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A Physicist, a Marine Biologist, and a Geneticist Walk into a Bar...

Chad's in town for the DAMOP meeting. What that means isn't all that important in the grand scheme of things. But it did give us a chance to have a blogger meet-up. So, I grabbed Professor Steve Steve and Kevin (of Deep Sea Nudes and the Unimportant 95%), and we met Chad for some dinner and beers. Kevin's posted another version of the picture.

Where I'll Be at Worldcon

The Worldcon program has been posted, but only as a giant, confusing PDF. I was getting cross-eyed trying to figure things out, so I ended up creating my own blank grid sheets, and making notes on those. The following is a by-no-means comprehensive list of things I think look interesting enough to attend. There are only a handful of thing that I'll definitely be at (I'll mark those in bold), but I'll probably choose many of the rest from this list: Thursday 15:30: Re-reading Graham Sleight, Jo Walton, Kate Nepveu, Larry Niven There is a school of thought that re-reading is a juvenile habit,…

Science and Faith

Let's set aside contentious topics like the PepsiBlog wars and try a nice, soothing discussion of science and religion. You'll recall that, a month ago, I agreed with Chad Orzel that it was OK for the World Science Festival not to put a New/Affirmative/Explicit Atheist on their panel about Science and Faith. Then people got angry at me and I responded angrily, after which I got more flack, and walked back my position a bit. Basically, I had originally thought the panel was meant to be one thing â a personal look at how science and religion interact in some scientists' livesâ but as I looked…

Thursday Substitute Parent Blogging 011410

Kate here: Since Chad's out of town, you get Substitute Parent Blogging today. It's with my non-DSLR camera (and also taken very fast before she decided she wanted the camera more than what she had), it's with something other than Appa, and it's eloquent of "I miss Daddy and want to be just like him." I tried to tell her that Chad doesn't actually wear those gloves to play hoop, but she wasn't having any of it.

Prospective students: Welcome to Encephalon U!

Greetings, prospective students and parents! I'll be your tour guide today as we explore the mind-opening campus of Encephalon U, one of the most esteemed liberal arts colleges in the nation. As you know, Encephalon U's admission requirements are extremely strict, so I certainly hope you've already taken the SAT Test. Did you realize that some of the world's foremost research on the SAT has been conducted here on our own campus, by Professors Munger and Orzel. Of course, Munger and Orzel have differing opinions on the results. While Orzel believes they demonstrate that high school students…

DonorsChoose 2009 Social Media Challenge: Helping kids at the cost of a little dignity.

At Uncertain Principles, Chad is motivating his readers to donate to his DonorsChoose challenge by offering a big reward: Last year, I famously got $6,000 in contributions by offering to dance like a monkey, but I'm not sure what would follow that. So, What should I offer to do if I manage to reach the overall challenge goal of several thousand dollars in total contributions? I'm obviously not going to do anything illegal or immoral, but I'm willing to sacrifice a little dignity for a good cause, as you can see at the link above. So, what can I offer to do that would get you to donate…

Principles for Academic Survival

Sometimes a blog provides time critical sanity preserving information. Unqualified Offerings meets the dark side of academic life. The Uncertain Committee and its Vague Quantitative Assignments. Fortunately Chad has figured this out, analyzed the context, and generously provides a survival mechanism. I had some vague notion of this general approach, at least in theory, but Chad elegantly provides detailed, field tested, quite specific instructions for tackling this sub-category of the General Committee Problem. I may need this in the near future. Makes me long for the legendary ad hoc…

Open Lab 2007 - the winning entries for you to see!

Well, The Day has arrived! After reading all of the 486 entries at least once (and many 2-3 times) and after calculating all of the judges' ratings of all the posts, Reed Cartwright and I are happy to announce which blog posts will be published in the second science blogging anthology, the "Open Laboratory 2007". First, I want to thank the judges (at least those who do not wish to remain anonymous - let me know if I missed one of you) for spending their holiday break reading, commenting on and grading all the submitted posts and making our job that much easier. Those are: Anna Kushnir,…

Blogging Is Not Mandatory

I mentioned on Twitter that I was thinking of proposing a Science Online program item about the professionalization of blogging, throwing in a link to post from a couple months ago. That included a link to this SlideShare: Talking to My Dog About Science: Why Public Communication of Science Matters and How Social Media Can Help from Chad Orzel And that was re-tweeted by Chris Chabris, kicking off a gigantic conversation about the whole idea of scientists communicating directly with the public (most of which took place after I went to bed last night, so I only saw it in my Twitter…

Can sign language really help babies get along better?

Baby sign language is all the rage these days. Upscale day-care centers and nanny services promote it as a better way of understanding what babies want. Babies have been known to reliably produce signs as young as 5.5 months, and studies have shown that they reliably produce signs significantly earlier than spoken words. As we've reported here, there is no evidence that teaching sign language delays spoken language development. But is formal sign training effective? Some studies about baby sign language have been quite informal, with parents and caregivers inventing makeshift signs to "talk"…

The dangers of reading a paper at a conference.

Chad Orzel has an excellent post up about good ways to use PowerPoint for a presentation. In a similar vein, I'd like to offer some reasons for academics in disciplines (like philosophy) in which it is the convention to read papers to each other at professional meetings to consider breaking with tradition and not just reading the papers they are presenting. First, for those of you in science-y fields puzzling over that last sentence: Yes, a great many philosophers really do go places and read their papers to other philosophers. Yes, when I saw it the first time, coming to philosophy via…

Mr. Toad's Wild Vacuum System

I'm in charge of the senior major seminar, in which we have the senior physics and astronomy majors meet once a week to talk about topics of interest to them. I've also been making them give short "progress reports" on their thesis research projects. Last week, one of my students was tapped for a progress report, and started out by saying: As I'm sure you know, in the Orzel lab, we're in the business of creating dreams. Sort of like Disneyland. I wonder if I could get that on business cards?

Tornadoes

I had planned on posting about this last night, but a late night in the O.R. kept me from it. Consequently, Chad beat me to it, but better late than never, I say. I join Chad in apologizing to my readers for the tornado ad that started running on ScienceBlogs earlier this week and includes a Flash animated tornado that flies over the page. I don't mind advertising. Really, I don't. After all, something has to pay for ScienceBlogs, and, as much as I like to think my writing is good, I doubt that many people would pay Seed for the privilege of reading it. However, I detest web ads that…

because linking is an intrinsic good

Look to your left. Now look to your right. No. Lower. Ah, there. See it? Science News from the New York Times. And right back at ya. Yes! ScienceBlogs and The New York Times are now link buddies. We link to them. They link to us. On a "best of..." basis. I'm not quite sure if this makes the NYT more hip, or us more stodgy, but I am sure it all for the best. Guess I'll be owing Overbye some more link love, eh? NYT started off with a link to Chad's Quantum Burger. Chad is apparently frozen out today, so he may not know this yet...

More Early Reviews of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog

The official release date for How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is three weeks from tomorrow, but a couple of new reviews have been posted, one linkable, the other not so much. The linkable one is from one of our contest winners, Eric Goebelbecker, at Dog Spelled Forward (an excellent name for a dog-related blog): Quantum physics can be some heavy stuff, and this book teaches you the basics without dumbing it down or putting you to sleep. Professor Orzel has a gift for funny dialogue and straightforward explanation. In addition to the entertaining conversations with Emmy, there are fascinating…

Reader Poll: e or π?

On Friday, 3/14, math enthusiasts worldwide celebrated π Day, in honor of the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter (approximately 3.14). Back in August, Chad asked his readers which irrational number they preferred, π or e—the base for the exponential function (approximately 2.72). He went with e, because "you just have to love a function that is its own derivative." For this week's Sb Reader Poll, we want to know if you agree with Chad: Click Here for PollOnline Surveys | Web Poll | Email MarketingView MicroPoll Want to know the results? We'll publish them exclusively in…

Uncertain Principles interviews non-academic scientists

Chad is posting some very useful stuff at Uncertain Principles. Basically, he has quite a few scientists that are not professors or such answering some questions. This is a great way for students to get a feel for what scientists actually do. If you don't subscribe to Chad's blog, you totally should. A great resource for physics stuff. Here are the interviews he has. I am not sure what the P stands for in PNAS, but the NAS is probably Non-Academic Scientist. If you are a high school or middle school student looking to do some type of report or presentation, this would be a great place to…

Who Needs RateMyProfessors.com?

Written on the whiteboard in the student lounge (which has been serving as a convenient surface for student grafitti for the whole summer) last week: Little Known Fact: Prof. Orzel is actually an evil genius working on a gigantic laser which he plans to use to hold the world ransom for $1,000,000,000,000,000. Sadly, it was erased (and replaced with more typical cryptic comments about students) before I could get a picture of it (and the various responses). If I promise to give 1% of the money to the college endowment, do you think that would help my tenure case?

Great Moments in Student Course Evaluations

In response to a question about "Other aspects of the instructor's teaching," one student in my recently completed E&M class wrote: Prof. Orzel gives the impression of an everyday guy who just happens to have a vast but hidden knowledge of physics and the course was taught in that slightly utilitarian approach. I've been looking for something to replace "Ramblings about life as a physicist on the tenure track at a small liberal arts college" in the left sidebar (now that I have tenure), and "[A]n everyday guy who just happens to have a vast but hidden knowledge of physics" might be just…

An update on the youth who "cured himself" of melanoma, Chad Jessop

About a month and a half ago, I discussed an e-mail that was being propagated far and wide that described the case of the mother of a 17 year old male who, or so the e-mail claimed, cured her son of stage IV melanoma using "natural means" and was supposedly thrown in maximum security prison by the Department of Child Services in California for "failing to properly care for her child." The e-mail, which was being used by an organization called Natural Solutions USA or Health Freedom USA (I was never quite sure), reproduced here, described what seemed on the surface to be a truly horrific abuse…

Award-Worthy Campaign Ad

The New York Times has a video highlighting particularly clever campaign commercials in the New York area, which includes this spot from my uncle John Orzel's state senate campaign: I'm not aware of any polling regarding the race, so I have no idea how things will turn out next Tuesday. The word from my parents is that spirits are high in the campaign (read: Uncle John is enjoying the process, and the friends and relatives making up the campaign staff are as well), so that's good, at least. Anyway, if you're in the Binghamton area, vote for my uncle next week. If not, enjoy the award-worthy…

linkedy links ii

'cause y'know linkin' is good emptywheel at firedoglake wants to boycott JP Morgan/Chase/WaMu - interesting story, JPM is allegedly blocking Chrysler being eaten by Fiat because if Chrysler goes bankrupt JPM both gets something back on their loans, and probably triggers CDS on Chrysler bonds, and so profits JPM also has the contract for unemployment benefit debit cards in Michigan - win-win, eh? Unqualified Offerings provides guidance and direction for sciblingers - maybe Chad will give me some of his excess New Scientist has blogs at Short, Sharp Science - snazzy Which physicist are you…

Biology Department Scavenger Hunt!!

Chad asked a fun question last week, and I just got around to finding it yesterday: What items should be on the list for a scavenger hunt through an academic physics department? Let's now ask: what items should be on a list for a scavenger hunt through a biology department? Taking some hints from Chad and his commenters, here are my ideas to prime the pump: A reagent bottle with a label dating it to the 1980s An out of use fume hood above "the line" A paper copy of a PLoS Journal (they exist) A non-top-heated thermal cycler A Project Steve Steve A journal article used to prop up something A…

More basic concepts

A couple more Basic Concepts posts have been put up. Chaz Orzel at Uncertain Principles defines "Force" in physics. And PZ Myers at Pharyngula defines "Gene". However, PZ does this as a molecular biologist would, and ignores the phenotypic effects of genes, and some complications such as alternative splicing, which make the same stretch of DNA "code" for different products. John Hawks gives an example of this in human DNA. The complexity of the concept of a gene is well discussed here [PDF]. Larry Moran has a nice piece on ethics in science teaching. Not a "basic concepts" piece, but worth…

TSZ is Rated R!!!

It seems all the Science Bloggers are doing it... ...submitting their blogs for rating at this site. I am so proud to say TSZ came up with an R rating. Mingle2 - Online Dating Bora has an NC-17 but he's the only one. He's the only one in lots of ways, though, you know?? (I mean that in a good way, Bora!) My rating was based on the presence of the following words: sex (8x) pain (3x) poop (2x) puke (1x) Now, I am absolutely sure that the word "puke" appears more than one time on this blog, so maybe I really should have an NC-17. But, whatever. I'm no "G" blogger like PZ, Doc…

Surfer dude contemplates theory of everything

Here's another elegant headline from the Telegraph UK publication I mentioned below. You gotta love the Brits. Surfer dude stuns physicists with theory of everything The comments section is pretty fascinating... "Interesting. Similar to my onion-model of the universe. Remove the time dimension...and you get a perfectly rational view of life." This is a compelling story about a mathematical form with 248 points called the E8 which can be described by the same equations that accounts for more of the substance of the universe than the prevailing "string theory". If you're looking for more surf…

Great Experiments as a teaching tool

Chad is musing about teaching a class based on classical experiments in physics: The idea would be to have students pick one of the classic experiments in science from, say, before WWII, track down the original papers, and read them to work out how things were done (tracing back other references as needed). Then they would look into how the experiment could be updated using more modern technology, and what the pros and cons of the different versions are. Ideally, they would do some version of the experiment themselves, and write up the results as well. However.... I have very little idea what…

What Is Lab Lit?

From January 30, 2006, a look at the "new" genre and the hype around it... Lab Lit is all the buzz these days. Nature magazine had a recent article on it. Blogosphere is abuzz - see Hedwig's take on it. SEED magazine has a contest. This is what they are looking for - it explains what they think Lab Lit is: We are not looking for traditional Sci-Fi--we are looking for fiction that reflects the significant role science plays in our culture; fiction that uncovers the rich narratives in science; and fiction wherein scientists are fallible and human. We are looking for Science-In-Fiction,…

Fair Use and Open Science

Update: The issue has been resolved amicably and Shelley has some further thoughts. And some even more further thoughts. The discussion will continue here on Scienceblogs and elsewhere in the follwoing days.... If you read other Scienceblogs and not just me, you are likely quite aware of the "Wiley Affair", but if you are not here is a quick summary: My esteemed colleague here at scienceblogs, Shelley Batts of the Retrospectacle blog, did what we all do all the time - what is one of the primary role of science blogs: compared what a scientific paper says to what the press releases and…

The PepsiBlog Fracas

Yesterday afternoon I checked my e-mail and found something from the ScienceBlogs management. Apparently there was to be a new blog around here sponsored by PepsiCo. that was to focus on nutrition and other food related issues. I only skimmed the e-mail and did not really think much about it. I am still on blog vacation, after all, and I wanted to get back to my other work. Later in the day I decided it was time for a break. Figured I'd check in with my favorite Science Blogs and see if anything was happening. Turns out, something was. Apparently a lot of my fellow bloggers were up in…

Coffee Talk

Dave at the World's Fair asks: Can you show us your coffee cup? Can you comment on it? Do you think it reflects on your personality? Do you have any interesting anecdotes resulting from coffee cup commentary? Can you try to get others to comment on it? I'm a day late and a dollar short, as my dad used to say, in answering this, but I'll give it a try anyway. Most of my sciblings have already given it a go, with lots of nifty pictures of fab coffee mugs. Check out Dr. Free-Ride, Sandra Porter. Dr. Joan Bushwell, CR McClain, Chad Orzel, and Tara's lack-of-coffee lament. When all this…

Mount Biodome

Chad and I both listen to ESPN's Mike and Mike in the mornings. The last couple of days they've been trying to figure out what four athletes belong on the Mount Rushmore of sports (they settled on Muhammed Ali, Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, and Wayne Gretzky). While I was sitting around wondering if they would even mention Pele, Chad thought it would be cool to come up with a Mount Rushmore of Science. I'm not going to tackle such a broad topic. Instead, I ask who belongs on a Mount Rushmore of Biology, which I'd like to call Mount Biodome. My suggestions are below the fold -- and, no,…

Who's NOT a Leader?

I just wanna hurl chunks right now at fellow Sb'er Chad, who writes Uncertain Principles. Chad wrote this foolish entry about the so-called pipeline problem of women in physics. Which just goes to show that even an advanced degree in physics is no guarantee you won't have your head up your ass now and then. The gist of Chad's post seems to be that, since he is a nice guy, it is awfully unfair of unnamed personnages to go about bashing physics profs for their bad behavior vis-a-vis women, especially since most of his colleagues on the faculty are also nice guys. Here's the whiny end of…

Ask a String Theorist

First of all, I'd like to thank Chad for the keys to his internet-house for the next few weeks. If you're here, you know that one of the things Chad believes in (and is quite good at) is using his weblog for the exposition of science for the general public. While I don't think I can manage any funny dog stories, I'd like to try to follow his example. I have some ideas already planned (such as, god help me, a three part series on the multiverse), but I thought as an initial post here, I'd go straight to the public. What do you want to hear about? Is there some aspect of string theory, quantum…

Comments of the Week #139: From Escaping Gravitational Waves To The Universe's 2016 Changes

“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” -Andy Warhol Any week that passes by that leaves you knowing more than when you started is a good one here at Starts With A Bang! I hope this past week didn't disappoint, as many of you became acquainted not only with our latest podcast on parallel Universes, but with some amazing new articles on science and the Universe. Even as the year winds down, there's plenty more to explore! Here's what the past week held: How do gravitational waves escape from a black hole? (for Ask Ethan), An X-ray surprise! When…

This is a trade secret under FOIA?

I've often suspected that some federal agencies apply very broad definitions to the exemptions provided under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  Now, thanks to one diligent journalist I can judge for myself whether the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is an offender.  Ellen Smith of Mine Safety and Health News requested records from MSHA and the Solicitor's Office (SOL) about its legal determination that the haulage road on which coal-truck drive Chad Cook, 25, died, was under MSHA jurisdication.  MSHA had made a gross error in 2005-2006 when it concluded that the…

Casual Fridays: Which PowerPoint tips really work?

There's been an abundance of PowerPoint advice in the science blogosphere lately. Based on my personal experience, I'd say Chad and Amy give some good advice -- and it's advice that probably serves them well in their own presentations. But I was curious about something different. There are plenty of places where you can find tips about PowerPoint. The bigger question is, do these tips actually help poor speakers improve their presentations? In other words, can offering basic presentation advice without actually showing someone how to be a more engaging speaker help them give better…

Best American Science Writing, no physics?

Chad is complaining that The Best American Science Writing 2008 is too focused on biomedical science. He finds it especially lame that there's no physics when this was the year of the LHC. Here's what I found in the contents.... Amy Harmon, Facing Life with a Lethal Gene Richard Preston, An Error in the Code Thomas Goetz, 23anMe Will Decode Your DNA for $1,000. Welcome to the Age of Genomics Carl Zimmer, Evolved for Cancer Tara Parker-Pope, How NIH Misread Hormone Study in 2002 Gardiner Harris, Benedict Carey, and Janet Roberts, Psychiatrists, Children and Drug Industry's Role Daniel Carlat…

Justice for Chad Cook: What Took MSHA So Long??

What does it take for MSHA's Richard Stickler and the Solicitor of Labor to do their jobs? Front-page newspaper stories about MSHA's failures? A letter from a grieving mother? A petition signed by other family-member victims of workplace fatalities? Apparently, it took all this and more for MSHA finally to decide that the November 8, 2005 coal truck accident at the Alliance Resources' Metikki Mine which killed Chad Cook, 25, was work-related.  Chad Cook, a contract driver employed by the Utah-based Savage Services, died when his haulage truck, heavy-loaded with coal, ran off…

Lee Woodard on the Chad Jessop melanoma story: "Why would I promote a hoax?"

Ever since I started blogging about a story about a youth named Chad Jessop who, it was claimed, developed melanoma and cured himself of it with "natural" remedies, with the result that his mother was supposedly brought before the Orange County Superior Court and his mother thrown in maximum security prison and denied the right to hire her own attorney, I've been fascinated at the contortions of the person most recently responsible for spreading this story, a blogger who goes under the pseudonym of the Angry Scientist. For one thing, the first person to spread this story by e-mail, Thomas…

Learning science, reporting science.

As usual, there are more interesting tidbits in the science-y blogosphere than I have time to deal with sensibly, so it's time for me to pass you some links: Over at Cosmic Variance, Sean takes note of a finding that kids in the U.S. may think they're better at science than they really are. On the one hand, I find it refreshing that science teachers may not be as effective as I feared at convincing students that science is way too hard for anyone of normal intellect to learn. On the other hand, it would sure be nice if science teachers could impart more scientific knowledge with that self-…

Less Uncertain

Yay Chad!

Meet SteelyKid

Behold, the cutest burrito in Niskayuna: 8 lbs, 2 oz, 20 inches long. Do your own metric conversions. The obligatory mother-and-child picture is below the fold: Both mother and baby are well, and resting after their ordeal. And, obviously, adorable. FutureBaby's real name will be Claire Nepveu Orzel ("Nepveu" is a middle name, not the first half of an unhyphenated compound name). In the interests of preserving a tiny bit of privacy in this age of Google, this is the one and only time that her real name will appear on the blog, until she's old enough to decide how she wants to be known.…

SteelyKid?

SteelyKid! Go congratulate Chad.

What good is scienceblogging?

What Chad said. Fastest post ever.

I am scientist, hear me roar?

Check out Chad's post, We Are Science.

Put the EmPHAYsis on the Right SyLABle

A thousand curses on Kevin Drum for making me read some idiocy from the National Review's attempts to find things wrong with Sonia Sotomayor: Deferring to people's own pronunciation of their names should obviously be our first inclination, but there ought to be limits. Putting the emphasis on the final syllable of Sotomayor is unnatural in English (which is why the president stopped doing it after the first time at his press conference), unlike my correspondent's simple preference for a monophthong over a diphthong, and insisting on an unnatural pronunciation is something we shouldn't be…

the choice of science donors

Chad lets it all hang out in a good cause, of course.

Misconceptions in evolutionary biology

Chad Orzel is asking about misconceptions in science that irritate. Evolgen and Afarensis have chimed in. My problem is not an misconception, it is a pet peeve. As I've noted before, random genetic drift is a catchall explanation for everything. I am not saying drift is not powerful, it is the basis for the neutral theory of molecular evolution. This theory states that the rate of substitution on a neutral locus is proportional to the rate of mutation. Substitution would be when you have allele X at 99% frequency at time 1 and allele Y at 99% frequency at time 2 on a particular locus…

Getting Your Science Online: Presentation at Brock University Physics Department

It seems that Brock University in St. Catherine's, Ontario really likes me. Two years ago, the Library kindly invited me to speak during their Open Access Week festivities. And this year the Physics Department has also very kindly invited me to be part of their Seminar Series, also to talk about Getting Your Science Online, this time during OA Week mostly by happy coincidence. It's tomorrow, Tuesday October 23, 2012 in room H313 at 12:30. Here's the abstract I've provided: Physicist and Reinventing Discovery author Michael Nielsen has said that due to the World Wide Web, “[t]he process of…