drorzel | May 2, 2008Here is a statement:
The Red Sox are the greatest single franchise in any sport in history.
Is this a scientific statement? Should it be?
How can you tell whether it's scientific or not?
(The statement in question was uttered by a classmate of mine at Williams in 1991 or so, and we spent an entire dinner arguing about it. I still think it's one of the dumbest assertions I've ever heard.)
drorzel | May 1, 2008
The Voltage Gate : Why Jurassic Park Is Not a Pro-Science Movie
Because Michael Crichton is a writer of Luddite Fiction
(tags: books literature movies society culture)
A consistent, worldwide association between short sleep duration and obesity
'"[The study] raises the unanswered question yet of whether this is a cause-effect association. Only prospective longitudinal studies will be able to address the outstanding question," said Dr. Cappuccio.'
(tags: medicine science news)
Biologists are from Mars, chemists are from Venus?
"But how do scientists from different disciplines and…
drorzel | May 1, 2008Speaking (as we were) of pro-science film festivals, Sigma Xi (the scientific research honor society-- think Phi Beta Kappa for science nerds) is announcing a student film competition:
In conjunction with a year-long focus on the issue of water, Sigma Xi is sponsoring a competition for three-minute student films on aspects of this precious and dwindling natural resource. The entry deadline is September 1, 2008.
Prizes of $1,000, $800 and $500 will be awarded for the top three films. The competition is open to undergraduate and graduate students, either individually or in teams. There is no…
drorzel | May 1, 2008Having suggested an on-line pro-science film festival a little while ago, I should report that there are discussions underway (or at least in the works) about trying to make something happen. If it goes anywhere, it may look different than the original suggestion, but I'm kind of curious about one aspect of the original idea.
If you recall, my original suggestion was that we could arrange a film festival using YouTube for the submission and distribution of entries, and basically passing the hat to get a prize pool. I still sort of like the idea of funding it via direct contributions rather…
drorzel | May 1, 2008One of the interesting things to come out of the switch to Matter & Interactions for our intro classes has been some discussion among my colleagues of how the books treat specific topics. A couple of people have raised concerns that the coverage of certain topics is different from the traditional presentation, in a way that isn't entirely accurate.
This is interesting to me not because it calls the books into question, but because the standard treatments of these things aren't entirely accurate, either. Both the new book and the older book are full of lies-to-children.
"Lies-to-children"…
drorzel | May 1, 2008Thank-you cards and notes have been trickling in from the DonorsChoose fundraiser last fall, most of which I haven't bothered to post. The latest batch had two pictures that were too good not to pass along, though:
And:
I guess they liked the science stuff.
(I've smudged out the names, just because.)
drorzel | April 30, 2008
Dawn of the memristor - physicsworld.com
"In simple terms, a memristor "remembers" the amount of charge that has flowed through it and as a result changes its resistance. "
(tags: physics materials science news)
Where are all the women? - The Planetary Society Blog | The Planetary Society
Venus.
(tags: astronomy planets gender science blogs)
Say Goodbye To The Blockbuster: The A.V. Club's Summer Movie Preview, Part One | The A.V. Club
"Is this the end of the summer blockbuster? For the purposes of hysterical overstatement, let's just say yes."
(tags: movies review stupid)
drorzel | April 30, 2008The Mad Biologist, like 80% of ScienceBlogs, is mad at Chris Mooney:
Here's the problem: you keep coming to evolutionary biologists with a problem (the perception of evolutionary biology), and you don't have a solution. Do you think there's a single evolutionary biologist who is happy with public opinion regarding evolution and creationism? But you're not giving us concrete solutions.
Between teaching and research, along with all of service obligations expected of us (including public outreach), we have too much to do. When we are then told that we need to somehow organize a pro-…
drorzel | April 30, 2008Via Swans On Tea, an article in the Telegraph about the Greatest Experiments in Science.
Been there, done that, picked a winner. Over two years ago. Way to go, Torygraph.
OK, fine, they did all of science, while I was only looking for the greatest experiment in physics. But, really, can any of those stamp collectors hold a candle to Michelson and Morley? I didn't think so.
drorzel | April 30, 2008Randy Olson's movie A Flock of Dodos comes up again and again in the course of arguments about public communication of science, but I had never gotten around to seeing it. I finally put it on the Netflix queue, and ended up watching it last night.
For those who have been living in caves and haven't seen this blogged a thousand times, A Flock of Dodos is a documentary about the "intelligent design" fight, primarily in Kansas, where Olson is from. Using the school board debate over science standards as a frame, Olson sets out to learn about "intelligent design," its promoters, and why we're…
drorzel | April 29, 2008
Japan, a Brief Pop-Cultural Survey | The A.V. Club
"Japan: land of the rising sun. [...] Home to high-quality electronics, bizarre game shows, and vending machines that dispense beer and used girls' panties (not together...yet)."
(tags: Japan culture society silly)
Confessions of a Community College Dean: Between the Dog and the Fire Hydrant
"Why would a smart person with ethics and a sense of reality support decisions that it seems Satan would endorse?"
(tags: academia politics society ethics economics jobs)
Orangutan attempts to hunt fish with spear | the Daily Mail
Ook!
(tags:…
drorzel | April 29, 2008Via the Zeitgeist, the Templeton Foundation has asked a bunch of famous smart people "Does science make belief in God obsolete?" I wouldn't ordinarily note this, but if you scroll down a little, you'll find my thesis advisor, Bill Phillips, who offers an "Absolutely Not!":
[A] scientist can believe in God because such belief is not a scientific matter. Scientific statements must be "falsifiable." That is, there must be some outcome that at least in principle could show that the statement is false. I might say, "Einstein's theory of relativity correctly describes the behavior of visible…
drorzel | April 29, 2008We had a talk yesterday at lunchtime from an alumnus who graduated with a physics degree, got a Ph.D. in Physics, did a couple of post-docs, and then decided to give academia a miss, and went to Wall Street where he's been a financial analyst for the last 12 years. He talked, mostly for the benefit of students, about his path to the world of finance, and what's involved in financial jobs.
This was terrifically interesting, and really useful. Given the way academia works, people who manage to get tenure-track faculty positions almost never have any first-hand experience of the other career…
drorzel | April 29, 2008Inside Higher Ed reports on a new study of the connection between college athletics and alumni giving, with some interesting findings:
First, they find that male alumni who played on teams while they were undergraduates are more likely to donate more (to the athletics department and to the university as a whole) when the teams they played on win conference championships (the researchers' chosen measure of on-field success) in later years. The same is not true for women.
Second, male alumni who played on teams as undergraduates tend to donate more if the teams they played on won conference…
drorzel | April 29, 2008Via Swans on Tea, a new article on the arxiv reports the possible discovery of a new stable element:
What they did was fire one thorium nucleus after another through a mass spectrometer to see how heavy each was. Thorium has an atomic number of 90 and occurs mainly in two isotopes with atomic weights of 230 and 232. All these showed up in the measurements along with a various molecular oxides and hydrides that form for technical reasons.
But something else showed up too. An element with a weight of 292 and an atomic number of around 122. That's an extraordinary claim and quite rightly the…
drorzel | April 28, 2008
The Art of the Possible » Blog Archive » Wussy Like a Fox?
"Summing up: Obama risks looking marginally "weak" by "not hitting back" against Clinton's attacks. But hitting back risks making him look like a) an asshole; b) a sexist; c) a scary negro man! "
(tags: politics US race gender)
Solar System Live
See the arrangement of planets on any date you choose.
(tags: astronomy planets space computing internet gadgets)
blarg? » A Clear And Present Danger
"[T]he American national security establishment has stolen my socks."
(tags: war US stupid travel)
What's up in the solar system for…
drorzel | April 28, 2008Barack Obama, hoopster:
The real question is, why is he afraid to play me one-on-one?
(Video via Matt Yglesias.)
drorzel | April 28, 2008Inspired by the suggestion of a pro-science film festival, the Seed editors have launched a poll asking about science movies. They've narrowed it to four, all with both pros and cons:
Contact Pro: Arecibo is way cool. Con: woo-woo ending is even less compelling than in the book.
Gattaca Pro: Believable human interactions between characters. Con: Implausible dystopian setting. Also, it's about biology.
An Inconvenient Truth Pro: An important message for society and a mountain of supporting evidence. Con: It's Al Gore giving a PowerPoint presentation.
Jurassic Park Pro: CGI dinosaurs! Con:…
drorzel | April 28, 2008Today's episode of "Thrilling Tales of Physics Pedagogy" is brought to you through a comment by CCPhysicst who picks up on the implications of last week's schedule post:
You are ripping right along in that course. You do E and then B and only later get around to circuits?
Yes and no. We are ripping right along, because our insane trimester calendar demands it. We're not ripping along quite as rapidly as this might make it seem, though, because we're using a new curriculum based on Matter and Interactions by Ruth Chabay and Bruce Sherwood. It approaches topics in a somewhat idiosyncratic…
drorzel | April 28, 2008Lawrence Watt-Evans is reposting some old Usenet essays on the subject of class, which regular readers will recognize as a hot-button issues for me. So far, he's up to part four of six. The list:
Defining Terms
Who I Am
Attitudes & Money
On the Job
It's excellent stuff. A sample, from Part 4:
Work -- what's it good for?
For the lower class, work is one way of getting money and keeping the Man from hassling you. It's not necessarily the best way, but it works. Taking pride in one's work is not likely. Jobs are transitory. Work is an option. Your job is no part of your identity.…