Communicating science
Pharyngula
Category archives for Communicating science
Science is not dead
Posted by PZ Myers on December 30, 2010 People keep sending me this link to an article by Jonah Lehrer in the New Yorker: The Decline Effect and the Scientific Method, which has the subheadings of “The Truth Wears Off” and “Is there something wrong with the scientific method?” Some of my correspondents sound rather distraught, like they’re concerned that science is breaking…
8-10 year old children can be trained to solve scientific puzzles
Posted by PZ Myers on December 23, 2010 It really isn’t that hard to learn to think scientifically — kids can do it. In a beautiful example of communicating science by doing it, students at Blackawton Primary School designed and executed an experiment in vision and learning by bees, and got it published in Biology Letters, which is making the paper available for…
Quantum atheists!
Posted by PZ Myers on December 18, 2010 On Atheist Talk radio on Sunday morning at 9am Central time, James Kakalios will be joining the gang at Minnesota Atheists to talk about his new book, The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics: A Math-Free Exploration of the Science that Made Our World(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll). It should be very entertaining. The book looks good, although I’ve only…
How hard is that SF?
Posted by PZ Myers on December 18, 2010 I got a request to collect participants for an online survey on science fiction — take a look and help out if you want. It’s long, and a little depressing: it’s a list of science fiction movies and TV shows, and you’re supposed to rate their scientific accuracy. I think I’m rather picky about that,…
Explaining global climate change with a comic
Posted by PZ Myers on December 14, 2010 This is really well done: Darryl Cunningham explains global warming with simple, clear illustrations and explanations. I want to steal it all, put it in a pdf, and print out a few hundred copies to hand out to the deniers.
Entertaining and informative!
Posted by PZ Myers on December 9, 2010 I’m really liking these CreatureCast videos Casey Dunn’s students put together — and there are two new ones, on moray eels and stomatopods. That’s communicating science! Also, Dunn has a new book, Practical Computing for Biologists, also available on
There are people meaner than I am
Posted by PZ Myers on December 7, 2010 I got a surprising amount of criticism of my review of the arsenic-eating bacteria paper — some people thought I was too harsh and too skeptical and too cynical. Haven’t those people ever sat through a grad school journal club? We’re trained to eviscerate even the best papers, and I actually had to restrain myself…
The battle over NCSE
Posted by PZ Myers on December 5, 2010 It’s still going on. Jerry Coyne repeated our common criticism that the NCSE spends too much effort promoting Christianity; then Richard Hoppe fires back, complaining that his comment was held in moderation (Coyne has been sick for a while, you know…I wish people would have more patience), and then repeating the common and misguided defense…
Data visualization is cool
Posted by PZ Myers on November 30, 2010 This is a fascinating way to present data about global and historical economies: I’m also kind of blown away by the fact that the BBC has a documentary about statistics. How do they get an audience without blowing things up or the occasional sleazy sexual affair?
We are not Geoffrey Beene’s Kids!
Posted by PZ Myers on November 27, 2010 Jerry Lewis, the comedian, hosts a yearly telethon to raise money for children with muscular dystrophy. I find it entirely unwatchable, because it comes across as patronizing and condescending, and seeing Jerry Lewis mug for the camera and present himself as the loving, maudlin hero trying to save these pathetic, pitiful wretches makes me want…