Lifeboat Foundation

The federal government has announced the appointment of Australia’s first Women in STEM Ambassador, with Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith charged with overseeing the country’s attempt to diversify its science, technology, engineering, and mathematics sectors.

An astrophysicist professor, Harvey-Smith will specifically advocate for girls and women in STEM education and careers, aiming also to raise awareness in the male-dominated industry and drive cultural and social change for gender equity.

SEE: The state of women in computer science: An investigative report [PDF download] (TechRepublic cover story)

Continue reading “​Australia gets Women in STEM Ambassador in astrophysicist professor” »

Authorities in China’s far-western Xinjiang region appear to have officially legalized so-called re-education camps for people accused of religious extremism, a little more than a month after denying such centers exist.

The Xinjiang government on Tuesday revised a local law to encourage “vocational skill education training centers” to “carry out anti-extremist ideological education.”

Human rights organizations have long alleged the Chinese government has been detaining hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs — a Turkic-speaking, largely Muslim minority native to Xinjiang — in such centers as part of an effort to enforce patriotism and loyalty to Beijing in the region.

This video is the culmination of documentaries from the vacuum tube, transistor and integrated circuit eras of computing.

[0:40–20:55] — Vacuum Tube Documentary

[20:55–30:00] — Transistor Documentary

Continue reading “Vacuum Tube to Transistor to Integrated Circuit [Documentary]” »

It is important to know why a program does what it does. This is not a mystery, technology is a tool and that tool is only as good as the human who created it.

You always have to know why a program, makes the decisions that it makes. No program or Algorithm will be perfect, that is the main issue that Lisa Haven brings forward. You also have to make sure of the reason for the error whether it is innocent or intentional or even criminal.

Continue reading “A Secret Algorithm That Could Ruin Your Life” »

Len Blavatnik, the Ukrainian-born and Russian-raised billionaire businessman with a net worth of $17.9 billion, says he has given away $500 million to charity so far, mostly to world-renowned universities like Oxford, Harvard, Stanford and Yale. When asked why he favors donating to higher education institutions, he explains shrewdly that for him, conducting philanthropy is like running a business.

Len Blavatnik, who made his first billions in Russia, credits much of his success to his academic parents and to his education. He’s given hundreds of millions to universities mostly in America and England.

For too long, presentations of science for the general public, and education in schools, has suggested that science wields a sort of hegemonic power, as if its terms and methods gradually replace and make redundant all other discourse; the only reason it has not yet completed its conquest is that the world is complicated—but it is only a matter of time…

The Disruption Experience this Friday in Singapore is a blockchain event with a difference. With apologies to the Buick commercial, this is not your grandfather’s conference…

I know a few things about blockchain conferences. I produced and hosted the first Bitcoin Event in New York. My organization develops cryptocurrency standards and practices. We help banks and governments create policy and services. And as public speaker for a standards organization, I have delivered keynote presentations at conferences and Expos in Dubai, Gujarat India, Montreal and Tampa, New York and Boston.

Continue reading “Disruption Experience Nails It” »

In a world increasingly driven by industries that rely on advanced technical learning and innovation, fluency in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math) becomes more vital every day. Yet our education system isn’t keeping up. Five years ago, a Business-Higher Education Forum study found that 80% of high school students either lacked interest or proficiency in STEM subjects. Meanwhile, a college and career readiness organization known as ACT reported last year that the number of students pursuing STEM careers is growing at less than 1% annually.

The Amgen Foundation is doing something about it. As the principal philanthropic arm of Amgen, the largest independent biotechnology company, the Amgen Foundation has been committed to inspiring the next generation of scientists and innovators by making immersive science education a focus of its social investments for almost 30 years. While Amgen has reached millions of patients around the world with biotechnology medicines to combat serious illnesses, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and migraines, the Amgen Foundation has reached more than 4 million students globally—and it is poised to launch a new program called LabXchange with the potential to reach millions more.

“As a scientist, it’s clear to me that the most effective way to learn science is by doing it,” says David Reese, executive vice president of Research and Development at Amgen and member of the Amgen Foundation board of directors. “It’s time to transform the science learning experience. We need to move from information acquisition to application and exploration, from students as passive listeners to active participants in the learning process, from teachers as knowledge transmitters to facilitators and coaches.”

Continue reading “Philanthropy Assignment: Inspire Tomorrow’s Leaders With Science” »

James Peyer has been a scientist, entrepreneur, and advisor to biotechs and pharma companies, always with a specialization for developing new classes of therapeutics. James founded Apollo to support biotech entrepreneurs strategically, scientifically, and financially as they create the next generation of medicines.

James Peyer received his PhD from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, where he was a National Science Foundation Fellow and worked on the basic biology of stem cells and improving gene therapies. He founded his first company, Genotyp, at 21 to overhaul hands-on science education in the US. Genotyp’s innovative biotech equipment leasing model and instructor training earned it the approval of the White House and the National Institutes of Health. It became the first biotech company to receive funding through Kickstarter.com. He received a BA with special honors from the University of Chicago, where he studied immunology.

Discoveries in aging biology are ready for acceleration to the clinic, where they can treat age-related disease and extend healthy lifespan.

Continue reading “Interview with Apollo Ventures which funds anti-aging companies” »