Dead Mouse Carpets and Flaming Fur Balls
Category: Humor stuff, and in the best of worlds, science humor stuff
"The Ecology of Crunch and Squish," Vol. XIII at McSweeney's
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 5:19 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The World's Fair
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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.
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Recent Posts
- The Future of Objectivity
- John Cage Guest Posts at The World's Fair
- "Leicester School of Design Considers Name Change"
- World Death Rate Holding Steady at 100%
- Michael Pollan: Chewed Up and Spit Out
- Science podcasts heard 12 million times daily
- Borges was a Webelo (and Other Book Jokes)
- Baby 2.0
- EPA Official Fired Over Dow Chemical Dispute
- If you could host your own version of a TEDtalks at your institution, what exactly would you do? Looking for feedback...
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July 30, 2007
July 27, 2007
The Simpsons, naturally
Category: Humor stuff, and in the best of worlds, science humor stuff
Nature interview with Simpsons Executive Producer. and so much more
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 8:30 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 26, 2007
Monsanto Patents Rejected
Category: Industrial Agriculture
A remarkable story from the Public Patent Foundation about harassing, intimidating, suing American farmers.
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 6:10 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Introducing Kate Lee, World's Fair Intern, Good Ole Computational Modeler
Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive
Among others, busy identifying mint, wood sorrel, and purslane growing in sidewalk cracks
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 1:00 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Introducing Jacqui Monaghan, World's Fair Intern, Plant-Geneticist-in-the-Making
Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive
Five lists of five things that may or may not interest you about me.
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 11:00 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Introducing Laura Arneson, World's Fair Intern, Immunologist
Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive
Is the scientific community is forgetting to educate the adult population?
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 9:00 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 25, 2007
Politics of Wilderness, Policies of Collaboration: Part III
Category: Author Meets Bloggers
Roadless rules, glacier lilies, baseball, and someone named Ruth Onthank.
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 8:00 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 24, 2007
Michigan v. Michigan State: An Early Season Match-Up
Category: Industrial Agriculture
Just how competitive is organic farming compared to petroleum-based farming?
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 12:00 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
More Wild Things: Part II of Interview with Wilderness author Kevin Marsh
Category: Author Meets Bloggers
The Forest Service, Dept. of Ag., and other scientists in the making of American Wilderness
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 9:00 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 23, 2007
Scientific Knowledge vs. Mystery
Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive
Because twice-two-makes-five is sometimes a most charming little thing.
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 12:00 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Where the Wild Things Are (with apologies to Sendak)
Category: Author Meets Bloggers
A conversation about wilderness with the author of a new book on just that subject.
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 8:00 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 21, 2007
I'm off!
Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive
I'm heading out today - so just in case I won't be able to blog in my absence, this is just to say I'll be back in about two weeks. (Snapshot of my luggage)...
Posted by David Ng at 12:10 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 20, 2007
Dignifying Creationism
Category: Humor stuff, and in the best of worlds, science humor stuff
A moratorium on ID or Creationist discussions? Dunno, but here's the IDBC again.
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 9:00 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 19, 2007
Welcome, welcome, our interns!
Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive
After a no-go with George Lucas, we've moved on. Blame it on Episodes I and II if you must.
Posted by David Ng at 11:59 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A Commentary on Flow: Muscles, Trains, and the Internet Converge
Category: The Art/Science (Non?)Divide Building
On the complexity of natural and human-made systems, and the flows from both.
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 8:00 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 17, 2007
Things that are maybe useful? (a.k.a. molecular biology reagents that can survive difficult transit conditions)
Category: Nature, as in parts, bits, molecular and stuff
So, previously, I pointed out some of the difficulties involved in getting reagents and other scientific things to a place like Nigeria. Anyway, I thought a post like this might therefore be useful for the odd reader out there who...
Posted by David Ng at 4:58 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
"Fifth-Grade Science Paper Doesn't Stand Up To Peer Review"
Category: Humor stuff, and in the best of worlds, science humor stuff
Otters are so boring, I fell asleep for a thousand years and woke up with a long beard covered in ice...
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 9:00 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 16, 2007
R2D2 vs Chewbacca: Who would win?
Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive
In some ways, we can construe this as a classic "Technology" vs "Nature" battle. Where high tech takes on no tech. It's the ultimate philosophical slash pop-culture analogy for, well, I'm sure, something... So, basically, I'm just saying I'm curious...
Posted by David Ng at 5:52 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 15, 2007
Review of Einstein's New Work, circa 1916
Category: Humor stuff, and in the best of worlds, science humor stuff
Pedestrian crap. In bald terms, this is the bathetic drivel of tensile calculus.
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 9:00 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 13, 2007
Create Your Own Thomas Friedman Op-Ed Column
Category: Links to Other Conversations and Articles
"Last week's events in [country in the news] were truly historic"
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 9:00 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 12, 2007
This is the truth: The "Wilco Effect" and pushing to the top!
Category: The Art/Science (Non?)Divide Building
O.K., it's been a while since I've checked in with our little "truth" experiment, but it appears that we're still holding in the top ten for google ranking (top five in google.ca). (Oh yeah, and if you're new to...
Posted by David Ng at 12:42 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
This I know to be true...
Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive
Posted by David Ng at 11:57 AM • 18 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Getting reagents into Africa: Any tricks and tips?
Category: Nature as in Earth, as in Global, as in Global Issues Generally
As mentioned earlier, I'll be heading off to Africa soon to do some experiments and teach a workshop. One of the more interesting challenges, we face from the get go, is how to deliver the reagents in a manner...
Posted by David Ng at 11:31 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 11, 2007
SLIDESHOW 1C: It's the end of the world as we know it.
Category: Nature as in Earth, as in Global, as in Global Issues Generally
Continuing on from our previous lecture notes (the last being about historical awareness of "global" - i.e. characterization of the Earth from both a physical and place context), we have planned that Immediately after that lecture, Allen would next go...
Posted by David Ng at 2:08 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Interview with the Guy Who Trained Flipper
Category: Links to Other Conversations and Articles
Now he's a captive dolphin rescuer speaking about those training Navy dolphins to find enemy mines. Or was in 2003 at least. This is another from the vault, and like the last, another from someone else's vault. Brent Hoff interviews...
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 9:00 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 10, 2007
Going to Nigeria. Seeing science in a completely different context.
Category: Nature as in Earth, as in Global, as in Global Issues Generally
Just to say that in about two weeks, I'll be heading off to Ibadan in Nigeria to hold a genetics laboratory workshop. I've done this sort of thing before, and have been involved in some form or manner with...
Posted by David Ng at 11:50 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The Pill, feminist theory, and the scientization of population policy: Part II
Category: Author Meets Bloggers
Contraceptives, demographic surveys, and other techno-scientific policies on population issues.
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 8:00 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 9, 2007
Do biologists have physics envy? (the science envy meme)
Category: Humor stuff, and in the best of worlds, science humor stuff
One of the first ever humour pieces that the Science Creative Quarterly published is resurfacing today, and it's also one of my favourite (if only because it contains the phrase, "accelerating two rats to relativistic velocity.")...
Posted by David Ng at 11:40 AM • 18 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
EPA Releases Endocrine Disrupter Screening List: But Where's Bisphenol-A?
Category: Ethics Palace: Where ethical questions go to live or die
Data on human body burden of chemicals -- too many to test & an EPA too slow to try.
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 10:30 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Population Policy, Science, and Technology; A Conversation with the Guy Who Wrote the Book On It
Category: Author Meets Bloggers
On Science and Policy: from "population control" to "women's empowerment and reproductive health" in the 20th century
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 9:00 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 8, 2007
On the Implausibility of the Death Star's Trash Compactor
Category: The Art/Science (Non?)Divide Building
Here's one from the vault. But not our vault. It's an all-time favorite of mine, from McSweeney's a few years ago, written by Joshua Tyree: "On the Implausibility of the Death Star's Trash Compactor." Lets file it under physics. For...
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 9:00 AM • 21 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 6, 2007
George Eliot's Environmental Sensibility
Category: NatureLand: What They Used to Call the Environment
That roar on the other side of silence.
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 1:57 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
SLIDESHOW 1B: You know, the "stuff" all around, and the "where" we happen to be
Category: Nature as in Earth, as in Global, as in Global Issues Generally
Ooh. Another slide show. And one that tracks instances in history where humanity notices, "You know, the "stuff" all around, and the "where" we happen to be." As set up by this previous post, and produced by the grace of...
Posted by David Ng at 8:42 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 5, 2007
SLIDESHOW 1A: Definition of "Global" - the science jist.
Category: Nature as in Earth, as in Global, as in Global Issues Generally
O.K. so to begin the ASIC course, we thought that part of this should be an attempt to look at historically what may have defined "global" - as in both the humanities and sciences context (maybe about 20 to 25...
Posted by David Ng at 3:12 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
What's New in the Social Studies of Science?
Category: Links to interesting sites and discussion of them
Deadly dingoes, climate modeling, biotech trials, gender and engineering, ecology of knowledge, and the lay-expert divide.
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 1:47 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Who's a pretty scientist?
Category: The Art/Science (Non?)Divide Building
Wow. This collection of portraits is wonderful. Here's an image of Robert Boyle I used for the lecture I mentioned earlier. Anyway, worth checking out. (link)...
Posted by David Ng at 12:18 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The Toxic Behavior of Our Sponsor: Dow's Social and Environmental Catastrophes In Sight
Category: Ethics Palace: Where ethical questions go to live or die
Can PR barrage outpace environmental problems? The race is on.
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 10:37 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 4, 2007
Hot dog science.
Category: Nature, as in parts, bits, molecular and stuff
Today sees the reprinting of a classic textbook piece at the Science Creative Quarterly. It's actually a rebuttal written by a friend to an earlier piece, but basically does an awesome job discussing the various characteristics of fat (particularly...
Posted by David Ng at 11:26 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Things to get excited about: ASIC 200 - an Arts and Science Intergrated Course on global issues
Category: Nature as in Earth, as in Global, as in Global Issues Generally
O.K. so, let's design a course. A course that has a calendar entry as follows: ASIC 200 (3) Global Issues in the Arts and Sciences: Selected global issues explored through the methodologies and perspectives of both the physical and life...
Posted by David Ng at 8:31 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 3, 2007
The Sam's Club Model of Environmentalism (Buy More!)
Category: NatureLand: What They Used to Call the Environment
On the the burgeoning commoditization of the environmental movement.
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 11:00 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The World's Fair: Year 2 Agenda
Category: Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive
Some new designs on discussing science, technology, and society, from Vancouver to Virginia and beyond.
Posted by Benjamin Cohen at 9:53 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
