bcohen | May 5, 2008Last year we posted a notice of the highest measurement of dioxin ever recorded by the EPA. The reading was from the Tittabawassee River in Michigan, downstream from Dow Chemical's headquarters in Midland and on its way to Lake Huron (see map below). Michigan state safe levels are set at 90 ppt. The EPA standard is 1000 ppt. A hot spot reading on the river clocked in at 1.6 million ppt. Last week, the Bush Administration forced out a senior EPA official who was pushing Dow to clean it up.
I'd noticed the story last year of the EPA measurements in a news link on-line. It spurred this…
worldsfair | May 2, 2008A couple months back, I wrote a grant for one of my main educational projects (Terry), that would ask for funding to host a student conference here at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Terry, as some of you already know, is aimed to build an interdisciplinary undergraduate community, with a directed focus on issues of social and/or environmental responsibility.
A couple weeks ago, we heard that we were successful in securing the funds for this conference. This is very exciting for me, because we explicitly wrote the grant so that conference in question gets to follow a TEDtalks…
bcohen | May 1, 2008
"What seems a detour has a way of becoming, in time, a direct route." R. Powers, Three Farmers...
Preface | Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 | (Sidebar 1) | Pt. 4 | Pt. 5 | Pt. 6
Pt. 7 | (Sidebar 2a) | (Sidebar 2b) | Pt. 8 | Pt. 9 | Conclusion
[Note: if you're new to the series, don't know what's going on, and want a shortcut, I'd say you can start with Part 3, skip the sidebars, and still cut a reasonable swath.]
It was gravity. Gravity gives us the answer. Not sunlight, not the pathetic fallacy, not Olga the tour guide, not forensic expertise about the shine off the cannonball. Gravity. So…
bcohen | April 29, 2008Preface | Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 | (Sidebar 1) | Pt. 4 | Pt. 5 | Pt. 6
Pt. 7 | (Sidebar 2a) | (Sidebar 2b) | Pt. 8 | Pt. 9 | Conclusion
Richard Powers, in his debut novel Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance, constructs a story about the identity of the three farmers in August Sander's 1914 photograph of that name. The novel takes on not just the three farmers, but three storylines too. The many characters in his three-thread narrative each, in some way, contribute to the larger story about technology, photography, philosophy, and knowledge. I've touched on as much in earlier parts to this…
worldsfair | April 28, 2008I wrote about this over at Terry, but will reprint here as well
This is interesting, if not a bit alarming. Essentially, this story follows a trail of individuals that even Kevin Bacon would be proud of.
The cast includes: a UBC student, her sister (also a UBC student), a senior level biology course, the course's teacher and the course's teaching assistant. As well, there is another teaching assistant - this one from the History Department (not Biology), and for the rest of us here, this TA is sort of the antagonist. Oh, and the aforementioned biology course focuses on the theory of…
bcohen | April 28, 2008This post was written by guest blogger Wyatt Galusky.*
The future of meat? (image source)
So, it's come to this. PETA has just announced a $1 million reward for the first group to make in vitro meat edible and tasty. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have decided that, in lieu of turning the whole world veg, they will promote research into suffering and death-free means of satisfying people's "meat addictions." (Talk of the Nation: Science Friday weighed in on this too.)
I mentioned in vitro meat in a guest blog post here way back when. As a brief primer, this kind of…
bcohen | April 24, 2008The Washington Post ran an excellent story on Mountaintop Removal (MTR) in West Virginia on the front page of this week's Sunday paper. The story is notable for several reasons.
"This area once was once an open valley with a stream."
Image credit: Michael Williamson, Washington Post.
One reason is that front page placement: not only does it provide visibility to the issue, but it also adds a degree of legitimacy to it as a topic of public debate.
On my read, though, the story was even sharper for the focus it offered on connections. Just as with the last MTR post we ran (in February,…
worldsfair | April 18, 2008Today at the SCQ, there's an awesome piece that imagines Charles Darwin being brought back to life for next year's bicentennial celebration. As well, the piece is written in the context of him checking out the proposed (and, hopefully by then, built) replica of the H.M.S. Beagle. Better still, it's being presented as a pin-up for your locker room needs.
This is all spear headed by a group over at the HMS Beagle Project: the piece itself written by Peter McGrath (one of the co-founders) and illustrated by Diana Sudyka (do check out her album cover and music poster work - it's wonderful).
As…
worldsfair | April 17, 2008About a month ago, I was lucky enough to partake in a speaker event, where noted economist Paul Collier gave a great talk.
Who is Paul Collier? Two titles to throw at you: Professor of Economics, in the Oxford University Economics Department; as well as the Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies.
What was the talk about? Well, it was primarily based around his best selling economics (did I just say best selling economics - now there's a phrase you don't hear too often) book that looks at the mechanics behind the bottom billion. That sixth of the world stuck in a…
worldsfair | April 14, 2008
Presumably, art and sciences interact a little like this?
The Science Creative Literacy Symposia is a new fieldtrip program offered at the University of British Columbia, and is designed to provide an engaging outreach experience for students at the Grade 6/7 level. Here, the intent is to combine elements of science exploration with expository creative writing with the aim of fostering skills in written literacy, scientific literacy, as well as develop appreciation in interdisciplinary connections.
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Hosted by the Advanced Molecular Biology Lab at the Michael Smith Laboratories, and by…
worldsfair | April 9, 2008Recently, I picked up a copy of the latest 3x3 Annual (No. 4 to be exact), and was perusing through the great artwork that it compiles. Here the entries (about 250 pages worth) are essentially on display via a competition format, and if looking at a wonderful array of graphics is your kind of thing, then this kind of publication can't help but be a treat.
Anyway, one of things I had a chance to look at this morning, was their animation category, which is presented in full here. The winner entry entitled "Tyger" is just luscious to watch, and definitely has some strong environmental…
bcohen | April 7, 2008
Long time since we had an alternative sponsor, and just at the time I've been starting to wonder if The World's Fair should remain part of the scienceblogs collective. With the Dow Chemical ads back, we also took note of more recent news on the morally debased position the company takes with respect to its purchase of Union Carbide back in 2001 -- and the responsibilities for the 1984 Bhopal leak that one would assume came with said purchase but, per the Dow spokesman, do not: "A Dow official in Midland, Mich., said the firm did not inherit Union Carbide's liabilities when it acquired the…
bcohen | April 4, 2008Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3 | Pt 4
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Part 4 with Kelly Joyce, author of Magnetic Appeal: MRI and the Myth of Transparency, follows below. All entries in the author-meets-bloggers series can be found here.
WF: Is your story of MRI one that is common to medical technologies? Common to the commodification (in an economic sense) or routinization (in the sense of technical practice) of machines in daily medical practice? Common to a story about the consequences of health care practice in the 21st century? Anything?
KJ: The integration of MRI into medical practice is a story that shares issues…
worldsfair | April 3, 2008...and maybe he's a little on the bitter side.
Anyhow, Timon Buys has been doing a great job of looking after the Science Creative Quarterly's FILTER site, and today he put up something that is all kinds of awesome. link (also to hi-res version)
I'm curious - for those of you in the research arena - how often does this match your sentiment?
bcohen | April 3, 2008Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3 | Pt 4
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Part 3 with Kelly Joyce, author of Magnetic Appeal: MRI and the Myth of Transparency, follows below. All entries in the author-meets-bloggers series can be found here.
WF: Let me risk a more blatantly social sciency question. Did you ever become part of the clinical work in your role as the social scientist? I don't mean intentionally, but by virtue of your presence and your kind of knowledge. I think this is a question about "going native" and if that was bad or if it happened.
KJ: Yes, I was clearly present, and at times I became part of the clinical…
bcohen | April 2, 2008Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3 | Pt 4
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Part 2 with Kelly Joyce, author of Magnetic Appeal: MRI and the Myth of Transparency, follows below. All entries in the author-meets-bloggers series can be found here.
WF: You also discuss the importance of the users of technologies in the development and identity of those technologies (like MRI), right?
KJ: Right. In studies of science and technology, scholars can and do study how users of a technology actively contribute to its design, creatively negotiate design limitations (e.g., how old people put tennis balls on a walker's legs to create traction), or…
worldsfair | April 1, 2008We had a humour piece go up at Terry today that was just too cool. Since, the Terry website isn't as visible as the Science Creative Quarterly, i thought I would highlight it here. It's called:
Microcredit Isn't Right for Everyone (by Mike Richardson-Bryan)
Oh yeah, Terry has a contest, open to the general public as well, and happy to take in well written blog posts - just a thought for those hungry for bookish gift cards that can be used online.
bcohen | April 1, 2008Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3 | Pt 4
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The World's Fair is pleased to offer the discussion below about a fascinating new book, Magnetic Appeal: MRI and the Myth of Transparency, with its author Kelly Joyce. Joyce is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the College of William and Mary.
Professor Joyce has a degree in anthropology, a doctorate in Sociology, a resume that includes a few years of teaching at Harvard, and a kind demeanor. She is also the co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Death and the Human Experience (Sage, 2006). Magnetic Appeal will be published in June by…
worldsfair | March 28, 2008Boy, talk about consumption. Great music video featuring the digital art prowess of Chris Jordan.
We offer this as a follow-up to last summer's "What We Waste," a post on Jordan's work that was part of a larger discussion of consumption patterns and energy (cf. E-trash , What We Eat, and this larger conversation on e-trash with Lizzie Grossman).