Science Education
clock | March 11, 2009It appears that the Beagle Project crew will have a trial run on the Brazilian ship Tocorime - not a replacement for building the Beagle, but getting the feet wet, seeing what is involved, learning from the experience, before the Real Deal.
Funded by the British Council, they will circumnavigate around South America following that portion of the original Darwin's trip. From the proposal:
The year 2009 marks the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birth. Without a doubt the greatest influence on Darwin and the development of his theory of evolution came during his travels in and around South…
clock | March 11, 2009From Sigma Xi:
NCSU molecular biologist Jorge Piedrahita has cloned pigs and explored why they are not carbon copies despite sharing the same DNA. Now he is trying to crack puzzles that could result in transgenic animals useful in human and veterinary medicine. His studies in cloned pigs led him to an unusual family of genes called imprinted genes, involved in placental function and fetal development. Recently he found they are implicated in human diseases too and is developing stem cell technologies in swine to try to speed up clinical applications in people.
To learn more, come hear…
clock | March 10, 2009This month's Science Cafe (description below) will be held on March 24th at Tir Na Nog. Our speaker is Dr. David Reif from the US Environmental Protection Agency. That evening we will be talking about the interplay between our genetic makeup and our environment & lifestyles. We will also discuss human genetics with a focus on evolutionary theory. Here is a link (http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1879213,00.html#) to an interesting article by a popular author, Carl Zimmer that you might find fun to read. The article gives some background on Darwin and the ideas behind his…
clock | March 10, 2009Still recovering. Flights were smooth. I finally finished Jennifer Rohn's book on the airplane. I hated my Chapel Hill neighbors, lounging at the pool in 78F, as I was leaving for the cold, snowy Boston. But now I'm back.
The first night, a bunch of us went to the Science Cafe and discussed the possibility of intelligent life in the Universe and methods to find them if they are out there.
And had some dinner as well...
On Monday, we gathered at WGBH station, in a nice, modern, green building, and about 20 of us discussed the PRI/BBC/NOVA/SigmaXi/WGBH/World project: how to build an online…
scientificactivist | March 9, 2009What else is new?
Via Greg Laden comes news that creationists are once again mucking about with Texas' education standards. The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) explains just what's at stake:
A number of amendments to the science TEKS were passed at the January 2009 meeting. Here is a brief analysis of these amendments, and why they are problematic for science education in Texas.
In general, the amendments single out topics touching on evolution (including the age and evolution of Earth and the universe as a whole) from other scientific topics included in the TEKS. They uniformly…
gregladen | March 8, 2009Well, not ALL of you. Just the ones who also happen to be Scientists. Texans only, please. If you are not a Texan Scientist do not read this blog post.
The National Center for Science Education is asking Texas Scientists to contact the State Board of Education regarding the Proposed Texas Educational Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) Amendments.
Find your SBOE member here.
You are being asked to write your State board of Education member regarding the TEKS amendments passed in Janurary, 2009.
In general, the amendments single out topics touching on evolution (including the age and…
clock | March 7, 2009From SCONC:
Tuesday, March 24
6:30-8:30 pm
Science Cafe, Raleigh: Gene-Environment Interactions
EPA statistician and geneticist David Reif discusses the interplay between our genes and the environment. What does our shared evolutionary history have to do with common, complex diseases? How might genetics shape differential susceptibility to the multitude of chemicals--both manufactured and natural--present in the environment? How do modern lifestyles impact the evolutionary process? Tir Na Nog, 218 South Blount Street, Raleigh, NC, 919.833.7795
RSVP to katey.ahmann@ncmail.net
clock | March 6, 2009As you may have noticed, I'll be in Boston next week.
On March 8th, I'll go to the Science Cafe:
THE TOPIC:
It may seem Hollywood, but there are many accomplished scientists currently scanning the skies for signs of alien intelligence. What are they looking for? Flying saucers and little green men?
Actually, think talk radio and TV soap operas. We've been broadcasting signals like these for around 80 years, and some are powerful enough to reach other star systems. So there is a chance that aliens are out there broadcasting similar signals--signals we may be able to detect.
But how will we…
clock | March 6, 2009From SCONC:
Tuesday, March 10
7 p.m.
Science Cafe, Durham: Re-Kindling Wood Energy
Duke professor Dan Richter does his bit at "Periodic Tables," talking about Europe's new alternative fuel -- firewood. He says Advanced Wood Combustion, AWC, might provide North America with a clean, affordable, abundant, and decentralized stream of renewable energy. Broad Street Café, 1116 Broad Street. http://ncmls.org/periodictables
gregladen | March 4, 2009 A Texas-sized battle over scrapping a longtime requirement that Lone Star State students be taught weaknesses in the theory of evolution has split politicians, parents, and professors who teach biology at the state's Christian universities.
"I hope to reach others on the weightier matters of the Resurrection, hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven while I work out how evolution does not have to conflict with Christianity," said Daniel Brannan, a biology professor at Abilene Christian University.
Brannan joined hundreds of scientists in signing a 21st Century Science Coalition…
sporte | March 4, 2009A friend of mine; serial entrepreneur, and former president of Genetic Systems; Joe Ashley, told me once that starting a business is an unnatural act.
Now that I've done it, I agree. Even with my multiple back-up plans, possible grants, and part-time activities, my stomach still hurts and my mind is racing. My new company has "spun out" of another. Spinning out of control until you fall down from exhaustion. It's a great metaphor all right.
Sure, there's excitement and adventure. I love my new shiny business cards and my new shiny web site! It's fun to do things that I like and would…
clock | March 4, 2009....to PZ Myers for getting a monthly writing gig in The Guardian. This is going to be fun to watch! The other three science writers they hired also sound interesting.
revere | March 4, 2009When I was in medical school it was common to get gifts from drug companies. Since many of us had very little money, the gifts were welcome. One company gave me a Littman stethoscope, at the time, the most advanced stethoscope around. The same model costs about $100 now. I was glad to get it, although I can't tell you the name of the company. I forgot the names as quickly as I pocketed their gifts. We all got lots of free samples, too, and they were often things like tranquilizers sent through the mail and left in the magazine bin in my apartment house common mailbox area. Yes, these folks…
clock | March 1, 2009From SCONC:
Thursday, March 5
7 p.m.
What Good is it to Feel Good? The Science of Positive Emotions
From our "what the world needs now" file, Dr. Barbara Frederickson, head of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Lab at UNC will share thoughts from her new book, Positivity. You can strengthen relationships, relax the mind and relieve stress by thinking positively. Part of the Current Science Forum at Morehead Planetarium, UNC.
jlynch | February 27, 2009NCSE is reporting that SB 2396 has been proposed in Florida. It will require "thorough presentation and critical analysis of the scientific theory of evolution." The bill is sponsored by Stephen R. Wise (R-District 5). Amazing how many of these bills are being sponsored by Republicans. Youâd think theyâd have more important things to worry about.
Itâs a bit of a strange bill. The preamble calls for the "thorough presentation and critical analysis of the scientific theory of evolution and certain governmental, legal and civic-related principles" while the body calls for teachers to âteach…
tsmith | February 26, 2009I am so incredibly tardy with this information that Arizonian John Lynch and the lovely folks at Uncommon Descent have already blogged this, but recently an "academic freedom" bill was introduced in Iowa. For those who may be unfamiliar, in addition to "teach the controversy," these "academic freedom" bills are one of the new tactics for creationists who want to introduce creationism into science classrooms via the back door by claiming that teachers need the protection to teach "the full range of scientific views" when it comes to evolution (in other words, to teach creationism/ID). The…
clock | February 26, 2009My son had to do a homework for his Biology class, a kinda stupid long worksheet. He was given a bunch of DNA sequences (and had the codon table handy) and needed to translate that into amino acid sequences. The a.a. sequence spells out a sentence. Busy-work, if anyone asks me.
Anyway, he was too lazy to do it by hand, so he wrote a little program to do it for him: type in DNA sequence, click OK, out comes the a.a. sequence. He sent his teacher both the answers and the program....just goes to show that doing this homework does not require a brain capable of reasoning.
I know there are…
clock | February 26, 2009I'll be in Boston in about 10 days from now. On March 8th, I'll go to the Science Cafe - the website is not updated yet so I don't know what the topic is yet, but it's going to be fun for sure: science+pizza+beer, who can ask for more? So, if you come to that, try to spot me in the crowd and say Hello.
The next day, on Monday, March 9, 2009 at 6:00pm, we'll meet at Casablanca Restaurant which is at 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA. If you are a scientist, blogger, reader, come and let's eat and drink together. If you are on Facebook, I have made an Event page so you can get all the…
clock | February 24, 2009Jennifer, one of Miss Baker's students, wrote a blog post about Malaria and, for that occasion, she also wrote and composed a song, then she filmed herself singing it and posted the video on YouTube:
Not your grandparents' Biology class....
clock | February 24, 2009The very first, inaugural, and absolutely amazing edition of the Diversity in Science Carnival is now up on Urban Science Adventures. Wow! Just wow! Totally amazing stuff.
And what a reminder of my White privilege - a couple of names there are familiar to me, as I have read their papers before, never ever stopping to think who they were or how they looked like! What a wake-up call!
For instance, I have read several papers by Chana Akins, as she works on Japanese quail. And I am somewhat familiar (being a history buff and obsessive reader of literature in my and related fields) with the work…