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The World's Fair

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profile.gif 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.

profile.gifBenjamin 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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Knoxville '82: Where Miscellany Thrive:

Spin spin spin - what you see is not always what you get...

This cracks me up every time, and will be sure to somehow make an appearance in my talks on science literacy. I'm thinking this would make a great graphic to segue into discussions on the public perceptions of technologies,...

3 Song Mix #3

3 Song Mix #2

Just curious How important is the "name" of a website?

As in popperfont.com Last week, I opened up a free wordpress blog, with the hopes of collecting my writings in one place, as well, as trying to categorize the silly "true or false" questions I use in many of my...

Gas Prices Hit Pert Near $.08 / gal

Buy Gas Now. And get Ethyl for only 4 cents more per gallon. Hurry while supplies last.

Mixwit.com - a neat mixed tape web tool.

This is kind of neat. A web tool called www.mixwit.com that allows you to post high quality mixed tapes online. Here's a sample of a three song mix that took me 15 minutes to make. Thanks by the way for...

Breaking News: Politicians Accused of "Playing Politics"

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...

Three song mix: (plus a call for some song suggestions)

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...

Science mortification: how have you been humiliated in the name of science?

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...

Preliminary Star Wars post and a funny video.

Lately, my kids have really gotten into the whole Star Wars thing, which, of course, brings me great pleasure. It also brings to mind a silly question: that is whether affinity for all things Star Wars is at all related...

Scientific Analysis Simplifies A Housewife's Work

Light streaks show how an efficient housewife makes a bed. Thank you, 1946.

The Science of Sarcasm

Quoth neuropsychologist Katherine P. Rankin: "I bet Jon Stewart has a huge right frontal lobe." Sure. Why not....

A death defying month (or how I avoided demise via Shigella, Disneyland, and Creative Writing)

Well, maybe the post title is a little on the hyperbole side of things. Anyway, many apologies for being more or less absent from this blog for the last couple of weeks. As usual, the end of term chaos is...

Amelia Earhart on This Day in History. Oprah too. And Rock Hudson. And et al.

Albert Einstein kept it real.

John Cage Guest Posts at The World's Fair

Should take a shade over 4 1/2 minutes to read.

"Leicester School of Design Considers Name Change"

Concerned they look "not so smart" without this new-fangled "Intelligent" modifier. (Or so this joke would have it.)

World Death Rate Holding Steady at 100%

Some stunning research results. A lot to ponder. More to come.

20 Ways Meat Packers Reduce Costs from Farm to Table: This Month's Alternative Sponsor at The World's Fair

Strangely, this is about India's Pressure on Dow Chemical to Cleanup Bhopal

Can you solve Puzzle Fantastica #3? - The Final Clue...

"It's all about the pork products..." For a more detailed look at the first 4 clues, see below. If you've got one, leave an answer below. Good luck! - - -...

Glitter, Martha Stewart, Easter Pie, Darfur and Bill Clinton: Now there's a list you don't see very often...

(see the show here - go to video 6) Just got back from some time off, where my wife (Kate) and I had a week to explore the city of New York. It was the first time for us,...

The Apartment of the Future

A competing version of the apt. of the future, this one from 1884.

The day after Valentine's. Romance for the Science set is hard these days.

Image from the FILTER Another Valentine's Day passed, which for me was pretty low key (I had to teach a class until 9pm). Anyway, it kind of made me wonder what the average romantic inclinations of the scientifically minded...

New Research Finally Answers the Elusive Question: Why Are Martians Green?

yeah, so why are they?

Balsamic Panspermicall Panacea Juice of Heaven

A quiz: Can you best it? Will you ace it? Is your scientific knowledge sound? What about of 18th c. knowledge?

Prayer and Scientific Explanation

A brief comment on the weather, and human inclinations, and eclipses.

Oh World's Fair, how I've neglected you...

... although not without reason. Time has been really tight this semester so far, and the last couple weeks have seen a myriad of different things going on. In no particular order, they are: 1. This new global issues course....

Foucault on Curiosity

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...

O.K. so who else has the "Wii Shoulder" problem?

Today at the SCQ, we've put up a journal club entry (i.e. full citation details and you can also get the pdf of the first page of the article at that link). It's kind of an obvious one, which simply...

Television Math

Flight of the Conchords = Mr. Show + Tenacious D + Extras

On Modern Exceptionalism

"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...

Clearly, it's holiday season, so let's switch gears a little. Share your musical recommedations.

Well judging by the slowing down of comments, it would appear that the holiday internet slowdown is upon us. Which also means that it's time to put out a post that is a little on the light side. For...

Sociology Survey: Please Take

An important two-question study: John or Paul, and why?

Today's Sponsors

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.)....

Ask a scienceblogger, sort of: What kind of scientist would Santa be?

So the premise is that Santa is at least several hundred years old, and you've got to assume that somewhere along the line, he spent some time in academia and probably got a degree or two. Now, I'm going...

Isaiah Berlin on Arguing about Science

"The artist has always had to contend with the hated critic. But whence comes...the science critic?"

Music Venn Diagram

link (via boingboing) Speaking of which- it's time to think about that year end music mix again......

An Iraq Cartoon -- remember Iraq? That war?

We can't leave Iraq because it's going (a) well or (b) badly

What do you think of Stephen Jay Gould?

What do the other bloggers and readers here think of Gould, his work, his contributions, and his legacy? How does he fare in these parts?

Keywords: Sex, Hairyness and Pity (and other Scientific Eponyms on display).

The SCQ has rounded up most of the scientific eponyms created as a result of a meme call. Take a gander, and let me know if you want to play as well. This particular page can hopefully expand over...

Puzzle Fantastica 3 (Fourth Clue)

1 | 2 | 3...

Re-defining the Candy Hierarchy (Halloween Experiment Debriefing #3)

A basic candy taxonomy's derivation and dissemination...revisited.

UBC Alumni heading to the World Series (plus a bit about physics)

Well how cool is that? Looks like one of the starting pitchers tonight is our very own Jeff Francis. What makes it especially interesting to me, is that Jeff was once a student at my home institution, the University...

These I Don't Believe

Perhaps better titled, "Of these, I am frustrated":...

The World's Fair exceptional "I rank number one on google" meme!!

This morning, I was thinking about the truth experiment, and its iPod giveaway, and it occured to me that all this google ranking might be parlayed into a fun meme. Anyway, here goes: I'd like to suggest a meme, where...

Puzzle Fantastica 3 - Clues 1, 2 and 3

Puzzle Fantastica #1 was too hard Puzzle Fantastica #2 was too easy Puzzle Fantastica #3 is ......

Puzzle Fantastic 3 (third clue)

Puzzle Fantastica 3 (second clue)

Puzzle Fantastica 3

Yes, this is a potential Science + Arts disaster in the making.

Or maybe, I'm being too hard on myself. Anyway, my brother has moved to start an MBA program in York University, and so I am left with several pieces of his musical gear. Which means that yes, (Dum dum...

A World Suited to be Measured, Some Final Thoughts

Epilogue: Hauntings -- to follow mystery, monsters, and ghosts of man-made meat

New Research on Gender and Humor

Study finds a mere 12.782% of Shouts and Murmurs writers have been women. There's blogger reporting for you.

Thar be monsters: Science, Religion, Art, and the Fear of the Unknown

Fear of the unknown; or, whence Adorno, Sartre, Christo, Rumsfeld, and Plato all fit in one post

How Do You Do Science?

Trials of Strength and the Colony Collapse Disorder of Honeybees

Introducing Kate Lee, World's Fair Intern, Good Ole Computational Modeler

Among others, busy identifying mint, wood sorrel, and purslane growing in sidewalk cracks

Introducing Jacqui Monaghan, World's Fair Intern, Plant-Geneticist-in-the-Making

Five lists of five things that may or may not interest you about me.

Introducing Laura Arneson, World's Fair Intern, Immunologist

Is the scientific community is forgetting to educate the adult population?

Scientific Knowledge vs. Mystery

Because twice-two-makes-five is sometimes a most charming little thing.

I'm off!

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)...

Dignifying Creationism

A moratorium on ID or Creationist discussions? Dunno, but here's the IDBC again.

Welcome, welcome, our interns!

After a no-go with George Lucas, we've moved on. Blame it on Episodes I and II if you must.

R2D2 vs Chewbacca: Who would win?

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...

This I know to be true...

On the Implausibility of the Death Star's Trash Compactor

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...

What's New in the Social Studies of Science?

Deadly dingoes, climate modeling, biotech trials, gender and engineering, ecology of knowledge, and the lay-expert divide.

The World's Fair: Year 2 Agenda

Some new designs on discussing science, technology, and society, from Vancouver to Virginia and beyond.

Another three song mix (June 19th, 2007)

Holding a high-school teacher workshop today. Here's some music that I've been liking of late. The john Prine duet in particular is classic. - - - Don't Stop Now, Crowded House In Spite of Ourselves, John Prine (and Iris DeMent)...

Vancouver Cafe Scientifique. Come on out for a chat.

Just a quick note to let folks know I'll be giving a short talk tomorrow in Vancouver on the challenge of science literacy, and also hoping to generate some interesting and unconventional ideas for tackling this challenge. Details are as...

Where in the world is Dave Ng? (plus a World's Fair flavoured ad for interns)

My apologies for being more or less absent in the last three weeks or so, but I promise to get back to form on Monday. In particular, it's kind of cool that The World's Fair has been around for a...

The Armageddon Flowchart

Halfway down the flowchart "Bruce Willis Spontaneously Combusts."

The Cartography of Sweet Tea

Holy cow, what a fascinating site! It maps the availability of Sweet Tea at the McDonalds' of Virginia, and shades and bounds and draws the surely-soon-to-be-infamous "Sweet Tea Line." Yellow dots have Sweet Tea, black dots don't....

Is Marc Luker a Creationist?

And to think, a lot of folks I doubt even know about his work.

Richard Rorty Has Died

Rorty, the American pragmatist philosopher, has died at the age of 75. I saw news of this via Arts and Letters Daily, which linked to a brief notice in Telos (a journal of political and social thought)....

Thursday's DNA doodles. It's all about the symbolism or metaphor.

Continuing on. I also have a lot of doodles which are more about metaphor. A lot of these are kind of cool - here's a couple as examples....

Well How's About That? Happy Birthday to The World's Fair

You know, it's the rat race, and you're going a million miles an hour, and with all that domestic strife and international strife and strife in the domestic-foreign middle, and you know, strife, you don't even have time to remember...