The Socratic dialogue is a particular way of developing children’s, as well as adults’, thinking skills through cooperative dialogue where significant human ideas and values are discussed. By participating in Socratic seminars regularly every other week, preschool children and older students develop their thinking skills. The seminars address literature and art work, with questions such as these: is Pippi Longstocking a good friend, is Jack stupid or smart when he sells his mother’s cow for some beans, or are we born good or evil? In the beginning the students have difficulty expressing their thoughts, but with time their ability to express themselves and to examine ideas critically and logically develops.

The study included seven groups of children, five to sixteen years old. The groups were filmed during three years of philosophizing in the classroom and the films were analyzed. The interaction in the classroom was positively influenced, according to Ann S Pihlgren. The teacher dominated less, more students spoke and the students gradually took over the responsibilities of the teacher to promote exploration in the dialogue. The ability to use the Socratic seminar is learned by students and teachers through practice and by testing the rules of the seminar. The students construct a supportive group culture through their silent interaction, where gestures, glances, and body language are used to show not only support or sympathy for each other, but also cooperation with each other when someone attempts to disturb or to provoke the dialogue. The teacher role changes to one of support, ensuring that the analysis is fruitful and that the dialogue is respectful.

Socratic methods have developed independently in various countries. They all describe a set of methodological steps to attain similar objectives. An opening question is answered by all participants and followed by cooperative, critical analysis. Finally, the new ideas are connected to the everyday life experience of the participants.

It seems as if this ritualized structure and the nurturing culture of the seminar provide a safe circle, helping the participants to try new, bold ideas that they might otherwise not have tested, Ann S. Pihlgren says. By cooperating when examining the ideas they also seem to learn a way to address problems on their own without teacher intervention.

To work with methods connected to the ancient philosopher Socrates may seem out-of-date in a modern school, but that is absolutely not the case, Ann S. Pihlgren states.

The Socratic seminars have been seen as a complement to traditional classroom teaching for hundreds of years. But it is not easy to learn how to stage them to get positive effects. It is especially hard for teachers, who often fall back to their traditional, controlling “teacher” roles. The dissertation offers excellent tools for teachers who want to develop students’ thinking and to foster cooperative group dialogue.

The name of the dissertation: Socrates in the Classroom. Rationales and Effects of Philosophizing with Children. The dissertation can be downloaded as a pdf here.

[Jonas Ablad @ Swedish Research Council]

Motorola’s Z9 is a slider phone with a mahogany exterior, which is a nice color to differentiate the Z9 from the rest. The external controls continue to be standard with a volume rocker and music shortcut on the left spine, and a camera shutter and a microUSB port on the right spine. The front packs a gorgeous 2.4-inch display with 262k color support, a crispness that’s required to view today’s digital content, including videos, photos and text. We had a blast navigating through the menu just because the display was so vibrant and exciting to use. Of course similar to a lot of smartphones, you can adjust the brightness and backlighting time to conserve battery, and trust us, with the display this bright, you are almost certainly going to have to work on reducing the brightness.

Going back to the navigation menu, do note that Motorola hasn’t updated its menu at all. It’s the same old way of browsing through your phone. We’re not pleased; half of the fun of getting a new phone is to take advantage of new features, and the Z9 is lackluster in that category.

Underneath the display is your OK button with four corresponding keys for navigation. Additionally, there are two soft keys, Talk/End-Power keys, a Clear-Back key and a Web browser shortcut key to further occupy the rest of the device.

Once you slide open the phone, you are welcomed to its keypad with alphanumeric keys. All keys offer tactile feedback that are difficult to feel. The keys underneath the display, especially, didn’t offer the best tactile feedback that we have experienced. Motorola needs to work on getting the most basic necessities of the phone right.

On the back, you will find the integration camera with its lens and flash. It’s a 2.0-megapixel camera with support for four resolutions (1,600×200, 1,280×960, 640×480, 320×240), three quality settings and 8x digital zoom. Other options, such as lighting (five), color tones (six), and exposure metering are all present. You can also record video in three resolutions (320×240, 176×144 and 128×96) with three quality settings. You can record for up to 30 seconds for MMS clips, or for an unlimited amount of time depending on onboard storage. The phone is equipped with 45MB of onboard storage + a microSD expandable slot for additional memory. There’s a memory meter to alert of you of total available memory, a delightful option.

The Z9 lacks a mirror, so taking self-portraits would be an interesting task at best. The camera quality was decent. It took crisp pictures, but there was some blurriness in them due to dull lighting. Even in the brightest of times, the photo quality didn’t quite get the colors right. While sharp, there were some issues with color contrast in our testing. We would qualify the overall quality to be good with reservations, or decent.

Motorola’s Z9 feels good when you are holding it, as it’s a sturdy, solid unit.

In addition to the onboard camera, it packs an alarm clock, a calendar, text and multimedia messaging and a host of other default, expected features. Most notable is AT&T’s Navigator GPS application, AT&T’s Video Share service, AT&T Music (thanks to 3G support), and a music player with support for MP3, AAC and WMA formats; playlists, shuffle and repeat modes; it also packs a host of mobile multimedia (music, video and weather) services to round out its features set. We liked the feature set in general. Although it’s limited in its potential, Motorola did its best to include as many applications as the phone would hold.

On the performance side, in one word: “Excellent!” The Z9 is an amazing phone with its excellent audio quality. We had no problem understanding callers, or vice versa, thanks to Motorola’s CrystalTalk and auto background noise canceling technology. The phone automatically adjusted our volume depending on extraneous noise, which is something we are greatly fond of with Motorola handsets.

The speakerphone was good, but not quite there with standard output. The volume output was poor, and we really had to focus on what callers were saying to understand them. That defeats the point of turning on the speakerphone option.

Signal strength for 3G was superior and so were audio and video streaming. Though video quality was okay, it was expected. Our videos didn’t pause for buffer or any other technical issues. We loved interacting with our digital control through Z9 and its speedy connection. For some odd reason, however, loading time for music and video files was all over the graph. Some files took longer to load, while others were fairly rapid.

Volume output for audio on the phone was surprising good, especially with a headset.

The Z9 is rated for four hours of talk time and 13 days of standby time. We confirmed these numbers in our lab, and they were inline with the company’s estimates. Four hours is a little iffy for our taste considering it’s a multimedia phone with a handful of battery heavy options.

All in all, the Z9 is a very good phone with solid exterior and a host of features. It’s not the phone for consumers who are looking for mobile innovation, but if you just want a cell phone without a learning curve, but with a bit trendy design, the Z9 is a superb option.

[Gundeep Hora]

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In a paper published today in Nature Biotechnology, researchers led by Los Alamos National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute announced that the genetic sequence of the fungus Tricoderma reesei has uncovered important clues about how the organism breaks down plant fibers into simple sugars. The finding could unlock possibilities for industrial processes that can more efficiently and cost effectively convert corn, switchgrass and even cellulose-based municipal waste into ethanol. Ethanol from waste products is a more-carbon-neutral alternative to gasoline.

The fungus T. reesei rose to dubious fame during World War II when military leaders discovered it was responsible for rapid deterioration of clothing and tents in the South Pacific. Named after Dr. Elwyn T. Reese, who, with colleagues, originally isolated the hungry fungus, T. reesei was later identified as a source of industrial enzymes and a role model for the conversion of cellulose and hemicellulose — plant fibers — into simple sugars.

The organism uses enzymes it creates to break down human-indigestible fibers of plants into the simplest form of sugar, known as a monosaccharide. The fungus then digests the sugars as food.

Researchers decoded the genetic sequence of T. reesei in an attempt to discover why the deep green fungus was so darned good at digesting plant cells. The sequence results were somewhat surprising. Contrary to what one might predict about the gene content of a fungus that can eat holes in tents, T. reesei had fewer genes dedicated to the production of cellulose-eating enzymes than its counterparts.

“We were aware of T. reesei’s reputation as producer of massive quantities of degrading enzymes, however we were surprised by how few enzyme types it produces, which suggested to us that its protein secretion system is exceptionally efficient,” said Los Alamos bioscientist Diego Martinez (also at the University of New Mexico), the study’s lead author. The researchers believe that T. reesei’s genome includes “clusters” of enzyme-producing genes, a strategy that may account for the organism’s efficiency at breaking down cellulose.

On an industrial scale, T. reesei could be employed to secrete enzymes that can be purified and added into an aqueous mixture of cellulose pulp and other materials to produce sugar. The sugar can then be fermented by yeast to produce ethanol.

“The sequencing of the Trichoderma reesei genome is a major step towards using renewable feedstocks for the production of fuels and chemicals,” said Joel Cherry, director of research activities in second-generation biofuels for Novozymes, a collaborating institution in the study. “The information contained in its genome will allow us to better understand how this organism degrades cellulose so efficiently and to understand how it produces the required enzymes so prodigiously. Using this information, it may be possible to improve both of these properties, decreasing the cost of converting cellulosic biomass to fuels and chemicals.”

[James E. Rickman @ DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory]

“People concerned with the effects of gas prices were significantly less attentive on the job, less excited about going to work, less passionate and conscientious and more tense,” Hochwarter said. “These people also reported more ‘blues’ on the job. Employees were simply unable to detach themselves from the stress caused by escalating gas prices as they walked through the doors at work.”

Hochwarter gleaned the information by surveying more than 800 full-time employees this spring when gas prices hovered at about $3.50 per gallon. All of the people surveyed work in a wide range of occupations, primarily in the southeastern United States. All drove personal transportation to work and had an average commute of 15 miles each way.

Survey respondents said gas prices were foremost on their mind, including a disgruntled factory worker who wrote, “I spend more time at work trying to figure out what I need to give up to keep gas in my tank than thinking about how to do my job.”

Hochwarter’s research will be submitted for publication later this summer. Among his findings:

• 52 percent have reconsidered taking vacations or other recreational activities

• 45 percent have had to cut back on debt-reduction payments, such as credit card payments
• Nearly 30 percent considered the consequences of going without basics including food, clothing and medicine
• 45 percent report that the escalating gas prices have “caused them to fall behind financially”
• 39 percent agreed with the statement “Gas prices have decreased my standard of living”
• About 33 percent — or one in three — said they would quit their job for a comparable one nearer to home

Hochwarter’s discussions with employees confirm the study’s results. Many employees report that gas prices rank as the No. 1 water-cooler discussion topic, ahead of family, sports or work, he said. He found little difference in responses among different ages, gender, work tenure and occupations.

“Several employees said they simply could not escape the media onslaught of bad news regarding the future of gas prices, and many reported their financial futures were looking bleaker and bleaker,” Hochwarter said.

As gas prices rise, so does the stress. Consider the words of Sandy, a medical records clerk: “The more it goes up, the more behind I get. If gas goes up to $5 or $6 a gallon, I just don’t know what I’ll do.”

[Wayne Hochwarter @ Florida State University]

The new study is led by Lothar Stramma from the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR) in Kiel, Germany, and is co-authored by Janet Sprintall, a physical oceanographer at Scripps Oceanography and others. The researchers found through analysis of a database of ocean oxygen measurements that levels in tropical oceans at a depth of 300 to 700 meters (985 to 2,300 feet) have declined during the past 50 years. The ecological impacts of this increase could have substantial biological and economical consequences.

“We found the largest reduction in a depth of 300 to 700 meters (985 to 2,300 feet) in the tropical northeast Atlantic, whereas the changes in the eastern Indian Ocean were much less pronounced,” said Stramma. “Whether or not these observed changes in oxygen can be attributed to global warming alone is still unresolved. The reduction in oxygen may also be caused by natural processes on shorter time scales.”

Sprintall said the oxygen-poor areas have the potential to move into coastal areas via currents that flow from the mid-depth tropical oceans, where the oxygen changes were observed, and along the west coast of continents.

“The width of the low-oxygen zone is expanding deeper but also shoaling toward the ocean surface,” said Sprintall, a specialist in observing changes of fluxes in ocean properties such as heat distribution.

Sprintall contributed data to the study gathered during recent cruises undertaken as part of the Climate Variability and Predictability (CLIVAR) program, a long-running study operated by the World Climate Research Programme that seeks to understand climate through ocean-atmosphere interactions.

The study, “Expanding Oxygen-Minimum Zones in the Tropical Oceans,” appears in the May 2 edition of the journal Science. The research team includes Stramma, Sprintall, NOAA scientist Gregory Johnson, and Volker Mohrholz from the Institute for Baltic Sea Research in Warnem??nde, Germany.

The team selected ocean regions for which they could obtain the greatest amount of data to document the decline in oxygen. Some of the more recent data came from oxygen sensors which have been added to about 150 of the profiling floats used in Argo, a worldwide network of sensors that track basic ocean conditions such as temperature and salinity. There are more than 3,000 Argo floats operating in the world’s oceans, and Sprintall said the quality of the data gathered by the Argo floats suggests that more units in the network should be outfitted with oxygen sensors.

Lisa Levin, a biological oceanographer at Scripps Oceanography who studies oxygen-minimum zones that intercept the seafloor, said an expansion of oxygen-minimum zones in the oceans could lead to diminished biodiversity and to the expanded distributions of organisms that have adapted to live in hypoxic, or oxygen-poor waters.

“I think it’s uncharted territory,” said Levin, who was not affiliated with the study. “Thicker oxygen minimum zones could affect nutrient cycling, predator-prey relationships and plankton migrations. Where the expanding oxygen-minimum zones impinge on continental margins, we could see huge ecosystem changes.”

[Rob Monroe and Mario Aguilera @ UC San Diego]