The World's Fair
All manner of human creativity on display
Search this blog
Profile
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:


Recent Posts
- "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...
- Gravity trumps sunlight!!
- Don't you just hate the difference between seeing things 'as they are' and 'as they ought to be'?
Recent Comments
- 1nfinitezer0 on Michael Pollan: Chewed Up and Spit Out
- younglinguist on Are Science and Technology Progress? (A "Letter to the Dead")
- Joe in LA on Can you solve Puzzle Fantastica #3? - The Final Clue...
- decrepitoldfool on "Leicester School of Design Considers Name Change"
- jeffk on Michael Pollan: Chewed Up and Spit Out
- Lord on World Death Rate Holding Steady at 100%
- PalMD on Michael Pollan: Chewed Up and Spit Out
- Angel in Portland on Suggestions?
- chris on Borges was a Webelo (and Other Book Jokes)
- Sam on Suggestions?
Archives
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
Links
- McSweeney's
- Science Creative Quarterly
- Terry
- boingboing
- A LIST apart
- Mediascout
- MAKE:
- Technorati
- Wikipedia
- Grist
- Treehugger
- The Morning News
Blogroll
- defective yeti
- Utterwonder
- The Concept of Irony
- The Elegant Variation
- Inky Circus
- Zulkey.com
- Hope for Pandora
- Strange Maps
- Paleo Future
- No Impact Man
- My Blue Puzzle Piece
- Trinifar
- The Collective Voice
And so forth...
About
"The Long Room.", 1922, Charles Wilson Peale
This Peale portrait shows the front room of his museum. Peale's more famous portrait is the one where he, in sharp color, is holding back the curtain of that museum, inside of which are the wonderful curiosities of natural history. That's just in the direct sense, though: what's really going on is a guy, in post-Enlightenment America, in the vigor of the early Republic, with the hope of so-called Nature's Nation before him, revealing the beauty and wonder-filled grandeur of the natural world. So, I already said "wonder" twice. Add curiosity again, and I think the image is a nice expression of my two main motivating factors: wonder and curiosity for the world.
A watercolour by Ernst Haeckel: "Naples, a view from the observatory on Vesuvius", 1859
Ernst Haeckel, whilst a scientist of some note as well as notoriety, is probably best known for his wonderful paintings - in particular, those of the Radiolaria which were painstakingly done under the guidance of a microscope. Despite this, I'm very fond of the picture shown here, caught during a period of life where he was swayed by the enthusiasm of an artist, and almost very nearly abandon his scientific career. I like the fact that this particular picture and the pictures, that Haeckel is famous for, show two very different perspectives. Which is very appealing to me because as a science teacher, communicator (or whatever you want to call it), I think an effort to look into these different perspectives is important.



