worldsfair
Posts by this author
August 15, 2007
Part 1 | 2 | 3- - -A: University College hospital,Ibadan, B: Entrance to College of MedicineMonday morning, the first day of the workshop, and the adrenaline was already pumping. Today, we would have the opportunity to check out the facilities we had to work with, as well as meet our students for…
August 14, 2007
(By Jacqui Monaghan)
I am not ashamed to admit that I have a crush on Martha Stewart. I mean, come on: with those luscious locks, knitted ponchos, freshly baked cookies, and that home in the Hamptons, what's not to love?
Apparently, even cybergeeks love her. This week, Martha will go where Bob…
August 8, 2007
Part 1 | 2 | 3- - -From left to right: Nash, Michelle, David P., and meSad goodbyes notwithstanding, the trip first concerned itself with a 12,700km journey, from Vancouver to London, London to Lagos, and then from Lagos to Ibadan, our final destination. During this time (and we had about 20 hours…
August 7, 2007
So having just returned from a two week stint in Nigeria, I'm going to spend the next little while writing about the experience itself (I had planned to do this whilst there, but internet access was, at best, sporadic, and its speed could only be classed as heartbreaking . In any event, this…
July 21, 2007
I'm heading out today - so just in case I won't be able to blog in my absence, this is just to say I'll be back in about two weeks.
(Snapshot of my luggage)
July 19, 2007
Well, we're finally pleased to announce that we have, indeed, acquired the services of three excellent interns (see our original call here).
This, after our somewhat disappointing Ultraman experience, and some studio pressure to go with George Lucas (in the end, our people ran into scheduling…
July 17, 2007
So, previously, I pointed out some of the difficulties involved in getting reagents and other scientific things to a place like Nigeria. Anyway, I thought a post like this might therefore be useful for the odd reader out there who also does this sort of thing.
Because the norm is traveling by…
July 16, 2007
In some ways, we can construe this as a classic "Technology" vs "Nature" battle. Where high tech takes on no tech. It's the ultimate philosophical slash pop-culture analogy for, well, I'm sure, something...
So, basically, I'm just saying I'm curious what others think. Who exactly would win?…
July 12, 2007
O.K., it's been a while since I've checked in with our little "truth" experiment, but it appears that we're still holding in the top ten for google ranking (top five in google.ca). (Oh yeah, and if you're new to this, this is essentially a google bombing exercise attempting to raise a definition…
July 12, 2007
As mentioned earlier, I'll be heading off to Africa soon to do some experiments and teach a workshop. One of the more interesting challenges, we face from the get go, is how to deliver the reagents in a manner so that we can ensure their arrival, and also worry less about things like stability…
July 11, 2007
Continuing on from our previous lecture notes (the last being about historical awareness of "global" - i.e. characterization of the Earth from both a physical and place context), we have planned that Immediately after that lecture, Allen would next go over a "State of the World" type summary. A…
July 10, 2007
Just to say that in about two weeks, I'll be heading off to Ibadan in Nigeria to hold a genetics laboratory workshop. I've done this sort of thing before, and have been involved in some form or manner with the program for the last couple years. It's a good way to shake the psyche up a bit.…
July 9, 2007
One of the first ever humour pieces that the Science Creative Quarterly published is resurfacing today, and it's also one of my favourite (if only because it contains the phrase, "accelerating two rats to relativistic velocity.")
There is the common perceived consensus is that there is "physics…
July 6, 2007
Ooh. Another slide show. And one that tracks instances in history where humanity notices, "You know, the "stuff" all around, and the "where" we happen to be."
As set up by this previous post, and produced by the grace of Apple's Keynote software. Would love to get some feedback.
(Note this file…
July 5, 2007
O.K. so to begin the ASIC course, we thought that part of this should be an attempt to look at historically what may have defined "global" - as in both the humanities and sciences context (maybe about 20 to 25 minutes each).
Here is a preview of my first few slides.
Essentially, I'll probably do…
July 5, 2007
Wow. This collection of portraits is wonderful. Here's an image of Robert Boyle I used for the lecture I mentioned earlier.
Anyway, worth checking out. (link)
July 4, 2007
Today sees the reprinting of a classic textbook piece at the Science Creative Quarterly. It's actually a rebuttal written by a friend to an earlier piece, but basically does an awesome job discussing the various characteristics of fat (particularly as it relates to the hot dog). Here's how the…
July 4, 2007
O.K. so, let's design a course.
A course that has a calendar entry as follows:
ASIC 200 (3) Global Issues in the Arts and Sciences: Selected global issues explored through the methodologies and perspectives of both the physical and life sciences and the humanities and social sciences. [3-0-0]…
June 28, 2007
I've been thinking a little about having another go at a Puzzle Fantastica, what with the first being kind of cool, and the second solved much too quickly. Along those lines (and because the previous post has that marvelous cover image), I was happy to discover that at one time (back in April of…
June 28, 2007
Isn't this a great cover?
It's called "Bright Idea" and was done by Bob Staake.
As well, the shouts and murmur piece (by Jack Handey) in this issue is priceless. Here's the start of the piece, but click here to read all of it.
Show monkey in a tree. Narrator says, "The monkey, proud and smart, in…
June 27, 2007
(Image by The Norweigian)
Chalk it up to a life size model of the blue whale. Yup, I can say with certainty that the reason I got into science, biology, all of the things that have led to my current place as an academic, started with a freakishly impressive (especially if you're a young child…
June 26, 2007
Well, who would have thought?
RNA makes the cover of the Economist. Mind you, I don't think its importance is that surprising to folks already in the field, since RNA has always garnered a certain amount of respect as a macromolecule of note and curios.
This can, more or less, be boiled down to…
June 25, 2007
Don't you think it's twisted that so many kids know what
this creature is, but so few can go about naming the birds in their backyard?
- - -
Well, I had briefly talked about this before, more as a whimsical train of thought, but there you have it - we're going to give it a go.
Not sure what I'm…
June 21, 2007
So here's a thought experiment. Part of the challenge of scientific literacy is finding the audience, or maybe better to say, to create the audience. In particular, the attracting the audience that doesn't normally read things like ScienceBlogs, or subscribes to the New Scientist, etc, etc. So…
June 20, 2007
(This image, by the way (or the color version of it), is the winner of Seed's Threadless contest)
Yesterday, I heard on the CBC, an interesting story about Dr. William Bird, who is Natural England's health expert. Natural England is an organization that:
"... will work for people, places and…
June 19, 2007
Holding a high-school teacher workshop today. Here's some music that I've been liking of late. The john Prine duet in particular is classic.- - -Don't Stop Now, Crowded HouseIn Spite of Ourselves, John Prine (and Iris DeMent)Mr. Tough, Yo La Tengo
June 18, 2007
Image by Baskervillain
Last week I was in San Francisco for a meeting (sorry Janet for not touching base - I literally got my passport the day before flying out). This was actually the first work-related trip I've taken in about 5 years (the last being the workshop in Lagos, Nigeria), so it was…
June 18, 2007
Just a quick note to let folks know I'll be giving a short talk tomorrow in Vancouver on the challenge of science literacy, and also hoping to generate some interesting and unconventional ideas for tackling this challenge.
Details are as follows:
"A dialogue on the here and now: Scientific and…
June 15, 2007
My apologies for being more or less absent in the last three weeks or so, but I promise to get back to form on Monday. In particular, it's kind of cool that The World's Fair has been around for a whole year, which has led me to think about a readership drive (maybe another intern?)
As well, I…