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December 13, 2012

Getting organized for #scio13. Making “to do” lists and some networking (a.k.a. meeting wonderful people) homework.

(For #scio13 interview links, scroll down).

O.K. so if there is one conference, that I want to kind of spend a disproportionate amount of time to get ready for, it would have to be this one.

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Yes, this would be the vaulted Science Online 2013 conference. Last year, I kind of winged it, and still ended up: (1) doing a little performance, (2) catching up with a lot of old friends,  (3) being introduced to a ton of amazing folks, and (4)  starting the odd discussion that laid groundwork for a collaboration or two.

So here it is: a blog post that serves as my “this is what I want to do, and who else is coming” info station.  This would also double as an introductory post for those who might be interested in some of the things I do, and maybe even want to chat with me.

Firstly, this is a picture of me (yes, I will be bringing the t-shirt along).  I was also recently interviewed by Bora, so you can take a peek at that to get a sense of the sort of stuff I do.  I run this lab, but in general, I’m interested in intersections between creativity and science; excellent ways to broach challenging science education logistics and/or topics (especially to audiences not that receptive to science); and (if you must know) I’m also always thinking of ways to weasel myself into one of those new Star Wars movies planned for the future (because I think I would be perfect as one of those Stormtroopers who fires his/her laser gun, a piece of technology that is presumably very advanced, and still miss the target that is only a room length away and not even moving terribly fast). And if you’d like to learn more about some of the web hijinks I’ve been involved in, or some of the “writing” I’ve done, then do feel free to peruse my pseudo (and oft neglected) portfolio site.

– – –

But on to the matter at hand: the conference runs from January 30th to February 2nd and will likely involve the most intense 70 to 80 hours of epic science discussion you can imagine.  With those parameters in mind, here’s the gist of what I hope to accomplish.

oneFirstly, I’ll be co-moderating a session with Tom Levenson on “Opening doors: Science communication for those that don’t care/don’t like science.” (Fri, Feb 1, 2:30-3:30 pm, Room 7b) – Session specific website here.

This, I think, will be one of those discussions that will be both wonderful, challenging, surprising, and prone to tangential exploration (i.e. a back and forth about the variety of unconventional methods that can be used to talk science). The key question (and the prevailing tension of this topic), I suppose, is whether that tangential nature is a good thing or a bad thing – does it distract or dilute from the real translation of science, and/or if it does, is that sometimes alright.

I’m actually hoping to take in the collective wisdom of the session (as well as the conference in general) to think more seriously about this idea, primarily because it concerns the challenge of preaching outside the choir. In other words, how does one embed the notion of science culture into everyone’s self identity, whether it’s in large parts like in the case of Tom and I, or (perhaps more importantly) in smaller, nuanced but still critical ways for those who aren’t as passionate about such things, or those who blatantly resist it.  As well, I want to know if this collected wisdom is something that should be described, archived, even assessed somewhere – say as a journal, book, ebook, ap, workshop, or website or whatever. I know I think so – and I hope there are others who also think so (we can, for instance, brainstorm about what this might look like, if there is interest).

Cara and Melanie – might be worth having a chat beforehand since I think your session will be tackling some similar themes, albeit dealing with a much feistier (and impertinent) element?

twoIn terms of general science-y goodness and general networking, I want to chat with people who are really in awe of the quiet grandness and messy elegance of the scientific method, and who also want to think of interesting ways to explore it within an elementary school setting. And I’m not just talking about doing experiments (which will be done and will be awesome), but even in seeing if we can figure out the most effective, creative and engaging ways to talk to kids about weighty concepts like validity and evidence.

My end goal is to design a 1 day elementary school teacher workshop (which would possibly be later adapted to an elementary school fieldtrip program), and any insight into what ideas/exercises might be good to pursue or avoid would be very handy. In fact, hearing about examples of great programs that already exist would also be much appreciated.

threeNext up, I’d like to explore possible research opportunities where it would be great to gain some metrics on some of the programs my lab currently runs. This is one of the cases where funding already exists to perform the activities: but it just needs an interested party to design a research question around said activity. In particular, we have this really interesting field trip (called the Science Creative Literary Symposia) which essentially teams up a Science Graduate Student with a Creative Writing (and sometimes Visual Arts) MFA student.  Here, the two of them are guided to design a days worth of activities where a classroom of 9 to 11 year olds can do some relatively fancy science experimentation (in my lab in tune with the specialty of the scientist), as well as ask them to do some expository creative writing or creative art around the experience (also in tune with the preferred genre of the writer/artist).

The intent of this fieldtrip is primarily to show that mixing these two things isn’t so strange afterall.  In fact, another point to be made is that there are many similarities in these seemingly two divergent tasks, and that therefore one shouldn’t necessarily assume you can’t enjoy both.  We’ve done this fieldtrip for a few years now, and I think we now have it as a well oiled machine, consistently generating great reviews from both the kids and teachers who attend. It just seems like a remarkable opportunity to design a study with the aim to query the children’s impressions around concepts of science and creativity.

Anyway, if this sounds intriguing to you (especially if you’re the type that considers the creative arts when sharing science, or if you have a background in education research), then do let me know – I know Marie-Claire and I will have a good chat about this, and I know I’m itching to release my grant writing chops for this…

fourFinally, I’m looking for someone who would appreciate a $5000 art grant to help host a Phylo deck. Usually folks from a Natural History Museum makes the most sense here, but I’m open to all sorts of suggestions (environmental and science education NGOs, publications could also work). Essentially, I think it would be kind of cool to initiate discussions with the formal intent of having the deck ready for the next conference in 2014 (i.e. a recurring tradition).  I’m also at the beginning stages of initiating some education research around this project as well (essentially to assess its utility in terms of actually making children/players think more about biodiversity), but would love to have more involved.  The idea of a hosted deck is pretty cool – they can certainly look nice, as sample cards from this deck in progress can attest to.  I’ve started an exploratory tweet here, but curious if there might be others that are intrigued.

fiveOh, and actually, there is one more thing. I’ve sort of started on the process of writing a book, on science literacy no less: but given that my writing background tends to be a little unconventional to say the least (for example, my pieces tend to look like this, this, and this), I have to admit that the whole prospect is scaring the bejeezus out of me. Basically, it would be lovely to just chat with other science book writers, both those who are Yodas in the industry, as well as others who might also be new to the endeavour.

– – –

Now onto my homework – which isn’t really as arduous as it sounds, because Bora, Karyn and Anton have made things easy for us. Here is a list of all the interesting folks who are coming out, and then here is this large archive of great interviews of past Science Online attendees (also just found this other archive of SA Incubator’s Q&A’s). For this post, I’ve gone and edited this list of links to focus on the folks who also happen to be attending this year. So my homework (and maybe yours too), is to slowly make your way through the below list (marked with year that the interview was conducted).  If you’re not here because you haven’t sent in a Q&A to Bora, then you’re also welcome to leave a comment introducing yourself at the bottom (perhaps with mention of your favorite beverage and, if you’re up to the challenge, done as a six word memoir?)

– – –

David Ng, 2012 | Tom Levenson, 2008

Samuel Arbesman, 2012 | Stacy Baker, 2009 | Karl Leif Bates, 2008

DeLene Beeland, 2010 | Aatish Bhatia, 2012 | Holy Bik, 2011

Mollie Bloudoff-Indelicato, 2012 | Carin Bonder, 2013 | Emily Buehler, 2012

Bug Girl, 2012 | Russ Campbell, 2009 | Katie Cottingham, 2012

Kiyomi Deards, 2011 | Lali Derosier, 2012 | Carmen Drahl, 2010

Nadia Drake, 2012 | Jonathan Eisen, 2010 | Sean Ekins, 2013

Rose Eveleth, 2012 | Marissa Fessenden, 2012 | Suzanne Franks, 2008

Simon Frantz, 2013 | Laura Geggel, 2012 | Miriam Goldstein, 2009

Mary Beth Griggs, 2012 | Rebecca Guenard, 2012 | William Gunn, 2012

 Chris Gunter, 2013  | Dirk Hanson, 2012 | Justine Hausheer, 2012

 Mark Henderson, 2012 | James Hrynyshyn, 2008 | Scott Huler, 2010

Karen James, 2008 | Anne Jefferson, 2010 | Djordje Jeremic, 2009

Miriam Kramer, 2012 | Pascale Lane, 2011 | Danielle Lee, 2009

Tom Linden, 2010 | Peter Lipson, 2009 | Robin Lloyd, 2011

Maryn McKenna, 2012 | Glendon Mellow, 2009 | Seth Mnookin, 2011

Joanne Monaster, 2010 | Jessica Morrison, 2012 | Dave Mosher, 2011

Dave Munger, 2008 | Andrea Novicki, 2010 | Kelly Oakes, 2012

Princess Ojiaku, 2010 | Ivan Oransky, 2010 | Jennifer Ouelette, 2008

Trevor Owens, 2012 | Catherine Owsik, 2012 | Erin Podolak, 2012

Kelly Poe, 2012 | Kate Prengaman, 2012 | Elizabeth Preston, 2012

Jason Priem, 2011 | Kathleen Raven, 2011, 2012 | Anthony Salvagno, 2013

Cara Santa Maria, 2012 | SciCurious, 2009 | Marie-Claire Shanahan, 2010

David Shiffman, 2012 | Matt Shipman, 2012 | Michelle Sipics, 2012

Dr.SkySkull, 2009 | Tara Smith, 2008 | Blake Stacey, 2009

Janet Stemwedel, 2008 | Brian Switek, 2008 | Amy Shira Teitel, 2012

Kaitlin Thaney, 2011 | John Timmer, 2010 | Holly Tucker, 2011

Kaitlin Vandemark, 2012 | Sarah Webb, 2013 | Mindy Weisberger, 2012

David Wescott, 2011 | Christie Wilcox, 2010 | Allie Wilkinson, 2013

Antony Williams, 2010 | Josh Witten, 2012 | Kate Yandell, 2012

Ed Yong, 2010 | Carl Zimmer, 2010 | Bora Zivkovic, 2008, 2013

Anton Zuiker, 2013

– – –

Finally, just so that we can set the tone a little bit, do check out this great video by Carin Bondar. It’ll do wonders to get you in the mood:

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December 12, 2012

Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravaganza! – Day 12

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FROST FLOWERS: CHRISTMAS-LIKE CAPSULES OF BIODIVERSITY
Photos by Jeff Bowman and Jody Deming

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“In a study combining oceanography, microbiology, and planetary sciences, NSF-funded researchers at the University of Washington have discovered fascinating new aspects of so-called “frost flowers” that grow on Arctic ice fields. These delicate ice structures turn out to host microbes that survive to extremely cold temperatures, informing us about the limits of life when we search on other ice-covered planets and moons for possible extraterrestrial life. They also produce chemicals such as formaldehyde that may give clues about the origin of life on the early Earth.”

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University of Washington, IGERT. Via Colossal.

(see more of Popperfont’s Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravanganza here)

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December 11, 2012

Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravaganza! – Day 11

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IN WHICH WE ARE TOLD WHY RUDOLPH’S NOSE IS RED
“Epidemiology of reindeer parasites.”
Halvorsen O. Parasitol Today. 1986 Dec;2(12):334-9.

ABSTRACT: Every Christmas we sing about Rudolph the red-nosed Reindeer, but do we give much thought to why his nose is red? The general consensus is that Rudolf has caught a cold, but as far as I know no proper diagnosis has been made of his abnormal condition. I think that, rather than having a cold, Rudolf is suffering from a parasitic infection of his respiratory system. To some this may seem a bit far-fetched as one would not expect an animal living with Santa Claus at the North Pole to be plagued by parasites, but I shall show otherwise.

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Link to pdf of paper.

(see more of Popperfont’s Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravanganza here)

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December 10, 2012

Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravaganza! – Day 10

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SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS
You can watch the movie in its entirety at Youtube.

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Here is the plot as described on Wikipedia. Note that there is no mention of Curiosity or of NASA generally. Presumably, the sequel will rectify this…

“The story involves the people of Mars, including Momar (“Mom Martian”) and Kimar (“King Martian”). They’re worried that their children Girmar (“Girl Martian”) and Bomar (“Boy Martian”) are watching too much Earth television, most notably station KID-TV’s interview with Santa Claus in his workshop at the North Pole. Consulting the ancient 800-year-old Martian sage Chochem (a Yiddish word meaning “genius”), they are advised that the children of Mars are growing distracted due to the society’s overly rigid structure; from infancy, all their education is fed into their brains through machines and they are not allowed individuality or freedom of thought.

Chochem notes that he had seen this coming “for centuries”, and says the only way to help the children is to allow them their freedom and be allowed to have fun. To do this, they need a Santa Claus figure, like on Earth. Leaving the Chochem’s cave, the Martian leaders decide to abduct Santa Claus from Earth and bring him to Mars. As the Martians could not distinguish between all the fakes Santas, they kidnapped two children to find the real one. Once this is accomplished, one Martian, Voldar, who strongly disagrees with the idea, repeatedly tries to kill Santa Claus along with two kidnapped Earth children. He believes that Santa is corrupting the children of Mars and turning them away from the race’s original glory.

When they arrive on Mars, Santa and the children build a factory to make toys for the children. However, Voldar and his assistants, Stobo and Shim, sabotage the factory and change the programming so that it makes the toys incorrectly. Meanwhile, Dropo, Kimar’s assistant, has taken a great liking to Santa Claus and Christmas, puts on one of Santa’s spare suits and starts acting like Santa Claus. He goes to the toy factory to make toys, but Voldar mistakes him for Santa and kidnaps him.

When Santa and the children come back to the factory to make more toys, they discover the machines have been tampered with. Voldar and Stobo come back to the factory to make a deal with Kimar, but when they see the real Santa Claus they realize that their plan has been foiled. Dropo, held hostage in a cave, tricks his guard Shim and escapes. Kimar then arrests Voldar, Stobo and Shim. Santa notices Dropo acts like him, and says that Dropo would make a good Martian Santa. Kimar agrees to let Dropo be the Martian Santa Claus and sends Santa and the children back to Earth.”

(see more of Popperfont’s Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravanganza here)

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December 9, 2012

Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravaganza! – Day 9

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DELUXE LED MENORAH KIT
DIY kit available from Evil Mad Scientist.

(see more of Popperfont’s Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravanganza here)

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December 8, 2012

Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravaganza! – Day 8

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IS THERE A SANTA?
By Paul Clarkson, via The Science Creative Quarterly.

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Being a scientific investigation of a cultural conundrum

Soon it will be Christmas Eve, and once more children will be divided into distinct factions. Here, Cyr [1] described younger children (12 years) who have ditched this ‘childish’ belief. But he fails, by excluding from his questionnaire, to describe a third group who aren’t really sure – the undecided voters if you like. And as the eldest child, I have spent a large part of my life in this group. Moreover, being scientifically minded even at the age 7, I of course approached this problem according to well-established techniques of investigation.

My first stop was to consult the authorities. My parents (beneficiaries of a liberal arts education and a liberal dosing of 1960’s psychotropic compounds) reassured their young child by explaining that Santa, like all beliefs, was a social construction and as such was true to all who believed in him. When I asked how I would prove that, Mum told me that all truth was relative and that the concept of proof was no more than a projection of hegemony by the dominant culture. Which I thought was a load of old bollocks.

Disappointed but not discouraged I proceeded to a literature search (It wasn’t until much later in my career that I realised this was only ever done after at least 9 months of laborious investigation, although I was naive then, so give me a break). My little red bookshelf contained several volumes referring to Santa Claus. Most were personal accounts [2], and as such counted as no more than Level V evidence (expert opinion). Other styled themselves as authorities [3,4], but lacked references to definitive investigations.

Modern children of course have Pubmed, and conducting a search today for “Santa Claus Existence” gave 5 results, of which one was relevant. In 2002 Cyr surveyed whether paediatric inpatients still believed in Santa Claus. While a good and noteworthy study, this would still have not fit my purposes. I didn’t care if other children believed in Santa, and besides this was still only Level IV evidence (case-series). The author also declared his bias as a continuing believer, throwing all his conclusions under a cloud.

I realised I would have to abandon epidemiological techniques in favour of direct experimentation. I proceeded with the null hypothesis “Santa Claus does not exist”. I designed a trap to snare him in my bedroom, but after two failed years I realised the fault in my experimental design. The only way to reject the null hypothesis was to catch him, but not catching him left me unable to either accept or reject the null hypothesis. Unfortunately we hadn’t studied Karl Popper in reading room at that stage.

I decided to approach things in a more indirect manner. His ability to tell if children have been naughty or nice has been well-described [5]. More specifically, I decided to adjust my behaviour, the independent variable A, and observe the number of presents, the dependent variable B. If he did exist, then B would vary with A, but if my parents were bringing the loot then A should not cause B to vary, as I was an overindulged and spoilt child. Furthermore, being nice and still getting presents regardless would prove little, and besides naughty was much more fun.

So I was as naughty as possible on Christmas Eve. I threw tantrums, messed my room, pulled my sister’s hair and hid my brother’s toys. I interrupted my father and refused to eat my dinner. The next morning I awoke with eager anticipation of my results. I got pretty much the same presents as usual. I then realised with horror that I had no reference standard! What if I was going to get more and had been reduced? How would I know? My brother and sister served as case-controls, but this was wholly unsatisfactory. Was a Barbie doll worth one or two toy cars? Had they been naughty or nice, thus confounding the results?

In any event, I am sorry to report that despite having now reached adulthood, I have still been unable to establish a satisfactory experimental design for this problem. The levels of evidence in this field continue to be amongst the poorest in the literature, and anecdotal evidence abounds. However, there will be a bear-trap at the bottom of my chimney again this year. While Popper may maintain that it is impossible to prove that something does not exist, the truth is that I’ve only got to catch the bastard once to get my answer.

References

1. Cyr C. Do reindeer and children know something that we don’t? Paediatric inpatients’ beliefs in Santa Claus. CMAJ 2002 Dec 10; 167(12): 1325-1327

2. Moore CC. ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. The Sentinel 1823. Heirloom edition available from Running Press Book Publishers.

3. Apple M, Baum LF, Riley, MO. The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. Signet Classics

4. Perkes A. The Santa Claus Book. Lyle Stuart Publishing.

5. Coots JF, Kellogg S. Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town. HarperCollins

(see more of Popperfont’s Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravanganza here)

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December 7, 2012

Window mathematics (or more proof that math is truly everywhere)

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By Aakash Nihalani at Nuart Festival in Norway. Via Fresh Photons.

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December 7, 2012

Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravaganza! – Day 7

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POLYGON WREATH
By Matthew Parker. Hand painted paper polygons with glitter detail.

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Available for purchase.

(see more of Popperfont’s Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravanganza here)

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December 6, 2012

Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravaganza! – Day 6

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AMAZING MACRO PHOTOGRAPHS OF SNOW CRYSTALS (GIANT SNOWFLAKES!)
By Andrew Osokin, via Colossal

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(see more of Popperfont’s Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravanganza here)

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December 5, 2012

Awesome marine life plus human technology hybrids (a.k.a. how cool are these whale boats?)

WANT!

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Whaleboat1

By Kyler Martz

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December 5, 2012

Some quotes about climate change…

somequotesaboutclimatechange

By Bird and Moon, via IFLS.

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December 5, 2012

MERRY MOLECULAR BIOLOGY WORKSHOP! (February 18-22, 2013 University of British Columbia, Vancouver)

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Sharing this among your science minded set would be GREATLY appreciated.

Once again, my lab is pleased to offer our popular Molecular Biology Workshops for those who wish to get quick, professional, theoretical, practical (and enjoyable) training in the fine science of molecular techniques. Our next one is scheduled for February 18th to 22nd at the University of British Columbia, in beautiful Vancouver. Although, this workshop is primarily designed for the professional life science researcher (graduate students, post-docs, faculty, industry, etc), we’ve also had great reviews from folks in fields as diverse as education, journalism, economics, politics, law, engineering, and computer science.

Cost is $1400 (discounts for group rates) for the 5 day workshop, where all funds go toward our various outreach activities. These include a menu of different field trip programs, our online projects (such as Phylomon), as well as our university undergraduate initiatives – more details about our outreach programs can be found at bioteach.ubc.ca. Note that we keep all of these initiatives free for the schools and general public!

Full details about the workshop can be found here.

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December 5, 2012

Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravaganza! – Day 5

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SNOWMAN SCIENCE
Courtesy of Calvin and Hobbes, by Bill Watterson

Evolution

Paleosnowman
Sharks
anatomicallycorrect

snowflake

(see more of Popperfont’s Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravanganza here)

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December 4, 2012

Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravaganza! – Day 4

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SANTA AND THE MOON
Peter Barthel, Communicating Astronomy to the Public, May 2012, (12) p13 – 15.

Link to journal | link to arxiv abstract | link to pdf

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Rare example of Christmas media showing an astronomically correct moon.

“We have established that illustrators and designers draw moons ad libitum, according to their taste, but often physically incorrect. The most common mistake is the early morning waning moon shown in an evening scene. Our research focussed on Sinterklaas, Santa Claus, and Christmas scenes, with a short side trip to Sint Maarten and Halloween. The apparent lack of knowledge concerning the physics of the moon phases is most likely widespread and not just limited to the countries examined here. Further investigations are however outside the scope of the present research.”

Santaandthemoon

(see more of Popperfont’s Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravanganza here)

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December 3, 2012

Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravaganza – Day 3

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DIY: HOW TO MAKE A TERRARIUM CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT!
Full details at Inhabitat.com

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“Materials required: Moss, plants and/or twigs small enough to fit into your terrarium ornament – Some soil – Tweezers – Reusable glass ornament orb – A ribbon (we used one from an old gift box) – A chain or string (we used an old bracelet) – (optional) Figurines or other fun tsotchkes to place inside your ornament”

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Full instructions at inhabitat.com.

(see more of Popperfont’s Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravanganza here)

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December 2, 2012

Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravaganza – Day 2

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VISITING SANTA: ANOTHER LOOK
Psychological Reports [2005, 96(3 Pt 2):1022-1024]

 link to abstract | link to pdf

– – –

visitingsanta

(see more of Popperfont’s Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravanganza here)

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December 1, 2012

Introducing Popperfont’s Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravaganza – Day 1

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MERRY MICROBIAL CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS.
(Specifically that of the Amoeba and the Paramecium).

microbialornaments

By What? No Mints?

(see more of Popperfont’s Sciencegeek Advent Calendar Extravanganza here)

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November 30, 2012

Halt you villains! Unhand that SCIENCE! (Great webcomic by @Gingerhazing)

haltyouvillainsunhandthatscience

Really enjoying this Nimona webcomic by Noelle Stevenson. Plus, she is also responsible for this hilarious tumblr called The Pokeymans Project, which is simply described as:

“Pokemon drawn from description alone by someone who doesn’t know anything about Pokemon.”

Will have to write about that one later, because it is an AWESOME segue into the art of scientific observation and descriptive writing (especially when it comes to biodiversity stuff).

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November 30, 2012

Teeny Tiny Insect Photo Booth Strips

By Laura Park, via Drawn.ca.

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November 30, 2012

Some stats if you’re thinking of towing the Space Shuttle with your truck

Click image to see full size.

“Endeavour will be towed 12 miles from Los Angeles International Airport to the museum on October 13, and the Tundra will hitch up to the shuttle for the last quarter mile of the trip. The towing rig was made specifically for this event, allowing the full-size Toyota Tundra to pull almost 30 times its regular towing capacity. Toyota says that the truck used to tow Endeavour will be a stock V8 Tundra with no enhancements or modifications.”

From AutoBlog.

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