Model Airplanes

We asked young scientists to answer this question:

In your experience, what is the biggest challenge to global scientific collaboration? How should it be addressed?

In the 3 October 2014 issue, we ran excerpts from 16 of the many interesting responses we received. Below, you will find
the full versions of those 16 essays (in the order they were printed) as well as the best of the other submissions we received
(ordered alphabetically by author name).

Would you like to participate in the next NextGen VOICES survey? To make your voice heard, go to http://scim.ag/NG_13.

(Can’t get enough NextGen? See the results of previous surveys at Future of a Generation, Definition of Success, Experiences that Changed Us, Big Ideas, Experiments in Governing, Science Communication’s Future, Science Time Travel, Work-Life Balance, Enduring Ideas, Science Advocacy, and Science Ethics)

Follow the NextGen VOICES survey on Twitter with the hashtag #NextGenSci.

Essays in print

Lag time between translational research and product development is a pressing issue that is further exacerbated when the

Article source: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/346/6205/47/suppl/DC1

A Boeing Co. 737 takes off or lands somewhere in the world every two seconds. Helping ensure the operations go smoothly is the business of Singapore’s Lien Whai Cheng.

Lien’s Singapore factory makes high-performance parts that help hold the 737’s landing gear together, an example of the specialized products that are allowing the city to keep an industrial base even as labor costs climb.

“We have to stay one step ahead,” says Lien, who started Coway Engineering Marketing Pte. in 1996 making tools for airplane repairs and today customizes insulated components known as bushings for landing gear when they need to be replaced. While Singapore has constraints posed by space and labor, “the competition is worldwide,” he says. “It’s hard for people like us to survive.”

Squeezed in among Singapore’s shopping malls, banking office towers and its casinos are thousands of factories that contribute about one-fifth of the island’s economy. That’s the same as in Switzerland, and almost 10 times the share in rival Hong Kong. Success in shifting to precision engineering helps provide a cushion for fluctuations in sectors such as tourism, and creates high-wage jobs that buttress spending. The model, the fruit of an open economy where officials drew on management gurus including Harvard University’s Michael Porter, now faces rising competition as China focuses on more advanced industries.

‘Very Niche’

“They are moving up into very

Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-02/singapore-shows-how-to-keep-factories-open-as-costs-rise.html

Candidates for Washington’s 2nd Congressional seat seem to stray from hard-set party platforms on a few issues.

To start, incumbent Democrat Rick Larsen has been critical of President Barack Obama, a fellow Democrat, for his use of military action such as recent Syrian air attacks without congressional oversight. 

“If we’re really going to do this well and down the road be able to do it again, it’s important that the executive branch and the legislative branch get on the same page,” Larsen said in an interview last week.

On the other hand, Republican challenger BJ Guillot said he believes the president is operating within the parameters of his position.

“He has the right to do it, it gives him the ability,” Guillot said. “If he believes there’s an imminent threat he can use force.”

Guillot said that while Congress doesn’t have the power to stop the president-ordered military action, they could vote to cut off the funding for the operation, a move he would support.

Despite representing a primarily liberal state that recently approved the legalization of marijuana, Larsen said he is not in favor of its legalization but is just trying to “get out of the way” of the new legislation.

Guillot said he doesn’t have any issues with marijuana as long as people are following the law and paying the appropriate taxes. Guillot said he would support a federal legalization.

Larsen,

Article source: http://www.southwhidbeyrecord.com/news/277663601.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+swrnews+(News+-+South+Whidbey+Record)

By OLIVER GOOD

Staff writer

Navy veteran and longtime model builder Chester Brown absolutely adores all things aircraft.

He loves researching intricacies of different designs, but simply reading about and looking at pictures was never enough. Brown was compelled to tinker with and realize aircraft designs using scale models.

Brown’s fascination with aircraft started when he was 10 and his father was working for Boeing in Wichita.

Now 71, Brown is a seasoned model maker who has built a large variety of aircraft models, anything from small stationary showpieces made from pop and beer cans to 6-feet-long flyable jet kits.

Much to the affectionate chagrin of his wife, Donna, he has airplane models hanging from the wall in their den, where he often puts together models on a cardboard-covered coffee table using materials stored by his easy chair.

More model kits are tucked away and stacked in the corner of their computer room, and in a workshop at the back of their house, there are model wings, propellers, and many model aircraft in various states of completion.

“These days, model kits just come ready out of the box,” Brown said. “They’re pre-cut, pre-painted, and have all the decals on. There is no room to modify.”

Brown finds solace in the process.

What he really seems to take the most pride in is building “stick planes.”

Brown said a “stick plane” is a model that employs a balsawood skeleton covered with a lightweight silk-span skin

Article source: http://peabodykansas.com/direct/former_engineer_builds_models_from_scratch+4602models+466f726d657220656e67696e656572206275696c6473206d6f64656c732066726f6d2073637261746368

HELENA –

A model of a historical plane was revealed this morning at the Helena Regional Airport—but it’s not just any plane.

103 years ago today, the “little humming bird” and it’s pilot, 19-year-old Cromwell Dixon flew from Helena to Blossberg making the first ever flight over the continental divide.

The day is recognized by Lewis and Clark County as Cromwell day in celebration of that flight. And what better way to celebrate then by revealing the model of the plane that made such a daring soar. Bob Ohnstad restored and donated the model to the airport. He said he worked on every detail of the plane to make it as close to the original as possible.

“I got the plan for the original plane so I could get this stuff accurate and it’s eleven pages of blue prints of a bunch of little parts–no directions or anything,” Ohnstad said. “So it’s studying them and building those parts as close as I could.”

 Helena Regional Airport Director Jeff Wadekamper said he’s impressed with how in depth Ohnstad went into the plane’ history.

“He went in to the research to really find every little detail on the aircraft, and not just the aircraft itself, but Cromwell Dixon and some of the things that went along with the historic flight,” Wadekamper said.

Wadekamper said aircraft technology has sure come along way since 1911.

“Quite honestly you have to be

Article source: http://www.kfbb.com/story/26670884/helena-regional-airport-reveals-model-of-historic-plane