worldsfair | August 4, 2006Scienceblogger question is asking the following:
What movie do you think does something admirable (though not necessarily accurate) regarding science? Bonus points for answering whether the chosen movie is any good generally....
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Star Wars yet, so I'm going to pipe up for Han Solo et al. The first one in 1977, in particular, was a big one for me, and although it didn't necessarily reflect my yearning for science (and certainly doesn't uniformly follow robust scientific critique), I can't imagine it not having that effect on the countless other techno savy…
bcohen | August 4, 2006Asking a Scienceblogger...
What movie do you think does something admirable (though not necessarily accurate) regarding science? Bonus points for answering whether the chosen movie is any good generally....
The first legitimate answer that occurred to me was the 1995 Angels & Insects
On Darwinism, gender and science, class and science, natural selection, based on A.S. Byatt novellas.
This is a beautiful film, an excellent story, and a solid science-based one at that. I really can't overstate how beautiful it is. (It seems that IMDB and Rotten Tomato reviewers aren't as enamored, but they…
worldsfair | August 4, 2006Man, talk about creativity - I got this from inkycircus (Hi Anne). Truth is, I can't really say more than what the title gives away. The good stuff starts about 3 and a half minutes in.
- - -
(PAUL BERG) PROTEIN SYNTHESIS: AN EPIC ON THE CELLULAR LEVEL - 1971
Alright, any of you readers in this video?
worldsfair | August 4, 2006So, a while back I did my yearly pilgrimage to my wife's grade one class, where I did my usual liquid nitrogen thing (freeze stuff, smash it, make ice cream, scare young kids with overly large safety goggles, etc), and as usual I was open to all manner of questions in my role as a scientist type (my wife actually refers to me as Dave Ng the Science King in the class, a moniker that hasn't caught on in my graduate level classes).
And I'm always amazed at how much these 6 year olds pick up from what they hear and see in their day to day. Â Anyway, one of the kids asked this really cool question…
worldsfair | August 3, 2006I just read Ben's post on an article recently published at the Columbia Journalism Review, and also agree at the neatness of the quote as highlighted in the title of this post. It just brought me to mind of like minded graphic I saw during a presentation by David Orr, whilst he was here at UBC in January.
This graphic, I think, illustrates the same point in an even more potent manner. Here, you can see the interface of the "unknown" simply increases (and in a exponential manner at that), as knowledge is acquired. It simply nails home the notion that, in reality, the more that becomes…
bcohen | August 3, 2006An article from the Columbia Journalism Review I saw linked from Arts and Letters Daily (where they seem to be upping the number of science links of late) discusses "Why editors must dare to be dumb."
The author notes that "In science, feeling confused is essential to progress. An unwillingness to feel lost, in fact, can stop creativity dead in its tracks." Which I thought was an idea worth adding to the conversation on science, metaphor, and poetry that both I and Nick, over at The Scientific Activist, have been talking about.
Another choice line, here quoting an unnamed cosmologist: "By…
worldsfair | August 3, 2006Well, I have to say that this radiohead fellow has me quite impressed. Not only did his band, Radiohead, at one point, propel a song about human cloning to the #1 Billboard Chart spot (no mean feat), but now, he's bringing his eerily and hauntingly beautiful musical prowess to the debate surrounding global warming.
This time, it's a solo effort, an in between project, called "The Eraser," which I just picked up. When pressed about the content and perhaps most notably the album art, he's quoted as saying:
In the paper one day, [Friends of the Earth activist] Jonathan Porritt was basically…
worldsfair | August 3, 2006I quite enjoyed this Shouts and Murmurs piece by Paul Rudnick. Wish I thought of it first.
RYAN: And I think it looks great. Now, what about global warming?
RANDY: Yo, dawg, when you say "global warming" do you mean, like, sitting by the fire with your lady and getting down to a spicy slow jam by my man Barry White?
PAULA: Oh, oh, or do you mean, like, actually warming the globe? Like toasting one? Wouldn't it melt?
SIMON: He means, you idiots, that because of human greed we're in very real danger of ending life as we know it.
Will the madness never end? I wonder what the conversation would…
worldsfair | August 2, 2006
Lake Louise
Well, it's nice to be back from our little Canadian Rockies roadtrip, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the relative ease of having two young kids stuck in the back of our minivan for hours on end. It's actually been a while since we've ventured on a "real" trip, having been scared off in the past when Kate and I took a 10 month old (and very busy) Hannah to the Alps for 4 weeks (note: if anyone is thinking of doing something similar, please talk to me first - I hate saying this, but there is apparently some value to things like Disney Cruises afterall).
Anyway,…
bcohen | August 2, 2006This link about really, really long experiments is from the Athanasius Kircher Society, and I have no idea what that is, and I'm looking to you to tell me. But, for what it's worth, an interesting link to an interesting thread, about an interesting phenomenon. Did you want the answer? The oldest? It's this.
And then we can start another "what's up with Wikipedia?" thread a bit later (since I, like the rest of the human race, just linked to it). Really been pulled into the current these last few weeks (as at The New Yorker, The Onion, and now The Colbert Report (then click the Wikiality…
bcohen | August 1, 2006Science and metaphor aren't just for Lakoff and Johnson anymore (okay, they never were, but Metaphors We Live By (1980) was the first thing to pop in my head). From the Toronto Star comes a story, "It's Like This, You See", about the topic. I'll quote their header:
The ability to think metaphorically isn't reserved for poets. Scientists do it, too, using everyday analogies to expand their understanding of the physical world and share their knowledge with peers
The story hits on string theory and Darwin and Velcro and the Greeks. And includes this nice quote from Jan Zwicky, at UBC (I…
worldsfair | August 1, 2006
Cognitive Daily (link)
A GAME THEORETIC APPROACH TO THE TOILET SEAT PROBLEM
The toilet seat problem has been the subject of much controversey. In this paper we consider a simplified model of the toilet seat problem. We shall show that for this model there is an inherent conflict of interest which can be resolved by a equity solution...
Chemblog: The Addi(c)tive Blog (link)
A DIALOGUE WITH SARAH, AGED 3: IN WHICH IT IS SHOWN THAT IF YOUR DAD IS A CHEMISTRY PROFESSOR, ASKING "WHY" CAN BE DANGEROUS
SARAH: Daddy, were you in the shower?
DAD: Yes, I was in the shower.
SARAH: Why?
DAD: I was dirty…
worldsfair | July 31, 2006
Evolgen (link)
THE ETHICS OF CLONING: A DEBATE BETWEEN ME AND MY TWIN BROTHER
MODERATOR: Tonight's debate is on a topic meriting serious discussion: the ethics of cloning. Our participants are two outspoken proponents of opposing positions. Because it is a question for all of society, we have decided to include all and not simply the 'academic elite.'
Justin, you are going to argue that Cloning should be abandoned in any civil society?...
Effect Measure (link)
THE BIOTECH GAME OF LIFE
A boardgame...
Dynamics of Cats (link)
SEXY UNIVERSE
You are fine, what did you say your name is again? Mm.…
bcohen | July 30, 2006I just posted an entry on Darwin's status as a scientist, and wanted to tag on this brief run-down on some biography. (Although I'll say right off that I'm *not* a historical Darwin scholar, and a lot of brilliant people are.)
First, Darwin is the most biographed scientist. Second, that means there are tons of good bios of him; and a whole lot more that are just awful. Third, they've changed focus over the years -- so you can study the Darwin Bio industry itself as a site of research. His character is portrayed differently in the late 19th century, at the height of Victorian sensibility…
bcohen | July 30, 2006While driving back home yesterday and dreaming of that Saturday afternoon sweet spot of a nap time, I heard the above comment from one of the people interviewed on a story on Weekend America. A Kansan contributor to the program, Laura Ziegler, was interviewing her neighbors about the upcoming vote for School Board there, wondering what their takes on the I.D and Evolution thing were. One guy down the street's all gung-ho for teaching I.D. - and he's a medical doctor! -- and instead of really explaining why, he says instead, "There's not a shred of evidence that Darwin was a scientist." (…
bcohen | July 28, 2006[When we last left our dueling bloggers, they were reading Erik Reece's Death of a Mountain. And now, part 2, as continued from the first part of the conversation, wherein -- beyond the Reece article -- the bloggers made mention of mountains, their Appalachian disappearance, the new availability of golfing in West Virginia and Kentucky, the new opportunity to land planes safely on formerly hilly terrain, and the questions oddly left unasked about coal, energy, and where we get it.]
DN: You know that article is quite the eye-opener. And it's some of the smaller statements like the following…
bcohen | July 28, 2006How about a sampling of the lists over at McSweeney's, the perfect Friday activity. Here are a bunch that are either science-related, engineering-related, invention-related, or plain unrelated.
I'd be interested in any kind of ranking people have, the bests of the links, that is.
We'll do these in reverse chronological order...
Failed NASA Sapce Programs, by Jonathan Shipley
Hoover Dam Fast-Fact Pamphlet If Hoover Dam Were a Scale Model Made of Legos, by Orr Goehring
Dr. Phil's Inventions, by Scott Smith
Unpublished Sequels to Famous Science-Fiction Novels, by Steve Rushmore
Terrifying…
worldsfair | July 28, 2006
Living the Scientific Life (link)
PHOTO OF A NICE SET OF BOOBIES WE SAW AT THE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Photography piece...
The Island of Doubt (link)
ON THE ORIGIN, NAMING AND USES OF SEA HOLLY
During Atlantis' eighth invasion,
When that island nation had exhausted
Its supply of metal, the gardeners
Left their greenhouses, went to the warriors
And said, "We've made you coastal defenses--
Blades six inches long, divided triply,
Coarse-toothed, spine-edged, deep-rooted. They'll tangle
In the wrathful crab-men's chitinous claws
Rip the bellies from the Devil's dolphins
When they force their…
worldsfair | July 27, 2006
Pure Pedantry (link)
BABY STUDIES BIO
Baby studies bio, and I study biochem.
Baby studies bio, and I study biochem.
She likes her bio buddies,
But they don't like me and I don't like them...
Pharyngula (link)
LIMULUS & CHARLIE
Charlie wears broken glasses held together with tape and toothpicks. He is unemployed and occupies a one-bedroom apartment in Westchester, California, a half-mile northeast of LAX. Charlie eats in his car. His 1991 Nissan Stanza is a mausoleum of fast food, Frito Lay and Little Debbie wrappers. When Charlie was in the sixth grade, some of his classmates took to…
bcohen | July 26, 2006Environmental Science/Studies in Review, Volume 1
Here is a rundown of some recent pieces of note w/r/t environment, science, and technology -- specifically, a few on atrazine and hermaphroditic friogs, and then a few on Big Organic (farming and planting and eating and such).
From the August issue of Harper's comes an article (not available on-line - I'm just saying, maybe go read it at a newsstand, like one of those guys who stands there reading select articles and learning for free) "It's Not Easy Being Green: Are weed-killers turning frogs into hermaphrodites?" by William Souder . The…