education
gregladen | July 9, 2010And we're talking about bigots and creationists in Alberta, which I figure is more or less the Canadian equivalent of Texas .... the dumbest province in the Great White North.
Starting this coming school year, parents will be able to "opt" their children "out" of certain lessons, such as those that deal in any way with Teh Gay, or with religion. Apparently, it is thought that science that conflicts with religion will be counted as religion, so that means kids can get out of science classes.
And I would not assume that this applies only to evolution. Math, physics, all of it conflicts with…
jdupuis | July 9, 2010I love Wikipedia. I probably use it every day. It's become an indispensable part of the modern information landscape.
But.
A few months ago, I was doing a session in our lab with a bunch of high school students. When I do these sessions I try and illuminate how the modern information landscape is a bit more complicated than they think -- I try and instill a little doubt and humbleness into their mostly quite confident attitudes. I talk about Facebook and privacy and Wikipedia and a whole bunch of things. Anyways, I'm talking about Wikipedia and demoing how easy it is to randomly change…
grrlscientist | July 9, 2010tags: White-winged Scoter, Melanitta deglandi, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] White-winged Scoter, Melanitta deglandi, photographed at Bodega Bay, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 12 May 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
The White-winged Scoter, Melanitta deglandi, a large black duck of coastal waters which is the largest of all the scoters. This species breeds farther…
grrlscientist | July 9, 2010tags: Walk-Through of NYC's American Museum of Natural History, museum, natural history museum, AMNH, American Museum of Natural History, NYC, New York City, culture, edutainment, streaming video
This is a rather nice video with a home-made feel to it. It presents a quick view of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, starting on the subway platform (filled with lots of beautiful tile art, all of which I've photographed and shared on my blog). (I noticed that they seem to have finished refurbishing their Indians of the Pacific Northwet exhibit).
The AMNH is a scientific…
sb admin | July 8, 2010After hosting blogs for four years, it's about time I started my own. So, welcome!
Let me begin with a bit about me and what I believe.
I believe that science has the unique potential to improve the state of the world. I think this potential is being hindered today by a lack of science literacy around the world and by the largely closed and restricted nature of the world's scientific information. Two connected topics (ie. Science Literacy and Open Science) that I care passionately about and will delve deep into on this blog. I also believe that science can be more than a subject; it can be a…
drorzel | July 8, 2010Kevin Drum has done a couple of education-related posts recently, first noting a story claiming that college kids study less than they used to, and following that up with an anecdotal report on kids these days, from an email correspondent who teaches physics. Kevin's emailer writes of his recent experiences with two different groups of students:
Since the early 1990's, I have pre and post tested all of my introductory mechanics classes using a research based diagnostic instrument, the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation. This instrument is based on research by Ron Thornton at Tufts that…
jdupuis | July 7, 2010So, PepsiCo has started up a new blog here on ScienceBlogs called Food Frontiers.
From the profile:
PepsiCo's R&D Leadership Team discusses the science behind the food industry's role in addressing global public health challenges. This is an extension of PepsiCo's own Food Frontiers blog.
This blog is sponsored by PepisCo. All editorial content is written by PepsiCo's scientists or scientists invited by PepsiCo and/or ScienceBlogs. All posts carry a byline above the fold indicating the scientist's affiliation and conflicts of interest.
From the introductory post:
On behalf of the team…
drorzel | July 6, 2010As I am still getting lengthy comments at the Chris Mooney post accusing me of making unreasonable demands on scientists, I thought I should spell out as explicitly as possible what skills I think scientists ought to have. This probably won't solve the problem, but it'll give me something to point to the next time I get asked.
So, what communications skills should scientists have? The answer depends on what kind of science you're going to do, and what you want to do with it.
First and foremost, though: If you want to be a successful scientist, you need good communications skills. Full stop.…
grrlscientist | July 6, 2010tags: Acorn Woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivorus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Acorn Woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivorus, photographed in China Camp State Park, Point San Pedro Peninsula, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 11 May 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/400s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This bird has a very unusual behavior that is a response to the availability of its primary food supply. Can you tell…
lbock | July 5, 2010It's funny what inspires one toward a career in science or engineering.
Kary Mullins who earned the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1993, says it was the experience of growing up in the rolling foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina that did it for him. There, in a more simple and idyllic time than today, he had the freedom to build and launch his own rockets, and to dream while exploring the biodiversity in the woods, the swamp and the orchards near his home.
Inspiration and the chance to discover are important for all of us. Like with Kary Mullins, these experiences plant…
grrlscientist | July 5, 2010tags: Black-throated Sparrow, Desert Sparrow, Amphispiza bilineata, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Black-throated Sparrow, also known (erroneously) as the Desert Sparrow, Amphispiza bilineata, photographed in Falcon State Park, Falcon Heights, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 5 April 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This species has one character that sets it apart from all others…
grrlscientist | July 4, 2010tags: Zitting Cisticola, Streaked Fantail Warbler, Cisticola juncidis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Zitting Cisticola, sometimes known as the Streaked Fantail Warbler,Cisticola juncidis, photographed at Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 20 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D300, 600 mm VR lens with 1.4 extender ISO 400, f/8, 1/1000 sec.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This African mystery bird has the largest range of any of its congeners and its range…
grrlscientist | July 3, 2010tags: Hooded Vulture, Necrosyrtes monachus, Marabou Stork, Leptoptilos crumeniferus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Hooded Vulture, Necrosyrtes monachus (background: Marabou Stork, Leptoptilos crumeniferus), photographed at the Ndutu Safari Lodge, near Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 21 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D300, 600 mm lens with 1.4 extender ISO 800, f/5.6 1/400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Since this African mystery bird is easy to…
grrlscientist | July 2, 2010tags: Western Tanager, Piranga ludoviciana, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Western Tanager, Piranga ludoviciana, photographed in Wilsall, Montana. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Ron Shimek [larger view].
Olympus OM-10 in an Ikelite Housing, Kodachrome 64 film.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This stunning mystery bird is more than "eye candy"; there is something special about this bird's breeding habits that set it apart from all its congeners, can you tell me what that is?
The Western Tanager breeds…
clock | July 1, 2010Last week, my SciBling Jason Goldman interviewed me for his blog. The questions were not so much about blogging, journalism, Open Access and PLoS (except a little bit at the end) but more about science - how I got into it, what are my grad school experiences, what I think about doing research on animals, and such stuff. Jason posted the interview here, on his blog, on Friday, and he also let me repost it here on my blog as well, under the fold:
Here at Thoughtful Animal headquarters, we're starting a new series of seven-question interviews with people who are doing or have done animal…
grrlscientist | July 1, 2010tags: Turkey Vulture, Cathartes aura, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Turkey Vulture, Cathartes aura, photographed at Brazos Bend State Park, Needville, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 28 November 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/750s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This challenging-to-ID-from-this-image mystery bird has a special foraging ability that other members of this family lack. Can you tell me what that…
grrlscientist | June 30, 2010tags: Cave Swallow, Petrochelidon fulva, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] A young-of-the-year Cave Swallow, Petrochelidon fulva, photographed at Chambers County, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 26 June 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This mystery bird species is extremely local and seasonal in the southernmost portion of the USA, nesting in very limited numbers only in…
gregladen | June 29, 2010The latest issue of Evolution: Education and Outreach (volume 3, number 2) is in honor of -- if a few months in advance of -- the sixty-fifth birthday of NCSE's executive director Eugenie C. Scott. Edited by NCSE's deputy director Glenn Branch (who contributed "Three wishes for Genie" by way of introduction), it contains essays by Nicholas J. Matzke, Robert T. Pennock, Barbara Forrest, Raymond Arthur Eve with Susan Carol Losh and Brandon Nzekwe, Lawrence M. Krauss, Robert M. Hazen, Kevin Padian, Jay D. Wexler, Kenneth R. Miller, Brian Alters, and Carl Zimmer. Plus there's a biographical…
drorzel | June 29, 2010I gave a short introduction to how to give a presentation today to the students who will be presenting their research in our twice-weekly Summer Student Seminar Series. This included examples of a data slide that is bad in the ways that students' first attempts at data slides tend to be bad, and the same graph re-done in a more appropriate manner. As long as I'm doing format conversions of this anyway, I figure it might be amusing to post them here. So, here's the bad graph, with the bullet points highlighting the mistakes:
And here's the good version:
(The seminar series features three…
grrlscientist | June 29, 2010tags: Black-necked Stilt, Himantopus mexicanus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Newly hatched Black-necked Stilt, Himantopus mexicanus, photographed at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Anahuac, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 26 June 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/320s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Newly-hatched baby birds of this mystery bird species have a remarkable ability, can you tell me what that is?…