worldsfair
Posts by this author
Yesterday, I was playing with my kids and having fun with the Find Lowly Worm game that seems to be a rite of passage when looking through a Richard Scarry picture book.
Anyway, in our edition of "What Do People Do All Day?" I was amused by a substantial 4 page spread about coal as a source of…
Image resulting from tree "painting" by Douglas-fir for two minutes
Nalini Nadkarni, a tree canopy researcher and a National Geographic regular, was kind enough to let me publish this interest piece that looks at the intersection of science and arts.
In essense, she explores the notion that lack…
Here is some silliness to get back in the swing of things. Composed whilst waiting for Ben (Cohen) at the Vancouver Airport, recently rejected by McSweeney's, and likely to make an appearance at one of my sites in the not so distant future.
Still, I was (and still sort of am) seriously considering…
(Image from herbalgram.org)
This past week and a bit have been chaos central with a number of things going on round my neck of the woods. Some of which are your usual academic doledrums, but some of which were pretty inspiring overall. I guess the thing that has been most on my mind was my role…
So, things have been pretty busy round here, as among other things, I've been getting things ready for a visit to UBC by Wade Davis, which sort of explains my general absence from this blog (thanks Ben, for picking up my slack).
In any event, I have other excuses for my absence which can be…
Chances are, this 1952 film from Norman Mclaren cost less than $1.2 billion. Despite that, it won the Oscar for best animation that year.
At the beginning of this past week, I did a post on some of the science behind the aroma of coffee, so I thought it would be fitting to talk a bit about wine as well. Not because I'm a wine afinionado (not even close), but mainly because I had the opportunity to write a piece for Maisonneuve…
Yes, Ultraman or "Paul", our new intern could certainly stick it to Mr. Norris. Especially, if what PZ writes about Mr. Norris is true.
If you don't believe, then watch the movie below the fold, which has a friend of Paul, who goes by the name of Ultraman Taro doing some serious butt kicking. And…
Yesterday I had an opportunity to listen to and to say hello to Ronald Wright. This is a fellow who has crossed a number of disciplinary boundaries in terms of his writing prowess, and winning lots of literary awards along the way.
He's trained in Archeology and Anthropology, and as far as last…
So I see Ben has put up a post on the various reviews out there on Dawkins' book, and I noted one comment saying:
This is utterly ridiculous. The distilled argument here is that the discussion of religion and god(s) should include only believers. Perhaps you should think about that for 3 or 4…
The question humming around ScienceBlogs at this particular moment is about Science TV, so I thought I would pipe up for one of me and my kid's current favourite shows: Peep and the Big Wide World.
This is maybe a little different from other Sb responses since mine is very much directed towards…
So a couple months ago, I sat down with some science educator types and we had a bit of a tete a tete over the Science Creative Quarterly, and how surreal it seems to have this sizable readership growing. We also discussed how lovely it is that sites like Boingboing or Digg will benefit that…
With the "dressing up as a dinosaur makes for a challenging interview" post yesterday, I thought it would be kind of interesting to hear what other odd or creative interview techniques are out there.
I know for myself, when I hire undergrad or grad students for my various science education…
Ah, if only the science of the google search engine was a little less elusive. But check this out. I was google mining for info on our new intern, and noticed that if you're on google.ca (googling in Canada), and type in the word "Paul," this is what you'll currently get:
Note that the second…
So after an intensive search, Ben and I have agreed on who to hire as an intern, whose sole task is to look after the upcoming Puzzle Fantastica #2. So please say hello to Ultraman, or just "Paul" as he is called around these parts.
Because the criticism for our previous PF#1 was pretty clear, we…
Although, of course, they were made from recycled cardboard boxes. Ben, you see, was a big fan of that "Cars" movie that came out a while ago, and so wanted to have his birthday (held on Saturday)centre around a car theme.
So here was where I was a little torn. Even though you're dealing with…
Well, didn't know about this, but quite interesting nevertheless. That's right folks - the Duckbill is getting the royal genomic treatment. Looks like the sequencing has been done (6X coverage), and now they're looking to piece those contigs together. (link)
I'd be curious to see what the…
In so far, as one of the hats I wear, yesterday I had a meeting to discuss collaborations that would provide a visual art experience capable of focusing on a concept of sustainability. I was hanging out and chatting to some of the folks at our Fine Arts department to see if there are any cool…
Published, no less, in Nature. Except that this is, of course, a shameless plug for the Science Creative Quarterly, which today has a convincing fake/joke paper on the subject.
And how can one be certain that it's fake? Easy - just look at the author of the paper.
I see Ben has requested sciencebloggers to weigh in on another musical question. This time to see whether there is any consensus in choosing a house band for our consortium - you know, the sort that could maybe write a song for us, perform during Christmas parties and the like.
Which I think is…
Being Friday the 13th and all - a short list of scientific papers on the subject of the day at hand.
From the ever entertaining (and, of course, useful), PUBMED search:
Radun I, Summala H.Females do not have more injury road accidents on Friday the 13th.
BMC Public Health. 2004 Nov 16;4:54.
Exadaktylos AK, Sclabas G, Siegenthaler A, Eggli S, Kohler HP, Luterbacher J. Friday the 13th and full-…
What is it about the Wonder Twins that makes them so ripe for picking on?
The Super Friends epsiode: "Wonder vs. Wonder"
When it becomes clear that a mission is botched because Wonder Woman is clearly visible in her invisible jet, unhappy murmurs begin to surface within the Super Friends'…
With all the debate going on around the validity of the current world of theoretical physics, the New Yorker, in a recent issue, weighs in as eloquent as ever:
(By Jim Holt)
It is the best of times in physics. Physicists are on the verge of obtaining the long-sought Theory of Everything. In a few…
"I'm not entirely sure if I became a rational scientific person by nature or nurture. Whether it is genetic or whether it is the obvious result of too many years of study. Whatever the case may be, I am a slave to my curiosity, and sometimes I swear I bleed science. To me, everything needs an…
Since Ben has posted on the new hypoallergenic cat, I thought it pertinent to talk a little about the Granddaddy of transgenic pet services, that is the company known as Genetics Savings and Clones.
Here's a company with some pretty strong research credentials having been published in the not too…
Two pieces worth pointing out, in this, our week of Nobel frenzy. One which provides a sentiment we've probably all experience (well, maybe not), and the other... some constructive advice on how to win one.
- - -
SHAFTED AGAIN BY NOBEL (By Christopher Monks)
I didn't win the Nobel Prize in Physics…
7 Worlds Collide (Neil Finn and Friends, 2001)
It's like this - you have the former front man for a moderately successful 80's pop band who is apparently so good at writing melodies, he commands enough respect to form a momentary band with the likes of Eddie Vedder (Mr. Vox), Johnny Marr (Mr.…
The other day, I passed on a link for an Al Gore talk at a TEDtalks event, but in reality, the reason why I initially went to the site was to check out a talk by Hans Rosling. Briefly:
Hans Rosling is professor of international health at Sweden's world-renowned Karolinska Institute, and founder of…
Let's hope it's the latter, or we'll for sure need some Superhero action, and certainly not the kind that the Wonder Twins espouse (hands down, lamest superheroes if you ask me).
Anyway, what do you think? These would be pretty grand in the Spiderman villain mayhem and destruction category.
Except…
Just had to pass this on to readers. Today at the SCQ, there's a lovely piece examining the probability statistics of the card game of War. Using computational models, the author was able to simulate 10 million random games, with the results presented. Graphs and everything! This is so something…