In discussing AIDS drug prices, Derek Lowe notes that:
I’ve known some pretty good Brazilian scientists, but the country isn’t up to being able to discover and develop its own new ones. (Very few countries are; you can count them on your fingers.)
I’d never thought about this, but I imagine it’s true. There’s a reason that so many countries send students to the US (and the UK, and few other places) for their education. I recall a chapter in one of Feynman’s autobiographies, in which he described the state of physics education in Brazilian universities. It was basically rote memorization, with no apparent comprehension of the actual meaning or applicability of the formulas. It would be interesting (and sad) if that remains the case.
In discussing AIDS drug prices, Derek Lowe notes that:
I’ve known some pretty good Brazilian scientists, but the country isn’t up to being able to discover and develop its own new ones. (Very few countries are; you can count them on your fingers.)
I’d never thought about this, but I imagine it’s true. There’s a reason that so many countries send students to the US (and the UK, and few other places) for their education. I recall a chapter in one of Feynman’s autobiographies, in which he described the state of physics education in Brazilian universities. It was basically rote memorization, with no apparent comprehension of the actual meaning or applicability of the formulas. It would be interesting (and sad) if that remains the case.
In discussing AIDS drug prices, Derek Lowe notes that:
I’ve known some pretty good Brazilian scientists, but the country isn’t up to being able to discover and develop its own new ones. (Very few countries are; you can count them on your fingers.)
I’d never thought about this, but I imagine it’s true. There’s a reason that so many countries send students to the US (and the UK, and few other places) for their education. I recall a chapter in one of Feynman’s autobiographies, in which he described the state of physics education in Brazilian universities. It was basically rote memorization, with no apparent comprehension of the actual meaning or applicability of the formulas. It would be interesting (and sad) if that remains the case.
You’ll all be shocked to learn, as I was, that men aren’t totally averse to seeing women naked:
Women were more frequently bothered by nude sunbathing than men. Just over 40 percent of women said they did not like seeing other naked females on the beach, while just 5 percent of men shared their opinion about nude women.
At the Johnson Space Center, spokesperson Harrison Froling said that NASA scientists were “working overtime” to try to remember why the space agency launched the Explorer 17b on May 17, 1995.
“We are confident that the Explorer 17b will expand our understanding of the solar system and the universe,” Mr. Froling said. “We’re just not sure how.”
Over at The Space Review today, Jeff Foust has a more detailed critique of the “Abbey-Lane” Report, a document that I didn’t have a very high opinion of. Also, Craig Carberry has a rundown of the political prospects for NASA and the Vision for Space Exploration in the context of the 2008 elections. He repeats a popular myth, though–a common one:
…it was a Republican president who initiated the new vision, and back in 2000, the Republican platform called for
I had my Swiss Army knife confiscated at airport security a couple years ago, when I made the mistake of having it in my pocket. It didn’t occur to me, but all this nonsense is probably bad for the SAK business, perhaps to the point of putting them out of business.