Topic: California Institute of Technology

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World rankings: top 10 universities around the globe

Britain's leading higher education publication, The Times Higher Education, today released its 2012 reputation rankings for universities worldwide. Here is a list of the top 10.
The world's top universities in 2011

British higher education consulting company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) today released its annual ranking of the world's top universities, one of the most influential university rankings worldwide.
In Pictures: Technology
World's top 10 universities, Harvard leads again

Times Higher Education, the United Kingdom's leading higher education news publication, today released its first-ever international university rankings. American universities dominate the top of the Times list, faring much better than in rankings released last week by former Times partner Quacquarelli Symonds. The disparate results have already prompted debate about the criteria for evaluating and ranking universities.
The world's Top 10 universities

QS released its annual World University Rankings list of the top 200 universities Wednesday. The UK's University of Cambridge overtook former No. 1 Harvard University, the first time the leading US university was not in the No. 1 spot. Click right arrow to see school's ranked in ascending order.

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Death Valley used as stand-in for Martian landscape (+video)

A project scientist for NASA's huge Curiosity rover is leading a handful of journalists on a trip to Death Valley, whose geology and vistas resemble Mars in some places. The goal is to help reporters get a better idea of the science Curiosity will be doing when it touches down on the Red Planet on the night of Aug. 5.
Entering the job market? Your education matters more than ever.

The unemployment figures don't lie: The Great Recession accelerated a long-term trend in the job market, in which education and skills are the best guarantees for work and good pay.
World rankings: top 10 universities around the globe

Britain's leading higher education publication, The Times Higher Education, today released its 2012 reputation rankings for universities worldwide. Here is a list of the top 10.
Amazing planets: mini solar system, 'Star Wars' lookalike among new finds

The catalogue of newly found planets is becoming richer by the day. By one new estimate, virtually all the billions of stars in the Milky Way could have a planet orbiting them.
Scientists discover three smallest alien planets yet

All three exoplanets are thought to be rocky like Earth. However, their closeness to their star makes them too hot to be in the habitable zone, the area around a star neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist on the surface.
Higgs boson: What scientists are saying about the 'God particle'

Scientists at CERN say that they are closing in on the Higgs boson, the elusive subatomic particle that, if discovered, could help explain why particles have mass. Here's what some of the world's leading physicists have to say about the announcement.
Extrasolar planet: 18 new huge alien planets discovered

Extrasolar planet discoveries have boosted by 50 percent the number of known planets orbiting massive stars. Extrasolar planets are those outside of our solar system.
For NASA's rover Curiosity, it's 'Mars or Bust!'

NASA's rover Curiosity lifted off Saturday for its 354-million-mile cruise to Mars. After its nearly nine-month trip, the six-wheeled robot will descend to begin studying the environment for a better understanding of the red planet's history.
Mars science lab 'Curiosity' to launch 'extraterrestrial real-estate appraisal'

After a decade of "following the water," planetary scientists want to see if water co-existed with other critical environmental conditions that could have allowed simple forms of life to emerge.
Where did Earth's water come from? Comet Hartley 2 offers new clues.

The composition of comet Hartley 2 suggests that comets might have been a bigger source of Earth's water than previously thought. It's also challenging models of solar system formation.
India earthquake: What makes the region so volatile?

A magnitude 6.9 Himalayan quake on the border between India and Nepal, highlights the extreme hazard the region faces as enormous patches of Earth's crust crash into each other.
College rankings: Princeton, Harvard best colleges

College rankings from U.S. News & World Report put five Ivy League schools in Top 10 best colleges. University of Maryland-Baltimore is up-and-comer in college rankings.
Do you have to be a math whiz to understand 'Best College' rankings?

U.S. News & World Report's just-released college rankings pass judgment on more than 1,000 institutions, using an exhaustive three-step process. But don't worry, we won't test you on it.
The world's top universities in 2011

British higher education consulting company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) today released its annual ranking of the world's top universities, one of the most influential university rankings worldwide.
Difference Maker
Naomi Oreskes: fierce defender of climate change science – and scientists

Naomi Oreskes has become a leading voice in defense of the science underlying global warming and the scientists who are researching it.
Another revolution afoot in Egypt: top-notch science

Egypt has launched a national project akin to the Aswan Dam. It's called the City of Science and Technology – part Caltech, part Max Planck Institutes in Germany, part Tech Park in Turkey. Investment in education is the best way to cure fanaticism.
Higgs boson: Was the 'God particle' found?

Higgs boson, aka, the "God particle" is a subatomic particle that is presumed to bestow mass on all other particles. An internal note from physicists at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland has scientists buzzing.
Did the universe begin as a slender thread?

A new framework for the universe's formation suggests that it began as a single thready line, then evolved into a plane, and only then the three-dimensional space we now inhabit. This could simplify sticky cosmological questions, including dark matter and gravity waves.
Where solar power can't fly, artificial photosynthesis might

To fly a jet by solar power might take football-fields worth of solar cells; but to turn sunlight into liquid fuel via artificial photosynthesis could someday power jet airplanes.
In Pictures: Technology
A bold plan to resolve crisis in Egypt

Egyptian Ahmed Zewail won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1999. Here he gives four steps to make the transition to democracy in Egypt.
State of the Union transcript 2011: Full text of the president's speech

State of the Union transcript 2011: President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday night. Here is the full text of the speech.
Supreme Court: NASA's intrusive background checks OK

NASA scientists had challenged background checks that included questions about past drug use. The Supreme Court ruling sidesteps the issue of whether there is a right to informational privacy.
Chapter & Verse
"How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming" made Mike Brown a lot of enemies

Cal Tech astronomer and author Mike Brown helped to demote Pluto from planethood – and got a lot of hate mail as a result.
Huge, boomerang-shaped galaxy spotted hurtling through space

Astronomers have detected a bent galaxy whose odd shape could serve as a signpost for immense gas filaments, which themselves indicate star-forming regions.