Humanities & Social Science:
I think this statement should be obvious, and for that reason alone, we've included it in the SCQ's list of truths. This, by the way, is a web experiment run by the Quarterly. The background can be found here, and...
Posted on June 23, 2008 2:20 PM • 4 Comments •
Part 2 on Challenging the Order of Nature and Putting Biology on Trial, with Graham Burnett
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Posted on June 19, 2008 9:00 AM • 1 Comments •
Trying Leviathan tackles the legal battle over the taxonomic status of whales, circa 1818. Find out how, here.
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Posted on June 18, 2008 9:00 AM • 0 Comments •
So... In an attempt to procrastinate some time away, I've put in the effort to collect all of the silly science humour pieces I've written over the years (as well as some of the few non-humour pieces I've written) into...
Posted on June 16, 2008 4:49 PM • 0 Comments •
Stunning news out of Washington. John Boehner, that congress guy, you know who I mean, laid down a devastating critique yesterday by claiming that politicians in congress are "playing politics." He reports that in the Senate "it's been about politics...
Posted on June 13, 2008 9:20 AM • 2 Comments •
Stunning news out of Washington. John Boehner, that congress guy, you know who I mean, laid down a devastating critique yesterday by claiming that politicians in congress are "playing politics." He reports that in the Senate "it's been about politics...
Posted on June 13, 2008 9:20 AM • 2 Comments •
I usually make a music mix about 4 times a year, with the culmination of those mixes becoming a more focused annual mix. This is something I've done since 2002, and it's always great to go back in time and...
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Posted on June 11, 2008 2:22 PM • 4 Comments •
Right now, I'm reading a gem of a book called Mortification, writers' stories of their public shame. It essentially has 70 or so mini-pieces from a wide variety of writers, at various stages of their careers. These pieces share humiliating...
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Posted on June 11, 2008 12:15 PM • 9 Comments •
Where citizenship and consumerism collide. "If everyone were satisfied, no one would buy the new thing because no one would want it."
Posted on June 11, 2008 9:45 AM • 6 Comments •
Part of the reason for this post is just to say that I've finally been able to put up the Richard Dawkins' talk at the terry.ubc.ca site. This is essentially his "God Delusion" speech, and it happens to be available...
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Posted on June 10, 2008 7:58 AM • 2 Comments •
I quite enjoyed this Shouts and Murmur piece (reprinted below in full). It's called My Nature Documentary (by Jack Handey) - - - "Show monkey in a tree. Narrator says, "The monkey, proud and smart, in his native habitat. But...
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Posted on June 6, 2008 11:57 PM • 1 Comments •
Ben just alerted me of one of my humour pieces going up today at McSweeney's. Like the post title suggests, it's about science and pinatas. The key question, of course, is why did I categorize this post in the "humanities...
Posted on June 5, 2008 4:04 PM • 1 Comments •
Light streaks show how an efficient housewife makes a bed. Thank you, 1946.
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Posted on June 4, 2008 3:20 PM • 7 Comments •
Quoth neuropsychologist Katherine P. Rankin: "I bet Jon Stewart has a huge right frontal lobe." Sure. Why not....
Posted on June 4, 2008 1:30 PM • 0 Comments •
Crafting transformations in science and engineering for an environmentally sustainable and just future.
Posted on May 28, 2008 8:00 AM • 0 Comments •
Albert Einstein kept it real.
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Posted on May 23, 2008 1:30 PM • 1 Comments •
I've got a piece up at the SCQ today, which is (another) failed attempt at publishing at Seed's print magazine. Here, a few months back, I was asked to have a go at their "Why I do Science" section but...
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Posted on May 16, 2008 11:34 AM • 3 Comments •
Should take a shade over 4 1/2 minutes to read.
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Posted on May 14, 2008 9:00 AM • 6 Comments •
Some stunning research results. A lot to ponder. More to come.
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Posted on May 9, 2008 10:35 AM • 1 Comments •
Some nanotechnology, some environmentalism, a lot of links.
Posted on May 9, 2008 10:00 AM • 0 Comments •
New from McSweeneys: Because who *doesn't* want a good Borges joke?
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Posted on May 6, 2008 1:40 PM • 2 Comments •
The more human robots become, the more likely they'll act like assholes
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Posted on May 5, 2008 2:00 PM • 0 Comments •
"What seems a detour has a way of becoming, in time, a direct route." And so a long series comes to an end.
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Posted on May 1, 2008 9:00 AM • 1 Comments •
Where viewer and viewed are fused into an indivisible whole. More on Errol Morris, with Richard Powers back to help again.
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Posted on April 29, 2008 9:00 AM • 0 Comments •
I wrote about this over at Terry, but will reprint here as well This is interesting, if not a bit alarming. Essentially, this story follows a trail of individuals that even Kevin Bacon would be proud of. The cast includes:...
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Posted on April 28, 2008 11:32 AM • 8 Comments •
About a month ago, I was lucky enough to partake in a speaker event, where noted economist Paul Collier gave a great talk. Who is Paul Collier? Two titles to throw at you: Professor of Economics, in the Oxford University...
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Posted on April 17, 2008 2:47 PM • 1 Comments •
We had a humour piece go up at Terry today that was just too cool. Since, the Terry website isn't as visible as the Science Creative Quarterly, i thought I would highlight it here. It's called: Microcredit Isn't Right for...
Posted on April 1, 2008 12:38 PM • 0 Comments •
Don't you just hate it when you're about to be dead in five minutes?
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Posted on March 26, 2008 9:00 AM • 0 Comments •
Wrath of God? Payback for human interference with the natural order? More science and weather within.
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Posted on March 12, 2008 9:00 AM • 0 Comments •
Maybe for Morris, it's not the perfection of technique but the selective obscuring of it that matters.
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Posted on March 10, 2008 9:00 AM • 0 Comments •
Worst Science Job 2007 - Hazmat Diver Dave Semeniuk over at the Terry blog has posed an interesting question. Namely, what are the worst jobs in the humanities? (Another pandering to the two culture debate?) The question is framed...
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Posted on February 29, 2008 9:04 AM • 10 Comments •
I'm sort of putting the finishing touches to today's GMO lecture in my ART+SCIENCE class, but before I move on from the land of sustainability, here is a TEDtalks lecture I quite enjoyed about the problem with space and why...
Posted on February 28, 2008 4:07 PM • 2 Comments •
Is there an arrogant/sleepy divide in academia? A PowerPoint/chalkboard divide?
Posted on February 27, 2008 9:15 AM • 1 Comments •
Solzhenitsyn and Borges as bookends; in between, order and randomness
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Posted on February 26, 2008 8:15 AM • 0 Comments •
Pen Names in the Digital Age: wither the pseudonym? Plus the must-read of the day.
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Posted on February 20, 2008 10:30 AM • 2 Comments •
yeah, so why are they?
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Posted on February 14, 2008 8:00 AM • 1 Comments •
And so much more. A challenge to the uninspired, to the non-observant, to science, to the future
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Posted on February 11, 2008 11:20 AM • 0 Comments •
Headline of the year, and its only February.
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Posted on February 8, 2008 8:20 AM • 7 Comments •
"Invention stopping the fluctuations of nature": Part 7 in a series on truth, evidence, and everything there is.
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Posted on February 6, 2008 3:00 PM • 1 Comments •
Is Venter's newest pursuit the greatest gap b/t science's creative abilities and the public's understanding of it?
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Posted on February 5, 2008 4:25 PM • 7 Comments •
A brief comment on the weather, and human inclinations, and eclipses.
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Posted on February 4, 2008 11:00 AM • 1 Comments •
Wilkins had a post that linked to a Monty Python sketch. So why not watch (or re-watch, if that be your angle) another sketch, pasted below for your viewing ease? Always good fun....
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Posted on January 23, 2008 3:55 PM • 1 Comments •
Well, maybe not. It's just that... is it me, or is this Oscar (will it happen will it not?) thing everywhere in the news these days? There's such media saturation that it brought to mind the following thought I...
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Posted on January 23, 2008 10:51 AM • 0 Comments •
Saying something's "obvious" indicates the absence of a logical argument, asserting truth by speaking loudly.
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Posted on January 22, 2008 9:00 AM • 0 Comments •
Continuing to ponder knowledge, evidence, Errol Morris, and The Crimea's Sebastopol of 1855
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Posted on January 21, 2008 9:00 AM • 4 Comments •
A dream for a new age of curiosity: we have the technical means for it; the desire is there; the things to be known are infinite...
Posted on January 17, 2008 7:58 PM • 0 Comments •
Consumers and producers of scientific knowledge unite! Maybe? A little? Could we?
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Posted on January 14, 2008 9:00 AM • 0 Comments •
Last night, we rolled in the new course (Arts Science Integrated Course - ASIC 200) and it was a lot of fun (a little odd for me doing what was essentially a history speel, but there you have it). Anyway,...
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Posted on January 11, 2008 2:23 PM • 3 Comments •
Scientific controversy isn't just about
what is true, but
who determines what is true
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Posted on January 10, 2008 9:30 AM • 4 Comments •
Flight of the Conchords = Mr. Show + Tenacious D + Extras
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Posted on January 10, 2008 8:38 AM • 0 Comments •
Has there ever been anyone who's served that hasn't had bad dreams about being forced to return?
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Posted on January 7, 2008 8:20 AM • 2 Comments •
Darwin! Darwin! Darwin! Darwin! Darwin! Darwin! Darwin! Darwin! Darwin! Darwin! Darwin! Darwin! Darwin! Darwin! Darwin! Darwin! Darwin! Darwin!
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Posted on January 5, 2008 1:26 PM • 2 Comments •
It is a misconception...that historicism and relativism stride hand in hand, that to reveal that an idea or value has a history is...to debunk it.
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Posted on January 4, 2008 9:00 AM • 2 Comments •
a story of lofty epistemic ideals fused with workaday practices in the making of scientific images...
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Posted on January 3, 2008 1:00 PM • 2 Comments •
Here's a post about it. A post mentioning morality. And referring to historical contingency. Come on in.
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Posted on January 3, 2008 8:20 AM • 4 Comments •
A new effort housed in Paris explicitly and actively undermines the impoverished art/science divide.
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Posted on January 2, 2008 2:20 PM • 1 Comments •
PRESS CENTER | PRINTABLE BRACKETS | FINAL GAME: Darwin v. HIV Now that d-Orbitals are sitting at home doing the work of orbitals while TiVoing the Darwin-HIV match-up, it's hard for some to believe that they once looked to take...
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Posted on December 28, 2007 8:00 AM • 0 Comments •
It was Particle versus F=ma in the Sweet Sixteen, and BBC Radio 4 LW was broadcasting with those charming accents.
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Posted on December 26, 2007 8:00 AM • 0 Comments •
And then there was a slew of action in the Mortar and Pestle Region...
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Posted on December 25, 2007 8:00 AM • 0 Comments •
PRESS CENTER | PRINTABLE BRACKETS | FINAL GAME: Darwin v. HIV What began as a field of 64 highly competitive teams has ended with just Darwin and HIV. With the tournament's Final game currently underway, we look back on a...
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Posted on December 24, 2007 8:00 AM • 0 Comments •
A good one too, by Spike Milligan. CHRISTMAS 1970. A little girl called Sile Javotte Said 'Look at the lovely presents I've got' While a little girl in Biafra said 'Oh what a lovely slice of bread'....
Posted on December 22, 2007 4:20 PM • 0 Comments •
"And each generation, full of itself,/ continues to think/ that it lives at the summit of history" -- so ends Affonso Romano de Sant' Anna's poem "Letter to the Dead" (as posted here last year). In the same spirit of...
Posted on December 21, 2007 10:40 AM • 0 Comments •
An important two-question study: John or Paul, and why?
Posted on December 19, 2007 3:30 PM • 7 Comments •
Let's do some pre-game chatter. Because the winner of this semi final in the SCIENCE SHOWDOWN 2007 (can you tell, we're trying to finish up before the end of the new year) will earn a spot in the final -...
Posted on December 18, 2007 8:00 PM • 3 Comments •
Here is The Missing Link, a series of stories about all manner of fascinating subjects in the history of science.
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Posted on December 17, 2007 3:25 PM • 0 Comments •
Particle claims Particle-Wave Duality to Explain Lackluster Performance; Darwin Gloats.
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Posted on December 17, 2007 1:00 PM • 1 Comments •
The 2007 Science Spring Showdown returns! (It better, since 2007 is about over.) Results from the Round of Eight are here.
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Posted on December 17, 2007 8:00 AM • 0 Comments •
As brought to us from researcher's at the Children's Television Workshop: The letter Z (source: C.M.). The number 10 (source: T.C.)....
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Posted on December 13, 2007 7:38 AM • 17 Comments •
I assumed this would be a study of the libido of such astounding creatures.
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Posted on December 7, 2007 1:15 PM • 1 Comments •
"SF is, in fact, the necessary literary companion to science."
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Posted on December 7, 2007 7:30 AM • 4 Comments •
Just caught this at Boingboing: Here you have history professor, Dr. Alan Charles Kors, attempting to encapsulate the entirety of human history in a 60 second lecture. The transcript goes: * First, tribes: tough life. * The defaults beyond...
Posted on December 6, 2007 3:21 PM •
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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