations also have revealed disks of dust surrounding some white dwarfs, which could be the birthplace of a new generation of planets.

Searching for signs of life on a white dwarf?exoplanet will involve inspecting the spectral fingerprint of the planet's atmosphere. Exoplanet atmospheres can be detected and analyzed during a planetary transit, when a planet passes in front of a star from our point of view, as the background starlight shines through the planet's atmosphere. Elements in the atmosphere will absorb some of the starlight, meaning that more light than normal will be blocked at the particular wavelengths associated with that element, giving us a spectrum of the planet. [Photo Tour: Building NASA's?James Webb?Space Telescope]

This technique, called transmission spectroscopy, is difficult to utilize because the parent star is incredibly bright and thus washes out most of the planetary signal. However, if the host star is a white dwarf instead of a main sequence star, then the small stellar radius will result in a very prominent transit signal. The diameter of the average white dwarf is around 17,000 kilometers, which isn't much bigger than the Earth's diameter of 12,800 kilometers. Therefore, although white dwarfs are dim and hard to detect, it should still be possible to see the signal of an Earth-like planet transiting one.

A sign of life
Certain elements in a planet?s atmosphere may indicate the presence of life.?Such "biomarkers" include oxygen and methane, gases that are produced by different forms of life on Earth and would quickly degrade if they weren?t constantly being generated.

Some of Earth's biomarkers are prominent in the infrared region of the spectrum, making JWST ideal to search for signs of life on other planets. The JWST, due to launch in a few years, will be looking in the infrared part of the light spectrum, and it will be able to observe atmospheres on planets that are only a few times the mass of the Earth in the habitable zones of M-type stars (red stars that are cooler than our sun). However, the total amount of observing time needed for this far exceeds that which is needed to observe planets around white dwarfs, since the planetary signal is much weaker for the brighter M-dwarfs.

Avi Loeb from Harvard University and Dan Maoz from Tel-Aviv University in Israel decided to test what kind of information they might be able to pry from the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a white dwarf by creating a simulated JWST spectrum. Their synthetic spectrum showed that the oxygen (O2) ?A-band? should be easily visible, as well as signatures of water (H2O), assuming they exist on the planet.

"Detecting any of these biomarkers in the atmosphere of an Earth-copy planet around a nearby normal star, using JWST, will be extremely challenging, if not impossible," Maoz told Astrobiology Magazine. "The difficulty lies in the extreme faintness of the signal, which is hidden in the glare of the 'parent' star. The novelty of our idea is that, if the parent star is a white dwarf, that glare is greatly reduced, and one can now realistically contemplate seeing the O2 biomarker. Detecting other biomarkers will require future space telescopes that are even more ambitious than JWST."

A strong signature of oxygen in a planetary spectrum could indicate that life is present, since oxygen needs to be produced in vast quantities in order to counteract how easily it reacts with other substances. Biological processes are the main cause for high amounts of oxygen: the 21 percent of oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere is produced by photosynthesis in plants and algae. If life on Earth were suddenly to be extinguished, then all the oxygen would be removed in one or two million years as it combines with rocks and dissolves in the ocean. [9 Exoplanets That Could Host Alien Life]

The search for elusive planets
No planets have yet been detected orbiting a white dwarf, due to the difficulty in observing these faint stars, however there is some evidence to suggest that such planets might exist. White dwarfs should typically have a pristine spectrum of either hydrogen or helium, as any heavier elements will sink deep within the star. However, many white dwarfs show signs of pollution by heavy elements, possibly due to rocky material in circumstellar disks being perturbed inward by unseen planets.

Some eclipsing binaries that contain a white dwarf have been observed to have unusual variations in the timing of the eclipses, which could indicate that a planet is present. Planets have also been discovered around pulsars, showing that it is possible for planets to orbit compact stellar remnants.

In order to detect Earth-like planets?around white dwarfs, a survey will first need to be performed to select the brightest, nearest white dwarfs suitable for JWST observations. Many white dwarfs will need to be monitored in order to guarantee the best chance of detecting a planet. For instance, if a third of all white dwarfs host an Earth-mass planet within their habitable zones, then 500 white dwarfs would need to be monitored to discover just one transiting Earth.

"We expect to find maybe one or two Earth-like planets that transit white dwarfs, and are observable with JWST,?if such planets at all exist around white dwarfs," said Maoz.

A survey searching for an O2 biomarker would probably benefit from focusing on white dwarfs that are over 3 billion years old. It took around 2 billion years for life on Earth to start producing significant amounts of O2, so neglecting young white dwarfs would turn the focus more on planets where life has had time to evolve. While this is obviously biased, scientists feel it makes more sense to invest limited observing time on the most likely candidates.

Although Earth-like planets are the most interesting targets from an astrobiology perspective, it turns out that they are also the optimum targets when one is looking to detect signs of life on white dwarf planets. A planet with a diameter similar to that of the Earth is just the right size for astronomers to be able to detect a good spectrum of the planet's atmosphere. If a planet is larger than the white dwarf, the probability of the planet's atmosphere transiting the star will be similar to that of an Earth-size planet. However, the greater surface gravity of the bigger planet will mean that the height of the atmosphere would likely be much lower, meaning less starlight passes through it, thus making it harder to detect.

The advantage to using JWST to observe exoplanetary atmospheres?lies in the fact that, since it will be a space-based telescope, it will be liberated from the Earth's atmosphere. If an exoplanet atmosphere is very similar to the Earth's atmosphere, then a ground-based telescope will have great difficulty disentangling it from the Earth's atmospheric spectrum. (However, if the exoplanet atmosphere is vastly different, then it could be detected amid the Earth's own signal, and large ground-based telescopes could then help to provide measurements.)? As we move into the era of searching for biomarkers on extrasolar planets, Earth-like planets around white dwarfs may be the first alien worlds where we can detect such indications of life.

A preprint of the paper is available here. The paper has been accepted for publication in the journal MNRAS.

Copyright 2013 Space.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/04/17181733-james-webb-telescope-might-see-alien-life-on-white-dwarfs?lite

kevin costner budweiser shootout animal house invincible jesse jackson whitney houston funeral video tyler perry whitney houston

Taylor Swift to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler: Go to Hell!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/taylor-swift-to-tina-fey-and-amy-poehler-go-to-hell/

half time show halftime show 2012 kelly clarkson super bowl 2012 ok go peyton manning super bowl nsx chad ochocinco