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Submission + - New 'academic redshirt' for engineering undergrads (washington.edu)

Submitted by vinces99
vinces99 writes: Redshirting isn’t just for athletes anymore. The University of Washington and Washington State University are collaborating on an “academic redshirt” program that will bring dozens of low-income Washington state high school graduates to the two universities to study engineering in a five-year bachelor’s program. The first year will help those incoming freshmen acclimate to university-level courses and workload and prepare to major in an engineering discipline.

Submission + - NYC bans mention of dinosaurs, dancing, birthdays on student tests. (nypost.com)

Submitted by SchroedingersCat
SchroedingersCat writes: New York educators banned references to "dinosaurs," "birthdays," "Halloween" and dozens of other topics on city-issued tests. That is because they fear such topics "could evoke unpleasant emotions in the students." Dinosaurs, for example, call to mind evolution, which might upset fundamentalists; birthdays are not celebrated by Jehovah's Witnesses; and Halloween suggests paganism. Homes with swimming pools and home computers are also unmentionables — because of economic sensitivities. The city asks test companies to exclude “creatures from outer space" as well — for unspecified reasons.
Space

Submission + - Starships in a Century? (nytimes.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In the New York Times, Kenneth Chang writes about the 100-year starship conference, where "an eclectic mix of engineers, scientists, science fiction fans, students and dreamers" discussed ideas for how to travel across interstellar space, including "how to organize and finance a century-long project; whether civilization would survive, because an engine to propel a starship could also be used for a weapon to obliterate the planet; and whether people need to go along for the trip."
Some of the proposals were pretty far out, such as Joseph Breeden's concept for an engine-less starship (propelled using a gravity slingshot on a near-sun trajectory). Others were a little less forward thinking, although still futuristic by current standards of space exploration: nuclear rockets, fusion, lightsails, and so forth.
So, can we go to the stars? Wait a hundred years, and we'll see!

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