Topic: National Science Foundation

A jobless boom for female firms

Women are creating new businesses faster than the national average, but they're hiring far fewer workers. One solution: better networks for women.

Humongous Volkswagen-sized turtle fossils discovered

In addition to its colossal size, the turtle would have been equipped with massive, powerful jaws, meaning it could've eaten just about anything in its range.

CSI Tornado: Decoding – and chasing – supercells with the experts

CSI Tornado: Chasing supercells, interviewing a homeowner sucked off his front porch in an Oklahoma tornado outbreak, and examining the path of a destructive funnel, an expert expedition shows how science is close to decoding the way a tornado works.

Warm spring weather and global warming: If only scientists could be so persuasive

Warm spring weather can help convince Americans that global warming is happening and a problem. But scientists must change the way they talk about this subject. They must leave their ivory towers and learn to speak about climate change in a language that people understand.

President Obama hosts White House Science Fair. Did anybody win?

If championship sports teams are invited to the White House, President Obama reasons, then so should winners of science fairs.

How can Americans compete globally?

Who should have the primary responsibility for making American workers globally competitive – the private sector or government?

Hacked 'Climategate' emails 'truly pathetic,' says climate scientist

Penn State professor Michael Mann, who was among the climate scientists whose emails were leaked after the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit's servers were hacked, called the episode a 'shameless effort to manufacture a false controversy.'  

How much will science research suffer from federal budget cuts?

How will research universities reconfigure themselves to the reality of lowered federal funding?

Unmanned drone attacks and shape-shifting robots: War's remote-control future

The Pentagon already includes unmanned drone attacks in its arsenal. Next up: housefly-sized surveillance craft, shape-changing 'chemical robots,' and tracking agents sprayed from the sky. What does it mean to have soldiers so far removed from the battlefield?

New species emerge as rebels fade from Colombia's rainforest

Now that Colombia has boosted security in Las Orquídeas National Park, ecological researchers are able to investigate a region that could be more diverse than the Amazon.

Huzzah, summer solstice? At South Pole, winter solstice is party time.

Tuesday is the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. For research teams toiling at the South Pole, though, it's the winter solstice and, oh boy, are they happy about it!

Huge asteroid to buzz Earth in November

On November 8 and 9, the quarter-mile-wide asteroid 2005 YU55 will zoom past the Earth, coming within about 200,000 miles, a distance closer than our moon.

SETI puts E.T. on hold

SETI has temporarily halted one of its chief alien-hunting tools, the Allen Telescope Array, citing lack of funding.

Dodge catastrophe by prepping for climate change

Catastrophe strikes when people are not given fair warning. By anticipating a catastrophe driven by climate change, we can avoid such a catastrophe.

Quartz could hold key to explaining earthquakes

Why do some areas of the earth's crust repeatedly swell and crack, while others don't? The answer is in the quartz, a new study suggests.

Education reform: the problem with helping everyone reach 'average'

The crisis in US education isn't just overall poor national performance. Even our best students are less competitive. If we really want to 'win the future,' we have to target our brightest students, not ignore them in the fight to bring all students up to 'proficiency.'

Does Obama budget 'win the future'? Six ways he wants to boost innovation.

The Obama budget proposal for 2012 includes significant funding increases for scientific research and science education. But some supporters of an innovation agenda say it isn't ambitious enough.

Scientists discover that amoebas have developed rudimentary agriculture

Once the amoebae reach their destination, slime molds seed the area with the bacteria, ensuring any amoeba offspring will have plenty to eat.

The new stimulus: Invest in nerds.

Benefits to big companies haven't done enough to stimulate the economy, so how about investing in nerdy research and development (R&D)? Nerds have plenty of 'shovel-ready' intellectual investments to fund.

Gliese 581g, a new planet like Earth: Could humans live there?

Gliese 581g would be the first Earth-like planet found orbiting in a star's habitable zone. The new plant is located in a region where temperatures could sustain life and liquid water on its surface.

“Who’s funding this?!”

Art Carden of Mises Economics Blog offers a full disclosure - and some context.

5 famous pork projects: Beer museum and more

Coined from an 1863 story called “The Children of the Public,” pork-barrel spending referred to any public funds spent to benefit the public. Over time, the term has evolved, referring to projects seen as wasteful, or that may only benefit a small group but the costs are spread out between all taxpayers. Of course, often, one politician's pork is another politician's legitimate expense.

The Citizens Against Government Waste puts out an annual "Congressional Pig Book" that listed 9,129 projects at a cost of $16.5 billion in 2010..

Here a selection of US "pork" projects from recent years:

Alien worlds? Far-off galaxies? Study sets US space priorities.

The National Research Council's once-a-decade study, released Friday, proposes the top priorities for US space science during the coming decade. NASA uses it as a blueprint.

Why kindergarten is key to financial success in life

A Harvard research study looked at kindergarten students in Tennessee and found those who learned more earned more as adults.

Mushrooms used to make eco-friendly packaging

Mycobond, a composite material made from mushroom roots and agricultural waste, is grown around structures to create customized packaging.