Yahoo! News: Education News

---

• Ultra low-power processors designed by Microsoft may revolutionize wildlife research
• Missouri racial threat: How well do colleges police social media?
• Bleak job prospects drive South Korean youth to vocational schools
• Republicans talk up tax cuts, but mum on budget impact
• North Dakota's colleges pitch education to laid-off roustabouts
• 3 College Savings Strategies for Parents Nearing Retirement
• What Veterans Need to Know About GI Bill Benefits at For-Profit Colleges
• White House announces in-state tuition for U.S. veterans, families
• AP FACT CHECK: In Republican debate, flubs and funny numbers
• US colleges head to China to grow basketball fan base
• Starbucks Gives Military Families a Free College Shot

Ultra low-power processors designed by Microsoft may revolutionize wildlife research Posted: 11 Nov 2015 03:36 PM PST Wildlife biologists have a difficult task in the winter as they try to track elusive species such as wolverines, lynxes, and other animals that are active during the cold and snowy season. Researchers monitor these animal populations using remote cameras and scent dispensers that attract the animals to survey sites. This system provides a non-invasive way of monitoring animal populations, but the sites are difficult to maintain as the scent dispenser units need to be refilled every few weeks. A walk in the woods may be enjoyable during the summer, but the same trek becomes an arduous task in the winter when deep snow and avalanches hinder travel. Dr. Robert Long, a senior conservation fellow in the Field Conservation Department at Washington's Woodland Park Zoo, struggled with how to minimize trips to the survey stations by making the scents last through the winter. He reached out to Joel Sauder, a wildlife biologist for Idaho Fish and Game, and Mike Sinclair from Microsoft Research to work on an electronic device that would allow them to place a large amount of scent in the field and dispense it slowly over a long period of time. Related : Game of Thrones inspires a Nat Geo Wild wildlife epic miniseries Working with the high school students in his STEM program, Sinclair developed an ultra-low power processor powered by lithium batteries that would control the release of scent. The processing boards were integrated into a liquid pump system and then installed in bear-proof containers. The boards were designed to withstand the extreme cold and also meet the unique power requirements necessary for a system that remains idle for a long period of time and then spikes when more scent is needed. The team built 65 total units, which are being deployed in Washington State and in North Central Idaho. 35 of the units are headed to the North Cascades as part of an ongoing wolverine study while another 20 are being used in Idaho to study forest carnivores. The last 10 units are extras. The wildlife biologists are hoping these maintenance-free dispensers will help them study wildlife in areas that are difficult to access in the winter. If successful, the dispensers could have a far-reaching impact on wildlife research projects worldwide. Also watch: Raimond de Hullu's vision for Oas1s green buildings Please enable Javascript to watch this video

Missouri racial threat: How well do colleges police social media? Posted: 11 Nov 2015 02:41 PM PST The Wednesday morning arrest of a young man accused of making threats to shoot black students at the University of Missouri in Columbia eased some concerns there about safety. Some comments on social media congratulated the university for its quick response. Others questioned whether the threats, posted Tuesday on the anonymous app Yik Yak, had been taken seriously enough, given the turmoil on campus that led the president to step down after protests over racial issues.

Bleak job prospects drive South Korean youth to vocational schools Posted: 11 Nov 2015 02:13 PM PST By October it had come down to 7.4 percent but was still more than double the overall unemployment rate.     Jang, who pays his nursing tuition with money earned from part-time jobs, has joined a growing number of young South Koreans who are foregoing a more prestigious university education in favor of either vocational training or seeking work straight from school.     On Thursday, South Korea won't shut down but it will be running late, as final year high school students sit annual entrance exams for universities and colleges.     Families will pray for their children's success. The stock market will open an hour late, to help reduce traffic congestion so that students reach examination halls on time.     And for 35 minutes, there will no commercial airline flights landing or taking-off, so that noise is reduced during the English aural section of the exam.     These are all demonstrate South Korea's single-minded approach to education, and the stress that goes with it.     Yet, somewhat surprisingly for a nation where parents have something of a "Tiger Mom" reputation, the number of high school graduates that go on to tertiary education has fallen from 77 percent in 2008 to 70.8 percent this year.

Republicans talk up tax cuts, but mum on budget impact Posted: 11 Nov 2015 11:07 AM PST By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidates talked up aggressive tax-cut plans on Tuesday night but offered few details about how they would avoid plunging the nation deeper into debt from the multi-trillion-dollar revenue shortfalls that would follow. The debate in Milwaukee was a mirror image of the Democratic contest, in which candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are proposing costly new federal family leave and college tuition programs without detailed plans on how to pay for them. Candidates from both parties are avoiding for now a discussion of the tradeoffs that would dramatically change the way the U.S. government raises and spends money.

North Dakota's colleges pitch education to laid-off roustabouts Posted: 11 Nov 2015 08:21 AM PST North Dakota's public universities have launched a scholarship program to enroll laid-off oilfield workers in energy classes, contending their best path to a new job is learning mechanical and computer skills. While the state does not tabulate the number of oil-related job cuts, anecdotes abound of laid-off roustabouts opting to leave the Peace Garden State once they get a pink slip. "Good people are losing jobs, and this is a time for them to go back to school," said Mark Hagerott, chancellor of the North Dakota University System, who has dubbed the endeavor "Bakken U" after the shale formation underlying most of the western part of the state.

3 College Savings Strategies for Parents Nearing Retirement Posted: 11 Nov 2015 06:30 AM PST More parents are waiting to have children later in life, meaning their savings goals for retirement and their children's college education are often on a crash course. A parent who is around 40 when he or she has children will be close to 60 when that child is entering college -- an age when, for many, retirement looms large on the horizon.

What Veterans Need to Know About GI Bill Benefits at For-Profit Colleges Posted: 11 Nov 2015 06:00 AM PST Sarah Serrano, a veteran of the United States Marine Corps, got off to a rocky start when it came to pursuing a college degree. "Over the past 10 years, I have come and gone at University of Phoenixes all over the country," says Serrano, 31, who also bounced around various community colleges. For-profit colleges, like the University of Phoenix, have gained notoriety for their treatment of veteran and active-duty military students.

White House announces in-state tuition for U.S. veterans, families Posted: 10 Nov 2015 09:10 PM PST All recent U.S. military veterans and their families will now be offered in-state tuition rates to public colleges and universities throughout the country, the White House said on Wednesday. Announced in honor of the U.S. federal holiday Veterans Day, which fell on Wednesday, the change is part of President Barack Obama's "steadfast commitment" to military families and aims to make sure veterans can both access and get the most out of higher education, administration officials said. Cecilia Munoz, a top domestic policy adviser to the president, said while Obama is pressing his administration to push these changes forward quickly, he is also calling on Congress to move forward on three pieces of legislation to help improve veterans' education.

AP FACT CHECK: In Republican debate, flubs and funny numbers Posted: 10 Nov 2015 09:01 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Ben Carson botched the economic effect of minimum wage increases. Jeb Bush again pitched a dubious target for economic growth. Marco Rubio, in a tale about plumbers and philosophers, undersold the value of a college education.

US colleges head to China to grow basketball fan base Posted: 10 Nov 2015 06:25 PM PST HANGZHOU, China (AP) — Forty years ago, former basketball star Bill Walton made a decision he still regrets today. His UCLA college team was invited to play an exhibition game in China in 1973, the year it won its second national title with Walton, and he decided not to go. The rest of the team then stayed home, too.

Starbucks Gives Military Families a Free College Shot Posted: 10 Nov 2015 12:47 PM PST Despite being embroiled in a cup-focused "War on Christmas" controversy that may not even really be one, coffee giant Starbucks is focusing much of its attention elsewhere. With Veterans Day approaching on Wednesday, the Seattle-based company is extending its offer of a tuition-free college education to family members of employees who have served in the U.S. military. Starbucks' old plan allowed employees who worked for the company 20 or more hours per week the opportunity to get a tuition-free undergraduate degree through Arizona State University's online program.

You are subscribed to email updates from Education News Headlines - Yahoo! News. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States