january 2013, Issue 3 volume 1

Intel Science Talent Search Semifinalists Announced

On January 9, Society for Science & the Public and Intel jointly announced the 300 semifinalists of the Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS) 2013. Visit the Semifinalist page to see a full listing of selected students and learn more about STS semifinalists on Facebook over the next several weeks.

"Together with Intel, we congratulate these exceptional students, look forward to watching their future progress, and commend the mentors, teachers, schools, parents, and communities that have contributed to theis success," said Elizabeth Marincola, president of Society for Science & the Public.

Semifinalists are high school seniors selected from a pool of more than 1,700 entrants by a distinguished panel of evaluators based on the independent scientific reseach of applicants. Forty Intel STS finalists will be announced on January 23.

Finalists will travel to Washington, DC for the Intel Science Talent Institute in March, where they will compete for the top prize of $100,000.

2012's top story; Higgs discovery helps make sense of matter. Credit: Nicolle Rager Fuller

Science News Selects Top 25 Articles of 2012

By Matt Crenson

When it came to choosing the year’s best stories, the editors of Science News applied a simple criterion: we picked the ones that kept us up at night.

The top two stories on our list had us working the graveyard shift. In the wee hours of July 4, we tuned in as physicists in Geneva held a morning (their time) seminar announcing the discovery of the long-sought Higgs boson. The next month found us working in our PJ’s yet again, this time as NASA’s Curiosity rover executed a spectacular touchdown on Mars in the early morning of August 6.

Then there were the stories that thwarted our sleep with their terrifying implications. In June, researchers described in two controversial papers how easily bird flu can be mutated to render it capable of airborne transmission. And if global pandemic flu wasn’t enough to keep us staring at the ceiling, we could rest assured that no rest would come from pondering a warming trend that, far from being a theoretical concern for the distant future, is a clear and present danger.

Read more in Science News.

SSP Issues First Set of Digital Achievement Badges

This summer, Intel and Society for Science & the Public won a grant for $150,000 in the fourth Digital Media and Learning Competition, held in conjunction with the Mozilla Foundation and supported by the MacArthur Foundation. This 12-month grant is funding the development of badge systems built around SSP’s premier high school science competitions, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) and the Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS).

In December, the first set of Intel ISEF badges was issued. Badges certify achievement and serve as a validation of one's professional, technical, and/or academic skills. A subset of volunteers, judges, and students (high school juniors) who participated in the Intel ISEF 2012 served as a beta test group in preparation for the real-time launch of the program for the Intel STS 2013. Verified entrants, semifinalists, finalists, and top winners of the Intel STS will also receive the appropriate digital badge to reward their achievements in independent scientific and engineering research.  

The Open Badges project is intended to help recognize skills and achievements that are gained outside of the official school or work setting with the goal of improving academic achievement, economic opportunity, civic engagement, and opportunities for lifelong learning.

Read more about the badging project on SSP's blog.

Highlights from Science News

• Voyager crossing superhighway to solar system exit:
  Latest frontier may be last before spacecraft reaches interstellar space
• Lines in the sand may have been made for walking:
  Celebrated desert drawings include a labyrinth
• Genetic diversity exploded in recent millennia:
  Vast number of human DNA variants arose only in the past 5,000 years

Today's Headlines | Subscribe | Kindle | Science News Prime on the iPad | Classroom Subscriptions

VORTEX2 project participants Mallie Toth (left) and Mareike Schuster deploy instrument packs during a tornado intercept in Minnesota on June 17, 2010. Credit: Gino De Grandis

Highlights from Science News for Kids 

• Twister Science:
  Meteorologists are learning what makes a tornado
• Twinkle, Twinkle, Oldest Stars:
  Astronomers find traces of ancient light in the activity of bright, distant galaxies
• The High Life:
  The sky is full of microscopic life, some of which may trigger rain or snow

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