Photosynthesis photographed for the first time

Researchers at ASU capture a ‘molecular movie’ of water splitting into oxygen, protons and electrons.

Source: www.mnn.com

Upright Citizens Brigade Writes Its Book on Improv

The comedy troupe Upright Citizens Brigade has a new manual for improvisation that adds further discipline to the Second City lessons on the form.

Source: www.nytimes.com

Improvisation and creativity (small-c)

Guide for Writing a Funding Proposal

A free practical Guide that provides both instructions on how to write a funding proposal with actual examples of a completed proposal. Designed as a tool for advanced graduate students and others to learn more about the actual proposal writing process. Authored by S. Joseph Levine, Michigan State University (levine@msu.edu).

Source: www.learnerassociates.net

Creativity in Gifted Children – Definition and Traits

Most of us, when we think of creativity, think of art, music and writing, and encourage our children in those areas. But creativity is much more than that.

Source: giftedkids.about.com

Creativity in Gifted Children – Definition and Traits

Creativity in Gifted Children – Definition and Traits.

 

excerpt:

Traits of Creativity

It might help to take a look at the characteristics many see as necessary for creativity. Here is a list of the traits from J.P Guilford that people still consider important to creativity. .

1. Sensitivity to Problems
   In general, this is the ability to see deficiencies in products, social institutions, theories, and pretty much anything in life. and to determine that goals have not been met. A deficiency in this case is not a flaw in the sense that the product doesn’t work or the situation is impossible, but rather a deficiency in this sense is something that could be changed to make the product better or the situation more effective or more efficient. The problems in science, too. For instance, a physicist may see a problem with the Big Bang Theory. Such “problems” or deficiencies exist in all disciplines: the hard sciences like biology, the social sciences like psychology, the humanities like philosophy, and even the arts like music.
2. Fluency of thinking
   This is the ability to think well and without effort. This fluency allows a person to come up with numerous ideas as well as numerous possible solutions to a problem.
3. Flexibility of thinking
   Flexibility of thinking refers to the ability to easily move beyond traditional ways of thinking and come up with new ones. For instance, if you were asked to build a house of cards, would you think of bending the cards or would you just assume that you weren’t supposed to bend them because you’ve never seen a house of cards with bent cards?
4. Originality
   The trait of originality is pretty much just what you think it is. It is the ability to come up with unusual responses, connections, solutions, or approaches. It’s similar to flexibility of thinking, but with originality, the probability of someone else coming up with the same line of thinking is quite small. How many people came up with the Theory of Relativity, for example? This is not to say that two or more people can’t arrive at similar solutions to the same problem, but the number would be very small.
5. Redefinition
   Redefinition refers to the ability to see old things in new ways. For example, let’s say you need a needle, but you don’t have one. What you do have is a fish, a pencil, a nail, and a dried green bean. Which would you use to make a needle? A fish, of course! You’d use one of the bones from the fish. It is strong, but it can be sharpened and it’s possible to put a hole in it. A pencil would not be too big to use as a needle and if you made it small enough to use as a needle, it wouldn’t be strong enough. A nail is strong enough, but you’d have a really tough time getting a hole in it, and if it was a big nail, you’d have a hard time making it smaller. A dried green bean would be easy to make a hole in, but it would break quite easily.
6. Elaboration
   Elaboration is simply the ability to come up with the details of a general idea or solution. It means that if a creative person is given just a general idea for a task or solution, he or she can figure out the steps it will take to complete it.
7. Tolerance of ambiguity
   This is the ability to accept uncertainty without feeling stress or tension. Someone with a high tolerance for ambiguity can hold conflicting views and values and find a way to reconcile the two without feeling stressed or tense. It means that the creative person can wait for an answer or solution rather than avoiding a problem or issue that does not at first seem to have a clear answer or that may seem to have more than one answer.
8. Commitment
   Called motivation by some, this trait enables the creative person to become deeply involved in the task at hand and to be willing to work hard and to keep on working.
9. Risk taking
   Although this trait was not mentioned specifically by Guilford, it comes up frequently in lists of traits of creativity. It is the willingness to take chances which makes it easier for a person to be flexible and original. Of course, it someone is flexible and original, it’s easy to see that they might also be willing to take risks. However, it’s one thing to think outside the box, but it’s another thing to openly express new ideas and try them out even at the risk of failure and even ridicule.

Our unrealistic views of death, through a doctor’s eyes

Sometimes medical care can amount to torture.

Source: m.washingtonpost.com

excerpt: "These unrealistic expectations often begin with an overestimation of modern medicine’s power to prolong life, a misconception fueled by the dramatic increase in the American life span over the past century. To hear that the average U.S. life expectancy was 47 years in 1900 and 78 years as of 2007, you might conclude that there weren’t a lot of old people in the old days — and that modern medicine invented old age. But average life expectancy is heavily skewed by childhood deaths, and infant mortality rates were high back then. In 1900, the U.S. infant mortality rate was approximately 100 infant deaths per 1,000 live births."

Emerald Insight | International Journal for Researcher Development | Understanding, attitude and environment: The essentials for developing creativity in STEM researchers

 This research demonstrates that young researchers have a complex range of perceptions of creativity, and that negative attitudes towards it are common in the STEM environment. Three key environmental facilitators of creativity were also uncovered which are: a positive research environment; sufficient constructive communication; and time and space to be creative. It is argued that more emphasis should be placed upon optimising the environment for creative work to occur.

Source: www.emeraldinsight.com

The Hidden Rules of Bigotry

Do people, regardless of their own race and religion and age, have favored (and disfavored) groups that they do not publicly — or consciously — proclaim?…

 

University of Virginia scientists Jordan Axt, Charles Ebersole and Brian Nosek wondered not only if social hierarchies persist in the American social memory, but if the same unacknowledged hierarchies are widely endorsed by members of different social groups. One would expect group members to favor their own — old-fashioned favoritism — but how about beyond that? Do people — regardless of their own race and religion and age — have favored (and disfavored) groups that they do not publicly — or consciously — proclaim?

 

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Don Peek – Peek’s Perspective on Grants: Three Big Hurdles to Writing a Winning Grant Proposal

Over the years I’ve talked to hundreds of people about writing grants. As I think back over those conversations, most of them seem to center on three big hurdles that grant writers face. Tackle those three hurdles and you’ll be getting grant money before you know it.

Source: www.educationworld.com

Renters Trading Size for Frills Fuel U.S. Apartment Boom

Katie Graham is living large. Just in a small apartment.

Source: www.bloomberg.com

This is an example of what I was talking about in some conversations about "the knowledge era" economy. The need for space and things become less valuable than infrastructure (as info access), learning, and experiences. Amenities over space.