Welcome back everyone.  There are a lot of exciting changes this year and we look forward to having the best school year yet!  Let’s work together, have some fun, and learn lots of stuff

A new page has been added to display and celebrate students’ various creations.  As I get more projects, I’ll add more to the wall.  Checkout some of the work by clicking on the “Student Work” link on my home page or by clicking here.  If you want something you’ve done in the past to be displayed on the wall just come see me.

Take the poll below to let me know what you think of this new feature.  Feel free to add a comment in the comments section if you wish.

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I have scheduled two online meetings in case you have any questions about your assignments or need any extra help.  Here is how this works…

1. Go to www.dimdim.com
2. Click “Join Meeting” – you don’t need to register or install any special software – it should just work.
3. In the “Meeting Room” box, type in “docfleetwood” (without the quotes)
4. Put your name in the “Your Name” box
5. Click “Join” and that should do it.  If you have a microphone, you can speak to me.  Otherwise there is a chat box.

The meetings are scheduled for 12:00 Friday (2/12/10) and for 11:00 Saturday (2/13/10).  They are scheduled for an hour each but you can just pop in and out as you wish.  So stop in and ask any questions you might have and then go about your day

From a technological perspective, I’m interested to see how this works – so feel free to stop by and say hi even if you don’t have a question

The Earth Policy Institute issued the following press release detailing recent data on how the use of food to produce automobile fuels is affecting world starvation levels.  As a society we must become more innovative in developing new methods of powering automobiles and other devices.  In this new century we must let go of the antiquated combustion engine and not simply try to replace one fuel with another.  The environment and the people of the world deserve better.

DATA HIGHLIGHTS – U.S. FEEDS ONE QUARTER OF ITS GRAIN TO CARS WHILE HUNGER IS ON THE RISE

http://www.earthpolicy.org/index.php?/press_room/C68/2010_datarelease6

The 107 million tons of grain that went to U.S. ethanol distilleries in 2009 was enough to feed 330 million people for one year at average world consumption levels. More than a quarter of the total U.S. grain crop was turned into ethanol to fuel cars last year. With 200 ethanol distilleries in the country set up to transform food into fuel, the amount of grain processed has tripled since 2004.

The United States looms large in the world food economy: it is far and away the world’s leading grain exporter, exporting more than Argentina, Australia, Canada, and Russia combined. In a globalized food economy, increased demand for food to fuel American vehicles puts additional pressure on world food supplies.

From an agricultural vantage point, the automotive hunger for crop-based fuels is insatiable. The Earth Policy Institute has noted that even if the entire U.S. grain crop were converted to ethanol (leaving no domestic crop to make bread, rice, pasta, or feed the animals from which we get meat, milk, and eggs), it would satisfy at most 18 percent of U.S. automotive fuel needs.

When the growing demand for corn for ethanol helped to push world grain prices to record highs between late 2006 and 2008, people in low-income grain-importing countries were hit the hardest. The unprecedented spike in food prices drove up the number of hungry people in the world to over 1 billion for the first time in 2009. Though the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression has recently brought food prices down from their peak, they still remain well above their long-term average levels.

The amount of grain needed to fill the tank of an SUV with ethanol just once can feed one person for an entire year. The average income of the owners of the world’s 940 million automobiles is at least ten times larger than that of the world’s 2 billion hungriest people. In the competition between cars and hungry people for the world’s harvest, the car is destined to win.

Continuing to divert more food to fuel, as is now mandated by the U.S. federal government in its Renewable Fuel Standard, will likely only reinforce the disturbing rise in hunger. By subsidizing the production of ethanol, now to the tune of some $6 billion each year, U.S. taxpayers are in effect subsidizing rising food bills at home and around the world.

For more information on the competition between cars and people for grain, see Chapter 2 in Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2009), on-line for free downloading with supporting datasets.
Feel free to pass this information along to friends, family members, and colleagues!

Checkout Google’s Zeitgeist 2009 to take a look back at 2009 through the eyes of Google.  See what billions of people around the world were searching for throughout the year – the results may surprise you.

Wired Science has published its top breakthroughs for 2009.  It is an interesting read and a good way to catch up on some new scientific accomplishments.  Learn how to extend life, why it is sometimes not a good thing to be the first patient for a new therapy, how jellyfish stir the ocean and more.  Head on over to the Wired Science story.

A cute dialogue from the archives of the Science Creative Quarterly.  Having a three year old daughter myself, I can totally relate!

http://snipurl.com/tpis0

A recent scientific study has found that cardiovascular fitness is associated with overall intelligence and academic achievement.  Yet another reason why children should get exercise everyday, such as phys. ed. class in school.  Read more, or listen to the podcast, here:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=fitness-linked-to-smartness-09-12-02

When we learn something new the neurons in our brains form new connections to one another.  The stronger these connections, the more lasting the memory.  Scientists have recently discovered that these connections form faster than previously thought.  Read about this process and their findings here:  Science Daily

Scientists have recently discovered a ‘copy number variant’ mutation that increases the risk of developing schizophrenia.  Having just one extra copy of a specific gene on chromosome 16 gives an 8 times greater risk.  Read about their findings here.