Whatever your view of U.S. politics, and our current president in particular, I hope you will agree on the importance for investing in science & technology.  In addition to monetary investment, an investment in inspiration to young people to pursue careers in science & technology is also needed.  At last night's State of the Union speech, President Obama had two young people in attendance sitting next to the first lady.  They included Li Boynton, an 18-year-old who was the winner of the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair last year for her work on water quality testing, and Gabriela Farfan, a 19-year-old who one of of the top awards in the Intel Science Talent Search for her work in mineralogy. An article from the Office of Science & Technology Policy today highlights the goal of reaching young Americans for careers in science.

New wind power deal in OR

News today over at "Green Inc.", that a new deal has been struck involving a large wind power project in Oregon.  Most of the parts for the project will be/have been made in the US, and the project will have about 845 megawatts of power capacity.  338 turbines are planned, meaning each one on average has a capacity of 2.5 megawatts.

While not in total a huge amount of power for the US, this is a great step forward in clean, renewable, home-grown energy.  Now we need about a hundred more like it.

Seeing microbugs from space

Today's NASA image of the day is spectacular.  It is an image of the waters off the coast of New Zealand.  During this time of year, microscopic organisms that live in the ocean waters (phytoplankton) bloom due to the mixing of ocean currents.  When they grow in such large numbers, they reflect enough sunlight to be visible from space.  Different kinds of these organisms use different minerals to create their tiny solid shells; these end up reflecting the light as slightly different colors of blue & green.

a planet where it rains rocks

Scientists at Washington Univ. in St. Louis have found a extra-solar planet so hot that it likely rains rocks down onto a bubbling lava surface.

Cost of solar power dropping

Article on Green Inc. blog from the NY Times today discusses the fact that solar power has been dropping significantly over the past decade, down ~30% in 2008 from 1998.

new fossil find

This new beast is another pterosaur, a flying reptile that lived in the Mesozoic Era during the time of the dinosaurs (but not technically a dinosaur).  article in BBC News 

new NASA probe lands on Moon

The AP reports today that NASAs recent probe to the moon has landed successfully.  The goal of the probe is to determine whether ice is present at the moon's southern pole.