All manner of human creativity on display
David Ng is Director of the Advanced Molecular Biology Laboratory at the University of British Columbia - this is a just a fancier way of calling himself a science teacher.
Benjamin Cohen is an Asst. Professor of Science, Tech., and Society at the University of Virginia. He studies the place of S & T in environmental history, policy, and ethics. He also writes other stuff.
Trying to find your way around this place? Like most expositions, we offer a map: Map of The World's Fair
Need a car? Of course you do. Try this one:
January 31, 2007
Category: The Art/Science (Non?)Divide Building
The other day, I read Shelley's great account of the Challenger explosion, called "The Blight Upon the Sky," and it just got me thinking that I wish there were more outlets for that kind of science writing. By outlets, I...
Posted by David Ng at 1:34 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: The Website Building
So, looks like the truth experiment is holding it's own at #19 (we were at #18 yesterday). This despite a whole series of strange happenings that seem to converge around what we're trying to do here....
Posted by David Ng at 10:10 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 30, 2007
Category: NatureLand: What They Used to Call the Environment
"...nutrient-by-nutrient nutrition science...takes the nutrient out of the context of food, the food out of the context of diet and the diet out of the context of lifestyle."
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 3:32 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: NatureLand: What They Used to Call the Environment
When it isn't a matter of science or not. It's whose science that's the issue...
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 12:05 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 29, 2007
Category: Humor stuff, and in the best of worlds, science humor stuff
Seriously now, everyone should take this course. Although I hear it's restricted to folks who have their own fellowships. Competition is tough these days....
Posted by David Ng at 4:26 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Nature as in Earth, as in Global, as in Global Issues Generally
So I went to a site today called Cool Drive Pass, which is a carbon offsetting project spearheaded by some colleagues of mine at UBC and their friends in Vancouver. Essentially, it's a calculator designed to figure out carbon dioxide...
Posted by David Ng at 2:23 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 26, 2007
Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive
Carrying the torch lit by Ben in an earlier post. I just wanted to say a few words about this album cover: You see, I am a big Police fan, and the rumour of a possible reunion, and the fact...
Posted by David Ng at 3:27 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Nature as in Earth, as in Global, as in Global Issues Generally
In the scientific literature, the use of characters from the Pokemon franchise has been suggested as a possible way to broach biodiversity and conservation challenges....
Posted by David Ng at 11:24 AM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 25, 2007
Category: The Website Building
O.K. people - it's got legs, this thing called the truth. Look at the trend so far: The day after this thing was started, we were at a rank of #310. Then 307 the next day, and then the site...
Posted by David Ng at 3:43 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Ethics Palace: Where ethical questions go to live or die
If only the socially-responsible-development-of-technology appeal for a nanotech warning sign had considered Steve Martin when he gets small. Then everything would be super.
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 9:22 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 24, 2007
Category: Nature, as in parts, bits, molecular and stuff
Do I detect a tone of bitterness here? But, please, please - wouldn't it be great if textbooks were written like this?...
Posted by David Ng at 12:19 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: The Art/Science (Non?)Divide Building
Chris Van Allsburg, "Just a Dream" (over consumption) So as the truth experiment continues to do its thing, I'm getting ready to give two talks on sustainability and climate science concepts to an audience of visual arts students here...
Posted by David Ng at 12:05 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 23, 2007
Category: The Website Building
So, it's come to this, in the latest version of the truth: Wilco is good, sometimes exceptional, but often inconsequential. You can see the editing process here. Also, does google censor things like attempts at google bombing, or is there...
Posted by David Ng at 11:58 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Humor stuff, and in the best of worlds, science humor stuff
Man, talk about tough....
Posted by David Ng at 11:12 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 22, 2007
Category: NatureLand: What They Used to Call the Environment
Finally something that doesn't make Virginia look Kansas-like (sorry Kansasians)
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 3:36 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: The Art/Science (Non?)Divide Building
And the object in question is this Lego ad, which to me almost represents the exact opposite sentiment to the "talking science" avenue raised in Ben's previous post....
Posted by David Ng at 1:56 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive
So I'm leafing through my good old weekly Science, as ever, and looky here, what do I find...the fantastic duo Mukhopadhyay and Riezman at it again. In the 12 January 2007 issue -- yes, the issue with the "scanning electron...
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 7:30 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 20, 2007
Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive
Why would Der Kommissar's presence in town ("oh, oh") require one not to turn around? This has puzzled me for nigh on two+ decades now. Even if we cared that he was in town -- fearful, I assume -- then...
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 10:43 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: The Website Building
Well, this is curious. Looks like the truth has had has had been shut down. This is odd, since I don't think we're there yet for traffic, and besides, the SCQ can handle enormous amounts of traffic. I wonder if...
Posted by David Ng at 12:02 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 19, 2007
Category: The Art/Science (Non?)Divide Building
A girl, a lot of math, and how to play with mixing up the caricatures that go with all that
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 4:28 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: The Website Building
Who says, society can't influence the definition of the truth? (Well, in the Web2.0 context anyway). Apparently, it already has. (Origin of this experiment here)...
Posted by David Ng at 3:26 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: The Website Building
<a href="http://scq.ubc.ca/?p=677">truth</a> Use this code as often as you can. A while back, I wrote a post asking ScienceBloggers what they thought were successful tactics in the game of initiating forms of viral marketing. The question was primarily posed to...
Posted by David Ng at 9:32 AM • 62 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 18, 2007
Category: The Art/Science (Non?)Divide Building
Just wanted to let folks know that the "Gap Ad Celebrity Speaks to a Geneticist" piece is getting some good discussion going on. Specifically related to issues of gender sterotyping - here's part of the dialogue I wrote:...
Posted by David Ng at 3:08 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 17, 2007
Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive
A conference announcement, for all who are fond of this Darwin person, dear old Mister Darwin. "Darwinism after Darwin" (indeed the subject of many a Scienceblogs post) is being sponsored by the British Society for the History of Science (BSHS)...
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 7:44 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Humor stuff, and in the best of worlds, science humor stuff
This is a GTPase Activating Protein... "GAP" - get it? Nevermind... CELEBRITY: Who are you? SCIENTIST: I am a geneticist. CELEBRITY: Like, is that a big word for someone who is not as cool as me? ...and so on...
Posted by David Ng at 2:08 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 16, 2007
Category: About writing generally
Not counting Shouts and Murmurs email queries, I've sent pieces to the New Yorker proper on three occasions, the last of which just a few months ago. What I've noticed is that there is a clear trend is how these...
Posted by David Ng at 2:10 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: The Art/Science (Non?)Divide Building
Last week, I proposed the writing of a piece that aimed to look at the music video for Radiohead's "Just" in a scientific way. Here, I just wanted to note that Bill Benzon over at The Valve picked up on...
Posted by David Ng at 11:56 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 13, 2007
Category: Nature as in Earth, as in Global, as in Global Issues Generally
Here, succinctly anyway, is why a School Board place a moratorium on showing Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth": "Condoms don't belong in school, and neither does Al Gore. He's not a schoolteacher ... The information that's being presented is a very...
Posted by David Ng at 11:50 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 12, 2007
Category: Humor stuff, and in the best of worlds, science humor stuff
Including: And at the early dawn of the seventh day, just before He rested, God did a lot of pretty complicated things at super duper God speed. This was so that people would think the whole Creation thing probably took...
Posted by David Ng at 10:17 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive
What we have here is an escalation in the nature of the PF. Phase Two of PF#2 is now upon us. Because PF#2 has been solved. But which solution is it? (Ever looking for "D")...
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 9:28 AM • 20 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 11, 2007
Category: Humor stuff, and in the best of worlds, science humor stuff
Entitled: "The iPhone: A User Guide" and courtesy of Darren Cahr (via McSweeney's). Includes: IX. Using the iPhone to solve disputes between Moqtada al-Sadr and certain Sunni elements within Iraq without causing an escalation of hostilities, or the development of...
Posted by David Ng at 11:27 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive
A couple weeks ago, the SCQ published a piece called "What's the Scoop? A Quantitative Analysis of Kellogg's Raisin Bran," which aimed to take a proper look at the nomenclature behind the descriptor of "two scoops." Anyway, it was a...
Posted by David Ng at 8:27 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Nature as in Earth, as in Global, as in Global Issues Generally
This is great. And there are two more here. Reminds me also of the ones here at the SCQ....
Posted by David Ng at 7:24 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 10, 2007
Category: Ethics Palace: Where ethical questions go to live or die
E-M removes rebuttal to UCS report that discussed tobacco-to-oil industry cross-over tactics.
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 2:44 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: About writing generally
I'm not sure if it's kosher to discuss article queries before they are even entertained. I'm not even sure if I spelt kosher correctly, but in any event, not being a career writer, I'll take my chances because I think...
Posted by David Ng at 2:23 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Advisory Board Room
Nominee #1: Karl Iagnemma Nominee #2: Chris Ware Nominee #3: Richard Powers Nominee #4: Dava Sobel She's been a science news reporter for The New York Times, a freelance science writer for a good dozen magazines, and author of several...
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 9:13 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 9, 2007
Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive
Live blogging here. Presumably, the big showing off later on here. (and with a formal collaboration with google and yahoo to boot - this puppy is going to a very big deal)...
Posted by David Ng at 1:35 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Humor stuff, and in the best of worlds, science humor stuff
Alright, it's 2007, and already I'm feeling the soft squeeze of all the different things that need tending to. In fact, there are two comics at the Science Creative Quarterly today that, perhaps to greater extremes, emulate my current mood...
Posted by David Ng at 11:46 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 8, 2007
Category: Ethics Palace: Where ethical questions go to live or die
Wow, is ExxonMobil deceiving the public? Or is the UCS liberal propaganda?
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 5:27 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 5, 2007
Category: The Book Building
MOVING DAY THELMA AND LOUISE THE PEACH TREE...
Posted by David Ng at 5:56 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: The Art/Science (Non?)Divide Building
"God reveals himself to humanity in two books - nature and scripture."
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 2:47 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 3, 2007
Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive
"How will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?" (Plato's Meno, to Socrates) (Click here for a larger version of the schematic clue) Let us begin....
Posted by David Ng at 12:24 PM • 21 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: The Art/Science (Non?)Divide Building
"My faith is strong, blind, and without foundation."
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 8:37 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
