Sci-culture

Before criticizing our newest ScienceBlogger, David Sloan Wilson, who has moved here from the Huffington Post, let me add my voice to those who are welcoming the move. It is a good thing to have such an esteemed and accomplished scientist among our ranks. But like fellow blogger Eric Michael Johnson, I found David's first post in these parts is more than a little unsettling. Under the headline of "Goodbye HuffPost, Hello ScienceBlogs: Science as a Religion that Worships Truth as its God," he provocatively writes: Science can even be regarded as a religion that worships truth as its god. It…

With all due respect to the recipients of this year's Nobel prizes -- telomeres are more than worthy of our attention -- it's time for an overhaul of the whole thing. Complaints about the outdated categories that ignore an enormous range of scientific endeavors appear each year at this time, and it's unlikely that the latest barrage of criticism will result in any real change. Still, there are plenty of good argument in favor of reform. Here's one. New Scientist asked a group of notable scientists and authors for their thoughts on the subject. They came up with a letter pointing out the…

Don't be SUCH a scientist by Randy Olson 195 pages, Island Press In my review last year of Randy Olson's 2008 film, Sizzle, I wrote that I wanted to like it. I'm exactly the kind of viewer who will eat up anything a marine biologist has to say about communicating science and climate change. But I didn't. Though it was billed as a comedic mockumentary, I found the laughs too few and the central message a tad condescending. When I found Olson's latest effort to tackle the challenge of communicating science, this time in the medium of short book, I still wanted to like it. This time, I did.…

On one side we have a long list of scientists who are known, and respected, by the wider public primarily because they have chosen to venture beyond the confines of the laboratory or the classroom into the realm of policy advocacy. Think Carl Sagan (nuclear winter), Sylvia Earle (marine conservation) or Albert Einstein (atomic warfare). On the other are a comparable list of lesser-known but accomplished academics who insist scientists should keep to the facts for fear of tarnishing the reputation of science itself as a neutral arbiter. An almost-recent paper in Conservation Biology (…

Just eight episodes into a 13-part first season, ABC has canceled suspended (see update below) Defying Gravity, a flawed but relatively honest attempt at hard-core science fiction. Why is this noteworthy? OK, this is a stretch, but I am reminded of attempts to reform the U.S. health insurance system and climate change legislation. In each case creating something that respects reality seems to be beyond the powers that be. And yet even the watered down compromise product that emerges from the sausage factory can't attract sufficient support. Further evidence that the American public is…

Sheril Kirshenbaum and Chris Mooney are getting a lot of mileage out of their new book, Unscientific America. This week they pop up in Newsweek to argue that we should welcome the likely appointment of Francis Collins as head of NIH because in a time of polarization, he's a unifying figure, one that embraces both religion (Christianity in this case) and science. On first glance, their logic seems sounds. We know that many Americans are unwilling to accept science as a worthy pursuit, one that should figure strongly in the development of public policy. We know many of them do so because they…

The science machine continues to churn out depressing reports. The high-latitude permafrost contains more carbon than originally thought. The Arctic Ocean ice is even thinner than we feared. But my thoughts are dominated by the issues raised by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum in their new book, Unscientific America. I reviewed it Tuesday. Today I came across a fascinating interview with NASA climatologist and RealClimate.org founder Gavin Schmidt. It's long but worth reading. Among the highlights is his discussion of his efforts to bridge the cultural gap between scientists and society at…

Unscientific America: How scientific illiteracy threatens our future by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum 209 pages,$24 (US) Basic Books, I wish I'd written this book. Its subject matter is exactly the thing that gets me going. The tension between science and irrationality was the original inspiration for this blog. There are a few elements that I would have approached differently, of course<> But my quibbles are minor and none detract from the the book's primary strength: solid, concise writing that wastes no ink or paper (just 132 pages, not counting endnotes) getting to the heart…

Every day it seems there's a new essay or post about social networking fatigue, virtual connectivity's isolating effects, and the threats posed by rapid-fire media. Most of all, though, it's about the problem with Twitter. My "25 random things I hate about Twitter" post attracted an usually large amount of traffic, including several visits from those who were alerted to the piece via Twitter, but that was written at least half in jest. Now allow me to share with you some more carefully considered criticisms. The problem with Twitter is not that it's useless. As überTwitterfan Coturnix has…

So last month its was the Forecast Earth gang at the Weather Channel. This week it's the science and technology team at CNN that gets the axe. I know that times are tough all over. I know it's hard to sell ads for science sections and programs. But it sure would be nice to see the corporate robber barons that run the most popular media in the country do what's right for a change. I mean, come on: does anyone really believe that scientific issues are going to diminish in importance in the months and years ahead?

Most of my favorite ScienceBlogs colleagues are up in arms at the very hint that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could end up as the next administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. The problem is RFK, while justifiably cherished for many years by the environmental movement, also happens to be the best-known member of a group of cranks that opposes childhood vaccination because of its alleged links to autism. Are Orac, MarkH, Mike the Mad Biologist, Mike Dunford and the rest justifiably worried? I think so. According to Politico, "Obama advisers said the nomination would please both Sen.…

I was going to post a rant about John McCain's dishonest reference to Barack Obama's "overhead projector" earmark in Tuesday's presidential debate, but Joe Romm beat me to it. Again. So let me just say this about planetariums (planetaria?) instead: The planetarium at the Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg played a key role in fostering my love of science. I can remember, when in my single-digit years, looking forward to the star theater each time we made the four-hour drive from the middle of northwestern Ontario to the big city. My parents would almost always take my brother and me to the…

The reliably poignant Ben Goldacre explores the declining signal-to-noise ratio in the scientific press through a recent paper that tentatively suggests ejaculation could be "a potential treatment of nasal congestion in mature males." This is to get your attention, as it apparently did. But his point is a serious one. Goldacre, whose regular columns in the Guardian should be required reading for anyone interested in how science operates within the larger societal context, had a chat with the editor of the Journal of Medical Hypotheses, who once gave me two excellent reasons for publishing…

I usually like to refer to the actual study, but I can't find it, so we'll have to make do with the Independent's story on a survey of thousands of British primary and secondary schoolchildren that found most have no idea that science is something of value. The story starts off with the now predictable gnashing of teeth over the finding that "among every generation of school leavers, there are tens of thousands of potential scientists who are, partly owing to ignorance, turning their backs on careers with a science component." But the really depressing part comes in the form of some…

Much has been written, here and elsewhere in the blogosphere, about the media's willingness to give a couple of kids their 15 minutes for challenging scientific orthodoxy, despite the fact that in both cases, the young Galileo-wannabe figures were dead wrong. Now someone has finally summed it all one in one pithy sentence: I'd like to caution especially my younger readers that you may be very smart, but you should assume that you are making a mistake if you find yourself thinking you are smarter than every scientist in the world put together. (Michael Tobis, Wired Science) Thanks, Michael. My…

Do you want to know what I really think about "framing science?" You do? Good. I'll tell you. Here's the problem with framing science. The problem with framing science is ... It's either a trivial concept to which an entire academic career should not be devoted, or it's a corrupting influence that threatens everything for which science should stand. Much has been made of the apparent failure of the champion of framing science, commuications expert and ScienceBlogger Matt Nisbet, to explain the idea in sufficient detail to the satisfy most of the rest of the Science Blogs community. The recent…

Arthur C. Clarke, proposer of the geosynchronous communications satellite, author of more than 100 books and third member of the ABCs of science fiction, is dead this day at 90. My favorite of his novels was The Fountains of Paradise, in which the idea of an elevator all the way to that same geosynchronous orbit, is explored. What a guy.

I have no idea if there's a new team of editorialists at Nature or if the old team has simply decided it's time they started to stir the pot. But they've been an ornery lot of late, and this swipe at the Canadian government's failure to respect science's contribution to society is a welcome wakeup call: When the Canadian government announced earlier this year that it was closing the office of the national science adviser, few in the country's science community were surprised. Science has long faced an uphill battle for recognition in Canada, but the slope became steeper when the Conservative…

One question keeps rising out of the ScienceBlogosphere muck: Are PZ "Pharyngula" Myers and his ilk doing more harm than good by relentlessly and mercilessly attacking religion? Rob "Galactic Interactions" Knop apparently has had it up to here with Myers's brand of anti-faith rhetoric, and started one of those neverending comment wars on his blog yesterday -- except that he did end it by removing the post. Fortunately, I saved a copy first because the exchange really does get to the heart of the question. Out of respect for Rob, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Vanderbilt…

You know how some people can't just leave that half-pint of ice cream sitting in the fridge? You know you shouldn't, but you can't resist. I'm that way with climate change stories. So when a friend called to alert me to a local NPR call-in show with a climate change dissident, I couldn't resist. The guest of Monday's episode of WFAE's hour-long "Charlotte Talks" was one Joel Schwartz, who seems to be an intelligent and fairly decent guy. But as the man (Dylan, not Schwartz) says, "sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace." In this case Satan was a "scientist." This Joel Schwartz is described…