OSTIblog Articles in the Technology Topic
Travel through DOE databases; find emerging nanotechnology devicesby Kathy Chambers 16 Jul, 2012 in Technology ![]() In the world of nanomanufacturing, new materials, devices, components and products are emerging at a breathtaking rate. Next-generation nanocoatings are being developed to enhance wear resistance of industrial materials. An infrared retina that includes adaptive sensors has been patented. Self-cleaning skin-like prosthetic polymer surfaces have been developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). ORNL is also well on its way to creating nano catalysts for diesel engine emission remediation. Related Topics: Brookhaven, databases, nano, ORNL Read more... |
Making Scientific Databases Work Together—For You (psst . . . that's "search interoperability")by Walt Warnick 13 Feb, 2012 in Technology ![]() Sometimes something complex can work so seamlessly that it’s easy to miss. We think that’s the case with our solution in achieving search interoperability. As you may know, “search interoperability” is just a fancy way of saying that lots of scientific databases scattered far and wide can be made to work together so that your job as a seeker of science information is easy. You can go to one search box, say Science.gov, type in your search term, and get results from over a hundred important repositories and a couple of thousand scientific websites – with one click. Related Topics: databases, e-prints, federation, interoperability, science, worldwidescience.org Read more... |
Energy Quadrennial Technology Review Releasedby Kate Bannan 28 Sep, 2011 in Science Communications ![]() “The Department is uniquely situated to serve as a resource for energy and technology data, information, and analysis that can enhance understanding, operation and planning across all organizations… ." — From the Energy Quadrennial Technology Review Related Topics: 21st century, doe, energy, r&d, research, Technology Read more... |
“Mobilizing” Scienceby Walt Warnick 05 Aug, 2011 in Technology ![]() At the youngest ages, children are intrigued by Mentos in a Diet Coke. Figuring out what nature is trying to tell us, which is otherwise known as doing science, can be exciting. But, too often, young people become disabused of that excitement when they experience the drudgery of reading dry texts while confined in a stuffy cubicle or a study carrel. Now we are taking a step to help change that perspective. We are displacing text with video, and we are making it easy to find and learn science wherever you happen to be. It is an unfortunate circumstance that fun is too often taken out of science. We should want students of all ages to be happy, as happy people invest themselves more into what they are doing. We should want science to remain an avocation even as it becomes a vocation for some students and others move on to different interests. |
Dark Archivesby Mark Martin 04 Aug, 2011 in Technology I have to admit that I am truly a science fiction and fantasy geek. Blame it on growing up on a steady diet of Star Wars and Transformers. This bit of background information helps explain why I smile internally whenever I get the chance to talk about dark archives. Those words call to mind a picture of some mysterious, powerful object at the center of an epic story, like The Lord of the Rings. Great words. Related Topics: Read more... |
How to Integrate Anything on the Webby Walt Warnick 03 Aug, 2011 in Technology ![]() OSTI is especially proud of its web integration work whereby we take multiple web pages, documents, and web databases and make them appear to the user as if they were an integrated whole. Once the sources are virtually integrated by OSTI, the virtual collection becomes searchable via a single query. Because information on the web appears in a variety of formats, from HTML web pages, to PDF documents, to searchable databases, OSTI has developed and uses a suite of integration approaches to make them searchable via single query. Related Topics: data warehouse, federated search, information, integration, r&d, science, scientific, technical Read more... |
David Kaiser on hippies and physicsby David Wojick 22 Jul, 2011 in Technology ![]() OSTI's diffusion researcher David Kaiser has a new book on "How the Hippies Saved Physics" that is getting great reviews. A Science Magazine review says "Meticulously researched and unapologetically romantic, ‘How the Hippies Saved Physics’ makes the history of science fun again." Professor David Kaiser is both a physicist and an historian, on the faculty at MIT. David has done several pioneering studies for OSTI, exploring the diffusion of scientific knowledge and the role that OSTI might play in accelerating this diffusion, using computer modeling. He began as part of a team that applied a disease model to the happier case of the spread of scientific knowledge. See their report – “Population Modeling of the Emergence and Development of Scientific Fields” (2006). Related Topics: kaiser, Los Alamos, physics Read more... |
Open Science: the Case for Preserving Raw Databy Jeffrey Salmon 12 Jul, 2011 in Technology Everyone speaks well of the idea that the results of scientific research should be open for all to see, although there are obvious caveats to complete openness: Proprietary research, human subjects research, preliminary results, the pace and timing for releasing results, all come to mind. But when it comes to research funded by the taxpayer, open science is almost a truism. And again, while there are practical and principled reasons why complete openness is sometimes restricted, the readers of the OSTI blog will be familiar with the arguments for openness; the principle of reproducibility is a fundamental tenant of science, the possibility of accelerating the pace of discovery by making scientific results readily and easily accessible, these are just two critical pieces of the argument. There is another reason for openness connected to both these points that was highlighted recently in Jonah Lehrer’s always interesting Head Case column in the Wall Street Journal (6/25/11). Related Topics: Jonah Lehrer, Open science, raw data Read more... |
OSTI's Web Trafficby Mark Martin 16 May, 2011 in Technology Recently, I had the opportunity to explore OSTI's web traffic statistics with Walt Warnick and Karen Spence. I am quite happy with what was revealed about our traffic growth and the value of our various collaborations in making scientific and technical information more accessible. So I wanted to share it with you here at the OSTI Blog. Related Topics: science.gov, Web traffic, worldwidescience.org Read more... |
The Importance of Small Business Innovation Research Fundingby Walt Warnick 09 Mar, 2011 in Technology The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs were established to provide funding to stimulate technological innovation in small businesses to meet federal agency research and development needs. Under SBIR, federal agencies with large R&D budgets set aside a small fraction of their funding for competitions exclusively among small businesses. Each year, the DOE Office of Science sets aside 2.8% of its research budget for SBIR (2.5%) and STTR (.3%) awards. Small businesses that win SBIR awards keep the rights to any technology developed and are encouraged to commercialize the technology. Related Topics: federated search, Multilingual Translations, r&d, relevance ranking, SBIR, sttr Read more... |






