spaceplasma:

Nuclear Generators Power NASA Deep Space Probes

For more than 50 years, NASA’s robotic deep space probes have carried nuclear batteries provided by the U.S. Department of Energy. Even the crewed Apollo moon landings carried nuclear powered equipment.

However, the United States’ supply of plutonium-238, which fuels these batteries, called radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), is running low. Experts worry that ambitious planetary science missions in the future may have to be put on hold until more of the radioactive substance is available.

Credit: Karl Tate / SPACE.com

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The Fact That Changed Everything: Michael Karnjanaprakorn and Skillshare
- Bekah Wright and Jessica De Jesus contributed in Education and Nonprofits

In America, college graduation is usually a momentous occasion, an initial step towards achieving various life goals. Possibilities of a bright, new future stretched ahead for the newly matriculated. But with skyrocketing tuition and the growing number of students graduating every year, ask what college graduation today and the immediate response will likely be… debt.

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Illustration by Jessica De Jesus

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That $4 Billion George Lucas Is Getting From Disney? He’s Giving it to Education - by Liz Dwyer

With the news that George Lucas is selling Lucasfilm to Disney for a reported $4.05 billion, there’s been plenty of speculation over who will write and direct Star Wars: Episode VII and what Lucas, who owns 100 percent of Lucasfilm, will do with all that cash. Will Jar Jar Binks return? No plans for the film have been shared, but a spokesperson for Lucasfilm told The Hollywood Reporterthat most of the money will go toward an education foundation.

Lucas’ commitment to education is nothing new. Over 20 years ago Lucas established the George Lucas Educational Foundation, which is “dedicated to improving the K-12 learning process by documenting, disseminating, and advocating for innovative, replicable, and evidence-based strategies that prepare students to thrive in their future education, careers, and adult lives.” In part, the foundation runs the nonprofit website Edutopia, which produces the excellent profiles of innovative, effective schools in their “Schools That Work” series.

And in 2010 Lucas also signed on to Warren Buffet and Bill Gates Giving Pledge, which asks extraordinarily wealthy individuals to give the bulk of their money to philanthropic causes. At the time Lucas released a statement saying he was “dedicating the majority of my wealth to improving education,” because “it is the key to the survival of the human race.” Lucas continued, “we have to plan for our collective future—and the first step begins with the social, emotional, and intellectual tools we provide to our children.”

Whether Lucas will pour more resources into GLEF and Edutopia, or fund other initiatives around the country—similar to how the Gates Foundation has become a major player in the education space—is anyone’s guess. But with Lucas’ interest in whole child-based, innovative education practices and the integration of the arts in schools, it’s pretty exciting to imagine what kind of shifts in our education system could result.

kateoplis:

Today in Kashmir: Paramedic students clashed with Indian Policewomen after finding out that 90% of them had failed their exam.

Awesome.