education
grrlscientist | August 7, 2009tags: White-fronted Plover, Charadrius marginatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] White-fronted Plover, Charadrius marginatus, photographed in Swakopmund, Namibia, Africa [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dennis Paulson, April 2007 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | August 7, 2009tags: TEDTalks, biomimicry, technology, Janine Benyus, streaming video
Janine Benyus has a message for inventors: When solving a design problem, look to nature first. There you'll find inspired designs for making things waterproof, aerodynamic, solar-powered and more. Here she reveals dozens of new products that take their cue from nature with spectacular results.. [20:15]
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.
grrlscientist | August 6, 2009tags: Northern Rough-Winged Swallow, Stelgidopteryx serripennis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Northern Rough-Winged Swallow, Stelgidopteryx serripennis, photographed at the Katy Prairie, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 3 April 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/640s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
esiegel | August 5, 2009The Wall Street Journal has just reported that over 1,000 people in the Americas, according to data released by the World Health Organization, have died from the Swine Flu. They seem to think you should be alarmed.
The global A/H1N1 swine flu pandemic has claimed 1,154 lives since the outbreak was identified in April, data published by the World Health Organization showed Wednesday.
The Geneva-based health agency also said that the number of laboratory-confirmed cases stood at 162,380 worldwide as of July 31.
The WHO has estimated that 2 billion people, or one in three of the world's…
drorzel | August 5, 2009(On July 16, 2009, I asked for volunteers with science degrees and non-academic jobs who would be willing to be interviewed about their careers paths, with the goal of providing young scientists with more information about career options beyond the pursuit of a tenure-track faculty job that is too often assumed as a default. This post is one of those interviews, giving the responses of Cush Copeland, a high-school science teacher.)
1) What is your non-academic job?
I teach high school science in a public school in Central Florida. Over twenty years, I have taught mostly earth/space science (…
grrlscientist | August 5, 2009tags: Red-and-Yellow Barbet, Trachyphonus erythrocephalus, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Red-and-Yellow Barbet, Trachyphonus erythrocephalus, photographed in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 29 August 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D2X, Nikon 200-400 VR lens at 400 mm. ISO 200, 1/200, f/7.1.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
gregladen | August 5, 2009..that even when you try diligently to separate the politics of religion vs. creationism and to say again and again that religion can go along its merry way as long as it stays out of the science classroom, people like Casey Luskin will still find the words in your rhetoric to accuse you of attacking religion.
Back in May, Genie Scott appeared with me and Lynn Fellman on Atheist Talk Radio, where we discussed science education. Genie is the director of the National Center for Science Education.
In a recent posting on the Discovery Institute web site, Casey Luskin makes the contrast between…
grrlscientist | August 5, 2009tags: potable water, safe drinking water, LifeSaver Bottle, streaming video
Too much of the world lacks access to clean drinking water. In this video, engineer Michael Pritchard did something about it -- inventing the portable Lifesaver filter, which can make the most revolting water drinkable in seconds. An amazing demo from TEDGlobal 2009. [10:05]
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.
grrlscientist | August 4, 2009
Who: Josh Rosenau, policy analyst at the National Center for Science Education
What: free public presentation, "Adventures in the Defense of Evolution: From Kansas to Turkey to New York"
Where: SLC Conference Center, 352 7th avenue (between 29th and 30th streets), 16th floor.
When: 700pm, Tuesday, 4 August
"That's not a problem here, right?," New Yorkers ask when they hear what Josh Rosenau does for a living. Rosenau is a policy analyst at the National Center for Science Education, where he defends the teaching of evolution against creationism. He and his colleagues have tracked attacks on…
grrlscientist | August 4, 2009tags: Superb Starling, Lamprotornis superbus, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Superb Starling, sometimes known in American aviculture as the Spreo Starling in honor of its previous genus name, Lamprotornis (Spreo) superbus, photographed in Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, Africa. This species is the most common bird in its taxonomic family that the photographer encountered in Tanzania and Kenya. These birds were literally trash birds, he writes, hanging around trash cans, picnic tables etc. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen,…
grrlscientist | August 3, 2009tags: Mocking Cliff-Chat, Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Mocking Cliff-Chat, Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris, photographed near Lake Manyara, a shallow alkaline lake in Tanzania, Africa. Lake Manyara was described as the "loveliest [lake] ... in Africa," in Ernest Hemingway's 1953 nonfiction book, Green Hills of Africa. it is also the home of a diverse set of landscapes and wildlife. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 9 August 2006 [larger view].
Nikon D2X camera, Lens was the Nikon 200-400 VR…
grrlscientist | August 3, 2009
Who: Josh Rosenau, policy analyst at the National Center for Science Education
What: free public presentation, "Adventures in the Defense of Evolution: From Kansas to Turkey to New York"
Where: SLC Conference Center, 352 7th avenue (between 29th and 30th streets), 16th floor.
When: 700pm, Tuesday, 4 August
"That's not a problem here, right?," New Yorkers ask when they hear what Josh Rosenau does for a living. Rosenau is a policy analyst at the National Center for Science Education, where he defends the teaching of evolution against creationism. He and his colleagues have tracked attacks on…
grrlscientist | August 2, 2009tags: American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana, photographed in Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 29 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/800s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | August 1, 2009tags: Upland Sandpiper, Bartramia longicauda, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Upland Sandpiper, Bartramia longicauda, photographed at Quintana, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 8 April 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/800s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | July 31, 2009
Who: Josh Rosenau, policy analyst at the National Center for Science Education
What: free public presentation, "Adventures in the Defense of Evolution: From Kansas to Turkey to New York"
Where: SLC Conference Center, 352 7th avenue (between 29th and 30th streets), 16th floor.
When: 700pm, Tuesday, 4 August
"That's not a problem here, right?," New Yorkers ask when they hear what Josh Rosenau does for a living. Rosenau is a policy analyst at the National Center for Science Education, where he defends the teaching of evolution against creationism. He and his colleagues have tracked attacks on…
grrlscientist | July 31, 2009tags: Field Sparrow, Spizella pusilla, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Field Sparrow, Spizella pusilla, photographed at Paul Rushing Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 28 March 2009 [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.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | July 30, 2009tags: Indigo Bunting, Passerina cyanea, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Indigo Bunting, Passerina cyanea, photographed on High Island, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 7 April 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/400s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
esiegel | July 29, 2009After just finishing my series on the last 100 years in astrophysics, I was surprised to read an article in Bust Magazine that seems like it ought to be from 100 years ago.
You see, 100 years ago, segregating boys and girls was commonplace in schools. Not only that, but girls took "girl classes" like home economics, while boys took "boy classes" like trigonometry. One would think that we're past that by now.
One would hope so.
But clearly, this isn't true everywhere. The Mobile, Alabama county school system went way over the line starting last fall (2008). From the ACLU's site:
Without…
grrlscientist | July 29, 2009tags: Harlequin Ducks, Histrionicus histrionicus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Harlequin Ducks, Histrionicus histrionicus (mostly males, but there is a female in the foreground), photographed at low tide at Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, Oregon. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Terry Sohl, 8 June 2009 [larger view]
Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L.
Are all the birds in this image the same species?
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
drorzel | July 29, 2009(On July 16, 2009, I asked for volunteers with science degrees and non-academic jobs who would be willing to be interviewed about their careers paths, with the goal of providing young scientists with more information about career options beyond the pursuit of a tenure-track faculty job that is too often assumed as a default. This post is one of those interviews, giving the responses of Jon Moulton, a biologist working at a small biotech company.)
1) What is your non-academic job?
I work for Gene Tools, LLC, manufacturers of Morpholino antisense oligos, as a molecular biologist and general-…