Sci-Tech Sunday – 11-NOV-07 Edition

Here’s your weekly roundup of science and technology news for Michigan Messenger readers:

• MTU shorted on state funding yet again
  Already ignored by state initiatives like that geared toward funding a life sciences “research triangle” in Lower Michigan, Michigan Tech must now find a way to fund a $1.4 million shortfall arising from the recent budget agreement  signed into law October 1.  The school had budgeted based on Gov. Granholm’s previously estimated 2.5 percent appropriation; only 1.1 percent was funded by the new budget.
• U-M Physicists get two atoms to communicate
  Using light energy, physicists at U of M induce a state of entanglement between two atoms — the same state that Albert Einstein referred to as “spooky action at a distance”.  A number of scientists consider this an important step towards “quantum computing”, exponentially faster than today’s computing systems.
• Google grows in A2
  The Ann Arbor offices of Google’s Adwords division are expected to grow to 900 employees over the next several years.
• Congressional Testimony: Contrary to conventional wisdom, we have the people, but not the jobs
  Michael Teitelbaum, VP of Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, says that offshoring of jobs along with current federal funding based on pressure by lobbyists and corporate interests has created an unstable situation that will decrease the number of opportunities here in the U.S. for students of science and technology, eventually leading to fewer students in the same fields.
• Bendable concrete developed by U-M may resist hurricane forces
  U of M’s Civil and Materials Science Engineering has developed a concrete based on coated polymer fibers in lieu of aggregate.  The concrete is 40 percent lighter than traditional concrete without the stone aggregate; it’s also 500 times more resistant to cracking.