Her Daily News

This week’s great woman in history is:

Stephanie Kwolek - born July 31, 1923

She is the inventor of the revolutionary fiber we know today as Kevlar. USA Today recently did a story celebrating the inventor’s remarkable discovery:

Kwolek is the scientist behind the discovery of the strong, lightweight fiber known as Kevlar. More than 3,000 law enforcement officers have survived potentially fatal or disabling injuries because of the golden-colored fiber that is spun into sheets used in bulletproof vests, helmets and shields, said Stephanie Jacobson, spokeswoman for DuPont Co. in Wilmington.

In the mid-1960s, Kwolek was a researcher at DuPont, where her work led her to a discovery that became the foundation for Kevlar.

“She’s physically a small woman, which is kind of funny considering the impact she’s had,” said Ed Rodley, exhibit developer of the Museum of Science, Boston, which is mounting a fall exhibit on innovative people in engineering, which will include Kwolek.

Pound for pound, Kevlar fiber is five times stronger than steel, Jacobson said. In addition to law enforcement officers, Kwolek’s work has spared the lives of countless soldiers, too. Nearly every U.S. combat servicemember has worn a helmet made with Kevlar since the 1991 Gulf War, Jacobson said.

Kwolek was a 42-year-old scientist in search of a super-strong fiber to reinforce radial tires at the company’s Experimental Station when she invented a thin, milky solution of rigid-chain polymers that flowed like water from her lab spatula.

“It wasn’t exactly a ‘eureka moment,’ ” she said, but she sensed she might be onto something. Most polymers have the viscosity of molasses. The physical test results were off the charts in terms of strength and stiffness, she recalled. Initially, Kwolek said, she was afraid to “tell management.” She tested and retested to make sure no mistakes had been made.

“I didn’t want to be embarrassed. When I did tell management, they didn’t fool around. They immediately assigned a whole group to work on different aspects,” she said.

Kwolek had little formal education by comparison with most of the scientists DuPont hires today. With a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Institute of Technology — now known as Carnegie Mellon University — she went to work for DuPont as a chemist in 1946.

There were few female scientists at DuPont when Kwolek joined the company.

“I was determined,” she said.

Kwolek is scrupulous about taking credit only for the initial discovery of the technology used in the development of Kevlar. She credits the team of scientists who worked on its development, particularly DuPont scientist Herbert Blades, who still lives in Hockessin, Del.

She has received numerous honors, including being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio.

The Hall of Fame includes such names in American scientific history as Thomas Edison and the Wright brothers. The exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science will showcase seven engineering leaders through videotaped interviews, historical footage and displays of related artifacts.

Kwolek’s advice for young women interested in a science career is that they get a doctorate and have at least two majors — for example, chemistry and math. If she had it to do all over again, Kwolek said, she would get into biochemistry.

I love her advice and encouragement to young women about going into the science field. We can never have too many women in that field, or any field for that matter but she is a great example of why we need women in science and technology careers.

women, careers, science, Kevlar, police, military, bullet-proof, technology

This article from Scotsman.com News shows that a survey finds that traditional gender roles are changing a bit:

LET it never be said that women talk too much. The female of the species, long maligned for spending too much time and money on the phone, has finally been outdone.

In a reversal of the traditional stereotype, new figures suggest that it is men rather than women who spend the most time on the phone.

A survey of 3,500 adults has found men are now dominating the telephone in the house as well as constantly chatting on their mobiles, while women prefer to share their gossip by text and e-mail.

The length of time spent on both landline and mobile calls has increased for the average male over the past five years, but decreased for the typical British female. Researchers have found the average male is now on the phone for 32 minutes a day, up from 22 minutes a day in 2002.

Women appear to be opting for texting as a more discreet method of communication, spending an average of 26 minutes a day on the phone, down from 35 minutes a day in 2002.

And females are increasingly keeping in touch by text because it is much quicker - a lot better than the old “bush telegraph” method of calling someone who then calls another friend.

A survey in April found that a scribbled message on a Post-it note has replaced intimate conversation in one in ten relationships across Britain. Up to one in five of the women text their partners more than they talk to them, and 11 per cent rely on notes to leave messages, such as asking their partner to pick up the children or empty the bin.

The authors of the report claimed that women were simply too busy juggling work, life and families to devote as much time as they would like to talking with their partners.

This latest study did not include work calls, but does count conversations with banks or insurance firms, dealing with tradesmen, buying tickets and booking tables at restaurants.

Men are making more use of their mobiles and landlines to make and take calls wherever they are and at all times, according to the survey by loyalty card group Nectar, in association with telecoms firm Talk Talk.

I guess this survey shows that the increasing demands of family and work are making it difficult for women to stay in touch. Not much time for gossip and chit-chat these days. My, how the tides are slightly changing….

women, men, cell phones, telephones, text messaging, communication

As part of an ever expanding birth control program aimed at reducing unwanted pregnancies and  illegal  abortions,  Brazil will start offering the  morning-after pill. More information about the birth control reform can be read in the FOXNews article.

women, international, birth control, abortions, pregnancy

This is a case that really makes me wonder how someone could call themselves an “activist” but not be informed enough to get their protesting right:

David McMenemy, 46, was sentenced Friday to 5 years in prison for attempting to burn down a Davenport, Iowa women’s health clinic on September 11, 2006. McMenemy, a Detroit native, crashed his car into a building that he believed to be an abortion clinic and lit a bottle filled with gasoline before surrendering to firefighters. The Edgerton Women’s Health Care Center does not perform or make referrals for abortions, but provides prenatal care and medical services to low-income and underprivileged women, according to clinic officials.

During the sentencing, McMenemy admitted wrongdoing, telling US District Judge John Javery, “It was wrong. Even if it was an abortion clinic, it would still be wrong.” He then added that he planned to distance himself from any anti-abortion organizations in the future.

The judge ordered him to pay $263,252 in damages to the clinic and also to be treated for mental health and substance-abuse.

It’s not like it would have required much more effort to crash into the place and burn it down than it would have to find out what the clinic actually does. He and the guy who burned down the Hummer plant because they are high polluters (and his destruction of the plant actually caused more pollution than the Hummers could have put out in years) should get together and start a “hair-brained activist club”. In it, they will discuss ways ruin the environment and lives by making base-less assumptions and then acting on them through violent explosions.

I am quite saddened about this case. First of all, I don’t think he received a stiff enough penalty. Maybe if we started factoring is stupidity, sentences could be harsher. Additionally, that clinic was probably helping many women. It was probably run by an non-profit organization who does not have the funds to re-build the entire facility and now will have to remain closed (at least for some time) in order to build more funds. In the mean time, countless low-income and underprivileged women will have to seek care elsewhere, possibly further away and possibly not at all. Sometimes when you fight so hard for a cause, you do more harm than good.

women, abortion, clinics, activists, anti-abortion

An article on AlterNet.com cited that teenage birthrate is the lowest it has been in 65 years. So what is responsible for the drop? Both sex educators and abstinence-only proponents take the credit. The article then goes on to pose two scenarios and then asks who you think is right:

Let’s posit this scenario: You’re 16. You buy a soda and a pack of condoms at the corner store. That afternoon you have sex. You know how to put on the condom because you were taught in your public high school. Anyway, the condom is just a backup. Your girlfriend is on the pill. Some people say your education has encouraged you to take a life-threatening health risk.

Here’s an alternative scenario: You’re the federal government. You’ve thrown over a billion dollars into abstinence-only-until-marriage education. In a decade, you’ve transformed sex education in many states. Your message? There is no such thing as safe sex. Is your plan working? Your opponents say you’re better off throwing your money down a wishing well.

Who’s right?

Each scenario could be correct to any individual, depending on their view on the issue. So the real question is which one is getting the job done? Researchers in the article state that a combination of the two styles is causing change across the board.

It is quite possible that offering both types of education would be helpful even though the styles seem contradictory. Here’s how it could work. Abstinence-only education is only going to reach a certain number of teenagers. There will always be those out there are who are going to engage in pre-marital sex. So, for those teens, where the abstinence-only education leaves off, safe sex education can pick up the slack. Basically saying, if you choose to engage is sex before marriage, at least be safe and responsible by using contraceptives and getting tested regularly.

The problems, though, will still exist. As the article points out, the United States still has the highest teenage birthrate of any industrialized country. To add to the problem, the US government is only giving federal funding to abstinence-only programs. This may not seem like a bad thing if your belief is that teens won’t have sex if we tell them not to but the reality is, SOME will no matter what we say. Until we are able to come to a comprehensive resolution by talking openly and honestly about sex in America, our teen birthrate may drop but won’t be as low as it could (or possible should) be.

Article link: The Teenage Birth Rate Has Dropped to a 65-Year Low - Jennifer Liss, Wiretap

teens, sex, education, contraception, birthrate