Last week's post on the Globalization of Leadership ended with a clarion-call for change. Given that the entire US economy is built upon a foundation of energy and energy policy, it makes sense to start looking there to see where the biggest economic levers lie.  Here, I offer a somewhat more analytical approach than can be found in the general media.

A stunning new technology out of UCSF and recently published in Science is producing some of the most amazing 3-D images of living cells. “We threw the conventional microscope out the window and began again,” says John Sedat, a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco.

Hi all,We just launched the new web site for the Westminster Institute for Science Education [W.I.S.E.]. Click on the logo below to check it out, including the links to the student and teacher blogs. Comments and suggestions welcome!Oh yes, and for any of you wealthy philanthropists or corporate titans with a hankering to invest in nationwide science, math, or technology education reform, donations are encouraged! Just email or message me, or post a comment here on "All the Best Bits."

An important milestone was reached today. Roughly half of the human race has a cellphone account. It's actually somewhat less, since many countries average more than one mobile phone per person, over 3.3 BILLION mobile phone accounts across the globe....but still. Wow. Now to outfit them all with live TV!Read more here.

Here's an interesting chart via Ohm Malik's blog on the OECD telecommunications outlook report on the cost of broadband Internet in different countries. It's an interesting metric on industrialization. Sadly, we're not looking so good.

From APOD, The International Space Station Expands Again Credit: STS-117 Shuttle Crew, NASA Explanation: The developing International Space Station (ISS) has changed its appearance again. During the past week, the Space Shuttle Atlantis visited the ISS and added pieces of the Integrated Truss Structure that mirrored those added in September 2006, including a second impressively long array of solar panels. The entire array of expansive solar panels are visible at the edges of the above image taken by the Shuttle Atlantis Crew after leaving the ISS to return to Earth. The world's foremost space outpost can be seen developing over the past several years by comparing the above image to past images. Also visible above are many different types of modules, a robotic arm, another impressive set of solar panels, and a supply ship. Construction began on the ISS in 1998.

Matthias Wandel has developed a fantastic mechanical binary adding machine using a simple series of cascaded chutes to store numbers and perform carries through mechanical toggles. Don't miss the video embedded below to see it in operations.Ingenious!More details can be found on his web site: www.Woodgears.ca along with all manner of interesting contraptions.

This has become one of my favorite events anywhere, anytime. You'll find a great collection of art, technology, science projects and demonstrations, contests (like the "King of Fling" catapult contest) kits for sale, tools...and of course the people that make and use them! It is a completely unique collection of interesting things and people.I strongly recommend the Faire to any family that can make it to the San Francisco Bay Area this weekend, not just the nerds among you. There really is something for everyone. Even my one-and-a-half-year-old daughter was enthralled last time around, so don't miss it! Click on the picture link above for more info and tickets!

With declining budgets at NASA and an airline industry beset with growth pains, soaring fuel costs, and bankrupt carriers it has been some time since I have seen true innovation in the aerospace industry. For decades, airplanes have advanced very little despite tremendous strides in tools, materials, and engines. Incremental tweaks on 20+ year-old designs comprise the bulk of the commercial and military complement. But I now have new hope of a resurgent industry.Check out the Smartfish personal aircraft design project that has been the ongoing masterwork of a rock-star design team from Germany and Switzerland since 2003. Smartfish might seem like an odd name for an airplane until you get a look at it's profile; it is very piranha-like indeed.The basic concept is to design and build a new generation of personal aircraft using the latest software design and simulation tool, aerodynamics, composite materials, and jet engine technologies. When aggregated into one cohesive design demonstrating unprecedented efficiencies, the initial results promise a tiny craft whose entire body provides lift rather just relying on the wings. The svelte profile of the composite material lifting body introduces less drag with modest wings, and ...

Always on the lookout for more science education resources, I stumbled across a real gem last week. There are any number of "kids science experiment" style books, but precious few articulate fundamental engineering principles in such a way that elementary students can get their hands dirty and build something at little or no expense.Check out "How Things Work" by Neil Ardley. You can purchase it here from Amazon.The book guides readers through an introduction to a broad range of foundational engineering challenges from structural design, to aerodynamics of birds and planes, to hydraulic valves and pumps, and almost everything in between. Each chapter includes clear directions on how to build prototypes with paper, cardboard, straw types of materials. They are FANTASTIC. The demo projects are by-and-large rather simple and short, but do a great job demonstrating fundamental principles and techniques. They then become the perfect platform to ask, "so how would you make your widget ______ [Stronger, Faster, Lighter, etc...]?" Then you just give 'em a bucket of parts and watch them go.The cover touts a target demographic of ages 8-14 but I already have my 4 1/2 year-old daughter working on a couple of ...