African-American - News April 30, 2011 See African-American Weather NAACP honors Kid Rock for being Detroit booster (Bradenton Herald)
Kid Rock is known as a champion for Detroit - proudly displaying the Motor City in music videos, jumping in when an area summer festival fell on hard times and using money from his "Made in Detroit" clothing line to help start a college fund for local music students. James McLurkin, Engineer Forges Fleet Of Robots (2010.thegrio)
Much of the vivid imagination and futuristic fervor over the place of robots in the African-American experience was probably best captured in the Herbie Hancock song and video "Rock It." Meanwhile, hip-hop B-boys of the 80s turned robotic tics and automatic movements into a dance style - a style that serves as a punchline in modern day Dave Chappelle comedy sketches and wedding reception dance floors. For James McLurkin, robots were more than just machines that made for catchy videos and creative choreography schemes. Keen with building LEGO constellations and designing video game programs as a kid, McLurkin built his first robot in 1988. Today he produces software that can move a whole community of robots with the unity of purpose, speed, and agility of ants. By studying the group dynamic of bugs and insects that work as a collective, McLurkin has created algorithms that can program robots to move and work by mimicking those same communalistic behaviors. Just like a scene out of Attack of the Clones, McLurkin wants to develop the program that can move an army of robots on one single accord. Their efforts could be applied to a purpose like clearing a minefield. McLurkin's work in the Multi-Robot Systems Lab at Rice may end up facilitating that and more. As a professor once wrote of McLurkin in a recommendation letter: "In the future, the world will be full of teams of mobile robots and they will all trace their ancestry to those developed by James McLurkin while still a student at MIT." Dr. Agnes A. Day, Leading Microbiologist (2010.thegrio)
Agnes A. Day discusses toxins in biological warfare agents, decodes the qualities of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), and cites the advantages of probiotics in yogurt with ease. At the same time, she uses her profound knowledge of science and microbiology to explain mankind's existence in terms understood by many. "The bacteria, especially the resistant ones, are the recapitulation of Darwin's theory of the survival of the fittest," Day said, while serving on a panel of scientific experts four years ago at The University of Southern California. "If you have the capacity to be resistant, you are going to be the population to survive while all the sensitive ones die off." It is perhaps Day's innate understanding of her own words that aided her own survival while living in a housing project in Daytona, Fla., where she was the youngest of 13 children. Today she thrives at Howard University, where she is a tenured associate professor and interim chairman of The Department of Microbiology at the College of Medicine. Andre Fenton, Neuroscientist May Erase Painful Memories (thegrio)
Three questions consume the mind and work of neuroscientist André Fenton: how do brains store information in memory, how do they sort relevant and irrelevant information, and how can we record electrical activity from individual brain cells in human subjects? This biomedical engineer and entrepreneur's research has also led him to ask - can we erase painful memories? Neuroscientists have long sought physical evidence of memory, and Fenton and his fellow researches at NYU have found a piece of the puzzle in molecule PKMzeta. The molecule is found in connections between brain cells, and appears to be responsible for the long-term preserving of information. If PKMzeta is blocked, a memory, say of a traumatic event, vanishes. André Fenton is making history ... by uncovering the truth about human memory. He's revolutionized the monitoring of brain activity with inexpensive, miniature wireless devices that record the electrical brain activity of subjects prone to seizures and other neural abnormalities. By studying specific disturbances in neural coordination, Fenton hopes to develop medicines or treatments to help those suffering from schizophrenia, mental disability, depression, epilepsy and traumatic brain injury. John Dabiri, Turning Jellyfish Motion Into Wind Turbine Technology (thegrio)
John Dabiri This Nigerian-American professor at California Institute of Technology is making waves with his research on jellyfish locomotion and biomechanics. His research yields information to fields as valuable and disparate as cardiology and alternative energy. Dabiri's work earned him a $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship, which insiders call a Genius Grant. John Dabiri is making history ... by inventing a method by which divers use tiny, reflective particles to visually map-out the jellyfish's propulsion system. Comprehension of the fluid dynamics involved in such a process has proved essential, both in understanding the evolution of movement in jellyfish and other animals, and in other fluid-physics-dependent fields, such as blood's motion through the cardiovascular system, or the movement of wind around various generator-turbines, contributing to our personal health as well as the health of the planet. Richard Bennett, Ex-Marine Builds $8M Construction Company (thegrio)
Former Marine Richard Bennett fought in America's initial invasion of Iraq in 2003, eventually serving four years rebuilding the country's decimated bridged and roads. Bennett returned home after suffering a spinal injury, and was unable to find work stateside -- until word of Bennett's determination inspired Craig Williams, CEO of a construction firm. Williams made Bennett commander of his own construction company, Fidelis, which has rapidly built a sturdy reputation in construction. In just one year, Bennett has developed an $8 million contract portfolio for Fidelis, largely through projects with the Veterans Administration. Having studied construction in college, and given Bennett's experience on the battlefield rebuilding Iraq, the former Marine is perfectly suited to mana Johann Hari: Frenzy Around Britain's Royal Wedding "Should Embarrass Us All" (democracynow)
The wedding buzz offers a chance to look at the monarchy, Britain's domestic policy, and how its colonial legacy around the word affects foreign affairs today. While all eyes were on the wedding procession and the first kiss, Democracy Now! spoke with Johann Hari, a columnist at The Independent of London, who says the royal wedding frenzy should be an embarrassment to us all. |
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