Ask a ScienceBlogger
razib | November 14, 2006Question:
What are the best pickup lines for scientists and science-savvy folk?...
I'll go narrow-church: low mutational load baby, look beyond the proximate and focus on the ultimate.
terrasig | November 7, 2006We've been out-of-town for a few days but the election day "Ask A ScienceBlogger" requested that we note a local election of special import.
One cannot live in the North Carolina Research Triangle area without being aware of the polarizing re-election campaign for Durham district attorney, Mike Nifong. Nifong, whose claim to fame has been the indictment of Duke men's lacrosse players in the alleged rape of a hired stripper, has been viewed widely as using this case as the basis for his re-election.
Simply Google "Duke lacrosse case" and you'll know of which I speak. Let it suffice to say…
evolgen | November 5, 2006The Seed editorial staff want to know how we're voting in the upcoming election. I try to avoid politics on this blog -- not because I don't have an opinion, but because I'd rather write about science. Here's what they want to know:
What's the most important local political race to you this year (as a citizen, as a scientist)?
As much as I would love to wax eloquently on issues of local politics, I've got a statewide race on my mind.
You see, Rick "Man on Dog1" Santorum is one of my US Senators. Zuska is also suffering from this same condition. Hopefully, come Tuesday, the Dog Fucker won't…
apalazzo | October 26, 2006That is this week's question from the Seed mothership.
Born and raised in Canada, I have to say that there is one obvious choice: The Nature of Things. Almost every Canadian in my age group has a picture of David Suzuki seared onto some part of their neocortex. Now some folk try to diss Dr. Suzuki ... all I can say is to leave the guy alone. When it comes to popularizing science for the mass market, no one comes close.
P.S. Since I've moved to the US I've basically lived life without TV, and I can't say that I miss it.
dmunger | October 24, 2006This week's "Ask a ScienceBlogger" question is easy: The best science TV show is Mythbusters.
Let's face it: most TV science programming is downright awful. It dumbs down the content, and tends not to explain the really interesting part of the question at hand. As I wrote recently over on Word Munger,
Whether it's Nova or the National Geographic Channel, every documentary I've watched recently seems to follow the same pattern.
1. Introduce "mysterious" or "controversial" element
2. Bring in a tiny bit of factually relevant material
3. Interview a sexy or "culturally diverse" expert. There are…
evolgen | October 20, 2006I haven't touched an Ask A ScienceBlogger for a couple of months. This week, the powers that be are asking us:
What's the best science TV show of all time?
The first show that came to mind was Mr. Wizard. As young tyke in the 1980s, I watched a lot of Nickelodeon. Nick was a staple of my early TV viewing, with classics like Mr. Wizard, along with You Can't Do That On Television and Double Dare. Mr. Wizard was great for the science, but it was also fun to laugh at the dorky looking kids on the show. And I secretly longed to be one of those kids. Only not as dorky, but on the show none the…
jlynch | October 20, 2006
Seed asks "What's the best science TV show of all time?" As I grew up in Ireland in the 70's & 80's, my answer obviously features British science shows. Bora has already mentioned Don't Ask Me with the wonderful Magnus Pyke. I'll add "Tomorrow's World" (more of a future tech show) and "Life on Earth" with David Attenborough. The latter - in 1979 - sealed the deal for me ... I was destined to be a biologist. Never got to sit among Mountain Gorillas though ...
dmunger | October 18, 2006This week's Ask a Scienceblogger: "Is severely regulating your diet for a month each year, as Muslims do during Ramadan, good for you?"
I'd say that's nearly impossible to answer: there are too many other factors at work. But consider this:
Kuwait's average life expectancy is 76.9
Portugal's is 77.2
Since Kuwait is a primarily Muslim country and Portugal is primarily Christian, it appears observing Ramadan doesn't have much of an effect on life expectancy. The two countries are similar economically, with both countries registering nearly equal GDP per capita ($18,047 for Kuwait versus $18,126…
jstemwedel | October 16, 2006Ben thinks it's time to start auditioning for a ScienceBlogs house band.
Under the guidance of the Adventures in Ethics and Science Musical Advisory Panel (i.e., the sprogs), I've come up with a few suggestions:
They Might Be Giants. In their prodigious catalogue, they have made it clear that they value the nerdy as a contribution to pop culture. They rock the accordian. But, as younger offspring asks, "Why aren't there any girl Giants?"
Shonen Knife. Don't dare to laugh them off as "bubblegum". This cute package will mess you up if you try to resist the beat it's serving. But more of…
apalazzo | September 26, 2006Who will win this year?
Some guesses for the Medicine & Physiology (or perhaps Chemistry) below the fold. Warning - the guesses presented here are highly biased towards cellular physiology.
Membrane Traffic. James Rothman and Randy Schekman. Maybe you could throw in Peter Novak.
There's a rumour that intracellular signalling may win. Tony Hunter (phospho-tyrosine), Tony Pawson (protein signalling domains) and Allan Hall (small G-protein switches).
Structure of the first virus. Steven Harrison. (I've been told to throw in Michael Rossman from Purdue).
Structure of the ribosome. Tom Steitz…
jstemwedel | September 9, 2006The latest "Ask a ScienceBlogger" question is:
What's up with organic foods? What are the main arguments for buying organic? Is it supposed to be better for me, or better for the planet, or what? Are organics, in any sense, worth the higher price?
It's true that I live in California (in the San Francisco Bay Area, no less), but even if I didn't, I would still opt for organic produce wherever possible. And, my reasons for this preference have almost nothing to do with the nutritional profile of organically grown foods compared to conventionally grown foods.
For me, the main issues have to do…
tlambert | September 5, 2006This week's "Ask a Science Blogger" question is:
I read this article in the NRO, and the author actually made some interesting arguments. 'Basically,' he said, 'I am questioning the premise that [global warming] is a problem rather than an opportunity.' Does he have a point?...
No. Robbins' article contains only one fact and that fact is wrong.
Most of his article is airy speculation about how warming will be beneficial, without looking at any of the scientific evidence on the question. He seems to be blithely unaware of stuff that happened the real world, like, oh, New Orleans:
But the…
dmunger | August 31, 2006I try to stay away from answering "Ask a Scienceblogger" when it strays too far from my areas of expertise. This week, the question is the following:
I read this article in the NRO, and the author actually made some interesting arguments. 'Basically,' he said, 'I am questioning the premise that [global warming] is a problem rather than an opportunity.' Does he have a point?...
I don't really think I need to be an expert to respond. The article in question seems to have been written largely as a joke. Al Gore suggests that New York would be underwater as a result of rising sea levels. The…
evolgen | August 23, 2006This week's Ask A ScienceBlogger is about the rainforest:
The destruction of the rainforest was a hot-button topic in the early '90s, but I haven't heard anything about it in ages. Are the rainforests still being destroyed wholesale? Are they all gone? Is it still important? Is the coffee I drink making it worse, and is "free trade" and/or "shade grown" coffee any better?
Yes, the rainforests are all gone. Every last one of them. Burnt to the ground by the military industrial complex. Because they hate hippies. Damn hippies. And atheists. And evolutionists Darwinists. And it's because of…
jstemwedel | August 16, 2006David at The World's Fair has posed another, "Ask a ScienceBlogger, Sort Of" question:
Essentially, as scientific types who tend to analyse, over-analyse, supra-analyse things, and who like to categorize and follow empirical trends, I'm interesting in hearing what you think it is that sparks these viral outbursts of information outreach? This question (and apologies for its convolution) also relates directly to your role as a blogger, where the assumption is that you revel in increased traffic, and are kind of looking for these tricks anyway. I guess, I'm just interested in hearing a…
retrospectacle | August 16, 2006We SciBloggers were posed with this question:
To what extent do you worry about AIDS, either with respect to yourself, your children, or the world at large?
Here's what really worries me about AIDS (from the old Retrospectacle):
The Federal Chief of AIDS research recently said that he believed that drug companies don't have an incentive to create a vaccine for HIV and are likely going to wait for the government to develop the vaccine and then profit from it.
"They're dropping out like flies because there's no real incentive for them to do it. We have to do it."
The UN also recently…
evolgen | August 13, 2006Seed's going buck-nutty for the 25th anniversary of the AIDS epidemic, including a new blog covering the 16th International AIDS Conference. This week's Ask A Science Blogger also deals with the disease:
To what extent do you worry about AIDS, either with respect to yourself, your children, or the world at large?
I am the youngest of the ScienceBlogs bloggers (about as old as the epidemic itself), and I cannot remember a world without AIDS. Aside from not going in without cover, how has the AIDS epidemic changed my behavior? The answer involves both a personal anecdote and some research in my…
jstemwedel | August 11, 2006This month's issue of Seed looks at HIV/AIDS 25 years in, and you may have noticed that ScienceBlogs has an AIDS at 25 blog dedicated to covering the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto. So, it should come as no surprise that the current round of "Ask a ScienceBlogger" features a question about AIDS:
To what extent do you worry about AIDS, either with respect to yourself, your children, or the world at large?
Twenty-five years ago, I was 13. And, since I grew up in one of those households where we got the science-y magazines (and undoubtedly, would have gotten Seed had it existed…
razib | August 9, 2006This week:
What movie do you think does something admirable (though not necessarily accurate) regarding science? Bonus points for answering whether the chosen movie is any good generally....
Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis. Cinematically it is an early masterpiece, but, it also features a protagonist who is a robot. The term itself was invented in 1920, and the massive field of robotics which exists today was still but a seed in the imaginations of pulp science fiction writers. I admire the fact that this is case a where a science fiction film did anticipate a major trend in…
dmunger | August 9, 2006Seed has asked all the sciencebloggers to respond to the following question:
What movie do you think does something admirable (though not necessarily accurate) regarding science? Bonus points for answering whether the chosen movie is any good generally....
I talked with Greta about this last night, and we each used similar logic for our choices. Greta's pick was Jurassic Park, which of course generally has appalling science, but in one scene demonstrates an incredibly important scientific lesson. The scientists at the Jurassic Park Institute "knew" it was impossible for their dinosaurs to…