Views from the Solar System (133)

←

Pavlof Volcano From Station

NASA – Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) photographed this striking view of Pavlof Volcano on May 18, 2013. The oblique perspective from the ISS reveals the three dimensional structure of the ash plume, which is often obscured by the top-down view of most remote sensing satellites.

Situated in the Aleutian Arc about 625 miles (1,000 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage, Pavlof began erupting on May 13, 2013. The volcano jetted lava into the air and spewed an ash cloud 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) high. When photograph ISS036-E-2105 (top) was taken, the space station was about 475 miles south-southeast of the volcano (49.1° North latitude, 157.4° West longitude). The volcanic plume extended southeastward over the North Pacific Ocean.

› Additional information/larger images.

Should We Let Wunderkinds Drop Out Of High School?

By Beth J. Harpaz – It’s one thing to say tech geniuses don’t need degrees. After all, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg all dropped out of college.

But now we’ve got David Karp, who doesn’t even have a high school diploma. Karp, 26, founded Tumblr, the online blogging forum, and sold it to Yahoo for $1.1 billion.

What also sets the field apart is that computer programming is not taught at every high school, and even when it is, the most talented students often either “surpass the curriculum or feel it’s not relevant to them,” said Danielle Strachman, program director for the Thiel Fellowship. “They want to move at their own pace.” more> http://tinyurl.com/q5552ab

Related>

• Can Yahoo Buy Its Way Back To Relevance With Tumblr? Robert Hof, Forbes

Inkjet-printed graphene may open doors to foldable electronics

R&D – Imagine a bendable tablet computer or an electronic newspaper that could fold to fit in a pocket.

The technology for these devices may not be so far off. Northwestern University researchers have recently developed a graphene-based ink that is highly conductive and tolerant to bending.

“Graphene has a unique combination of properties that is ideal for next-generation electronics, including high electrical conductivity, mechanical flexibility, and chemical stability,” said Mark Hersam, professor of materials science and engineering at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. more> http://tinyurl.com/mn7wald

Views from the Solar System (132)

←

Curiosity at ‘Cumberland’

NASA – NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity used its front left Hazard-Avoidance Camera for this image of the rover’s arm over the drilling target “Cumberland” during the 275th Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s work on Mars (May 15, 2013).

The rover team plans to use Curiosity’s drill to collect a powdered sample from the interior of the rock for analysis by laboratory instruments inside the rover. This is the mission’s second rock-drilling target. The rover drove from its position beside the first drilling target, “John Klein,” to its position beside Cumberland with drives of 121 inches (308 centimeters) on Sol 273 (May 13) and 26.6 inches (67.5 centimeters) on Sol 275. Curiosity’s total odometry on Mars is now 2,385 feet (727 meters).

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

U.S. power: Down but still unrivaled

BOOK REVIEW

Balance: The Economics of Great Powers from Ancient Rome to Modern America, Authors: Glenn Hubbard and Tim Kane.

By Glenn Hubbard and Tim Kane – Hard power. Soft power. Smart Power. Superpower. This is the language of foreign affairs, full of meaning but empty of measurement. Vagueness is, of course, purposeful in the hands of skilled diplomats and politicians, but it can signal shallowness, ignorance or worse. Lacking clear metrics for power, the U.S. national security establishment speculates about possible rivals while being led astray by trendy catchphrases.

The United States itself has a larger GDP and higher productivity than 10 years ago, but its long-term growth rate has slowed by half. That’s a reflection of internal imbalance – budget deficits, heavy taxes that hinder incentives to work and innovate, unfunded entitlements and more.

Existential threats hide in plain sight. If the United States wants to be a superpower for another century, it needs to focus on the barriers to economic growth within — not phantoms abroad. more> http://tinyurl.com/q8yjmvl