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First female UK Young Scientist Of The Year wants to inspire others By Staff reporte

Posted by Dan WebNutritionist/Motivator on April 8, 2011 at 10:30pm

Hanah%20Eastwood%20-%20First%20female%20UK%20Young%20Scientist%20Of%20The%20Year_1861_1_1___Selected.jpgA veterinary student has been named the first female UK Young Scientist of the Year at this year's National Science & Engineering competition.

Hannah Eastwood, a first-year undergraduate studying veterinary science at the University of Bristo l, was awarded the prestigious accolade at The Big Bang: UK Young Scientists' & Engineers' Fair.

She is the first woman to be awarded any senior title in the competition. Her winning project explored how chromium can be removed from drinking water. This enables tap water to be purified and reclaimed for the steel industry, where it is a valuable resource.

Hannah, originally from Coleraine in Northern Ireland, made a substance called Lepidocrocite, which is an iron oxide-hydroxide mineral. She discovered its formation pathways after creating a control system to make the substance.

"I'm still in shock but so thrilled," Hannah said . "This is an unbelievable opportunity to be an ambassador for science and to inspire young people."

Professor Brian Cox, one of the judges of the National Science & Engineering Competition, explained: "The judges were truly overwhelmed by her project and it's wonderful to witness such enthusiasm and dedication for science.  It's left me hugely excited about the future of science in the UK, with passionate young scientists such as Hannah at the helm."

The National Science & Engineering Competition is open to 11-18 year olds from across the UK.  Finalists showed off their projects at the Big Bang fair at the ExCeL centre in London last week [10-12 March], which marked the start of National Science and Engineering Week 2011.

(extracted from www.optimistworld.com)
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IS the AMERICAN Economy still GOING DOWN ? Doomsday warnings of US apocalypse gain ground

Posted by businessday9jabook on September 12, 2010 at 11:06pm
The chinese looming forward Now No 2 but indications say not for long asthe Number 1 Spot is up for grabs any moment from now ! photo_1284261443586-1-1.jpg
Economists peddling dire warnings that the world's number one economy ison the brink of collapse, amid high rates of unemployment and aspiraling public deficit, are flourishing here.

The guru of this doomsday line of thinking may be economist NourielRoubini, thrust into the forefront after predicting the chaos wrought bythe subprime mortgage crisis and the collapse of the housing bubble.

"The US has run out of bullets," Roubini told an economic forum in Italyearlier this month. "Any shock at this point can tip you back intorecession."

But other economists, who have so far stayed out of the media limelight,are also proselytizing nightmarish visions of the future.

Boston University professor Laurence Kotlikoff, who warned as far backas the 1980s of the dangers of a public deficit, lent credence to suchdark predictions in an International Monetary Fund publication lastweek..

He unveiled a doomsday scenario -- which many dismiss as pure fantasy --of an economic clash between superpowers the United States and China,which holds more than 843 billion dollars of US Treasury bonds.

"A minor trade dispute between the United States and China could makesome people think that other people are going to sell US treasurybonds," he wrote in the IMF's Finance & Development review.

"That belief, coupled with major concern about inflation, could lead to asell-off of government bonds that causes the public to withdraw theirbank deposits and buy durable goods."

Kotlikoff warned such a move would spark a run on banks and money marketfunds as well as insurance companies as policy holders cash in theirsurrender values.

"In a short period of time, the Federal Reserve would have to printtrillions of dollars to cover its explicit and implicit guarantees. Allthat new money could produce strong inflation, perhaps hyperinflation,"he said.

"There are other less apocalyptic, perhaps more plausible, but stillquite unpleasant, scenarios that could result from multiple equilibria."

According to a poll by the StrategyOne Institute published Friday, some65 percent of Americans believe there will be a new recession.

And the view that America is on a decline seems rather well ingrained inmany people's minds supported by 65 percent of people questioned in aWall Street Journal/NBC poll published last week.

"It is true: Today's economic problems are structural, not cyclical," argued New York Times editorial writer David Brooks.

He said the United Sates is losing its world dominance much in the sameway the British Empire began to crumble more than a century ago.

"We are in the middle of yet another jobless recovery. Wages have beenlagging for decades. Our labor market woes are deep and intractable,"Brooks said.

Nobel Economics Prize winner Paul Krugman also voiced concern about thefate of the fragile economic recovery if voters return the Republicansto political power.

"It's hard to overstate how destructive the economic ideas offeredearlier this week by John Boehner, the House minority leader, would beif put into practice," he wrote in a recent editorial.

"Fewer jobs and bigger deficits -- the perfect combination."

The Wall Street Journal, usually more favorable to Boehner's call fortax cuts, ran a commentary from another Nobel Prize-winning economist --Vernon Smith -- that failed to provide much comfort for readers.

"This fact needs to be confronted: We are almost surely in for a long slog," Smith wrote.

And it seems such pessimism has even filtered into the IMF, which warnedon Friday that high levels of national debt and a still shaky financialsector threaten to derail the global economic recovery.

"The foreclosure backlog in US property markets is large and growing, inpart due to the recent expiration of the home buyer's tax credit. Whenrealized, this could further depress real estate prices."

This could lead to "disproportionate losses" for small and medium-sizedbanks, which could in turn "precipitate a loss of market confidence inthe recovery," the IMF warned.
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