Are the robots about to rise? Google's new director of engineering thinks so…

theguardian.com - It's hard to know where to start with Ray Kurzweil. With the fact that he takes 150 pills a day and is intravenously injected on a weekly basis with a dizzying list of vitamins, dietary supplements, and substances that sound about as scientifically effective as face cream: coenzyme Q10, phosphatidycholine, glutathione? With the fact that he believes that he has a good chance of living for ever? He just has to stay alive "long enough" to be around for when the great life-extending technologies kick in (he's 66 and he believes that "some of the baby-boomers will make it through").

Apple promises fix 'very soon' for Macs with failed encryption

reuters.com - SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc said on Saturday it would issue a software update "very soon" to cut off the ability of spies and hackers to grab email, financial information and other sensitive data from Mac computers. Confirming researchers' findings late Friday that a major security flaw in iPhones and iPads also appears in notebook and desktop machines running Mac OS X, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller told Reuters:

What Would Be a Radically Different Vision of School?

blogs.kqed.org - There’s no shortage of different opinions about how the education system should adapt to a shifting world and a future with unknown demands, but for the most part, only two dominant narratives of education reform have emerged. “The predominant narrative is that schools are broken,” said veteran educator and author Will Richardson recently at a gathering of teachers at Educon . “Our test scores aren’t great and kids aren’t learning what they need to be successful.

Microsoft is mapping shanty towns in Brazil, in a first step to getting them online

thenextweb.com - Microsoft has started a project to map shanty towns in Brazil, known as favelas, as it seeks to “reduce the digital divide across the world.” According to an announcement made on Microsoft’s Bing blog , bringing mapping infrastructure to these communities means that local economies can take advantage of localized information that is present online — which would help them to “fully participate in the digital town square in ways that many of us in the developed online world take for granted.

Curious Homework: An Inquiry Project for Students and Parents

edutopia.org - International educator Scot Hoffman is a big believer in the power of curiosity to drive learning. After nearly two decades of teaching around the globe, he also realizes that school isn't always so hospitable to inquiring minds. (As Einstein said, "It's a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.") That's why Hoffman has developed The Curiosity Project, a self-directed learning experience that engages students, parents, and teachers as collaborators in inquiry.

Caltech: secrets of the world’s number one university

timeshighereducation.co.uk - How does a tiny institution create such outsized impact? I always refer to Caltech’s small size as being very similar to the size effect that exists in materials - there are special properties that exist when you are extremely small If one were to reduce the story of the California Institute of Technology to numbers, it would be difficult to know where to start. It is 123 years old, boasts 57 recipients of the US National Medal of Science and 32 Nobel laureates among its faculty and alumni (including five on the current staff).

Caltech: secrets of the world’s number one university

timeshighereducation.co.uk - How does a tiny institution create such outsized impact? I always refer to Caltech’s small size as being very similar to the size effect that exists in materials - there are special properties that exist when you are extremely small If one were to reduce the story of the California Institute of Technology to numbers, it would be difficult to know where to start. It is 123 years old, boasts 57 recipients of the US National Medal of Science and 32 Nobel laureates among its faculty and alumni (including five on the current staff).

Caltech: secrets of the world’s number one university

timeshighereducation.co.uk - How does a tiny institution create such outsized impact? I always refer to Caltech’s small size as being very similar to the size effect that exists in materials - there are special properties that exist when you are extremely small If one were to reduce the story of the California Institute of Technology to numbers, it would be difficult to know where to start. It is 123 years old, boasts 57 recipients of the US National Medal of Science and 32 Nobel laureates among its faculty and alumni (including five on the current staff).

Caltech: secrets of the world’s number one university

timeshighereducation.co.uk - How does a tiny institution create such outsized impact? I always refer to Caltech’s small size as being very similar to the size effect that exists in materials - there are special properties that exist when you are extremely small If one were to reduce the story of the California Institute of Technology to numbers, it would be difficult to know where to start. It is 123 years old, boasts 57 recipients of the US National Medal of Science and 32 Nobel laureates among its faculty and alumni (including five on the current staff).

Postdoc diaries: where are all the entry-level academic jobs?

theguardian.com - Dean D'Souza, PhD in cognitive neuroscience

Securing employment is becoming increasingly difficult. But there are at least two routes to a postdoctoral research career. The first is to develop a research proposal and then seek funding for it. The advantage of this option is that you can seek answers to questions that you thought about during your PhD training but never had the time to pursue. The second route is to apply for an advertised job and work on someone else's project. The advantage of this is that you will learn different perspectives, methodologies and techniques. So I find myself at a junction, with an important choice to make. Do I take the blue pill and extend my research? Or do I take the red pill and find out how deep the rabbit hole goes?

Academic ideals are being crushed to suit private-sector style management

theguardian.com - 'British higher education sector is in crisis mode and those chosen to oversee this crisis are recruited from the private sector.' Photograph: Alice Bell As an early-career lecturer in a post-1992 university, I often feel like a rare bird in an ornate cage struggling to maintain its dignity in a discount superstore filled with pets. This bird knows it could have been a proud representative of a noble lineage and chirrups dolefully as it ruffles its plumes, but the song is drowned out by the bustling sale of cheap, plastic imitation bird-objects around it.