Chicago Tribune (October 19)
“As genetic engineering continues to advance, playing God has never seemed so easy. Yet humans have never seemed so powerless.” We may finally be able to “create blue roses. But our real talent is destruction.” Collectively, we prefer to ignore this. While our denial continues, “the fish of the sea, the birds of the air and all the creatures that crawl on the Earth will disappear.”
Tags: Blue roses, Creatures, Denial, Destruction, Earth, Engineering, Genetic, Humans, Powerless
New York Times (July 16)
“There was something wonderfully childlike in the delight of scientists and the public at the rendezvous of the New Horizons spacecraft with that most distant and mysterious of the planets, Pluto…. But there was nothing childish in the extraordinary science and engineering required to send half a ton of highly sophisticated instruments hurtling through space at speeds of up to 47,000 miles an hour for three billion miles.”
Tags: Childlike, Engineering, New Horizons, Pluto, Science, Sophisticated, Space
Time (May 30)Time (May 30)
In the U.S., hiring is taking place in an unusual spot. “Amid a lackluster economic rebound, American manufacturing, for the first time in decades, has seen an unlikely updraft. After losing 6 million jobs from 1999 to 2009, the manufacturing sector has been one of the few stars of the sluggish recovery. Nearly 1 in 6 jobs that have been created since the beginning of 2010 has been in manufacturing.” To continue growing the manufacturing sector, it will be important to focus on the “most lucrative — high-end engineering positions that spawn other positions.”In the U.S., hiring is taking place in an unusual spot. “Amid a lackluster economic rebound, American manufacturing, for the first time in decades, has seen an unlikely updraft. After losing 6 million jobs from 1999 to 2009, the manufacturing sector has been one of the few stars of the sluggish recovery. Nearly 1 in 6 jobs that have been created since the beginning of 2010 has been in manufacturing.” To continue growing the manufacturing sector, it will be important to focus on the “most lucrative — high-end engineering positions that spawn other positions.”
Tags: Engineering, Hiring, Job creation, Manufacturing, U.S.
New York Times (October 26)
The U.S. ranks 48th globally in math and science instruction. Of 29 wealthy countries, the U.S. finishes 27th per capita in undergraduate engineering and science degrees. Foreign graduate students in these subjects are increasingly returning to their home countries. A third of U.S. manufacturers had difficulty “finding enough skilled workers” in 2009. Unless funding for science is increased, the U.S. will “continue to lose economic ground to foreign competitors.”
Tags: Competitiveness, Engineering, Math, Science, U.S.
