The Finnish Example
There's a long, admiring story in today's Washington Post extolling Finland as a possible model for European development. Finland has invested heavily in scientific research, especially since it backed...
View ArticleMeanwhile, back in space
One good thing about covering space is that it puts what's happening to this Big Blue Marble into proper perspective. See if you don't agree: Closer to the Big Bang -- Space is a time machine. When you...
View ArticleRice Wins Again!
No, not on the football field, silly. (The original Rice seal, to the right, dates from 1911, and carries its own story, including Confederate gray "warmed into life by a tinge of lavender.") I'm...
View ArticleNo News May Be News
One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a reporter is to become dependent on press releases. When you do that, you're telling the story the vendors want you to tell. And you're ignoring the story...
View ArticleAnother Route Toward Long-Term Research
Funding effective long-term research -- cutting-edge stuff that helps your bottom line -- is where nearly every company falls down. Microsoft has been pouring billions into its research effort for...
View ArticleRich and Poor
Once there were three classes in America. Now there are two. You are rich or you are poor. How do we tell the difference? It's quite easy: In the 19th century the rich were fat. Prosperity meant you...
View ArticleReplacing Edison
Thomas Edison was America's greatest inventor. He was wonderfully prolific, a symbol of the 19th century who stayed active well into the 20th. But many of his inventions have been replaced: His ideas...
View ArticleHow the Bucky Man Transformed My Alma Mater
Dr. Richard Smalley passed away last week. Few men have ever transformed an institution as profoundly as Dr. Smalley transformed my alma mater, Rice University in Houston. It started before he got...
View ArticleBuckytubes Phone Home
One tragedy of the late Richard Smalley's life was that his beloved Buckytubes did not make more progress into the world of real products. So I'm sure he's smiling from heaven at this news, word that...
View ArticleThe Right Way to Economic Development
This month Atlanta lost Rafael Furcal to a $40 million LA Dodger contract, but picked up Jeffrey Skolnick for $7 million. I'd say we came out ahead. Skolnick is a leader in bioinformatics, the use of...
View ArticleMonopolists at the Academic Gates
For the last few days I've been needlessly obsessed with a study I found at Georgia State University, about peer-reviewed journals. (The image is of Fondren Library at Rice University, where I got some...
View ArticleLaw & Order Twist in Blackberry Case
The patent case concerning the RIM Blackberry has taken a twist that could have come out of the TV show Law & Order. You know, those shows where the fights are over which of two adults killed the...
View ArticleWhere Is The Power?
I have something interesting in common with Sun COO Jonathan Schwartz. That is a fascination with a scene in history. The year is 1881, and in J.P. Morgan's mansion on Madison Avenue an experiment is...
View ArticleAlternative Energy No Longer an Option
John Robb of Global Guerillas has posted a blog entry that should curl your hair. (The picture is from Drexel University.) The control over the price of oil is in now in the hands of global guerrillas...
View ArticleEvolution Changes Its Mind (Again)
One of the great absurdities of the “intelligent design” debate is when someone says “science says.” Scientists say a lot of things. Scientists agree (and sometimes disagree). The consensus among...
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