PolyThinkers Pad

A wide selection of e-books at SpringerLink is now available for the Poly community to use on a trial basis through May 31st. SpringerLink offers journals and books in a variety of disciplines such as biomedicine, chemistry, physics, engineering, mathematics, computer science, humanities, and economics. Free access to tables of contents, detailed abstracts and editorial […]

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Climate change, renewable energy, food shortages… unless you live in a cave, chances are you’ve heard or read about these important environmental issues in the media lately. Now you have a new resource at your disposal to help you research all things environmental: GreenFILE.
This bibliographic database from EBSCO draws on the connection between the […]

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An international group of leading technological thinkers identified the biggest challenges for engineers in the 21st century. Their conclusions are now available in the report, Grand Challenges for Engineering. The National Academy of Engineering released the report, which identifies 14 areas awaiting engineering solutions, on February 15, 2008.
Here’s the full list of challenges […]

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Science and Engineering Indicators, published by the National Science Board, provides a broad base of quantitative information on the U.S. and international science and engineering enterprise. Indicators are data that provide information on science and engineering as it relates to education, industry, research and technology. The report is intended to contribute to an […]

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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the non-regulatory federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology. The agency publishes standards many of which are free, including Ceramics WebBook, Chemistry WebBook and Physical […]

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Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace can be a fun way to keep in touch and procrastinate, but face it, sending your friends virtual gifts or turning them into zombies isn’t going to do much to advance your education or career. However, a growing number of web sites are applying the power of […]

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Rest your weary eyes and give your ears a chance to absorb some knowledge for a change. The National Academies provides a weekly podcast series, The Sounds of Science:
This informative and entertaining weekly series of audio podcasts puts the spotlight on the high-impact work of the National Academies. Focusing on a wide range […]

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A Robot driving competition, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was won by a team from Carnegie Mellon. The race highlighted the great advances in robotic technology, featuring such maneuvers as making a left turn in the face of incoming traffic, and even cheating a little to get out of tricky situations.
The […]

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Service to the IEEE digital library has been restored.
Please note, on Saturday November 10, IEEE will be upgrading their digital library so you may experience an interuption in service for approximately 2-4 hours between 9 am and 1 pm. The update will include the following features:

Tabbed search results, including a beta test of Application […]

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Dr. Scott E. Parazynski played the leading role in an extremely dangerous and complex mission to repair a damaged solar array on the International space station. Perched aboard a robotic arm, far out in space, in nothing but his space suit with a limited supply of oxygen that could well prove inadequate in the slightest […]

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