Nova special on Hugh Everett, quantum theorist

Wow! If you didn't get to see the one-hour special  narrated by Hugh Everett's son last night on Nova, you really missed a good documentary. I'm ordering it for Fondren, and  hope you get to watch it. The companion website is at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/manyworlds/
Scientific American has an article that they have reposted at: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=hugh-everett-biography
One scene details how Everett's meeting with Bohr went in Copenhagen–not well!

Virtual Worlds

http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVol/47218

If you are interested in virtual worlds and education, check out the September/October Educause Review Magazine. This issue includes several examples of works in progress, including a spot about the University of
Cincinnati’s Galapagos Islands project in Second Life and also, projects like the  NMC Campus, Genome Island, and the
University of Michigan’s Wolverine Island.

Engineering Village Training tips/new features

There are several great new features available in Engineering Village. You can search through Compendex and Inspec in this platform–a great resource for applied engineering information, and  patents.

Engineering Village Link (for Rice University):

http://www.engineeringvillage2.org
HELP pages

New Features:

• Tagging & Collaboration 2collab(collaborative tagging)
• RSS & Customized Alerting  http://www.ei.org/eiupdate/02_whats_new/
•  Blog this: link from a blog to a record of interest–blog this button in record…
  Once published, the title will link to record

I encourage you to set up a user account in this database. This allows you to save your searches, and some additional features. Also the RSS features make it easy for you to stay on top of the literature.

There is a new search technique in this database: FACETS searching. Some quick tips:
If you get too many results:

• limit by field, check thesaurus, turn autostemming off, truncate with care, use facets

If you don't get enough results:

• check thesaruus, link via Ei main headings, autostemming, grab a few good articles, then follow their subject terms. Click on circle i to see more information about the term (when introduced, classification)

You can now do record tagging, and make it public or private–there is a lot of possiblity in this: you could tag things with "My Institution," or create groups to share tags. Make them public, or keep them private.

Additionally, there is an

• Ask a Librarian feature…these go to Linda Hall Library
• Ask an Engineer…10 senior engineers

If you would like customized training on this database email me at dkolah at rice.edu

Science@Cambridge library portal

Cambridge University Library has launched an interesting new website

science@Cambridge <http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/scienceportal/>. It provides

the increasingly common combination of metasearch, catalog and

e-resource search. It uses RSS feed and static pages to form a dynamic entry point for the library.

first mentioned on Lorcan Dempsey's weblog <http://orweblog.oclc.org/>&#160; blogged about this on 10/6/08

IgNobel!

I love this! The  IgNobel year's "laureates" have just been announced.

My favorites:

PHYSICS PRIZE. Dorian Raymer of the Ocean Observatories Initiative at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, USA, and Douglas Smith of the University of California, San Diego, USA, for proving mathematically that heaps of string or hair or almost anything else will inevitably tangle themselves up in knots.

REFERENCE: "Spontaneous Knotting of an Agitated String," Dorian M. Raymer and Douglas E. Smith, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 104, no. 42, October 16, 2007, pp. 16432-7.

LITERATURE PRIZE. David Sims of Cass Business School. London, UK, for his lovingly written study "You Bastard: A Narrative Exploration of the Experience of Indignation within Organizations."
REFERENCE: "You Bastard: A Narrative Exploration of the Experience of Indignation within Organizations," David Sims, Organization Studies, vol. 26, no. 11, 2005, pp. 1625-40.

Games improve math skills

Interesting study out of Scotland today says that a daily video game can lead to improved math! http://mathdl.maa.org/&#160; The study can be found at: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/ictineducation/gamesbasedlearning/aboutgbl/index.asp
Games-based learning.

Excerpt: A Daily Dose of a Video Game Can Lead to Math Gains

A pilot study
involving 600 pupils from nearly three dozen schools in Scotland
suggests that the use of a digital game in education can boost
mathematics scores. The particular game in question, which contains
problem-solving questions, memory puzzles, and reading for
comprehension, also had other benefits. It helped students learn to
complete math tests more quickly; improved their ability to
concentrate; and reduced tardiness and absences. In other words,
children enjoyed coming to school to play the game!