Fantastical science under threat as top-secret OZMAT lab faces closure

What an honor to be posting on this forum! Wonderful Britain has such a great tradition of brilliant scientists, from Isaac Newton to Stephen Hawking to Grace Coleridge Frankland (fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society and writer of the 1903 guide Bacteria in Daily Daily life – one particular of my favourite common science books of all time).

When I daydream about such giants of science, I can not aid but really feel humbled by my very own small part in this epic story. Our journey of scientific discovery has been unfolding for millennia, and will undoubtedly carry on for millennia into the future, when our distant human descendants will not even blink at extraordinary technological wonders this kind of as teleportation, daily space travel and instantaneous mac ‘n cheese!

In numerous approaches, 2013 has been a great year for humankind. The Higgs boson has been recognized. We are finding ever a lot more habitable planets across our Milky Way galaxy. Just nowadays I read that a group led by Mike Thewalt at Simon Fraser University held a fragile quantum memory state at area temperature for 39 minutes. Thirty-9 minutes! That shatters the world record! The head tingles at the ways in which ultrafast quantum computing could modify our world in the not-too-distant long term.

Alas, I now concern that such significant technological breakthroughs will be handful of and far amongst in the coming years. We could in truth be heading toward a period of prolonged stagnation in scientific advancement. No, I’m not talking about fewer young individuals interested in mathematics and science. And no, I’m not speaking about a sluggish planet economy slowing down research. I’m talking about a potential with out OZMAT. 

You don’t know this, but I, Dr Elias Lipton, PhD, am the sole remaining researcher at a leading-secret US government agency. Effectively, it was best-secret. Right up until last month. In addition to this quite public publish, I have also just lately released a trove of details on-line – video clips, documents, audio clips – all highly classified info that was originally meant to be delivered solely to my superiors at the US Division of Defense. Now, soon after a series of very troubling occasions, I have been left with no selection: I have brought OZMAT out into the light of day. It is my hope that by way of informing the planet about OZMAT – what it is, how it transforms the world, the techniques it cares for hundreds of beloved creatures living within our facility – I may save the company, so we can carry on to work towards humanity’s following paradigm-shifting technological breakthroughs.

I know, I am biased. I can hear you saying it. Correct, I have worked at OZMAT considering that 1967, when I joined the personnel at the age of 22 beneath the tutelage of my good friend and mentor, Dr Hans Meinhof. And real, considering that 1999 I have been the only OZMAT researcher (due to price range cuts and particular other worries). And yes, until finally the newest events forced me to depart the secret underground facility, I hadn’t really been outside because 1999. But do not confuse my decades of commitment for blind loyalty. Think me when I tell you that OZMAT is one of the most important – if not the most crucial – companies in the globe.

Ah, OZMAT: The Workplace of Zoological Mutations, Anomalies and Transformations. It all started out in 1945 when a US Coast Guard vessel came across a odd blob in the ocean that was emitting huge quantities of power. When Dr Meinhof identified a way to apply the specimen’s properties as the ultimate breakthrough in the improvement of the atomic bomb, the US government speedily established the leading-secret agency OZMAT. The company was tasked with studying all miscellaneous creatures discovered all more than the planet – their habits, their abilities, their powers – with the objective of putting the analysis towards the advancement of main technological breakthroughs and inventions.

Practically every single significant breakthrough you know of was the result of OZMAT analysis. The personal laptop. Human spaceflight. The inflatable travel neck pillow. The listing goes on. For decades, OZMAT researchers have studied the planet’s most superb creatures and channeled their extraordinary capabilities toward the great of mankind.

The creatures, oh, the creatures! They are like household to me. There’s 3,000-pound Asimov, with his tendency to expel giant laser bursts from numerous orifices on his entire body. And Shelley, our half-plant/half-animal who is constantly so desperate for attention and never ever ashamed by her distinctive and intriguing capacity to make objects via a dual process of defecation and vomiting. And of course, we can not forget Alexander Graham Ball and his keen sense of hearing.

And then there is Edison, the most recent specimen to arrive at the OZMAT facility. This exceptional vitality creature represents the closest I’ve come in far more than a decade to the ultimate technological breakthrough: low-cost, free vitality for all.

But now Edison is missing. MISSING! I can barely type the phrases with no trembling! He’s gone from the facility, disappeared much more than a month in the past. I have no doubt he was swiped, taken, snatched, kidnapped proper from his domicile in the dead of night (how this perpetrator outmanoeuvered our safety method I nevertheless do not know). I worry this horrible deed was completed by the Division of Defense itself, or some other faceless agent of incomprehensible evil.

As I create this post I locate myself in the darkest chapter in OZMAT’s long, storied historical past. The agency is in danger of shutdown. I shudder to feel of the fate that awaits my creatures if that comes to pass. And I weep at the considered of humanity’s reduction. It is my desperate hope that you, my dear reader, will spread the word via the scientific neighborhood and the basic public. Teach yourselves, and the globe, about OZMAT. Do all you can to conserve this invaluable agency!

Right after all, our future as a species depends on it.

To find out much more about OZMAT, please visit the official internet site, ozmat.org

Fantastical science under threat as top-secret OZMAT lab faces closure

Students accused of racism for blackening their faces

College students at York University dressed as characters from Awesome Runnings. Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext

In York, 4 male college students have been criticised for painting their faces black and dressing as characters from the movie Awesome Runnings, in which a group of Jamaicans enter a bobsleigh competitors. The college students wore black morphsuits, had painted black skin and 1 donned a dreadlock wig.

The information follows reports that law students in Edinburgh this month painted their faces to dress as Somalian pirates for an “all around the planet” themed celebration. Meanwhile at the University of London, a student with a painted black encounter lately won a fancy dress competition at a union occasion.

“I’ve observed that it’s taking place a lot more now,” says Aaron Kiely, Black Students Officer for the NUS. “It really is deeply worrying, due to the fact it fuels racist stereotypes about black folks.

“If you are a black pupil strolling about campus and you see men and women who have dressed up to mock you, what sort of setting does that make for folks who want to discover?”

Isabelle Scott and Sairish Tahir, racial equality officers at York University, agree that the phenomenon is on the rise: “Perpetuating racial stereotypes to develop shock value seems to be an increasingly common theme across younger individuals at universities now.”

They level out that painting faces black was a well-known form of enjoyment in the 19th century. “Blacking up is steeped in a background of discrimination, degradation and bigotry. It started in the 19th century to dehumanise an complete race for the amusement of the privileged and elite.”

Helena Horton, a pupil at York University, says not everyone is convinced there’s anything incorrect with blacking up: “A whole lot of men and women have defended [sporting black paint], saying ‘what’s incorrect with black faces anyway’, and ‘it’s a joke – they’re having exciting, not currently being malicious’.”

“‘Bad taste’ or ‘politically incorrect’ events are in vogue at the second,” says Eleri Watson, a pupil at Durham University, who has held discussion groups about racism and sexism at university.

“At a single party we heard about, white men and women blacked up to pretend to be slaves. There have also been people dressed as Nazis, the twin towers and Jimmy Savile. It truly is typical to see costumes like that. It is branded as banter or as ironic.”

“Some men and women consider it truly is funny,” says Sofia Hewson, a pupil at Durham University. “And if you get in touch with them out, you happen to be branded as humourless. Students are in a cocoon at uni, where they don’t have to participate in true lifestyle and they’re protected from being judged.”

In lad culture, racism and sexism can thrive, says Hewson. “Students are in a bubble and so some believe they can do what they want.”

“Universities look to give students who do factors like this a slap on the wrist,” says Watson. “In the actual planet you could get fired, or be punished by law. If college students go into a job and anticipate that it really is alright to behave like this, then they will have a rude awakening.”

The student union at Birmingham University lately tried to tackle the problem by banning any costume deemed racist from campus venues. The blanket ban drew criticism from several college students, for focusing on all costumes that could be witnessed as racist, like some based mostly on fictional nations.

So is a blanket ban the best way to go?

Jonathan Blausten, a student at Birmingham University, wrote an open letter criticising the union’s ban at Birmingham and accusing it of “perverting what is a really important conversation”.

He stated: “By cutting out even the slightest mention of race, or by hunting for wrongdoing when it isn’t there, they are providing themselves no leg to stand on when somebody is in fact racist.

“There is no difference in therapy, and no space to make an illustration of a person. This stupid, catch-all policy is lazy, and students are currently being punished for no explanation.”

But when it comes to painting faces black, several come to feel a hardline policy is essential and justifiable. “I fully support a zero tolerance approach,” says Kiely. “We have to say that it truly is unacceptable, particularly on our campuses and in public spots.”

More awareness is essential, some students say. “It’s a case of modifying the culture,” says Watson, “rather than getting a ban.”

“We need to have to advertise a healthier culture,” says Hewson. “Universities need to have to actively discourage racism and raise awareness, not just place measures in area once something has happened.”

Students accused of racism for blackening their faces

New York Ed Department Faces Lawsuit Over inBloom Student Data Plan

In New York, mother and father are concerned about privacy of their kids in the massive data Common Core era — so concerned that they are taking the state’s training official to court to end the Department from sharing students’ information with a personal firm.

A group of parents filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education for its plans to allow inBloom, a nonprofit based mostly in Atlanta, to accessibility students’ information. The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Albany, alleges that the department’s strategy to transfer 2.three million students’ names and other essential data to inBloom violates New York privacy laws, writes Chau Lam of Long Island Information Day.

The lawsuit, filed by a dozen New York City parents, states that “if the state’s current data collection program is breached, it can be contained to the neighborhood district or regional center in which the breach occurred. If inBloom safety is breached by way of inadvertence, negligence or sabotage, the of millions of students will be at chance.”

New York State Training Commissioner John B. King Jr. explained he could not comment on the pending lawsuit.  He, nevertheless, reassured concerned mother and father that students’ personal data are protected below federal law.

Students’ personalized data, which includes check scores, disciplinary information, disabilities and other data, are now stored on state computer systems. The state education officials program to transfer mass data to inBloom this fall or winter. The information management organization will shop and handle the information for public school college students in a computerized “cloud” support.

Some parents concerned about their children’s privacy and object to turning in excess of sensitive personal information to a nongovernmental company.

Pamela Verity of Commack, a mom of 3, applauded the dozen New York City mothers and fathers who filed the lawsuit to avoid the information transfer, including data on about 400,000 students on Extended Island.

“I believe it is fabulous. I feel it is excellent that people mother and father acquired together and did anything,” she stated. “I wish we could mobilize mother and father on Prolonged Island to do the exact same.”

Verity stated she is concerned about a protection breach that could potentially harm her young children. She additional that children’s information is very essential and protection cannot be guaranteed. “Once it is out on the Net, it is out there forever. It does not go away.”

In accordance to the lawsuit, New York was one particular of nine states that had meant to send students’ details to inBloom. Massachusetts has place its information-storage strategy on hold and 7 other states have dropped them.

The cloud storage program is supported by $ a hundred million from computer software billionaire Bill Gates’ family basis. The state is investing much more than $ 50 million to create a sign-on portal and relevant technological innovation.

Jane Lauer Barker of Pitta Giblin in Manhattan, the lead attorney for the New York City mother and father, said in the lawsuit that private businesses and public agencies utilizing cloud-based hosts had been hacked, including Sony and the U.S. Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

A judge denied the parents’ request for a temporary restraining order. The events are scheduled to return to court December 6th.

InBloom declined to comment on the lawsuit.

New York Ed Department Faces Lawsuit Over inBloom Student Data Plan

At Forums, New York State Education Commissioner Faces a Barrage of Complaints

In a series of public forums across the state, John B. King Jr., the state education commissioner, has turn into the sounding board for crowds of parents, educators and other individuals who equate his name with all they take into account to be broken in schooling nowadays. Some blame him for also rapidly imposing more rigorous academic requirements tied to what is identified as the Frequent Core. Mothers and fathers contact him deaf to the misery of pupils taking standardized tests and too open to business involvement in the program teachers blame him for sapping what joy they had left in their craft.

“There is now a ‘Common Core Syndrome,’ ” Beth Dimino, an eighth-grade science instructor, said on Tuesday, speaking to Dr. King in a packed higher college auditorium in Suffolk County.

“Do you understand what that indicates?” she continued. “We have kids that are getting diagnosed by psychologists with a syndrome right associated to perform that they do in the classroom. If that is not kid abuse, I really don’t know what is.”

While no such problem is listed in the official guide of psychiatric disorders — Ms. Dimino said afterward she had read through about it in on the web psychologists’ forums — her anger was common for the night, as speaker following speaker took aim at Dr. King.

Onstage, Dr. King’s entire body language — 1 hand cupping his chin, the other lying gently on a table with a pen amongst his fingers — oozed calm. And when he was offered a likelihood to talk, he reiterated the state’s commitment to its present course.

“The reason that 45 states, the District of Columbia and Department of Defense colleges have all come collectively close to the Typical Core is the clear want to guarantee that all of our college students graduate from substantial school ready for college and profession achievement,” he explained.

He was then drowned out by boos.

Dr. King is holding the listening tour as a number of key alterations take place all at once, in a way that has redefined the classroom experience virtually overnight. Colleges have begun to adopt tougher curriculums in accordance with the Frequent Core. New exams based mostly on people standards started last year, before the curriculums were entirely in place, triggering college students who when easily passed tests to abruptly be branded as failing.

Meanwhile, a new teacher evaluation program has led districts to include even far more bubble tests, even in the early grades. And the state has angered some parents with plans to share students’ academic information on an World wide web cloud to aid training organizations create digital teaching materials more closely tailored to children’s demands.

Dr. King ideas to host six much more forums outdoors New York City via Dec. 9, and at least 5 in the city in the coming weeks.

“Experiencing the frustrations and feelings of the modify process is element of leadership,” Dr. King said in an interview last week. “So, I see this as part of my obligation to both hear individuals out about their issues, to make thoughtful adjustments where acceptable, and also that we continue to describe why we are so convinced about the urgency and value of raising specifications.”

If Dr. King, 38, looks professorial to the severe, it could be his background: He has an undergraduate degree from Harvard, a law degree from Yale and a doctorate in schooling from Columbia. His father was the 1st African-American principal in Brooklyn, his mother a guidance counselor born in Puerto Rico. He was orphaned at age 12, after the two mother and father succumbed to illness — hardships that he credits public-school teachers with assisting him get by means of.

After 3 many years of teaching, he was a founder of Roxbury Preparatory, a celebrated charter school in Massachusetts. Then he assisted start Uncommon Schools, a network of charters primarily based in New York, before joining the State Training Division in 2009 as a deputy commissioner. He was named commissioner in 2011.

His restraint has not succeeded in calming the crowds that have come to see him. At a forum close to Poughkeepsie final month, the criticism grew so visceral — there were derogatory names and obscene gestures — that he canceled several forthcoming hearings, then rolled out a new schedule and format. Rather of sitting onstage alone or almost alone, he now sits at a dais surrounded by other people, like state or nearby officials, as a way to spread some of the vitriol about and make the state’s case appear to be coming from much more than one particular man. But he is nevertheless the primary aim as he spoke on Long Island final week, 1 female mimicked the Charlie Brown instructor.

“John is doing a yeoman’s occupation, staying cool, focusing on the policy troubles,” explained Merryl H. Tisch, the chancellor of the State Board of Regents, who has served as a single of Dr. King’s psychological bodyguards at the forums. “People are asking difficult inquiries, but I haven’t seen him miss a beat.”

Some of Dr. King’s supporters blame teachers’ unions for whipping up some of the emotion. Timothy Daly, the president of the New Teacher Project, a group focused on teacher effectiveness and aligned with the reform motion, said that public displays of aggression toward Dr. King have been political tactics that ought to be cause for concern.

“This is the very first African-American leader of the State Education Division,” he stated. “And to observe him be shouted at and insulted by largely white audiences in the suburbs is discomforting and it is jarring that, not only has it occurred, but it has occurred repeatedly.”

Dr. King stated it was extremely hard to know what forces drive an individual’s habits or tone, but he does not think race was driving the debate on state schooling policy. And Richard C. Iannuzzi, president of the New York State United Teachers, stated it was incorrect to characterize the union as driving the opposition to reform. But he did fault Dr. King for not generating bigger changes to alleviate some of the classroom disruptions.

“I hold the commissioner much less accountable for implementations not operating than I hold him accountable for failing to accept that reality and creating the considerable program corrections that could correct this ship,” Mr. Iannuzzi mentioned. “That is the greater failure in my thoughts.”

Dr. King explained in an interview that interrupting the alterations now would not make sense, and mentioned that the state signed on to the Common Core three many years in the past. A lot of of the exams that teachers and parents are complaining about are mandated by federal law, he mentioned, and some, like Regents exams, have been in location for a lot more than a century. But he said that the forums were contributing to some rethinking in his workplace. Most considerably, the state is hunting for techniques to get rid of some testing.

“I consider the debate about whether we need to have greater specifications is a settled debate,” Dr. King mentioned. “It is actually a query of how do we proceed to help individuals by way of the implementation.”

At Forums, New York State Education Commissioner Faces a Barrage of Complaints