The World's Fair

SCQ Journal Club: Part IV

Category: The Website Building

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Posted by David Ng at 8:21 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

"Little Charlie Darwin, God Bless Him": plus a blurb or so on biography

Category: The Book Building

I just posted an entry on Darwin's status as a scientist, and wanted to tag on this brief run-down on some biography. (Although I'll say right off that I'm *not* a historical Darwin scholar, and a lot of brilliant people...

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Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 7:45 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

"Darwin has nothing to do with science....There's not a shred of evidence that Darwin was a scientist."

Category: Links to interesting sites and discussion of them

While driving back home yesterday and dreaming of that Saturday afternoon sweet spot of a nap time, I heard the above comment from one of the people interviewed on a story on Weekend America. A Kansan contributor to the program,...

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Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 1:53 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Mountaintop [Coal] Removal, Part II: Is a stream without fish still a stream?

Category: Mountaintop Coal Removal

[When we last left our dueling bloggers, they were reading Erik Reece's Death of a Mountain. And now, part 2, as continued from the first part of the conversation, wherein -- beyond the Reece article -- the bloggers made mention...

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Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 9:45 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Friday List Bonanza: Science, Engineering, and Dr. Phil

Category: The Website Building

How about a sampling of the lists over at McSweeney's, the perfect Friday activity. Here are a bunch that are either science-related, engineering-related, invention-related, or plain unrelated. I'd be interested in any kind of ranking people have, the bests of...

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Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 9:20 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

SCQ Journal Club: Part III

Category: The Website Building

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Posted by David Ng at 8:42 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

SCQ Journal Club: Part II

Category: The Website Building

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Posted by David Ng at 8:14 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

RoundUp Ready Round-up is Ready: (a) Atrazine and (b) Big Organic

Category: NatureLand: What They Used to Call the Environment

Environmental Science/Studies in Review, Volume 1 Here is a rundown of some recent pieces of note w/r/t environment, science, and technology -- specifically, a few on atrazine and hermaphroditic friogs, and then a few on Big Organic (farming and planting...

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Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 10:01 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

SCQ Journal Club: Part I

Category: The Website Building

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Posted by David Ng at 8:36 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

A Worthy Cause Indeed: Journal Club and Looking Out For The Duck

Category: Links to interesting sites and discussion of them

Well, I'm on vacation as of today and thought now was as good a time as any to show off my primary online love affair. That is, the Science Creative Quarterly of which I am the editor. For the next...

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Posted by David Ng at 8:09 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Q: If a mountaintop is intentionally blown up and only the surrounding ecosystems hear it, does it make a sound?

Category:

A: Probably. * * * DN: So Ben, what's up with those mountain tops? BRC: They're fewer than there used to be, that's what I know. DN: Less places to ski and stuff? BRC: But many more places to golf,...

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Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 4:30 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Seems like a decent collection to get your kids on their way... (Ask a Scienceblogger, sort of - round-up #2)

Category: The Book Building

The question posed this time: Are there any children's books that are dear to you, either as a child or a parent, and especially ones that perhaps strike a chord with those from a science sensibility? Just curious really. And...

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Posted by David Ng at 2:23 PM • 20 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Weather is not a pest

Category: Nature as in Earth, as in Global, as in Global Issues Generally

A few months ago, I attended a conference called Writing Home, Science, Literature, and the Aesthetics of Place, which had a nice byline written by Gary Geddes. It read: "Philosophy," Novalis said, "is really homesickness, it is the urge to...

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Posted by David Ng at 1:35 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Out out, damn mole! (The critter not the unit of measurement)

Category: NatureLand: What They Used to Call the Environment

It's ironic but having just answered a scienceblogger question about preservation, I'm aware of a personal predicament that addresses some of the same ideals. Namely, I've got a critter in my backyard. This is what I saw on my lawn...

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Posted by David Ng at 11:32 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Bringing you up to speed in the world of genetics

Category: Nature, as in parts, bits, molecular and stuff

I've been so busy writing about children's books, putting up silly lists, and presenting puzzles that I feel the need to write about one of the things I'm most comfortable with - that is, genetics:...

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Posted by David Ng at 12:17 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

The Smokin' Hot Enlightenment: In Reply to the Ask a Natural Philosophy Blogger Query of the Week

Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive

Having been asked as a Science Blogger the following: If you could have practiced science in any time and any place throughout history, which would it be, and why?... I say: Mid-Eighteenth Century France or Thereabouts (with Scottish and Swedish...

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Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 2:15 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Powerpoint: Love it or hate it, it's not going to go away

Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive

So I'm a teacher type right? And what do I think of powerpoint? Well, it's certainly convenient, although to be honest, I'm partial to good old real time pen and projector or chalk and blackboard lectures (a good way to...

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Posted by David Ng at 1:47 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Puzzle Fantastica #1 Update #B: Wherein we broach the subject of evidence

Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive

"On Evidence" (and in reference to the on-going, yet still unsolved Puzzle Fantastica #1) Since this is a science blog and scientists and engineers are all about evidence and experiments and so on, we broach the subject of evidence. Namely,...

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Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 8:00 AM • 22 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Dave Ng is a scientist and is pretty sure that none of the following has ever been used to rebut a tough question posed during a scientific talk.

Category: Humor stuff, and in the best of worlds, science humor stuff

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Posted by David Ng at 7:40 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

At Long Last We Know: Modern Science Owes Its Greatness to Flemish Bond Brickwork

Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive

For centuries we've languished in the abyss of not-knowing what science is. An abyss so deep and so languishable, that we didn't even know we didn't know. A true Rumsfeldian dilemma, with mixed metaphors to boot. What accounts for scientific...

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Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 7:37 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

It's a lucky thing for stem-cell research that the following passages aren't in the bible.

Category: Humor stuff, and in the best of worlds, science humor stuff

Looks like an appropriate time to put this one up on the blog. I have to say that this was the one of the easiest pieces I've ever written. It's also the only one that got published at McSweeney's with...

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Posted by David Ng at 8:06 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Homosexuality, the Bible, Satire, and Knowledge: Let's Bring It All Together, 'kay?

Category: The Art/Science (Non?)Divide Building

Dave's recent thread on the Creationist Science Fair brought to mind other examples of internet-circulated satirizations of knowledge and the public. These are, to me, issues of science and society, because they are about argument, reasoning, persuasion, and sources. They...

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Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 7:00 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Air!

Category: Video links (archive.org samples, for example; Youtube.com; others...)

Someone passed on this link to the National Film Board of Canada lately, and I've spent a good twenty minutes checking the site out. It doesn't have the "Cosmic Zoom" animation, which is one I've been after for the longest...

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Posted by David Ng at 6:47 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Back from Lagos, Nigeria. They made it home!

Category: Ethics Palace: Where ethical questions go to live or die

Recently, I took out three of my colleagues for lunch. These were folk who were brave enough to take the plunge and participate in an opportunity to travel to Nigeria. Here, they would teach a course on molecular genetics to...

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Posted by David Ng at 2:56 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

If Smallpox could talk - not really.

Category: NatureLand: What They Used to Call the Environment

A little late on this one, but the scienceblog question of the week (of last week), reads: "Is every species of living thing on the planet equally deserving of protection?..."...

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Posted by David Ng at 6:59 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Rebuilt: Cyborgs or Robots or Bionic Ears, but not Jerry Falwell

Category: Ethics Palace: Where ethical questions go to live or die

The book Rebuilt, by Michae Chorost, and the documentary Sound and Fury, by Josh Aronson, here re-considered. (This is a Bookshelf #1 revisitation and expansion.) ((No reason for mentioning Jerry Falwell, by the way. That was a typo.)) I finished...

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Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 1:00 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Projects from the fellowshop Baptist Creation Science Fair 2001

Category: Humor stuff, and in the best of worlds, science humor stuff

This use to be circulating the web back in 2001. Never did figure out if it was real (it was presented at http://objective.jesussave.us/creationsciencefair.html), but good for a laugh or looks of disgust anyway....

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Posted by David Ng at 8:54 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Let us now see what your mind is truly made of - Puzzle Fantastica #1, the final clue and the start of a novel.

Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive

Here presented is the final clue in our little experiment. It being the start of a story, a novel to be precise. In fact, we're getting tingles just thinking how lovely it all comes together, and the challenge, of course,...

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Posted by David Ng at 12:54 PM • 121 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

"We Must Never Forget Whatever Happened Here Today"

Category: Humor stuff, and in the best of worlds, science humor stuff

With nothing to do with science, I feel compelled nonetheless to post this link to a fine contribution over at McSweeney's today. A great piece, on politics and whatnot. Sort of. Or, rather, entirely. The intro: Ladies and gentlemen. Friends,...

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Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 8:43 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

The "Stem Cell Barbie" Piece

Category: Humor stuff, and in the best of worlds, science humor stuff

This particular piece has had a long and storied past, originating as far back as my term as an Immunology lecturer during my Ph.D. days (we're talking back in 1997 or so). Essentially, one of things I did (and still...

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Posted by David Ng at 8:39 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Hollywood Physics (and the Society for Arts, Literature, and Science)

Category: The Art/Science (Non?)Divide Building

This is but a link to an interesting summary article about the topic of scientists (physicists) in film. It's by Sidney Perkowitz, who teaches at Emory, and who I've seen speak at the meetings of and know has long been...

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Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 8:23 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

The letter that got me out of a parking ticket OR I think I got this humour writing thing down to a science.

Category: Humor stuff, and in the best of worlds, science humor stuff

A few months back, I forgot to pay for parking and was dinged with a $50 fine. It was completely by accident so very annoying overall. Anyway, because it was an accident, I thought I would have a go at...

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Posted by David Ng at 12:07 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Science Procastination Reading (July 15/2006)

Category: Links to Other Conversations and Articles

Quick and fast today....

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Posted by David Ng at 2:48 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Nice change of pace: a question for you about science and about children's books.

Category: The Book Building

So, today is the last day of the Children's book workshop, and it's been a nice change of pace for sure. The instructor, Susan Juby, was excellent and the content generally helpful and did I say, nice change of pace?...

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Posted by David Ng at 12:13 PM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Science book appendum: Maurice Sendak was a science illustrator

Category: The Book Building

Mr. Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are is easily one of the best loved children's book on our planet, but it may surprise you to know that his first published illustrations were done in the name of science. Of...

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Posted by David Ng at 9:23 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Science book #5: About nothing to do with science, about everything to do with science - "Once Upon an Ordinary Day at School" by Colin McNaughton and Satoshi Kitamura

Category: Books that are just good - literature in general

This book is a lovely piece of prose with geat artwork that looks at the power of how certain experiences, and more specifically certain teachers can provide the inspiration that ultimately makes a person who they are....

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Posted by David Ng at 9:15 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Responses a parent might give when their three year old asks what's going on during a relatively graphic preview of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" as shown on an episode of Entertainment Tonight

Category: Movie discussion

...

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Posted by David Ng at 12:15 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Science book #4: About just looking gorgeous - "The Tree of Life: Charles Darwin" by Peter Sis

Category:

Peter Sis is probably best known for his Madlenka series, which I believe, have even been made into a few Sesame Street shorts. But in my view, his prowess in producing these intricate and pretty pictures are well used in...

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Posted by David Ng at 11:45 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Science book #3: About picking up the jargon - "Katie and the Dinosaurs" by James Mayhew

Category: Books that are just good - literature in general

This book makes the cut, not necessarily because I find it particularly endearing (although it is a lovely story, and ever so British in a Paddington Bear sort of way), but because this is the book responsible for my kids,...

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Posted by David Ng at 10:50 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Puzzle Fantastica #1: Another clue.

Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive

Wondrous theories have been brewing over the three clues so far. Here is another. The fourth actually, a video too (Quicktime required)....

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Posted by David Ng at 8:38 AM • 18 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Words for SNOT, a.k.a. genomic DNA

Category: Nature, as in parts, bits, molecular and stuff

As eluded to earlier, the concept of snot holds a special place in my teaching armada. As well, it appears that scienceblogs has reached their 1,000,000th comment. Obviously, this is due to the hard work of our unpaid interns, which...

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Posted by David Ng at 12:38 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Science book #2: About silliness and running amok with a scientific theme - "Your Disgusting Head" by Haggis-On Whey

Category: Books that are just good - literature in general

In Norway, you say "buse." As a geneticist, I am a lot more familiar with the concept of snot than one might suspect. And although this may appear to be a sort of an odd soundbite, it can be...

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Posted by David Ng at 9:50 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Science Book #1: About pace, and the desire for fixes - "The Missing Piece" by Shel Silverstein

Category: Books that are just good - literature in general

I thought I would start with this great picture story book, although in truth I could have easily started with another by the same author (the always irrepressible, but sadly missed away Shel Silverstein). The other, of course, is...

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Posted by David Ng at 6:25 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Something I'm guessing, you wouldn't expect on scienceblogs.com: Children's Book Review Week.

Category: Books that are just good - literature in general

As alluded to earlier, I'm attending a Children's Book Workshop this week. So to stay in theme (hence also the post about the Von Trapp Children), I thought I would try to provide a children's book review for each of...

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Posted by David Ng at 12:39 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

"The Von Trapp Children Speak to a Geneticist" Piece

Category: About writing generally

Despite the recurring theme of rejection with many of the pieces I submit, I find you still get the sense that you were (nevertheless) in good hands. In other words, you'd like to think that the editors who take the...

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Posted by David Ng at 12:07 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Procastination Science Reading (July 8/2006)

Category: Links to Other Conversations and Articles

This time around, we have a poem, something about lego, a great piece by the ever interesting Kurt Vonnegut, and a conversation with an academic that sort of defies categorization . Not ranked in that order, in any particular order...

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Posted by David Ng at 10:45 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Puzzle Fantastica #1 Update #A: Fish-Cow-Elvis and more...

Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive

We won't yet drop a fourth visual clue for the P.F #1, but we will give at this point a few negations: The answer does not involve Carl Sagan's pet, does not belong to the category "architecture," and is not...

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Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 8:13 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Know what's fun about painting rooms in your house?

Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive

......

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Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 9:34 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Fight scene in my lab: blonde woman vs invisible man

Category: The Film Building

Looks like the movie Hollow Man 2, a movie which used my lab for a scene or two is finally out....

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Posted by David Ng at 11:46 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Oh, I am so proud and I graduated when I was in Grade 23.

Category: The Art/Science (Non?)Divide Building

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Posted by David Ng at 5:43 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Anagrams that didn't make the cut for Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code

Category: Humor stuff, and in the best of worlds, science humor stuff

Seeing how we're all about puzzles lately, and having made a token (quick) review of the book. Here's a list. Please add if you find any other good ones....

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Posted by David Ng at 12:14 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Bookshelf #1: July 2006 Cohen edition

Category: The Book Building

I'm following Dave's lead here, who was following Nick Hornby's lead, who could probably be made aware of our lead following and then wax poetic on the flourishing of his format. Except I'm sure he's busy. Lunching with Cusack. Unless...

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Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 9:49 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Dolly is 10 years old? Actually Dolly is dead.

Category: Nature, as in parts, bits, molecular and stuff

(RE: The new "Ask a Scienceblogger") If asked whether I think cloning has developed the way I thought it would, I think I'd have have a couple comments on that. First, I would say that yes I am surprised in...

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Posted by David Ng at 8:35 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Puzzle Fantastica #1: "Fish-Cow-Elvis" [do not click unless you are of reasonable intelligence]

Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive

What is the puzzle? What is it a puzzle of? Fire away. It has begun.

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Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 2:15 PM • 45 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Stuff I've been reading: My take on being Nick Hornby (if Mr Hornby did decide to provide some scientific commentary).

Category: The Book Building

One of the monthly columns in The Believer, is written by none other than Nick Hornby, and is called "Stuff I've Been Reading: A Monthly Column." In it, he presents a list of books bought and a list of books...

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Posted by David Ng at 12:32 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

The "Dr. Phil" Piece

Category: About writing generally

Usually, when I write a humour piece, it all begins with me in the car listening to the radio, waiting for those moments when a song comes on that I hate - loath even. For instance, something like "Truth" by...

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Posted by David Ng at 8:43 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Al Gore vs Boyz II Men: Battle Royale

Category: Links to Other Conversations and Articles

After Mr. Gore visited our campus a month or so ago, one of the students who is working with me on the terry.ubc.ca project wrote an interesting piece comparing his talk (of which his movie An Inconvenient Truth is based...

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Posted by David Ng at 11:59 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

This is soooo fricking cool...

Category: Nature, as in parts, bits, molecular and stuff

...but I can't talk about it (yet). Bonus points if you can figure out what it is....

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Posted by David Ng at 5:53 PM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks