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Embrace Your Differences
The reality is that most academic fields have been dominated by white males for decades. In just the past 50 years, scientific fields have slowly increased the number of women and minorities in the labs. This is very good for science and society. People of different backgrounds can have solutions and ideas that others may not have heard of yet. Being different is a positive, and everyone should always be willing to understand that.
Television director Eric Dean Seaton continues to break stereotypes of African-Americans in science fiction and fantasy with his third book in the “Legend of the Mantamaji” graphic novel series.
When people think of superheroes and science fiction, they often imagine the strong chiseled features and extraordinary powers of white male characters. A two-time NAACP Image Award nominee, Seaton wants to remind comic book and sci-fi fans that Black people can be superheroes, too. With the launch of his third book in the “Legend of the Mantamaji” series Feb. 11, Seaton hopes positive representation of people of color in comics will go a long way to shatter stereotypes about Black involvement and interest in science fiction and fantasy.
“Science fiction and fantasy stories give people of all ages something to dream about. What does it say to children when the only heroes they read about are white?” said Seaton, whose television hits include Disney’s Austin & Ally, NBC’s Undateable and Nickelodeon’s Bella and the Bulldogs. “Black people do survive the zombie apocalypse, people of color exist in the future. They don’t have to be the first person the monster eats. And our interests go beyond civil rights and slavery. Our history is incredibly important, but so are our dreams and creative imaginings.”
The third book in the “Legend of the Mantamaji” series finds Elijah Alexander, the last of the mystical knights known as the Mantamaji, beaten and left for dead. Detective Sydney Spencer has just figured out who is behind the mysterious happenings of a new crime ring and that knowledge has cost her dearly. Time is running out to stop the sorcerer, Sirach, who is hell-bent on controlling space, time and reshaping the world in his image.
“One doesn’t have to wait for the ‘big two’ to offer crumbs of diversity when there are great new franchises like ‘Legend of the Mantamaji’ that often put them to shame,” Alex Widen, Brooklyn comic book expert for Examiner.com, said. “This third volume acts as a perfect bookend to this tale of ancient warriors and sorcerers, and one can only hope that there are more legends to come.”
Seaton’s successful series began with the first two volumes in the series being named among the “Top Graphic Novels of 2014” by Examiner.com and Atlanta Blackstar. With Book 3’s release, the early buzz points to Seaton showing no signs of stopping.
Terreece M. Clarke is a freelance writer/journalist for a variety of magazines, newspapers and websites and a rocking’ wife and mother of three. Follow her on Twitter: @terreece!
The i8 is BMW’s latest supercar, able to go 0 to 60 in about 4.4 seconds with its hybrid electric/gas powertrain. The i8 looks like a Hot Wheels car, handles like a supercar and is as expensive as a high-end Porsche. With a starting price of $135,000, this isn’t the car for everyone. It’s actually a gateway into BMW’s other hybrid, the cute and cheap BMW i3, a shorter, sporty runaround that BMW is touting as their answer to crunchy hybrids from Honda, Nissan and Chevy. TechCrunch senior editor Matt Burns reviews the 2015 BMW i8.
Source: Tech Crunch
In today’s digitally driven society, many people are keeping their precious memories, years of research or other valuable information on hard drives or USB sticks rather than in hard copy journals or photo albums. In a matter of years, however, those digital means of data storage could be useless, and the data stored on the devices could vanish forever.
Scientists believe DNA has the potential to change that and lead the world into a new age of data storage where data can be saved for thousands of years.
A company called Backblaze is leading the efforts by running a massive test.
The company is running 25,000 hard drives all at the same time to figure out how long these devices can last.
CNN reported that the test results so far haven’t been too promising for our current data storage methods.
“While this census has only been running five years, the statistics show a 22 percent attrition rate over four years,” CNN reported.
Researchers in Switzerland are now looking to DNA to provide a permanent fix to this problem.
“So compact and complex are its strands that just 1 gram of DNA is theoretically capable of containing all the data of Internet giants such as Google and Facebook, with room to spare,” the CNN report added.
The hard part is figuring out how exactly to utilize DNA for data storing purposes.
The process will likely, according to researchers, reflect the natural processes of DNA storage that are already present with fossilization.
There is hope that if fossilization can store DNA for such incredible periods of time, the same can be replicated with modern data storage.
“The time limit with DNA in fossils is about 700,000 years but people speculate about finding one-million-year storage of genomic material in fossil bones,” Robert Grass, lecturer at the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, told CNN. “We were able to show that decay of our DNA and store of information decays at the same rate as the fossil DNA so we get to similar time frames of close to a million years.”
The ultimate goal, according to Grass, is to “get the high storage density of DNA and combine it with the archaeological aspects of DNA.”
As exciting as the premise is, however, there is still a ways to go and a lot more to learn about DNA.
“A lot of it is not really known,” Grass says of DNA’s mysterious capabilities. “What we’re trying to understand is how DNA decays and what the mechanisms are to get more insight into that.”
He also pointed out that the current process to store information on DNA is incredibly expensive, but he believes medical advances could soon change that.
“Already the prices for human genome sequences have dropped from several millions of dollars a few years ago to just hundreds of dollars now,” Grass said. “It makes sense to integrate these advances in medical and genome analysis into the world of IT.”
As science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers continue to struggle to become more diverse, a young Black math prodigy is demolishing every stereotype that this industry has held against Black women specifically and black people in general.
Past diversity reports from today’s biggest tech giants say it all — Black people and women are grossly underrepresented in STEM fields.
It’s a pattern that is reflected all throughout the STEM industry.
This means Black women in such fields are nearly impossible to come by, but as one 10-year-old math prodigy is proving, it’s not because Black women aren’t capable of filling these positions.
Esther Okade of Walsall, England, would likely be shocked to hear of the deficit of Black women in STEM, if she hasn’t heard about the serious shortage already.
While the general consensus and illegitimate stereotypes have led people to believe that Black girls just aren’t into math, Esther spends much of her time ripping through equations and formulas that would leave her college classmates stumped.
Yes. Her college classmates.
Before she even reached her teenage years, Esther managed to successfully enroll in the U.K.’s Open University, a distance learning and research university, where she will be working toward a mathematics degree, the Telegraph reported.
“I just love math,” Esther told the Daily Mail about her recent accomplishment and obsession with numbers. “All the numbers and the solving, it’s like a mystery.”
Math isn’t the only interest Esther has. Outside of being able to crunch numbers like a seasoned accountant, she has the same interests that any other 10-year-old would have.
Esther told the Telegraph that she enjoys playing with dolls and is in love with the movie Frozen.
But in the midst of watching her favorite talking snowman and playing with friends, she’s preparing to become a successful banker.
She estimates that she’ll be able to earn her degree in roughly two years before going on to earn her Ph.D.
“And then from there I’ll start running my own business,” she added, according to the Daily Mail. “I want to be a banker.”
For those who are concerned that this could be an overwhelming experience for the young math genius, her mother wants the world to know that this was all her daughter’s decision.
“From the age of 7, Esther has wanted to go to university,” the math prodigy’s mother told the Telegraph. “But I was afraid it was too soon.”
Eventually, she just couldn’t say no anymore.
Esther begged her mother to allow her to go to the university and finally receive a challenge in the classroom when it came to math — even though those challenges still haven’t left Esther struggling by any means.
On a recent exam, Esther received a perfect score.
Industry experts are hoping that the young aspiring banker will be enough to encourage other young Black girls to ignore messages that the STEM field isn’t for them.
Boys are far more likely to be encouraged to pursue such careers, which plants the necessary seeds of interest at a young age. Young Black girls are typically left out of that conversation and rarely discover their interest in STEM until they are much older, if even then.
But as young Esther has demonstrated to the world, it’s about time that more young Black girls are encouraged to give STEM careers a try.
After all, leaving more great minds like Esther’s out of the mix and away from STEM jobs in the future would only be cheating the entire world out of the possible innovations that their work could bring to the industry.
The Moon and the Zodiac
Many people believe that their zodiac signs have a major impact on their personality traits, but there are also spiritual religions that believe zodiac signs, when understood in relation to the moon, can give a major boost to a person’s creativity. Each sign is unique, and each would be impacted in small ways by different occurrences with the moon, according to Amy Herring’s Astrology of the Moon. In her book, Herring stresses that astrology is a science of “potential, trends, and likelihoods, not fact,” but she also explains the belief that “planetary energies” can impact human energy. For this reason, Herring says people can maximize creativity by learning about how their sign tends to react to the moon.
Technology is changing the African continent, and Akilah is at the forefront of the tech revolution.
Many of our young women touch computers for the first time when they arrive on campus. At Akilah, they learn about computers, programming, and mobile technology — the skills to emerge as pioneers and leaders in what has long been a male-dominated field.
Source: TheAkilahInstitute
When most people think about universities and colleges producing the innovators and thought leaders of tomorrow, they typically imagine Ivy League schools that tend to lack in diversity. The innovators in their minds typically take on the form of Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates as white males have been known to dominate the tech space.
As it turns out, however, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) all across the nation are home to some bright minds that have already made major steps in scientific advancement and technological innovation.
Perhaps two of the most attention-grabbing developments from HBCU students are a hypoallergenic peanut in the works and patent-driven developments on what could soon become the most efficient self-parking and self-driving car to date.
Agricultural researchers at North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro, North Carolina, are leading efforts to perfect a process that could eliminate allergens from a peanut without impacting its taste.
Peanut allergies are among the most common allergies Americans face, which makes the researchers’ work all the more important.
The innovative minds behind the project are hoping to reduce the allergenic properties in peanuts by as little as 30 percent and as much as 100 percent.
This would ultimately mean people who have long suffered from peanut allergies would no longer have anything to worry about.
The researchers already have a patent filed for the technology they are using to create the hypoallergenic peanut.
Meanwhile, another patent filed by students at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida, has garnered just as much attention.
These two inventors, Sihle Wilson and Ronald Benson, are helping to make major technological advancements as consumers have their fingers crossed for the first self-driving and self-parking car to hit the market soon.
It’s a project that tech giants like Google have also been embarking on, and BMW recently unveiled a car that has the potential to locate its own parking spot.
While these companies have made major strides and seem to be on the brink of figuring out how to efficiently get a car to park itself under any circumstances, there are major bugs in the system that are preventing the futuristic cars from becoming a reality for consumers.
The two Florida A&M University software engineers may be able to make the final push to perfect such complicated technologies.
Their “Autonomous Passenger Retrieval System for Automobiles” uses artificial intelligence to give vehicles some impressive features, their parent file suggests. These impressive features, such as detecting people and other cars, would be able to help the vehicle steer itself and safely find a parking spot until its owner returns.
“The automated driving system also is configurated to direct a vehicle to its owner and detect the presence of another vehicle or pedestrian to evade potential collisions,” Black Engineer wrote of the two students’ project. “Wilson and Benson further designed the valet process to be built into a vehicle as standard/optional equipment or as an add-on part.”
Such major contributions to science and technology coming from HBCU-affiliated researchers and students serve as proof that the nation has a lot to gain from investing in Black students.
For this reason, Dr. John Michael Lee, the vice president of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, hopes HBCUs will continue to “foster innovation” and “commercialization” to give their students the chance to compete in the tech world on a global scale.
He also hopes federal efforts will continue to contribute to bright Black minds that have the potential to revolutionize science and technology for the better.
So far, President Barack Obama has launched a massive campaign that helped push for $260 million in public-private financial commitments for increased STEM literacy.
The National Science Foundation has also been a huge support system for Black innovators and HBCU students.
The foundation reports that HBCUs received $547 million in research and development dollars in 2011. Those NSF grants included a total of $350,000 that was awarded to students at Tuskegee University back in 2012 so they could further their studies of the “interplay between psychosocial and academic structural factors that affect retention of minority students at HBCUs,” Black Engineer reported.
The stunning amount of financial backing for HBCUs is a positive sign that the NSF has faith in what these students have the ability to accomplish, discover and invent.
Now, Lee says, the spotlight is on the individual HBCUs to step up and make sure they continue growing their historic institutions into hubs that foster creativity and innovation.
“HBCUs must invest in the infrastructure to deliver innovation and entrepreneurship including creating opportunities for students to take a leading role in developing and producing innovation, create tech transfer officers to facilitate student and faculty start-ups, idea incubation and commercialization, create new institutional courses, change faculty pedagogy and develop partnerships that will lead to success for students at HBCUs,” Lee said, according to Black Engineer.
Today’s biggest tech giants and other major corporations have been doing their best to drive diversity in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) after reports recently revealed just how many white males dominated the space. Now, the government is also adding to the conversation with the return of “We the Geeks.”
The White House recently announced that in honor of Black History Month, the special Google + Hangout series will be making a return and making a point to highlight the “untold stories of African Americans in STEM.”
The series, which returns Wednesday at 2 p.m. EST, will bring “extraordinary students, scientists, engineers and inventors” together to talk “about how they got inspired to pursue STEM and how they are paying it forward to help engage America’s full and diverse STEM talent pool.”
According to the White House’s official website, the series of guests will include Rachel Harrison Gordon, presidential innovation fellow; Marvin Carr, student volunteer at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; Nicolas Badila, winner of the National STEM Video Game Challenge, and several other leaders in STEM.
The website claims the return of the Google + Hangout series is a federal response to the lack of diversity in STEM.
“Today, minorities remain considerably underrepresented in many areas of the Nation’s STEM student-pool and workforce,” the website reads. “This is a squandered opportunity for our country and for those bright, creative individuals who might otherwise help solve the problems we face as a country and enjoy STEM careers — the kind of careers that not only make a positive difference in the world, but also pay more than non-STEM jobs.”
In addition to the Google + Hangout special, the White House also hosted a virtual Edit-a-Thon on Tuesday.
The Edit-a-Thon allowed “researchers, students, and expert Wikipedia-editors” to “convene in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building for a two-hour editing sprint to research and crowd-source the stories of African American STEM all-stars.”
National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers
This organization was created in 1972 to build a community of minority scientists and engineers. It serves as a catalyst to diversify a majority white field. The organization currently has 39 professional and university chapters.
National Organization of Blacks in Government
Members of this organization are civil servants at the federal, state, county and municipal levels. Blacks in Government was founded in 1975. It currently has more than 50 chapters, including the Departments of State and Homeland Security, the Coast Guard and the National Institutes of Health.