Titanic

Steve Schmidt, bless his pointy Republican head, makes a very important point here. And to underscore the point, let me ask you this: How do we go from having an "election" to having a "president elect"? The process is actually a bit subtle and somewhat more complicated than one might think. Election day happens, but there is no "president elect" in any official, constitutional, way, for a very long time thereafter. Though this can vary, the first possible date that we will have a "president elect" in the current election cycle is on January 6th, 2017. Not before. Of course, what really…
On April 24, 2014, an exclusive group of visionaries presented to over 4,000 students at the USA Science & Engineering Festival's inaugural X-STEM Symposium sponsored by Northrop Grumman Foundation and MedImmune. The all day event included interactive presentations and workshops with some of the top scientists and engineers in the country. In the presentation below, renowned oceanographer Dr. David Gallo dives into the unknown world deep under the sea to discuss ocean exploration, unexplored creatures and territory and the technology required to make it happen at the X-STEM Symposium.…
On April 14th, 1912, the RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg during her maiden voyage. The collision occurred at 11:40 PM ships time, and by 2:20 AM the ship broke apart and foundered with over a thousand people still on board. Of the 2,224 people on board just over 700 were rescued. There have been a number of theories about the iceberg; where did it come from, why were there so many icebergs in the area at the time, how big was it, and so on. It has become general belief that the number of ice bergs in the area was exceptionally large. However, a new paper released a few minutes ago…
X-STEM - presented by Northrop Grumman Foundation and MedImmune - is an Extreme STEM symposium for elementary through high school students featuring interactive presentations by an exclusive group of visionaries who aim to empower and inspire kids about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). These top STEM role models and industry leaders are sure to ignite your students’ curiosity through storytelling and live demonstrations. Our spotlight on our X-STEM Speakers continues with Titanic Explorer Dr. David Gallo! The world deep beneath the surface of the ocean is a…
By Larry Bock Founder and organizer, USA Science & Engineering Festival In our world of high-tech bravado, I often wonder where we'd be without explorers -- those undaunted heroes and heroines of the past and of today whose achievements, like an unforgettable song or movie -- form a lasting impression in the brain over what the human spirit can accomplish with will and perseverance. From the annals of history, their names roll off the tongue almost effortlessly: Vespucci, Columbus, Lindbergh, Earhart, Shackleton, Henson, Cousteau, Glenn and others -- people who, bolstered by a sense of…
Nominated by The world deep beneath the surface of the ocean is a dark, mysterious, and fascinating place. Renowned oceanographer David Gallo should know -- he's been there numerous times. "Sea life at those depths -- two to three miles down-- is also bizarre, resilient, beautiful and shockingly abundant," he adds. A pioneer in ocean exploration, David (who participated in the exploration of the legendary Titanic) is one of the first scientists to use a combination of manned submersible vehicles and robots to map and study the undersea world with clarity and detail. In his work, he's…
I'm trying something new. Right from the start, I've always tried to write fairly long and detailed write-ups of new papers but this means that on any given week, there are always more stories than time and my desktop gets littered with PDFs awaiting interpretation. So, I'm going to start doing shorter write-ups of papers that don't make the cut, linking to more detailed treatments on other quality news sources. This is something that I hope science journalists will do more of. It stems from a Twitter conversation where I asked if I should (a) write up short versions of these stories, (b)…