Social Sciences
sb admin | January 28, 2009
If you've browsed the redesigned front page of ScienceBlogs, you'll see that our benevolent ScienceBlogs Overlords at Seed Magazine have started a project that they have so humbly termed The Rightful Place Project: Reviving Science in America, which is described thusly:
In his first speech as President-elect last November, Barack Obama reminded us of the promise of "a world connected by our own science and imagination." He recently stated, "promoting science isn't just about providing Resources--it's about protecting free and open inquiry... It's about listening to what our scientists have…
oracknows | January 28, 2009
If you've browsed the redesigned front page of ScienceBlogs, you'll see that our benevolent ScienceBlogs Overlords at Seed Magazine have started a project that they have so humbly termed The Rightful Place Project: Reviving Science in America, which is described thusly:
In his first speech as President-elect last November, Barack Obama reminded us of the promise of "a world connected by our own science and imagination." He recently stated, "promoting science isn't just about providing Resources--it's about protecting free and open inquiry... It's about listening to what our scientists have…
crowdfavorite | January 27, 2009Last week, President Obama stated in his inaugural address that he would "restore science to its rightful place." ScienceBlogs has been quick to capitalise on his words by launching a new initiative called The Rightful Place Project. As an opening salvo, the Project is asking writers, bloggers and scientists from all over the world to answer this innocuous question:
What is science's rightful place?
Many of the others have had their say, and here's my take.
Science has different sides to it. On the one hand, you have the experiments and their results; the people and their stories; the…
sb admin | January 27, 2009Last week, President Obama stated in his inaugural address that he would "restore science to its rightful place." ScienceBlogs has been quick to capitalise on his words by launching a new initiative called The Rightful Place Project. As an opening salvo, the Project is asking writers, bloggers and scientists from all over the world to answer this innocuous question:
What is science's rightful place?
Many of the others have had their say, and here's my take.
Science has different sides to it. On the one hand, you have the experiments and their results; the people and their stories; the…
laelaps | January 27, 2009It is another busy day, and since I am again left with little time to write here I have decided to post another "follow-up" excerpt from my book.**
A few days ago I mentioned that many paleontologists were skeptical that humans had lived alongside extinct mammals until discoveries made in Europe between 1858-1859 convinced them otherwise. Below is a brief summary of how the scientific consensus began to change on this issue;
The plan of Brixham Cave, from Geology: Chemical, Physical, and Stratigraphical by Joseph Prestwich.
Several months after Koch's presentation, and over 4,000 miles…
edyong | January 27, 2009Last week, President Obama stated in his inaugural address that he would "restore science to its rightful place." ScienceBlogs has been quick to capitalise on his words by launching a new initiative called The Rightful Place Project. As an opening salvo, the Project is asking writers, bloggers and scientists from all over the world to answer this innocuous question:
What is science's rightful place?
Many of the others have had their say, and here's my take.
Science has different sides to it. On the one hand, you have the experiments and their results; the people and their stories; the…
apalazzo | January 27, 2009I woke up, got the paper and then read this half baked OpEd by David Brooks, the world's most confused conservative.
The thesis of his article: liberalism destroys institutions. Here's the opening paragraph:
A few years ago, a faculty committee at Harvard produced a report on the purpose of education. "The aim of a liberal education" the report declared, "is to unsettle presumptions, to defamiliarize the familiar, to reveal what is going on beneath and behind appearances, to disorient young people and to help them to find ways to reorient themselves."
He then goes on to describe how important…
revere | January 27, 2009On Sunday my friend and colleague from Fluwiki, DemFromCT, did me the honor of interviewing me on the front page of DailyKos. That's a pretty tall platform, being the most visited blog in the known universe (and beyond), so it's best to be absolutely clear when saying things there. I"m not sure I quite met that standard, but I'll let you judge for yourself, as I am cross-posting the interview below the fold. But this also gives me an opportunity to clarify one point that drew some justified comment. Here's something I said in the interview:
In the past I downplayed individual prepping for a…
crowdfavorite | January 26, 2009It came as an email. Then it was on the Seed Bloggers Forum. Now it's on my frigging Facebook - they really want me to answer this:
In his first speech as President-elect last November, Barack Obama reminded us of the promise of "a world connected by our own science and imagination." And on Tuesday, in his inaugural address, President Obama cemented his commitment to a new ethos and culture by vowing to "restore science to its rightful place."
At Seed, we are firmly committed to President Obama's vision and want to help make it a reality. We begin today by asking you, our friends and…
sb admin | January 26, 2009It came as an email. Then it was on the Seed Bloggers Forum. Now it's on my frigging Facebook - they really want me to answer this:
In his first speech as President-elect last November, Barack Obama reminded us of the promise of "a world connected by our own science and imagination." And on Tuesday, in his inaugural address, President Obama cemented his commitment to a new ethos and culture by vowing to "restore science to its rightful place."
At Seed, we are firmly committed to President Obama's vision and want to help make it a reality. We begin today by asking you, our friends and…
drorzel | January 24, 2009
nanoscale views: What is a polaron?
"One common example of a quasiparticle is the polaron. When a charge carrier (an electron or hole) is placed into a solid, the surrounding ions can interact with it (e.g., positive ions will be slightly attracted to a negatively charged carrier). The ions can adjust their positions slightly, balancing their interactions with the charge carrier and the forces that hold the ions in their regular places. This adjustment of positions leads to a polarization locally centered on the charge carrier. The combo of the carrier + the surrounding polarization is a…
evolvingthoughts | January 24, 2009It came as an email. Then it was on the Seed Bloggers Forum. Now it's on my frigging Facebook - they really want me to answer this:
In his first speech as President-elect last November, Barack Obama reminded us of the promise of "a world connected by our own science and imagination." And on Tuesday, in his inaugural address, President Obama cemented his commitment to a new ethos and culture by vowing to "restore science to its rightful place."
At Seed, we are firmly committed to President Obama's vision and want to help make it a reality. We begin today by asking you, our friends and…
sb admin | January 23, 2009In President Obama's inaugural speech, he announced his intention to "restore science to its rightful place." In response to Seed Magazine has initiated to The Rightful Place Project whose goal is to recruit scientists and engineers to answer the question: What is science's rightful place? Available on their website is a form where you can enter your responses to this important question.
Here is mine:
Science is a process for distinguish fact from non-fact. I emphasize the word process for just as we live in a nation of laws, not men, science is more than scientists: it is an…
purepedantry | January 23, 2009In President Obama's inaugural speech, he announced his intention to "restore science to its rightful place." In response to Seed Magazine has initiated to The Rightful Place Project whose goal is to recruit scientists and engineers to answer the question: What is science's rightful place? Available on their website is a form where you can enter your responses to this important question.
Here is mine:
Science is a process by which fact is distinguished from non-fact. I emphasize the word process for just as we live in a nation of laws, not men, science is more than scientists: it is…
cortex | January 23, 2009So far, my favorite response to the annual Brockman challenge - this year, the question was "What will change everything?" - comes from the physicist Stuart Kauffman:
Reductionism has reigned as our dominant world view for 350 years in Western society. Physicist Steven Weinberg states that when the science shall have been done, all the explanatory arrows will point downward, from societies to people, to organs, to cells, to biochemistry, to chemistry and ultimately to physics and the final theory.
I think he is wrong: the evolution of the biosphere, the economy, our human culture and perhaps…
j7uy5 | January 22, 2009Today I received an email from the hivemind, saying, in part:
In
his first speech as President-elect last November, Barack Obama
reminded us of the promise of "a world connected by our own science and
imagination." He recently stated, "promoting science isn't just
about providing resources--it's about protecting free and open
inquiry... It's about listening to what our scientists have to say,
even when it's inconvenient--especially when it's inconvenient. Because
the highest purpose of science is the search for knowledge, truth and a
greater understanding of the world around us. That will be…
clock | January 21, 2009 I am still trying to recover from the previous week. It was quite busy for me, as you may have guessed. But I can start slowly posting my own hazy recollections and pictures now, I think, starting with the first day, Thursday. After meeting with Anton at Sigma Xi to unload the swag, I went over to Radisson hotel to see who was already there and found Blake, Pal, Bob, Grrrl and gg in the bar:
A couple of hours later we got in the car and went to the Early Bird Dinner to Town Hall Grill - another tradition at our conferences (we ate there both in 2007 and 2008 as well). I was very happy to be…
palmd | January 21, 2009Nearly a year ago, a young girl was killed by her parents. She was dying of diabetic ketoacidosis, and her parents provided only prayer. They weren't living on some compound under the thrall of some cult leader. They weren't living in a third-world country far from modern medical care. They were living in the middle of Wisconsin, and had access to any care they might need, but while their child suffered, the parents did the equivalent of nothing. This type of situation has been done to death, but since the parents are about to go on trial, let's review the responsibilities of the state…
tetrapodzoology | January 20, 2009
Oh my god. Two years at ScienceBlogs have passed, and Tet Zoo has now been going for three years. It all started on January 21st 2006 when, for no good reason at all, I started a blog over at blogspot.com. Yes, Tet Zoo is three years old. Time to look back at the past year of operation.
For starters, should you want to know more about Tet Zoo's origin and history of operation, read Happy first birthday Tetrapod Zoology part I and part II (both at ver 1), and Happy second birthday part I and part II. Last year, I included a 'what happened in tetrapods during 2007'. I'm not going to do the…
sciencewoman | January 20, 2009Sciencewoman says: Some of readers have been wondering about what life is like for those jobs at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs). Alice and I are indubitably unqualified to answer that question, so Kim Hannula of "All of my faults are stress related..." graciously offered to provide some perspective. Kim is an incredibly thoughtful blogger about teaching and about geology, so you should all be reading her.
In the comments on Alice's post about grad students and balanced careers, there was some discussion about working at a primarily undergraduate institution, and questions about…