Conversations with Berkeley Faculty: Eva Harris on: UC Berkeley Webcasts Eva Harris is an Assistant Professor in the Infectious Diseases Division of the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, where she does research and teaching on Molecular Biology, Parasitology, and Virology.
The Rise of Silicon Valley: From Shockley Labs to Fairchild Semiconductor on: On February 13, 1956, co-inventor of the transistor William Shockley formally announced the establishment of Shockley Labs, Silicon Valley's first semiconductor company. In their modest Quonset hut laboratory on San Antonio Avenue in Mountain View, Shockley's hand-picked team of some of the nation's brightest young scientists and engineers developed innovative technologies and ideas that forever changed the way we live, work and play. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of this pivotal event in the history of our region, join technology historian Michael Riordan in a conversation between early Shockley employees and associates Jim Gibbons, Jay Last, Hans Queisser, and Harry Sello.
Paul Greengard Rockefeller University Signal Transduction in the Brain on: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Paul Greengard, Ph.D., Vincent Astor Professor of Molecular and Cellular Neurosciences at Rockefeller University and winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in communication between nerve cells, talks about current understanding of the complex biochemistry of signal transduction in the brain. He discusses the implications of his ongoing work in the potential for novel pharmaceutical treatments of various neurological and psychiatric disorders.
John Mather University of Maryland Nobel Prize in Physics on: New York Times A pair of Americans have won the Nobel physics prize for work that helped cement the big-bang theory of the universe, John Mather of Maryland and George Smoot of California.
Andy Revkin New York Times Making a Case for Nuclear Power on: New York Times Science reporter Andrew C. Revkin sits down with environmental scientist and author James Lovelock to discuss the benefits of nuclear power.
Emily Hager New York Times In the Ruins: Tell Hamoukar on: New York Times Archaeologists are discovering that the first cities may have developed in multiple places at the same time.
Genes, worms and the new genetics on: A Royal Society A surprising finding over the past 20 years is that all animals have many of the same genes and that they use them in similar ways to grow and develop. Now that we know the complete DNA sequences of several animals, we can see for example that 60% of genes in the small worm C elegans have a human counterpart. These similarities mean that much of what is learned about what genes do in simple animals such as worms can help us understand what human genes do. Using a remarkable new technique called RNA interference (RNAi), we can quickly test the function of individual genes. In this lecture Julie discussed how she has applied the RNAi technique to worm genes to ask for the first time what most of the genes in an animal do. Extending these approaches to other animals is speeding up the rate of biological discovery and understanding.
Half a Century of Disk Drives and Philosophy: From IBM to Seagate on: Over the past 50 years, disk drive technology has come a long way. Success came from scientific discoveries (and a little luck!), but those discoveries would have ended up on the drafting floor without the practical, real-world leadership that partnered science with manufacturing. A true leader first recognizes a cause whose time has come and then must convince a diverse bunch of people that, in their hearts, they share with you a goal worth striving for. Today, it's exciting to read about pixie dust and molecular computing, but we also need the kind of get in front leadership that brought the hard drive to commercial success before these new discoveries can be useful outside the research lab.
Innovation is Nothing New:100-Odd Years of Venture Capital Wisdom on: Reid Dennis, founder of Institutional Venture Partners, and Franklin Pitch Johnson, founding partner of Asset Management, review their combined 100 years of venture capital experience and observation, from the major mistakes to the spectacular successes. How does venture capital affect innovation? What have we learned? What is really new? Come learn and be entertained by the very personal stories and views of these two legendary venture capitalists.
Chris Brennan California Institute of Technology The Amazing World of Bubbles on: Caltech Chris Brennan, Hayman Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Caltech, explained how bubbles manifest a range of physical effects through their ability to gather, focus, and radiate energy. In some contexts, that focusing of energy can lead to serious technological problems, but when harnessed carefully, it can be put to constructive use.
David W. Lightfoot National Science Foundation The Birth and Death of Languages on: National Science Foundation David W. Lightfoot discusses how and why languages live and die. Even as languages are dying in unprecedented numbers, new languages are constantly emerging as existing ones diverge into different forms.
Can math tell what happened? on: sciencelive My objective in this presentation is to show that mathematics is important and highly relevant to crime fighting in particular, and to many other real life problems in general. Hopefully this will give an answer to the often asked question what's the use of mathematics?
Leslie Valiant Harvard University A Quantitative Theory of Cortex on: Google Video Lecture 9 of 12 of IBM Research's Almaden Institute Conference on Cognitive Computing
Documents, Data and People: World Wide Webs on: This talk will look at the design and growth of the World Wide Web, at the weblike connections between people, and toward a future of a web of machine-readable knowledge.
George Whitesides Harvard University Nanoscience and Nanotechnology - the first of 3 Pegram Lectures on: Brookhaven National Laboratory George M. Whitesides, a chemistry professor at Harvard University, gave a series of three lectures on Nanoscience: Status and Prospects at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Weird Waves on: sciencelive What do mobile phones,microwaves, suntans, night-vision cameras and your radio have in common? Why does your mobile phone make your radio click,and how do X-rays see through your skin? See how lightcan be polarised and find outwhy the sky is blue.Play 'guess the object' in our thermal imaging picture game,and listen to the way your TV remote control sounds! By getting to grips with the wavelength and frequency of differenttypes of radiation,all will become clear!
David Gross University of California, Santa Barbara, Kavli Institute The Discovery of Asymptotic Freedom and the Emergence of QCD on: Nobelprize.org David J. Gross held his Nobel Lecture December 8, 2004, at Aula Magna, Stockholm University.
George Daley Harvard Medical School Stem Cell Research and Policy on: WGBH Forum Stem cells have moved beyond the walls of the laboratory to the realm of politics.
Michael Feuer NRC Cognitive Science and the Science of Education Policy on: WGBH Forum Michael J. Feuer, PhD of the National Research Council presents the final in a series of three lectures that examine the links between cognitive science and the science of education policy as a means of developing more rational programs of educational improvement and more reasonable expectations for reform and research.
Pioneering the Laptop: Engineering the GRiD Compass on: Introduced in 1982, the GRiD Compass 1100 was likely the first commercial computer created in a laptop format and one of the first truly portable machines. With its rugged magnesium clamshell case (the screen folds flat over the keyboard), switching power supply, electro-luminescent display, non-volatile bubble memory, and built-in modem, the hardware design incorporated many features that we take for granted today. Software innovations included a graphical operating system, an integrated productivity suite including word processor, spreadsheet, graphics and e-mail. GRiD Systems Corporation, founded in 1979 by John Ellenby and his co-founders Glenn Edens and David Paulsen, pioneered many portable devices including the laptop, pen-based and tablet PC form factors.
George Bush President of the United States Stem-cell veto looming on: Yahoonews President Bush plans to veto a bill that aims at easing restraints on federally funded embryonic stem-cell research.
E. O. Wilson Harvard University Charlie Rose - RASHID / E.O. WILSON / MATTHIESSEN on: Google Video In the second segment of this show, Edward O. Wilson, Harvard Biologist and author discusses his new book, 'The Future Of Life' [Knopf]
Nature or Nurture: My Life in Technology, So Far on: Rare in such a young industry, Judy Estrin is a second-generation computer scientist who has been around computing all of her life. Her parents, Thelma and Gerald Estrin, both PhD's in electrical engineering and IEEE Fellows, worked together when Judy was an infant to build Israel's first mainframe computer, the Weizac, based on the principles developed by John von Neumann.
